Keeping Up With...2021 Goals (Weekly Recap 9/13 - 9/19)

It was another busy week around here for all of us!! We all had work and school all week and then all of our extra activities. Zak started back to Scouts this week with a fun den meeting making instruments together. He also had his second week of bowling where he continues to improve his score. And he had his favorite sub for half a day on Thursday, which was fun for both of us. I had a parent meeting at the high school where I was super overwhelmed about all AJ has to do in the next 4 years to which he replied, "Don't worry, it's not that bad. I have it under control." I also got back to my normal Zumba schedule, teaching two classes a week for right now. Daniel had his weekly art class and had a sleepover with friends on Saturday. And Adrian spent the week researching and tracking down a new family car. He got a great deal on his trade in and the new car is a much better fit for our family.

It was another busy week and weekend for AJ and the Marching Hornets. They had practice every day and added the next segment to their show. Friday night we had an away football game and AJ said they struggled with their halftime show. It was very hard to see and hear from the visitor stands, but we enjoyed what we saw. Saturday they got up early and headed to Canal Winchester for their second competition of the year. It was super hot that afternoon, but they performed great and earned another 1 (superior) rating. They also won 1st place percussion, 1st place for guard and 2nd place overall!! AJ was so excited!! We are so proud of him and how hard he's working. 

Here's how I did on my goals this week.

Working on Myself:

• Lose 50 20 pounds by exercising 5 days each week and walking at least 400 miles this year hitting 10,000 steps everyday -  I hit my step goal 5 days this week and then did not hit it either day this weekend. I was around 6,000 steps each of those days. I didn't weigh in this week because my eating has not been great and I'm sure the results would not have been good. I'm really struggling to find my motivation in this area! 
• Read 15 20 books for fun - I didn't read any of "The Goldfinch" this week and have read 37% of this book so far. I was super busy again this week and didn't read a lot this week. When I did, I read the ADHD book that was recommended for me and The Story that I'm reading with my church family.
• Write Scripture(s) every day this year - I have done this all 262 days so far this year. I'm really enjoying this practice so far this year. For September I just picked a plan about learning and teaching in honor of our first full month of in person school in almost a year and a half.
• Attend 12 6 Zumba jam sessions to improve my teaching skills - I'm pausing this goal at 2 for the year until August October. I was hoping to jam in September but we are just so busy that there was no way to squeeze it in. I'm signed up for a virtual jam in October and am still hoping to hit this goal with 3 jams between November and December.

Working on Family:

• Play all 152 of our board games together (either just Adrian and I or as a family) - We didn't play any board games this weekend, we were just too busy with band events. So far we have played 116 of our games and are still on a good path to finish them up this year!
• Do 10 home improvement/reorganization projects - We are working on cleaning out our basement this month but didn't have time this week because of everything else going on.
• Pay off all of our outstanding credit card debit and don't incur any additional debt - So we didn't exactly stick to this one this week since we bought a brand new car. But again, it was a great deal and it's a much better car for our family. We will be working to pay off my van over the next few months and then this payment will be significantly less than the two payments we had so we still feel like we're in a good financial place.
• Watch 50 movies together and continue watching TV series together - We didn't watch any movies this week since we are back in school and AJ has football games every Friday night. We may try to sneak one in whenever we have a day off from school, but otherwise this goal is on hold until November. We have watched 34 movies so far this year. We are continuing to keep up with our TV shows each week and we were successful this week.
• Celebrate a holiday every day this year - This week we celebrated International Chocolate Day, National Cream Filled Donut Day, National Linguine Day, National Cinnamon Raisin Bread Day, National Apple Dumpling Day, National Cheeseburger Day and National Neighborhood Day. Below are a few picture highlights of our holidays. I'm also chronicling them on Facebook so if we aren't friends there, feel free to add me or follow along at #CelebrateEveryDay
  
  
  

Keeping Up With...2021 Goals (Weekly Recap 9/6 - 9/12)

This was another jam packed week around here. It started with the holiday on Monday so we were all home from our normal schedule. We spent the day getting stuff done around the house and getting ready for the busy week. Then we hit the ground running on Tuesday. Daniel had art class and got his first pair of glasses. AJ had marching band practice all week. I subbed all week and also started teaching Zumba classes again. I'll only be teaching two classes each week until I build more strength up but I am so glad to be back with my students. Adrian worked more overtime this week including 3 long days in the office. And Zak worked hard at school and was dragged around to a lot of our activities. Rocky spent the week confused, not knowing when someone would be home and when she'd be alone. She did enjoy her normal Wednesday at day care as usual.

Our weekend was jam packed full of band events. Friday night was youth night so Daniel and the middle school band joined the marching band for a pregame performance and stayed with them for the first half. Daniel loved it and told us he wants to join next year. AJ loved being the experienced member and told us he wants to be squad leader next year. He also loved that the football team won in the last few seconds of the game & the student section stormed the field! Zak also participated in pregame activities when he helped his Scout pack raise the flag during the National Anthem. Then Saturday was Pageant of the Bands for AJ and the Marching Hornets. We host this competition so I volunteered all day in the concession stand. The band did great, earned a superior ranking and qualified for the state competition in October. AJ was SO excited, as was the rest of the band. It was a long but fun day for all of us! Sunday we had a free day so we headed to church, worked around the house and the older boys went to youth group in the evening. It was another fantastic weekend!

Here's how I did on my goals this week.

Working on Myself:

• Lose 50 20 pounds by exercising 5 days each week and walking at least 400 miles this year hitting 10,000 steps everyday -  I  hit my step goal 4 days this week and the other 3 days I was around 7,000 including one day with 6 hours of volunteering in the concession stand for band. I didn't lose any weight but I didn't gain either so I'm happy with that for this week. 
• Read 15 20 books for fun - I read about 6% of "The Goldfinch" this week and have read 37% of this book so far. I was super busy again this week and never really found my rhythm so I didn't read most days this week. I will take it out for another 3 weeks and will also start reading an ADHD book that was recommended for me and The Story that I'm reading with my church family.
• Write Scripture(s) every day this year - I have done this all 255 days so far this year. I'm really enjoying this practice so far this year. For September I just picked a plan about learning and teaching in honor of our first full month of in person school in almost a year and a half.
• Attend 12 6 Zumba jam sessions to improve my teaching skills - I'm pausing this goal at 2 for the year until August October. I was hoping to jam in September but we are just so busy that there was no way to squeeze it in. I'm signed up for a virtual jam in October and am still hoping to hit this goal with 3 jams between November and December.

Working on Family:

• Play all 152 of our board games together (either just Adrian and I or as a family) - We didn't play any board games this weekend, we were just too busy with band events. So far we have played 116 of our games and are still on a good path to finish them up this year!
• Do 10 home improvement/reorganization projects - We are working on cleaning out our basement this month but didn't have time this week because of everything else going on.
• Pay off all of our outstanding credit card debit and don't incur any additional debt - We didn't incur anything this week. We paid off our vacation and my surgery this month. In October we will start working on paying off Adrian's car so we can trade it in for a new car that is a better fit for our family right now.
• Watch 50 movies together and continue watching TV series together - We didn't watch any movies this week since we are back in school and AJ has football games every Friday night. We may try to sneak one in whenever we have a day off from school, but otherwise this goal is on hold until November. We have watched 34 movies so far this year. We are continuing to keep up with our TV shows each week and we were successful this week.
• Celebrate a holiday every day this year - This week we celebrated 8 holidays because we doubled up on Sunday. We celebrated National Fight Procrastination Day, National Acorn Squash Day, National Pledge of Allegiance Day, International Sodoku Day, National Hot Dog Day, National Make Your Bed Day, National Video Games Day and National Chocolate Milkshake Day. Below are a few picture highlights of our holidays. I'm also chronicling them on Facebook so if we aren't friends there, feel free to add me or follow along at #CelebrateEveryDay
  
  

Keeping Up With...2021 Goals (Weekly Recap 8/30 - 9/5)

This was a weird but good week for us. We were super busy, but then we got some unexpected extra sleep when Daniel woke up on Tuesday not feeling well. He missed 3 days of school so the rest of us got to sleep in a bit on those 3 days as well. This week also marked my return to the classroom as a substitute teacher for the year. I did two short assignments and then two full days this week. It was great to be in the classroom again and I'm looking forward to an awesome year. The week was also filled with Daniel's art class, a doctor appointment for Zak and a vet appointment for Rocky. And of course it was another busy week of marching band for AJ. He had practice every day, a parade on Wednesday and his first home football game on Friday. We thought they sounded great at both the parade and the game and are excited to see what they do next!

And then after that crazy week, we did nothing on Saturday and Sunday! This is a three day weekend for us since it's Labor Day weekend so we decided to play Saturday and Sunday and then do all of our work on Monday. We slept in both days and caught up on our sleep for sure. Saturday afternoon we took a family field trip to Dairy Hut to get ice cream for everyone, including Rocky. Then we spent the rest of the day playing board games, video games and watching TV. Since we slept in again on Sunday, we did church from home and then the day looked much like Sunday. Adrian did run out for a bit to a garage sale to get a few new board games for us, and I did a few things around the house while he was gone so tomorrow isn't totally overwhelming. This is our last weekend with nothing planned, most weekends we have stuff on both days, so we were super excited to have this weekend to recharge. Our next weekend like this will probably be Thanksgiving, yikes!

Sugar Crash!!

Here's how I did on my goals this week.

Working on Myself:

• Lose 50 20 pounds by exercising 5 days each week and walking at least 400 miles this year hitting 10,000 steps everyday -  I did much better on my step goal this week and during the week I averaged 10,000 steps each day. The weekend was pretty lazy for us (yay!) so I didn't hit my step goal either day but I am OK with that. I lost of 0.5 pounds which brings my total pounds lost to 7.7 for the year. This month is weird with a lot of things going on that will make it harder to eat well so I'm going to do the best that I can and hope the good outweighs the not so great choices that I may make. 
• Read 15 20 books for fun - I only read about 3% of "The Goldfinch" this week and have read 31% of this book so far. I was super busy this week and never really found my rhythm so I didn't read most days this week.
• Write Scripture(s) every day this year - I have done this all 248 days so far this year. I'm really enjoying this practice so far this year. For August I just picked a generic plan and am excited to see where it leads me.
• Attend 12 6 Zumba jam sessions to improve my teaching skills - I'm pausing this goal at 2 for the year until August October. I was hoping to jam in September but we are just so busy that there was no way to squeeze it in. I'm signed up for a virtual jam in October and am still hoping to hit this goal with 3 jams between November and December.

Working on Family:

• Play all 152 of our board games together (either just Adrian and I or as a family) - Since we had the weekend off from marching band again, we were able to play 4 games again this week. We played Parks, Pan Am and Potion Explosion as a couple and Mysterium as a family. They are all just OK games for us, we may look to trade some of them. So far we have played 116 of our games and are still on a good path to finish them up this year!
• Do 10 home improvement/reorganization projects - We are working on cleaning out our basement and spent 20 minutes down there again this weekend. We are making good progress with all of the stuff on the floor and in a few weeks we'll start on the crawl space.
• Pay off all of our outstanding credit card debit and don't incur any additional debt - We didn't incur anything this week and are paying off our vacation next week. We will be discussing what to start paying off next, but I think it will be one of our cars.
• Watch 50 movies together and continue watching TV series together - We didn't watch any movies this week since we are back in school and AJ has football games every Friday night. We may try to sneak one in whenever we have a day off from school, but otherwise this goal is on hold until November. We have watched 34 movies so far this year. We are continuing to keep up with our TV shows each week and started a new one this week "The Secret Benedict Society" on Disney+. We are all loving this show, great for the whole family!!
• Celebrate a holiday every day this year - This week we celebrated National Frankenstein Day, National Trail Mix Day, American Chess Day, World Coconut Day, National Lazy Moms Day, National Eat Dessert Twice Day and National Cheese Pizza Day. Below are a few picture highlights of our holidays. I'm also chronicling them on Facebook so if we aren't friends there, feel free to add me or follow along at #CelebrateEveryDay
  
  
  
  
  

Keeping Up With...2021 Goals (Weekly Recap 8/23 - 8/29)

This was our first full week of school and it was jam packed. We had to get up super early every morning and had something going on just about every night. Daniel had art class, Zak had a Scout hike one day and a pool party another day, AJ had marching band practice every day and we hosted their D&D game on Wednesday night. Thankfully I had taken the week off from working so I was able to get a lot done during the week while they were at school and still be rested to deal with all of the evening activities. AJ also had his second away football game this week which we had to miss due to other commitments. It was blazing hot for the game, but he still had fun and they did a great job!

The weekend was supposed to be pretty full, but AJ's tag day was virtual instead of in person so we had a free Saturday. Zak started his bowling league this week and is excited to have 2 team mates this year. I scheduled the boys for much needed haircuts as well and then we spent the rest of Saturday relaxing around the house and playing games. Sunday we went to my brother's house to celebrate my nephew Vinnie turning 5. The boys had a fun time playing in the obstacle course and we all enjoyed lunch, cake and some time with family. We couldn't stay very long because the boys had homework to finish and we wanted to get a few things done around the house to be ready for another busy week coming up. It was a really awesome weekend, great blend of fun and downtime. 

Here's how I did on my goals this week.

Working on Myself:

• Lose 50 20 pounds by exercising 5 days each week and walking at least 400 miles this year hitting 10,000 steps everyday -  I was all over the place with this goal this week. I had 3 days that were well over 11,000 steps, 2 days around 7,000, 1 day around 5,000 and one day that I didn't even get 2,000 (Thursday when I was sick). I tracked my calories about half of the days this week and ate really well those days. However since I had a stomach virus, I did see a loss of 1.5 pounds which brings my total pounds lost to 8.4 for the month and 7.2 for the year. I'm hoping to have a better week next week since I'm feeling better! 
• Read 15 20 books for fun - I read about 8% of "The Goldfinch" this week and have read 29% of this book so far. I will not be finishing it while I have it out this time, but I'm hoping to take a big chunk out of it.
• Write Scripture(s) every day this year - I have done this all 241 days so far this year. I'm really enjoying this practice so far this year. For August I just picked a generic plan and am excited to see where it leads me.
• Attend 12 6 Zumba jam sessions to improve my teaching skills - I'm pausing this goal at 2 for the year until August September when I'm back to teaching. I will be taking this month to get my stamina back up and hopefully can do a virtual jam in early Sept.

Working on Family:

• Play all 152 of our board games together (either just Adrian and I or as a family) - Since we had the weekend off from marching band, we were able to play 4 games this week. We played Point Salad (twice), Orleans and Pandemic as a couple and Fortnight Monopoly as a family. They are all fun games, it was a great weekend of games for us!! So far we have played 112 of our games and are still on a good path to finish them up this year!
• Do 10 home improvement/reorganization projects - We are working on cleaning out our basement but did not work on it this weekend. We knew there would be weekends we skipped, that's why we decided to work on this project now since we don't need to be working constantly on it.
• Pay off all of our outstanding credit card debit and don't incur any additional debt - We didn't incur anything this week and are paying the minimums on everything until we get back from (and pay for) our vacation next month.
• Watch 50 movies together and continue watching TV series together - We didn't watch any movies this week since we are back in school and AJ has football games every Friday night. We may try to sneak one in whenever we have a day off from school, but otherwise this goal is on hold until November. We have watched 34 movies so far this year. We are continuing to keep up with our TV shows each week.
• Celebrate a holiday every day this year - This week we celebrated National Buttered Corn Day, National Waffle Day, National Park Services Founder Day, National Dog Day, Rock, Paper, Scissors Day, National Red Wine Day and According to Doyle Day. Below are a few picture highlights of our holidays. I'm also chronicling them on Facebook so if we aren't friends there, feel free to add me or follow along at #CelebrateEveryDay
  
  
  
  

Keeping Up With...2021 Goals (Weekly Recap 8/16 - 8/22)

This week marks the end of our summer break and the first week of school. We were supposed to have one more day of fun on Monday, but thunderstorms cancelled our trip to the pool and the boys decided they would rather just stay home and chill than figure out something else to do. Then on Tuesday we ran around doing last minute appointments and errands as best we could because our area got over 4 inches of rain in like an hour and we had major flooding in the area! Thankfully I was able to get AJ safely to the orthodontist and eye doctor, and back home. I then switched things around so I didn't have to drive the rest of the day. We walked up to meet Zak's teacher for the year and then hung out at home getting ready for an early bed time and school tomorrow morning.

Wednesday morning we were up bright and early for our first day of school! Daniel and AJ will (hopefully) be taking the bus this year so I have a little more flexibility in the mornings. Unfortunately Daniel missed his bus this morning because we had no idea that the stop changed for this year. But Adrian drove him to school on his way to work and dropped him off with no problems. AJ had freshman orientation today, with only freshman in the building to learn how things work and where things are. Everyone had a great first day and is looking forward to a fun filled year back in person! I enjoyed my first day alone in the house (even Rocky was at daycare) in what seems like forever! I got a few things done around the house but I mostly relaxed and watched TV.

The rest of the week passed quickly with everyone going to school and work. I didn't start subbing yet this year, I wanted a few days at home to catch my breath so I'll start next week. I got a lot done around the house that I haven't been able to catch up on since vacation. AJ had a very busy first weekend of marching band. Friday night was their first football game. It was an away game and Adrian and I made the drive to watch them. We enjoyed seeing them playing to support the team in the first half & loved both bands at halftime. We then headed home since the other boys had opted not to join us for the game. AJ had a great time and was especially excited that the football team won! Then Saturday morning we were all up early again for AJ to march in the Pataskala parade. He enjoyed marching and we all enjoyed watching him. We were excited to meet up with some friends as well and watch the parade with all of them. It was a hot day, but we made the best of it!

After all of that excitement, we pretty much came home Saturday afternoon and didn't do much of anything. We relaxed in our air conditioning, played board games and video games and watched TV. On Sunday we went to church and then spent the afternoon getting some work done around the house and making sure we were ready for a full week of school. It's going to take us a bit to get adjusted to this schedule, it's been so long since we had such a full schedule. But we are excited to have so much going on!

Here's how I did on my goals this week.

Working on Myself:

• Lose 50 20 pounds by exercising 5 days each week and walking at least 400 miles this year hitting 10,000 steps everyday -  I improved on this again this week and averaged about 9,000 steps each day this week. I hit 10,000 twice this week, it's so much easier when we are in school and I'm on a schedule. I tracked my calories everyday this week and ate really well. Unfortunately, the scale was not kind and I gained 1 pound this week for a total of 8 pounds lost so far this year. I think it was just a fluke thing so I'm determined to stay the course and have another great week this week! 
• Read 15 20 books for fun - I finished "Babyville" this week and it was very good, a typical chick lit book which are always my favorites. I got "The Goldfinch" back out from the library and will continue reading that starting tomorrow.
• Write Scripture(s) every day this year - I have done this all 234 days so far this year. I'm really enjoying this practice so far this year. For August I just picked a generic plan and am excited to see where it leads me.
• Attend 12 6 Zumba jam sessions to improve my teaching skills - I'm pausing this goal at 2 for the year until August September when I'm back to teaching. I will be taking this month to get my stamina back up and hopefully can do a virtual jam in early Sept.

Working on Family:

• Play all 152 of our board games together (either just Adrian and I or as a family) - We were exhausted again after our busy week but we managed to play 2 games this weekend. We played Near and Far which was a new game and thought it was just OK so we'll probably trade it. And we played Obsession which is one of our favorites! We started playing Sat night but were so tired that we left it set up and finished it Sun afternoon, with me just narrowly beating Adrian. So far we have played 108 of our games so far and are still on a good path to finish them up this year!
• Do 10 home improvement/reorganization projects - We are working on cleaning out our basement and spent another 20 minutes down there this weekend. We made another huge dent in the area and filled our trash can with stuff we don't need, including the leftover paint from when we painted the nursery 14 years ago!
• Pay off all of our outstanding credit card debit and don't incur any additional debt - We didn't incur anything this week and are paying the minimums on everything until we get back from (and pay for) our vacation next month.
• Watch 50 movies together and continue watching TV series together - We didn't watch any movies this week since we are back in school and AJ has football games every Friday night. We may try to sneak one in whenever we have a day off from school, but otherwise this goal is on hold until November. We have watched 34 movies so far this year. We are continuing to keep up with our TV shows and finished season 2 of "The Hollow" this week which was very interesting. It wasn't one of my favorite shows, but the boys enjoyed it.
• Celebrate a holiday every day this year - This week we celebrated National Bratwurst Day, National #2 Pencil Day, National Fajita Day, National Potato Day, National Bacon Lovers Day, National Honey Bee and and National Eat a Peach Day. Below are a few picture highlights of our holidays. I'm also chronicling them on Facebook so if we aren't friends there, feel free to add me or follow along at #CelebrateEveryDay