The goals I wrote for 2011 were really a great at helping me stay on track, so I wanted to do them again for 2012. However, I had a lot of trouble thinking of my goals for 2012. There are so many things I want to accomplish and change this next year. However, as I though of the lists, whats important to me, and the difference between a goal and a resolution I had to drop many of them.
1. Have Addilece finish potty trained at nap and night time: She stays dry durning the day but still wets about half the time during nap and every night. I want to be completely done with diapers by 2013.
2. Build our savings and emergency funds back to where we would like them and leave them there: When we number crunched this and the next were lofty goals. This will also be besides a down payment on a van and house repairs. It means we will have to make spending sacrifices this year. Our hope is to have our savings build up by the end of February and to build up our emergency with our tax return.
3. Put an extra $3000 toward school loans
4. Spend two weekends/overnights together as a couple: Not successful last year, but hopefully we will get it together this year! To break this down a bit more we would like to have one weekend done by the end of June.
5. Finish our wedding scrapbook and start our family album: I hope to work on our wedding scrapbook at least once a month. I'm also working on ordering pictures as I can get them free or cheap for the family album (which will consist of a page or two for Christmas and a page or two for vacation every year). I hope to have the years caught up by the end of this year.
6. Do Bible Study more regularly as a couple: This is something we have fallen in out of the habit of this last year. I hope that stops this year and we stay consistent.
7. Feel healthy: We both agree that we feel so miserable right now. We don't care about weight numbers or eating habits, what we care about is how we feel. Now that will mean weight loss, exercise, and eating changes for us both! For me I would like to loose 10 to 15 lbs, go three months straight with no pop (and drink it sparingly after that), and run a mile in 8 minutes. Tony would like to get in shape and tone up. He would also like to run a mile in 8 minutes while doing push ups in between 400's. I would love for our goal next year to be to run a 5K.
8. Have more homemade and less store boughten products in the house: This past year we tried laundry detergent and detangler...both being successful. I also bought the stuff for febreeze but never made it. I would like to make the febreeze, face wash, syrup, shower cleaner, and anything else that seems to save us money and be safer for our home. I also want to make more/different homemade bread and try a slew of items in the kitchen.
9. Have Addilece understand the gospel message: this does not mean we expect her to accept it but we would like he to be able to answer what sin is, who sins, that means we can't be a part of God's family, and how to be part of God's family.
10. Be more diligent about Addilece's Awana (first) and school (second).
We also have random other things we would like to do this year. We want to take a camping trip to the Dunes in Michigan. We would like to finish the kitchen, replace four more windows, and raplace the wood around the outside of the windows on the house. We have goals for the ministries we are involved in also. I would like to take a room a month and organize it and come up with a weekly, monthly, six month cleaning schedule that I will follow. We will finish our foster license and we hop to receive a placement soon.We also want to be more on top of balancing the checkbook, updating the budget, and having financial meetings.
So here is to a productive and fun 2012!
Sunday, January 1, 2012
2011 Goal Check--up
Well, the end of the year has come. It is time to review our goals and see where we are.
1. Buy and begin to fix up our first home.
House purchased and a lot of work has been completed on it. The fix it up part is on going.
2. Finish our wedding scrapbook (not even half way done, pathetic I know) and begin Addilece's "Life Story" book (we aren't doing a "baby book" with her due to the fact that none of our other children will have baby books....we are going to try and make them as similar as possible).
I did not touch our wedding scrap book this year, other then to move it. However, after choosing to go digital for Addilece's book. It is ALMOST done! It just needs a few more tweaks.
3. Spend two kid free weekends with my hubby (one possibly being a trip).
We only got one kid free weekend. However, it was an amazing weekend. We could never get our schedules and Tony's work schedule figured out to do another.
4. More date nights (that's a hard one).
We've been on a few dates out of the home. We also started doing a date night at home every other week.
5. Go camping for the first time.
We went to St. Louis for the weekend in August. We had a blast and we're already planning our trip for this next year.
6. Loose an inch or two in the waist.
I was not successful at this at all.
7. Teach Addilece her first Bible Verse.
Addilece is doing really well learning Bible verses. She know 5 different ones plus a slew of other Biblical information. It has been so fun as a parent to watch her learn spiritual truth.
8. Tony beginning Grad School.
Tony did a lot of praying and decided to wait on Grad School. It will be in the near future, however.
9. Start saving for our adoptions.
We do have a jar that we randomly drop money in for future adoptions. It's not much but its a good reminder of the future. We did start the process to get our foster licenses and that has taken a lot of our time and energy.
10. Build our emergency fund back up to one month of emergency money.
This was complete and then we had to buy windows for the house.
11. Leave our food budget where it is at but eat healthier.
We are eating healthier. This year I make sure we always have fruit in the house, I'm using healthier oils, and we completely switched to frozen veggies. We grew our own garden also. This was a huge blessing. Our food budget, however, was shot. We could not keep up with the food price increases. We are going to be looking into more homemade goods for this next year and a few other solutions to keep our budget as low as possible.
12. Completely potty train Addilece using the 3 day method.
Addilece is potty trained during the day. She has an accident every week or two.
1. Buy and begin to fix up our first home.
House purchased and a lot of work has been completed on it. The fix it up part is on going.
2. Finish our wedding scrapbook (not even half way done, pathetic I know) and begin Addilece's "Life Story" book (we aren't doing a "baby book" with her due to the fact that none of our other children will have baby books....we are going to try and make them as similar as possible).
I did not touch our wedding scrap book this year, other then to move it. However, after choosing to go digital for Addilece's book. It is ALMOST done! It just needs a few more tweaks.
3. Spend two kid free weekends with my hubby (one possibly being a trip).
We only got one kid free weekend. However, it was an amazing weekend. We could never get our schedules and Tony's work schedule figured out to do another.
4. More date nights (that's a hard one).
We've been on a few dates out of the home. We also started doing a date night at home every other week.
5. Go camping for the first time.
We went to St. Louis for the weekend in August. We had a blast and we're already planning our trip for this next year.
6. Loose an inch or two in the waist.
I was not successful at this at all.
7. Teach Addilece her first Bible Verse.
Addilece is doing really well learning Bible verses. She know 5 different ones plus a slew of other Biblical information. It has been so fun as a parent to watch her learn spiritual truth.
8. Tony beginning Grad School.
Tony did a lot of praying and decided to wait on Grad School. It will be in the near future, however.
9. Start saving for our adoptions.
We do have a jar that we randomly drop money in for future adoptions. It's not much but its a good reminder of the future. We did start the process to get our foster licenses and that has taken a lot of our time and energy.
10. Build our emergency fund back up to one month of emergency money.
This was complete and then we had to buy windows for the house.
11. Leave our food budget where it is at but eat healthier.
We are eating healthier. This year I make sure we always have fruit in the house, I'm using healthier oils, and we completely switched to frozen veggies. We grew our own garden also. This was a huge blessing. Our food budget, however, was shot. We could not keep up with the food price increases. We are going to be looking into more homemade goods for this next year and a few other solutions to keep our budget as low as possible.
12. Completely potty train Addilece using the 3 day method.
Addilece is potty trained during the day. She has an accident every week or two.
Friday, December 30, 2011
Year at a Glance
Last year I did our "Year at a Glance" and I'm so glad I did. I had fun looking back at it this year. So here is our Year at a Glance for 2011.
Janruary:
February:
April:
December:
Janruary:
February:
*Addilece had breathing problems flashing both Tony and I back to our childhood.
March:
*Being able to meet life size versions of Mater and Fin thanks to friends at State Farm. (Sponsors of Cars2)
April:
*Lots of moving because we officially purchased and moved into our first home.
*Tony's birthday!
*Easter
May:
*Tony's brother's wedding reception
June:
*My entire family was together.
July:
*My brother gets married.
August:
*Our first camping trip. We enjoyed the weekend in St. Louis.
September:
*Our annual trip to the Pumpkin Patch.
October:
*Tony's brother got married.
November:
December:
*Tony's brother gets married.
Sunday, December 25, 2011
Video
Our Christmas video was set on private (on purpose) but I didn't think about the fact that this meant you couldn't see it. So here you go....it should be viewable now. (If not try this link)
Merry Christmas
Merry Christmas from our family to yours!
May you tell if from the mountain because Jesus Christ IS born!
God Bless!
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