Goals for 2017

As this new year begins, I have decided to post my 2017 goals rather that proclaiming "resolutions". In Boy Scouts we teach goals should be "SMART":
S - Specific
M - Measurable
A - Achievable
R - Relevant and
T - Timely 

I don't have all my goals honed adequately that they are stated in a "measurable" format, but here are goals I have for 2017:

• Weight loss goal: lose 20 (more) pounds.
• Menu-planning goals: plan and prepare six to seven healthy meals per week for my family and post these plans to my blog each week;
• Spiritual: this year I'll be working to regularly read, pray, journal and worship privately and corporately;
• Exercise: I am planning to try to get exercise 3-5 days per week;
• Nature study: I'll be continuing my bird watching. I think I should start a nature study journal of the birds I see starting this year.
• Homeschool: the plan this year is to finish 11th  with a credit in Geometry, to take Spanish 1 and Sociology 100 at the community college in the Spring 2017 semester, and to take Spanish 2 and ENGL 210 in the Fall 2017 semester. I'd like the student to take a summer computer course, but I don't know if that will happen. As he rolls into 12th Grade, the student will be taking a Bible course at home, as required by our umbrella school (with which he'd like to participate in graduation) 

• Boy Scouts: encourage my son to do his Eagle project, paperwork, Scoutmaster Conference and Board of Review to achieve Eagle rank (he has to finish this as he is "aging out" this year (old photo below);
  
• CAP: I'll be encouraging the cadet to get some flights in and to continue to work on advancement;
  
• Decluttering: not stated measurably, but it is my goal to declutter this year as if we were moving in one year (which we're not, but that's the goal);
• Sewing: make pajama pants I promised to my adult daughter (long overdue);
• Quilting: finish the quilt I've been working on for 18 months and start a new quilt.

• Crafting: I plan to continue crafting for my favorite charity, Online Angels, out of Pottsville, PA (I usually make baby hats, booties, and various other items like slippers and totes).

I think I'll be reading more this year as well, but I'm not going to set a goal. I've just started a book my father-in-law loaned me.

What are your goals this year?

Christmas 2016

This year Christmas was a little subdued in our household. My sister has been battling breast cancer for almost four years. In June she broke her ankle, and recovery from that injury has been slow.

We were delighted to be able to be a little generous with our adult and almost-adult kids. We sent gifts, via Amazon, to one in Colorado.

We surprised our local daughter and her husband with various nice things.

                          

We gave the student a lot of this and that.

One of the gifts for our youngest was an item we had been saving, keeping a secret, since we received the product as part of a home school review. It was a really nice item, and we had paid extra to upgrade the item over what we would have received if we'd gone with what the review was offering (we got a bigger size). But as Christmas approached, my husband and I were having doubts. Our son wanted knives and paracord for making braided whips. We began to lower our expectations of his reaction over the gift, because we were giving our 17-year-old son something he hadn't asked for. We'd decided he wasn't going to appreciate the item, or the effort the company had taken to create the gift. It was a personalized gift from CrossTimber, so we went ahead and gave it to him.

To our surprise and delight, our son loved the personalized name plaque!  He loves the jets! He loves the Bible verses! He loves knowing what his name means!

He now has his name plaque proudly displayed on his computer desk where his friends see it when they visit. His love of this gift was my biggest surprise this Christmas! Thank you, CrossTimber!

December 2016 Highlights

December came so quickly in 2016 that I couldn't believe it. Where has the year gone?

Early December was my student focusing on finishing his to college courses for the semester (Dual Enrollment program). There were also Boy Scout meetings, Civil Air Patrol meetings, and getting ready for Christmas.

In December, both of my CAP family members got promoted on the same night.

The Cadet got promoted to Staff Sgt.

The Senior member got promoted to 1st Leutenant.  

The Boy Scout troop met each week and went camping. Our Scout missed some of the meetings because college studies taking up a lot of his time. Our troop was honored by a visit from five of our former Scouts, all Eagles, visiting while on break from college.

My husband and I got new cell phones. We didn't get all the most expensive bells and whistles, but I'm thrilled to have some newer technology and some faster speed for the things I use my cell for. The photos are better quality, too, and I'm glad about that.

We got a silly little Christmas tree this year. Sorry for the washed out photo...

We enjoyed our giving of gifts this year. I won't list gifts here, mostly. I'm not even sure what people's favorite gifts were (I'm meaning the gifts they received). I'll post more about some of the received gifts in future blog entries.

After Christmas we visited some family we don't often see. Didn't photograph everyone, but here are photos of some of our close family. The first is my nephew Jared and his mom and dad, my husband's brother Mike and wife Deanna:

The next is my husband Rick visiting with Deanna's mom Dixie:

We also saw Rick's other brother, Larry; Larry's son-in-law, Lee; as well as Rick's dad, Jerry -- but at the time I wasn't thinking and didn't take photos of them.

We were visiting them in North Carolina from 12/26 to 12/28. We came home to piles of laundry and some post-Christmas shopping 12/29. Then 12/30 was my birthday. We went out to dinner, which we don't normally do on my birthday, so that was special. I made my own cake, but doing so was a stretch time-wise. The cake was lopsided, and the icing wasn't warm because of how cold the house is in December. Then I kinda ran out of icing before the sides got iced all the way down. I photographed a better looking side. I requested, "No candles, please!"

12/31 was menu-planning and shopping, and not much else. We're leaving the tree up an extra few days because we're celebrating late-Christmas tomorrow at my house.

Student has been on break from college since 12/18 and has been focusing some time on his Geometry. He did a smashingly marvelous job on his courses during the fall semester (English 102 and History of the 20th century). He has also been making bull whips out of paracord. (Google it!) 

    

We're going to try to get him to buckle down and work on his Eagle project as well during his college break.

That's about it. Coming soon: results of 2016 year goals!

Somebody had a birthday!

So I mentioned in my last post that someone had a birthday. When I can, I like to use birthdays for a photo review.

One year, on Thanksgiving Day, a son was born!

He was the youngest of three, and we love our little guy!

You can see there is quite a gap between #1 and #3 - thirteen years!

The years rolled by so quickly, it seems.

#1 graduated from homeschool and left home to attend college. #2 was almost finished with homeschool when #3 started home kindergarten.

#2 attended a private school for senior year, so when #3 was in 1st Grade I was homeschooling a "Lonely only"!

 Kindergarten

6tg

7th

9th

10th

11th

So #3 had a birthday! One more year of "childhood". He'll be 18 most of his senior year. On Thursday we did one more family photo - only mom, dad and #3.

Family Movies I want to see

Reading a recent post by The Multi-Tasking Mom at Year Round Homeschooling, I discovered some recommended movies I've never seen before. I decided to post them here as a list of family movies I want to see (no affiliate links), This in no way to suggest the other titles are to be dismissed, but rather that my family has already seen the other movies (sometimes in a different version, like "A Christmas Carol").