Goals!

I am thinking I am going to get back to the monthly goals things. I have always enjoyed this, I have a list of projects to complete and life is starting to settle down a bit since Silas’ arrival. So here goes!

 

August!

 

August will be organization month for school! Yay school! I will be so happy when I am no longer paying for summer camps for the kids. They love them really. We need them, because neither AB nor I are staying home. So it is a necessary evil, but bah. I am tired of hauling kids, wonky schedules, remembering to apply sunscreen and begging the kids to remember to apply sunscreen as well.

 

I have a few small tasks/chores to accomplish before school starts. This will be a good month for small baby steps since we have a crazy month of travel/camping/houseguests ahead of us.

 

Task #1 – Chair bags

 

You know how the kids do their homework at the table and then you have to eat there and you clear the table and then you hear, “mom, where did my homework go?”

 

I am going to fix that.

 

I bought fabric for each kid last spring – yellow with skulls for Leif and a crazy pink pattern for Skadi. But I didn’t get around to doing this while on maternity leave, then summer happened and I didn’t really need the bags, so it fell off my to do list. Basically each kid will have a bag that fits on their chair at the kitchen table. When we need to clear the table, their school work goes into the chair bag. Their library books are also going to go there. I am also going to step it up and put pockets on the front to house a few pencils and eraser for each kid, colored pencils and scissors. So that they don’t need to dig through the school supplies drawer in search of these things 142 times a day (see below).

 

Task #2 – School supplies drawer

 

Badly needs organizing since my kids think they need to dig into it 142 times a day (see above). Skadi will have fun though testing every.single.marker in that drawer to see which ones work and which ones don’t.

 

Task #3 – Calendar

 

I usually use these big Post It calendars to organize our month. But then I have to rewrite two a month – because I want one at work. And some things never change. I need a template in Excel. Must create one.

 

Then coming up? Master Bedroom and our Living Room!

 

Our Master bedroom has never been anything special – I don’t have a single thing on the walls even! We sleep there and store our clothes there. But now I have a new quilt I made that I love. And AB has made a bed – 75% complete and if I can ever decide what I want for a headboard, it might get to 90% complete. AB declares that he loves Silas’ bedroom. He goes in there and sits with Silas and finds it so tranquil. He attributes this to the paint color. We are going to paint our room the same soft toffee color. It will match the quilt perfectly. And I would love to figure out some storage options for that room. Problem is, I don’t even know what I need. But every flat surface we have becomes covered. I would like this to be our September task… but it might get pushed to November when I will have a week off work to really work it.

 

The Living Room is up there too. We are thinking new flooring – the Brazilian Teak we put in the office and formal dining room. Take out the nasty carpet and put the teak in there. Get a big rug then. I would love, love, love to replace our furniture. Move the sectional up to the playroom and get new furniture. But unless we get a windfall that isn’t happening. But a fresh coat of paint and some wall hangings would go a long way with the new floors. I have the paint color and everything – just extending the taupe from the foyer and the other two rooms. And I have one accent wall to do something fun with. Fun tbd!

 

But September might be devoted to the back yard. We may be ready to start pulling out the sod and putting in the start of our backyard seating/kitchen.

Catching Up

It’s been a busy, busy summer. Things have just started to slow down the past few weeks though. I had a few minutes and thought, “I should blog!” And immediately wondered… about what? Seems I may have forgotten how to blog? Yet, I love this form of journaling just to remember things, document my kids and connect with those people close to us (or not). So I guess I will just start an update of sorts and see where it carries us.

 

First child first – Leif

 

Leif is in his last week ever to be 8 years old. I loved being 8 years old. I fear that 9 years old is just a hop from being a tween. Leif is a fun kid, but very much a mama’s boy. He likes all things games – board games, electronic games, games, games, games. He loves the computer and the Wii and the Kindle. We bought him a Kindle for his birthday and I keep telling myself he can read on it! He will read on it! It will be fun and exciting and he will read on it! And just as a side note, he could do some games too. But mostly, he can read on it!

 

Yeah, we will see how that goes.

 

Skadi my lady

 

Six years old and going into 1^st grade! Like me, the child loves school. She was sad when kindergarten finished, despite it being a touch of a rough year (Skadi is destined to forever have issues with teachers I fear). And all summer she has been asking when she gets to go back to school. She is READY for first grade. I am really hoping that she gets the same teacher that Leif had and I even probably crossed the line when I filled out her personality sheet to assist in selecting a teacher and it says ALL over the thing I cannot request a teacher by name and I did. Or at least I wrote that we would very much appreciate a teacher with the same organized structure as Mrs. H. Or something like that. I have heard that those people who do go ahead and violate the rule and request a teacher, usually get it.

 

This summer Skadi is doing the summer camp circuit with her brother. She loves Adventure Camp at the health club. She really loved horse camp. She actually and amazingly enough, loved basketball camp through the city. She has loved everything this summer. This week the kids (and me) are getting a break though and they have a babysitter. Don’t all kids need to hang out at home and declare boredom repeatedly? Leif is loving it, but so far this is NOT shaping up as Skadi’s thing. She is a social beast and hanging out with her brother and babysitter are NOT exactly her idea of fun.

 

Silas Silas sweety pie

 

Yes, he really is rolling over front to back and back to front. And yes, I know this is really really early. When I posted this on Facebook I received some skepticism. But he does it with intent and consistency at home and daycare. Yes, according to the average baby stuff, he is about 3 months early with this milestone. Really I chalk it up to him being a third child who is very observant. He is absolutely bound and determined to keep up with his brother and sister. He likes sitting and laughing at them – and they like that too. But the real fun will be had when he can run off with them. Since hitting the rolling milestone at 3 months and 3 days (consistently) he has been working on toning his stomach muscles. He strains and struggles to sit himself upright whether he is on your lap, laying in a boppy or in his swing/bouncey seat. He also seems to know that in order to propel himself forward the knees need to come up. But his little arms don’t want to hold his body weight yet, so this just results in a face plant.