This Week's Goals

I don't think I ever went over my goals from last week or made new ones. Here is what I did (or didn't do):

Christmas:

1. Assemble, sign, address, and send out the rest of our Christmas cards.
2. Put together gift packages for people we are sending gifts and put them in the mail (except for Erik's father and my father because they are both out of the country). 
2.5. Don't forget to put two of our already-received gift packages on our thank-you list so we remember to formally thank those people.

Knitting:

3. Finish Xander's mustang in time to give him for Christmas. (Its accessories will have to wait.) {I had the mane and tail left to do when Christmas arrived, so I will just continue to work on it and its accessories and give it on another occasion.}

Parenting:

4. Finish reading The Blank Slate by Steven Pinker.
5. Continue to be calm, understanding, and consistent with the boys.

Financial:

6. Stick to our eating-out-plus-groceries budget for this month.

Marriage:

7. Make time for quality time with Erik this week.

Personal:

8. Attend church. On Sunday and also possibly on Christmas Eve.

Cleaning:

9. Stay on top of the laundry and kitchen cleaning and try to get other regular chores done, like mopping floors, cleaning bathrooms, and changing sheets. {Erik helped me clean bathrooms last week so we got two done in the time it normally takes for one. :)}

Would you look at that? I got 80% of my goals completed! It probably helps that I gave in to the season and made a full category of goals just for Christmas. 

This week has only about two days left in it before I post next week's goals, so I'll just summarize. I finished the parts I wanted to read from What Color Is Your Parachute?, signed up for Dr. Christine Carter's free online class about making resolutions, took a lot more notes from Raising Happiness, got several rows of knitting done on a few different projects, went over our finances with a fine-tooth comb to see how much extra money we can put toward our car debt (a lot! yay!), and (barely) started on the thank you notes with Xander. I also babysat for friends last night. They had done the same for us last week so we could watch a movie. I did not get the grandpas' packages put together or sent yet, so that's a definite priority for next week.

One of my goals or resolutions for next week is to start goals lists for the boys, the same way I have been doing mine. If I can get Xander involved with his, that will be fantastic. I think goal setting, time management, and study/test-taking skills are extremely valuable subjects for kids to learn! Also adults. :)

December Schooling

I've said this month that we did not get a lot of formal schooling done. We got one week's worth of our daily checklist done during December. However, at the same time, we were doing so many activities that helped the children learn.

The preschool schedule went on as normal. So did the library story time, so both kids got exposure to those activities in December. These activities include time for them to draw, count, cooperate with others, do crafts, sing, watch puppet shows, listen to stories, paint, do sensory activities, and much more.

Science and Nature

Erik took Xander outside on a nature outing. He also got both kids started on science games and kits they received for Christmas. Xander is currently tracking the weather every day with this kit from Grandma Bonnie. Erik made a fake snowman and fake ice cubes with Nick from a snowman kit we received from Aunt Pat. We still have other aspects of the first science kit to explore, an Eco Science Toys set from their "aunt" Ricci, and a really nice butterfly pavilion and kit from Grandma Bonnie to use when our weather is a bit warmer. We will need to send away for the caterpillars and be sure that we can release the butterflies outside when the time comes without their dying from the cold.

We spent a lot of time caring for our guinea pig Sandy, too. He is really growing and appreciates more time spent outside of his cage. The boys are quite good with him, although I would not leave them entirely alone with him when he is out of the cage. Xander has been gradually taking on more responsibilities with his pet. When we first got Sandy, I accepted responsibility for getting the daily care done and keeping the animal alive and healthy. Xander now does these things most of the time:

• fills Sandy's bowl with the right amount of pellets for breakfast and dinner
• holds a garbage bag open for me while I clean out the cage each week
• gives Sandy lap time every other day or so
• reminds me or asks me to have Sandy out of the cage for a while

I still have to monitor water and hay levels in Sandy's cage and refill those containers. Xander tends to forget to check the hay, which should be continually replenished. I clean the cage. I set out the materials for Sandy to play in our wading pool setup and clean up afterward. I am usually the one to remember to feed him before we go out of the house, if necessary. I am the one to weigh him and keep track of that stat. Erik helped me clip Sandy's nails last week, which went well (I was surprised by that).

Nick received shells this year from Santa. He just loves shells, and now he has his own collection.

Music and Singing

We taught/learned and sang Christmas carols all month. We listened to Christmas music almost constantly.

Money and Giving

Xander picked out gifts, paid for them with his own money, tracked his savings and spending and sharing money for that purpose, and helped wrap some gifts. 

Writing, Handicrafts, and Fine Motor Skills

The boys (mostly Nick) helped me bake cookies and other goodies to give to people. 

Xander signed Christmas cards and is now slowly working on getting thank you notes done. Nick likes "signing" cards too, with my hand over his to write the name. I figure this is good practice for him. They both helped make cards using stamping, tracing, cutting, gluing, painting, and drawing. Xander helped me make popcorn strings to go around the tree with needle and thread. He also did a little bit of X-Acto knife cutting to help me make profile pictures for grandparents. 

Both boys helped me make salad the other night by spinning the salad spinner, peeling a carrot, and cutting the carrot and cheese into slices. Nick got a toddler knife for the purpose and I supervised Xander's first use of a sharp kitchen knife. It was also his first time using the peeler. He did great.

Math

When we went on grocery store outings, there were lots of opportunities for Xander to use math. Sometimes I brought up everyday math problems, but most of the time Xander came up with math questions about which he was genuinely curious.

Reading, Spelling, Manners, and Literature

I read great Christmas books and stories to the kids at the rate of about two per day.

Xander did a lot of reading to himself and reading aloud to his brother. They got some very good and/or cute books for Christmas, including Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer, Lego Star Wars Character Encyclopedia, Turkey Claus, The Christmas Quiet Book, Richard Scarry's Please and Thank You Book, Ocean Counting: Odd Numbers, Where's That Fish?, I Need My Monster, The Indian in the Cupboard, two books called Dinosaurs, and an Encyclopedia Brown series.

I recommend each and every one of them. The Star Wars Encyclopedia is not a book I would normally praise, but it's the type of book that has our six-year-old reading for about an hour a day. I also would not normally praise I Need My Monster (although it's nicely illustrated) except for the fact that Nick is captivated by it. He really does want these kinds of monsters in his room. The Christmas Quiet Book is beautifully illustrated, and so is Ocean Counting: Odd Numbers. Ocean Counting is a much more beautiful book than the Amazon picture of the cover shows. It's Nick (at 3) who loves this book, but the number concepts and even some of the scientific facts in it are better suited to Xander (at 6). 

I have never read The Indian in the Cupboard, but since starting the first chapter, I can tell it is just as good as people say. I'm also looking forward to reading the Encyclopedia Brown series to Xander because it is a nice, kid-friendly, empowering read for children. The reading level on it is about 3rd grade. I think Xander is capable of reading through the whole book by himself, but it would be too overwhelming at this point due to the number of words per page and the words he might want to ask about, so I will read it to him for now.

Nick got an alphabet pocket chart for Christmas with an animal to go in every pouch based on what letter it starts with. It is bright and cute and I love it for that. Nick likes playing with it. I do wish the letters were printed on the back of each animal, because some of them are hard to figure out, even for adults. I couldn't figure out what the iguana was and which pocket it should go into until I had almost all the other letter pockets filled!

We went to three or four Christmas parties and a visit to great-grandparents that encouraged the use of manners they have been learning. Xander amazed me with his skills, especially because I forgot to remind the children before we went to these events what I expected from them. He was so perfectly polite at his great-grandparents' house that I kind of wondered what had happened to him! At a friend's house where there were lots of children and toys around, he did need a reminder to clear his place and say thank you.

Nick-ism

I haven't had many Xanderisms to report lately. In fact, the last few days, he has been using polite manners and lying around quietly reading books. It is really nice and seems so mature...but part of me wonders if this is how I lose him! Lose my little guy who wants me to validate everything he says and does to a more mature guy who can validate himself! Of course, I am being facetious. I want him to mature. But it's coming up fast!

So, here's the next Nickism. I made Baked Ziti for dinner tonight and no matter how many times I say, "It's really Baked Ziti," he calls it lasagna. Not quite lasagna. "Basagna." Reminds me of his "babana." It doesn't matter how many times he has heard the correct pronunciation of banana, it's still babana to him.

2012 Goals Final Update

I'm going to go ahead and review my 2012 goals list. Some of my goals that I set for this school year did not end up being ones that I wanted to stick to for the whole year. I'm starting with a new set of goals for the calendar year 2013.

Looks like I was way too ambitious in my personal goals (surprise, surprise, she says sarcastically) and got about half of my marriage and children/homeschooling goals done.

So, my progress:

GOALS FOR 2012:

Personal:
Scripture study every morning. {Have done this most mornings, but have found that simpler is better for me.}
Go to church and Sunday School every Sunday that we're home that is feasible. Otherwise, the Daily Office from The Mission of St. Clare. {Doing pretty well on this.}
Follow my personalized Rule of Life plan. {I'm not focusing on this anymore. I may come back to it.}
Run in at least three 5K races. {I've run one so far! I was counting next spring when I made this goal, so I'm on track.}
Complete Hal Higdon's Novice, Intermediate, and Advanced 5K training programs (8 weeks apiece). {I am on the first week of the Intermediate program now. I may just finish the Advanced program by then end of the school year, but I'm not sure.}
Clean daily along the lines of my online friend Valerie's methods and plans. {Switching back to more of a FlyLady regimen - and I've switched between the two before - because it seems to fit well with homeschooling and our current situation. Still using some of Valerie's tips.}
Get dressed and ready every day (with a semblance of style) using The Perpetual Student's Wife as a model. Outfit, make-up, hair in 15 minutes. Shower at night. Only with extra time can I do jewelry, nails, etc. {Doing this, but I'm going to save The Perpetual Student's Wife for rare days when I want to study style a bit. Otherwise, it takes up too much time on a daily basis. Going with about seven simple outfits for now.}

Commit to keeping a journal (daily). {I'm considering just doing a gratitude journal once a week, because I've read that research shows gratitude journals are more efficacious when they are done weekly rather than daily.}

Meal plan and cook every day using categories of food for each day and some freezer cooking. {Very pleased with the amount that I cook and I think my cooking skill has improved. I'm not necessarily sticking rigidly with a category of food for each day (as in Crock Pot, Italian, breakfast-for-dinner, etc.)}
Finish current knitting projects (mustang, baby hat and booties, charity bear, napkin rings, socks, Nana's Bath Mat). {I've either given up on these projects or made good progress. Almost finished the mustang, finished the baby hat and sent it, finished Nana's Bath Mat. I also finished a quick knitted Christmas gift.}

Do ongoing service with Xander and/or whole family. {Did a tree planting with an environmental youth group that went well and now we are on their mailing list for future projects.}

Begin studying piano on a regular basis using the Alfred books I have. {Not yet. This feels like something I will have to begin another year.}

Put together a photo album for the year using Shutterfly or something similar and order it. {Not focusing on this until January or later.}
Put together a scrapbook/portfolio at the end of the school year showing some of Xander's work. {Taken care of with Lindafay's good organization tips for homeschool.}
Learn to use the Singer sewing machine from Grandma (study manual). {Working on this; think I've had a breakthrough.}
Finish envelope back cushion covers for living room. {We shall see.}
Get Locks of Love hair cut.
Go running every other evening or more. {Doing this, with some challenging weeks when I don't run much.}
Do strength training (Jillian Michaels's No More Trouble Zones) twice a week. {Started this.}
Slim down in a healthy way using my adapted plan from Ask Lauren Fleshman. {Doing this or something like it.}

Marriage:
Try my best to have a focused conversation with Erik every day when he gets home from work without kid interruptions ("couch time"). {We always do a semblance of this.}
Have monthly date nights with babysitting by YMCA or family/friends. {We canceled our YMCA membership to save money, but we have traded off babysitting recently and will again this month.}
Spend most evenings with Erik after my run. Include playing board games, watching "our shows," and movies. {Doing this.}
Other goals I'd rather not publish.
Re-read The 5 Love Languages. {Have not done this.}
Try to eradicate complaining from my life. {I feel like I'm improving on this.}
Start to use Cozi as our family calendar and list-keeper so Erik and I can both view and edit. 

Children/Homeschooling:
Finish 1st grade material with Xander (can extend through summer months if I want). {On track!}
Incorporate work travel with Erik into school through journaling and travel scrapbooking. Get Xander a digital camera.
Go through What Your Preschooler Needs to Know and the Activity Book 1 with Nick (can extend through next year if I want). {Slowly doing this.}
Attend free preschool with Nick (can extend through next year). {Doing this.}
Sign them both up for a sports team this year. {Will sign them up for soccer in the spring.}
Continue to teach both some swimming skills in a non-threatening environment. {Got somewhere at the end of summer.}
Go on at least one field trip per week (can be nature hike, museum, special park, class, farm, factory, etc.). {We do this very well.}
Follow our adapted Plan from The Parenting Breakthrough with each boy. {This is happening at a slow but good pace.}
Look more into Lone Scouting.
Teach Xander/have him practice riding his bike, with and without training wheels. {He's practiced a lot more with Erik and now we can raise up the training wheels in preparation for taking them off.}
Teach Xander to tie his shoes. 
Finish The Hobbit and then watch the movie. {Only three or four chapters left; Erik and I watched the movie. Xander didn't want to watch a move in the theater.}
See if I can have Xander send monthly letters (with photos or drawings of where we've been) to Bailey and JT.  {Not doing this yet. He did send a couple of drawings to a classmate/friend from last year.}
Get Xander's tonsils out in November. 
Maintain this blog for anecdotes about the boys, homeschooling logs, and personal goal setting. {Yup.}

Service/Family/Friendships:
Spend some time on the Chronicles of a Babywise Mom Google group on Sundays. {Really wanting to get to this.}

Possibly spend some time on the Fascinating Womanhood ~ Alaska Alumni Yahoo group on Sundays. {Not doing this lately.}

Possibly do an occasional blog post on my Fascinating Ways blog. {Same as above.}

When we are home, invite a family over for dinner every week or two. {Did this twice. Will probably host a tiny party or two in the next few months. I'm not necessarily focusing on this right now.}
Do the same for playdates for Xander. {Need to line up a couple more playdates soon.}
Keep knitting for the Mother Bear Project. {Not doing this right now.}

Write at least two notes, cards, or letters per week. {I've been calling and emailing some people on a regular basis, and I'm sending out Christmas cards this week.}

Call immediate family members once every week or two. {Doing this.}
Spend Sundays on rest, church, service, family, and nature activities. {Doing this.}

Writing/Business:
Learn to knit [this pattern] which can be sold with her permission. [can't find it again; never mind]
Write for a half hour on Homemaking Cottage articles every other day. When articles for the month are done, work on improvement of expository writing, photography, and vlogs. {Spending an adequate amount of time on this for now.}

Do National Novel Writing Month again if Xander wants to do the Youth version (can incorporate into school time, thus freeing some of my time as well). {Putting this off until next year when the timing will be better for Xander.}

Keep learning. Any of my learning could come in handy in the future if I progress baby step by baby step. {Always doing this, I hope.}

Financial:
Follow new budget plan for saving/paying off car. {Have new budget and new financial plan; sent a large extra payment in November.}
Tithe 10% or more of my own income. Give to local food pantries, etc., with extra money. {Doing this.}
Check for surplus over $3K or $4K on the 10th of each month to put toward paying off the car/savings. {Doing this.}
Get haircuts with coupons - one person per month - and do manicure/pedicures at home (as always).{Doing this, plus now we have a pretty nice set of clippers with which to do all the males' hair cuts.}

Batman Lunchbox

Nick comes up to me with his new tin lunchbox covering his face. His voice echoing, he says, "Mom, I feel silly when I have a helmet. Like Dark Vader."

Children are good for your health. They make you laugh.

Three and a Half Years Old

I realized I haven't been measuring, weighing, or tracking the kids systematically. We don't have well checks except once a year now, so the boys are growing without any kind of statistical record. :) I have noticed as the arms and legs of their clothing get shorter and shorter. Shoes are growing smaller as well.

(I'm very glad Xander got new pajamas for Christmas from Grandma Lucy. The two nights before Christmas Eve, he was reduced to wearing the same play shorts and large hand-me-down Bakugan pajama top both nights.)

Nick is 38 inches tall today. He weighs exactly 30 pounds. I wonder how that compares to Xander at this age. I just looked through his baby book and I don't think I wrote down his three-year-old growth statistics.

Nick has a large vocabulary and loves to say his own made-up words anyway. "Ay-bay" is his favorite for-all-occasions nonsense word. He pretends to read books to himself. It is rare that he wants someone else to read the books to him...except for Xander reading Xander's books. Nick can pronounce all of the Star Wars characters' names pretty precisely, but he says "restauromp" and "gazberries" and "Dander." His "s" sound is still through his nose.

Nick loves preschool (one hour a week). His teacher calls everyone there "friends" so he has started to use the term for most children: Pointing to kids on Christmas cards, he says, "Oh, those are friends." In the course of the last four months, he has learned his directions (such as up, down, across, below, behind, etc.), the sounds all the letters make, which words to point to as he's pretending to read, days of the week and months of the year and seasons with some degree of knowledge, how to share in front of a group, how to take turns in a group, how to build pretty well with different types of blocks without help, and how to sing many many many songs. He was born knowing how to do that "oh, aren't I cute?" grin that all younger siblings seem to know.

We have been doing independent playtime less and less and sibling playtime more and more. This is a rough current schedule:

7:00 get up to lay on the couch, go potty, or get me out of bed
7:30 breakfast
8:00 often we get him dressed and ready at this time
8:30 second breakfast and sibling playtime, or leave for preschool
9:30 more sibling playtime or an errand or a chore
10:30 independent playtime or library story time
11:30 free play
12:00 lunch
12:30 preschool basket or outside
1:00 free play, reading
2:30 nap
4:00 snack or playground group or TV time (Wild Kratts)
5:00 free play, pre-dinner chores
6:00 family dinner
7:00 family time, free play
7:30 bath
8:00 Night Cards (getting ready for bed)
8:30 lullaby, lights out

I say no to lots of activities, so it came as sort of a surprise to me that we go out just about every day of the week. Monday is preschool, Tuesday we sometimes go to drugstores to buy good deals, Wednesday we do grocery shopping and then library story time, Thursday we have a playground group, and Friday we either go on a nature walk or to a kids' science group. Saturdays we almost always do a fun family outing. Sundays I often go to church.

On a Christmas-related note, this has been an amazing holiday season for Nick. He loves Santa and snowmen. His favorite Christmas song is Carol of the Bells, which he likes to call "Song About the Scary Halloween Decorations." (I think Halloween is still his favorite holiday.)

December-y

Let's see how many photos I can fit in this blog post.

We went to the widely acclaimed Trail of Lights on Tuesday evening. It took an hour-long traffic jam and a long walk pulling the boys in our red wagon to get there, but other than that it was easier than expected.

A few days before that, we went to a wonderful Christmas party hosted by friends. There was amazing food, nice company, and a book gift exchange for the (many) kids.

Somewhere in there, our neighbor boy came over to play. Would you believe the boys spent two hours quietly and nicely playing with our guinea pig and drawing pictures?

Last night our temperature dipped down to the 20s but today is a very nice mid-50s. Look at this guy:

Going to Boring Work

Erik stops at the door to say goodbye to Nick.

Nick says, "Goobye," and then turns to me as he leaves and says, "I want to go too!"

I say, "We will go on a fun outing with him sometime in the next few days, and he will be home tonight."

"Awwwwwww! I want to go."

"Daddy's going to boring work."

"I want to go to boring work."

Weekly Goals

Last week, I skipped making a goals list. I felt like our Christmas activities were taking over our normal activities. To some extent, this is good and fine.

We went to three Christmas parties last week, delivered a couple of Christmas gifts, did some of our normally scheduled homeschooling, started our twelve-days-till-Christmas treat countdown, kept somewhat reasonably on top of chores, Skyped with Grandma, made holiday treats, and...mourned, grieved, felt devastated. It doesn't matter exactly how old the Newtown children (and adults) were in terms of how tragic their deaths were. It doesn't necessarily matter whether or not we have kids ourselves in terms of how awful the murders were. But Erik and I do have a first-grader. That, and looking at the photos of the children, and seeing where some of the parents requested memorial funds be sent, drives this home to me time and time again.

This week, I will make a goals list. Keeping a home running smoothly does help our children, I believe. (By the way, both of our children have no idea what happened to other children last week and don't seem to have noticed when I had tears streaming down my cheeks.)

This Week's Goals:

Christmas:

1. Assemble, sign, address, and send out the rest of our Christmas cards.
2. Put together gift packages for people we are sending gifts and put them in the mail (except for Erik's father and my father because they are both out of the country). (On a side note, my dad and his wife are on their yearly vacation to Fiji and don't have power due to cyclone Evan. I don't know exactly how they are doing since his last check-in two days ago. It's likely they are okay but don't have power and have to conserve and deal with that.)
2.5. Don't forget to put two of our already-received gift packages on our thank-you list so we remember to formally thank those people.

(On another side note, Nick keeps asking me to come see his "education program." He is carrying around one of our bills as his "education." When I went to attend his program, he ended up showing me how to put his pajama pants in the "washer" and press the button to "flush the water" to make them clean and dry.)

Knitting:

3. Finish Xander's mustang in time to give him for Christmas. (Its accessories will have to wait.)

Parenting:

4. Finish reading The Blank Slate by Steven Pinker.
5. Continue to be calm, understanding, and consistent with the boys.

Financial:

6. Stick to our eating-out-plus-groceries budget for this month.

Marriage:

7. Make time for quality time with Erik this week.

Personal:

8. Attend church. On Sunday and also possibly on Christmas Eve.

Cleaning:

9. Stay on top of the laundry and kitchen cleaning and try to get other regular chores done, like mopping floors, cleaning bathrooms, and changing sheets.

I would like to do running and/or exercise and some homeschooling, but I am not going to put them on the list because I don't want to beat myself up if those don't happen. Xander has been getting plenty of writing, math, morals, manners, and literature practice and exposure just doing our regular Christmas activities.

Christmas Tree Skirt (Scarf)

I finished the tree skirt (scarf, doubled):

On me

Under the tree

Weekly Goals

How did I do on last week's goals? I feel like all I have been doing is Christmas stuff, which is awesome, but it's taking up all my time! I read on someone's blog (Chocolate on my Cranium) that they suspend normal homeschool during December and just do Christmas School. That seems like how our December is going. (Though Xander has been getting Math and Music and Literature sneaked in on him every day.)

Family:

1. Take notes on Raising Happiness and Learned Optimism. {Notes taken on half of Raising Happiness.}
2. Use a calm, nonjudgmental tone with the children. Administer consequences if necessary; discuss emotional outbursts at a good time; don't shout. {I bet I didn't have 100% success with this, but I think I worked toward this every day and did really well.}
3. Do our advent activity each day, open our chocolate advent calendar each day, and light our advent candle each day.

Health:

4. Track food on My Fitness Pal.
5. Do the No More Trouble Zones fitness DVD at least once. {Well, does it count if I did it for 15 minutes one day? I say yes.}

Personal:

6. Finish up the 4 Weeks to a More Organized Home challenge.
7. Finish knitting doubled scarf for tree skirt. {Finishing today.}
8. Start knitting Nick's stocking.
9. Make more Christmas cards.
10. Send as many Christmas cards as possible by December 10th. {Will be sending the rest out this week.}

I did good, right? :) As for (more) Christmas stuff, last week I put together two twelve-days-till-Christmas countdown kits, one for the kids' cousins and one for the kids, went to the town tree lighting and rode a horse-drawn carriage, sang Christmas carols, made and wrote in Christmas cards, made batches of cookies, took the kids to see Santa, strung a popcorn garland, and read Christmas stories and books to the kids. And participated in advent through church and our home candles. Aaaaaaaaahhhhhhhhhhhh.

This Week's Goals:

I think I'm going to skip this. I am not sure what I want my goals to be this week, other than Christmas stuff. So let's just dive in and get that Christmas stuff done. I'll also try to run and do workout videos and get at least some of Xander's schooling in. We have two Christmas parties to go to in the next week. :)

Naps

Xander and I got through school work pretty fast; all except for spelling work and recorder practice. At spelling time, he began to balk.

"I'm sorry to say the only word I could do was 'is.'"

"I can't do it. I don't have enough energy!"

And so on.

I just kept telling him that he would be able to play after he finished writing out the spelling words and practicing recorder, and went about my own work.

I guess he did need a rest first. I found him asleep on a rug.

I moved him here:

The Guy in Red

We saw Santa today.

"Santaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa!"

Santa was at the library at one of the normal story times. Xander was the oldest one there, due to the other older kids being at school. We sang Christmas songs and then Santa arrived for pictures and requests. Mostly pictures, because almost all of the kids were really little. Lots of babies. Poor toddlers and babies. You could tell from the noise in the room that five minutes is their limit for standing in line to get pictures with Santa.

My kids were quiet and well-behaved. Nick did have to go to the bathroom and was very wiggly for that reason, but he decided he could wait. He did.

Xander told him what he wanted for Christmas. Nick told him what he and Xander had done with Duplos this morning. Oh yes, and Winnie the Pooh got to come too.

I would have been worried that this was all very tame and small-child-ish for Xander, except that he said something along the lines of, "This day has been amazing!" as we left the library.

2012 Goals: November Update

Here is my goals update for November. I have been reading goal-setting books and thinking about making new goals to make sure my very top priorities are being attended to. These goals were originally set as part of the school year 2012-2013, but now I think I will make a new list of goals in January 2013. They may look similar. :)

Note: The goals in green are ones I'm not sure about accomplishing this year.

Goals for 2012:

Personal:
Scripture study every morning. {Have done this most mornings, but have found that simpler is better for me.}
Go to church and Sunday School every Sunday that we're home that is feasible. Otherwise, the Daily Office from The Mission of St. Clare. {Doing well on this.}
Follow my personalized Rule of Life plan. {I am not trying to follow this strictly right now.}
Run in at least three 5K races. {I've run one so far! I was counting next spring when I made this goal, so I'm on track.}
Complete Hal Higdon's Novice, Intermediate, and Advanced 5K training programs (8 weeks apiece). {I am on the first week of the Intermediate program now.}
Clean daily along the lines of my online friend Valerie's methods and plans. {Switching back to more of a FlyLady regimen - and I've switched between the two before - because it seems to fit well with homeschooling and our current situation. Still using some of Valerie's tips.}
Get dressed and ready every day (with a semblance of style) using The Perpetual Student's Wife as a model. Outfit, make-up, hair in 15 minutes. Shower at night. Only with extra time can I do jewelry, nails, etc. {Doing this, but I'm going to save The Perpetual Student's Wife for rare days when I want to study style a bit. Otherwise, it takes up too much time on a daily basis. Going with about seven simple outfits for now.}

Commit to keeping a journal (daily). {Not sure if I'm going to try to do this at this stage.}

Meal plan and cook every day using categories of food for each day and some freezer cooking. {Making meals every day, liking my new easy method of menu planning using a month's list of favorite breakfasts, lunches, dinners, and snacks.}
Finish current knitting projects (mustang, baby hat and booties, charity bear, napkin rings, socks, Nana's Bath Mat). {I've either given up on these projects or made good progress. A couple of them have been finished. I also finished a quick knitted Christmas gift.}

Do ongoing service with Xander and/or whole family. {Did a tree planting with an environmental youth group that went well and now we are on their mailing list for future projects.}

Begin studying piano on a regular basis using the Alfred books I have. {Not yet. This feels like something I will have to begin another year.}

Put together a photo album for the year using Shutterfly or something similar and order it. {Not focusing on this until January or later.}
Put together a scrapbook/portfolio at the end of the school year showing some of Xander's work. {Taken care of with Lindafay's good organization tips for homeschool.}
Learn to use the Singer sewing machine from Grandma (study manual). {Working on this; think I've had a breakthrough.}
Finish envelope back cushion covers for living room. {This WILL happen. I think.}
Get Locks of Love hair cut.
Go running every other evening or more. {Doing this, with some challenging weeks when I don't run much.}
Do strength training (Jillian Michaels's No More Trouble Zones) twice a week. {Started this.}
Slim down in a healthy way using my adapted plan from Ask Lauren Fleshman. {Doing this or something like it.}

Marriage:
Try my best to have a focused conversation with Erik every day when he gets home from work without kid interruptions ("couch time"). {Could use improvement, but we always do a semblance of this.}
Have monthly date nights with babysitting by YMCA or family/friends. {We canceled our YMCA membership to save money, but we have traded off babysitting recently and will again this month.}
Spend most evenings with Erik after my run. Include playing board games, watching "our shows," and movies. {Doing this.}
Other goals I'd rather not publish.
Re-read The 5 Love Languages. {Have not done this.}
Try to eradicate complaining from my life. {I feel like I'm improving on this.}
Start to use Cozi as our family calendar and list-keeper so Erik and I can both view and edit. 

Children/Homeschooling:
Finish 1st grade material with Xander (can extend through summer months if I want). {On track!}
Incorporate work travel with Erik into school through journaling and travel scrapbooking. Get Xander a digital camera.
Go through What Your Preschooler Needs to Know and the Activity Book 1 with Nick (can extend through next year if I want). {Slowly doing this.}
Attend free preschool with Nick (can extend through next year). {Doing this.}
Sign them both up for a sports team this year. {Will sign them up for soccer in the spring.}
Continue to teach both some swimming skills in a non-threatening environment. {Got somewhere at the end of summer.}
Go on at least one field trip per week (can be nature hike, museum, special park, class, farm, factory, etc.). {We do this very well.}
Follow our adapted Plan from The Parenting Breakthrough with each boy. {This is happening at a slow but good pace.}
Look more into Lone Scouting.
Teach Xander/have him practice riding his bike, with and without training wheels. {He's practiced a lot more with Erik and now we can raise up the training wheels in preparation for taking them off.}
Teach Xander to tie his shoes. 
Finish The Hobbit and then watch the movie. {Almost done; going to the movie this month.}
See if I can have Xander send monthly letters (with photos or drawings of where we've been) to Bailey and JT.  {Not doing this yet. He did send a couple of drawings to a classmate/friend from last year.}
Get Xander's tonsils out in November. 
Maintain this blog for anecdotes about the boys, homeschooling logs, and personal goal setting. {Yup.}

Service/Family/Friendships:
Spend some time on the Chronicles of a Babywise Mom Google group on Sundays. {Another oops.}

Possibly spend some time on the Fascinating Womanhood ~ Alaska Alumni Yahoo group on Sundays. {Not doing this lately.}

Possibly do an occasional blog post on my Fascinating Ways blog. {Same as above.}

When we are home, invite a family over for dinner every week or two. {Did this twice. Time to invite someone again.}
Do the same for playdates for Xander. {Need to line up a couple more playdates soon.}
Keep knitting for the Mother Bear Project. {Yet another oops.}

Write at least two notes, cards, or letters per week. {I've been calling and emailing some people on a regular basis, and I'm sending out Christmas cards this week.}

Call immediate family members once every week or two. {Doing this.}
Spend Sundays on rest, church, service, family, and nature activities. {Doing this.}

Writing/Business:
Learn to knit [this pattern] which can be sold with her permission. [can't find it again; keep looking]
Write for a half hour on Homemaking Cottage articles every other day. When articles for the month are done, work on improvement of expository writing, photography, and vlogs. {Spending an adequate amount of time on this for now.}

Do National Novel Writing Month again if Xander wants to do the Youth version (can incorporate into school time, thus freeing some of my time as well). {Putting this off until next year when the timing will be better for Xander.}

Keep learning. Any of my learning could come in handy in the future if I progress baby step by baby step. {Always doing this, I hope.}

Financial:
Follow new budget plan for saving/paying off car. {Have new budget and new financial plan; sent a large extra payment in November.}
Tithe 10% or more of my own income. Give to local food pantries, etc., with extra money. {Doing this.}
Check for surplus over $3K or $4K on the 10th of each month to put toward paying off the car/savings. {Doing this.}
Get haircuts with coupons - one person per month - and do manicure/pedicures at home (as always).{Doing this, plus now we have a pretty nice set of clippers with which to do all the males' hair cuts.}