Currently {August 2015}

Reading//   Women of the Word by Jen Wilkin. I am only on chapter 2 and I want to go on and on about how good this book is. This book equips you to better study Gods Word, something I think most people would say they need and desire.

Wishing //  I'm still wishing that summer could last forever. I think I am in a bit of denial that our summer is pretty much over. Thank goodness we have a month of 3 day weekends before co-op starts back up in September. Maybe 4 day school weeks will help us ease back into things. 

Listening to // Emily sing, all the time. I stumbled across a quote on Pinterest that said a happy child is one who sings and it made me smile. 

Watching // The girls and I are huge fans of cooking competition shows. Lately we have been watching plenty of Master Chef and Food Fight. I love that they are so interested in cooking and kitchen shows already. 

Looking Forward To // Christmas #sorrynotsorry. The arrival of the Christmas season is what will motivate me through this first semester of school. Don't get me wrong I am very excited about fall and all things pumpkin, but Christmas is where my heart is. 

Drinking //  Iced coffee. All. Day. Long! If you haven't tried this recipe yet, you are missing out.

Wearing //  Bathing suits... well I was until today :(. I guess it is back to endless workout clothes for me now.

I did recently grabbed this jacket (in gray) really cheap on clearance. I kind of have a jacket obsession and fall will soon be here. 

Learning // How to do chalkboard art. The huge chalkboard in the home school room was put there more for decorative purposes and less for a functioning chalkboard. I made my first attempt last week and was pleasantly surprised with how well it turned out. I had originally planned on changing it once a month but that was so much fun to do there is no way I will be able to wait a whole month before making a new creation!

Enjoying // My girls. We simply had the most amazing summer together and I just love them so very much. We had so much time to play and live an unscheduled life just enjoying summer and each other. Going back to routine is going to be a bit harder than I imagined.

Planning //  Exciting blogging activities for the fall, Christmas and the New Year too. I know all of this seems pretty far away but you just wait. It will be here before you know it!

Eating // From my garden. BLT sandwiches are so much better this time of year with fresh tomatoes, Margherita pizza is a favorite and then there is the best salad ever that I made with my home grown butternut squash.

Russ' mom made this one day and it has been a favorite ever since. I plan to share the recipe soon because something this good just needs to be shared. 

Praying // Still praying that God would guide us to a new church home. I have also been praying for our new school year. May grace and patience be abundant for both.

Missing // Is it too soon too be missing all of our pool time yet?  We spent Friday at the pool as a family. We recently realized Russ still has 95 hours of vacation time for this year so we thought it would be perfect for him to take the afternoon off.

Yup, it doesn't get much more perfect than that. 

What have you been up to currently?

Monthly Goals {August 2015}

July is over?! 

How in the world did that happen?

It seems like just the other day we were making red white and blue jello salad and lighting off fireworks. Now the last few days of summer break are in the single digits and we are soaking up every last bit of sun that we can.

July really flew by. 

That said I have no idea how I did on my goals. I have a bad habit of making them and that is it. I don't really look again until the end of the month. Maybe a goal for this month should be to print out my goals where I can see them daily so I don't forget about them. 

Let's take a look.

Blog-

*Continue blogging 4-5 days a week. *Grow Instagram to 700. I seem to be stuck.
*Rework a few old posts with better "pinnable" images. 
I kept up the blog despite the busyness of summer. I always seem to think that if I slow down that momentum may be hard to regain so I try to keep going. Plus my Instagram grew to well over 700, finally.
Old posts, yeah I never got around to that one. I was lucky enough to write new posts and stay some what caught up on my blog reading. 

Family-

*Work on crossing things off our bucket list.
*Lots of pool time (best goal ever). *Fun run with the girls.
*Family donut or ice cream date, maybe both :).
One of my favorite parts about summer is loads of family time. 
We crossed a few things off our list and I posted a bucket list update. Lots of pool time, #nailedit if there is one thing we have done well this summer it is swimming. Fun run night was a blast and we hit up Sonic for half price shakes early in the month. 

Fitness- *Exercise at least 5 days a week. *Finish stage one & most of stage 2 in "The New Rules" program. *Keep my nutrition plan on track. *Run a solo race.
I have kept a great gym schedule, Stage one is complete and stage 2 will be finished Friday. I ran a race on the 4th of July and some how managed to place first in my age division there. 

As for my nutrition I don't feel I can cross that one off. I am not counting my calories like I was or tracking my protein intake but I also have not became to relaxed here either. I manage to stay pretty aware of what I am eating and the balance I am maintaining... or not. I have shown myself more grace and that is great. At the end of it all I don't have time to track every single food and calorie that goes into my mouth and when I was it was taking so much time from things that should be more important, like my kids. It is all about finding a healthy balance and I am working on that. I think I can do better but still not let this become the distraction it once was. Maybe I should find a healthy balanced days worth of food and then just eat the same exact thing every single day ;).
Spiritual-  *Read Gods word.
*Pray that God would guide our family.  *Worship more with our children. They love to dance and sing it is always so good for my heart when I join in.
I have done better this month but I also feel I am floundering more than ever. Months of not being plugged into a church is definitely becoming emotionally hard, especially for me. What we do know is that God has a plan, a good plan, for us. We are patiently waiting on Him even though it is hard and confusing.
Home School- *Work on math and English with Marissa.
*Complete 2015/2015 school year lesson plans.
*Complete or almost complete home school room.
Summer learning is going well, lesson plans are complete and ready and the school room *sigh* it turned out amazing. Check it out for yourself if you missed it.
 
Random- *Make Finish a new pallet sign. *Date night with Russ. *Try a new recipe or two. *Have a girls night with a friend. (Any takers out there?)    Maybe I should just take the sign off my list. I fear it will remain blank for quite some time.
Russ and I took advantage of  our girls being at a cousin sleepover and went on a date
I tried several new recipes. Including Buffalo Chicken Quinoa, Zucchini Brownies and Grilling a pork sirloin. And have I mentioned my iced coffee that is to die for. I can't wait to share that recipe with you THIS week.

I wrote about the importance of making time for you and had two girls nights with my two closest friends this month. One was a Starbucks night with Sarah where we were able to reconnect after a busy season. I talk to her all day through texts but it was awesome to sit in each others company. The second was a women's worship night with Anna. We sang and prayed then went and talked about motherhood fears over some Sonic until late in the evening. Both were so good for this mama's heart. 

Blog-

*Continue blogging 4-5 days a week. *Participate in a new to me link-up
*With school starting back up I want to try and write more posts on the weekends

Family-

*Ice cream or donut date

*Wrap up our summer bucket list

*Family movie or game night

*Take both girls out on individual dates

Fitness- *Exercise at least 5 days a week. *Finish stage 2 & most of stage 3 in "The New Rules" program. *Find a better balance in my nutrition. *Encourage others more.
Spiritual-  *Read Women of the Word *Resume Bible study meetings with Sarah.  *Pray more in good times and bad
Home School- *Finish summer off with a celebratory & fun last week *Participate in the Back To School blog hop on August 12th *Take back to school photos. *Start off the school year strong and prayerfully.
Random- *Celebrate 8 years of marriage *Date night at the dirt track *Attend a baseball game *Girls night out *Print out my goals for this month ;).
August is going to be a pretty busy month for us.
Saying goodbye to summer and hello to school books. Our favorite car show of the year happens later this month and we are joyfully celebrating wedding anniversary #8! So much to look forward too.
What is on your agenda for August?