So it's three quarters the way through the year, and I've now completed 35 tasks! Here are the new ones to add to my previously completed list at the quarter year check in and my half year check in. I'm really going to push to finish up at the very least half of my 100 small things before the year is up!
#5 Run/Jog at least 30 miles in a month (August): Bully and I put in 30+ miles within the month of August! It was much needed for the both of us and we were able to get in even some 2.5-3 mile jogs in on the weekends.
9. Take Kids and Grandmas to a city (July): for the first year ever, we set out to a different city than NYC and headed southeast instead to Baltimore this year. We had a great trip, you can read all about it here. I'm even more excited to continue to explore new cities all together in the years to come!
#12 Host an 'art gallery' opening for the kids (July/August): This task took a whole month long as we slowly worked on different kinds of art projects (painting, mosaics, 'pottery/playdoh' spin art, etc) and then displaying them for about two weeks as our family and friends visited to check out our work. I introduced the kids like 'visiting artists' and they were so proud to show off their work. Our gracious family members put up such a fuss over all their projects and even asked to 'buy' some pieces for their own collections. It was a really fun event and I hope we can do it again in the future so that Violet can participate too!
#16 Buy plastic cups (September): this sounds like such a silly task, but it's needed done forever. We only have grown up glass cups and they are just too dangerous for these little hands always trying to steal our drinks! So I finally picked up some plastic 'grown up' glasses from Walmart to stock our cabinents. They've done well for us in the past few weeks and I'm so oddly comforted that I don't have to stress about them getting accidentally broken by kid hands.
#19 Finish our 2014 Yearbook (August): finally! finally! finally! Only took me eight months (har, har) but it's done and we all love it. The kids request regularly to go back and look at all our fun adventures and memories from last year. Grey is starting to understand how the yearbooks work now, so when we are visiting somewhere and I'm taking pictures, he has asked, "Can you put that picture in our next yearbook?!"
#22 Create the pet paw print frame (August): I used a regular black stamper and got a three pane picture frame and wrestled each pet to get their paw print cleanly put on the inserts. It turned out really cute (Lola's little print looks so tiny in comparison to Bullet and Trixie's!) but Trixie whacked the frame off the nail on the staircase (how ironic) and went tumbling down the steps and shattered. I still have the paw prints, I just need to replace the frame. Yeesh, zoo crew for real.
#25 Camp out with the kids (August): the kids were thrilled to spend a night camping out in our yard with Brandon. They roasted marshmallows before bed and then Brandon cooked breakfast over the campfire the next morning.
#34 Finish the patio on the front and side (August/September): I'm so happy in the way that this project turned out and incredibly grateful that we had so much help and guidance to do it ourselves. You can see the whole reveal and before/after here.
#44 SCF weekend (June/September): my sisters and I have an annual get together weekend that we do all things sisterly (basically we finish each other's thoughts and laugh the whole time. If you're not one of us it'd be very confusing and weird to watch from the outside). We had a mini party in June as a surprise for Kayla's thirtieth birthday. We spent the night at her house laughing hysterically, snacking, and prank texting because we're tweens apparently. Then in September, we had another little mini party after our Que Classic 5K run. In totally regular SCF fashion, we bumped in the real Hanson brothers (from our hometown cult classic movie: Slap Shot) while we were out together bar hopping downtown. seriously, so typical.
#47 Grey's every-school-year handwriting log page (August): I used this pin as inspiration and whipped up a handwriting log page that I have tucked in the back of Greyson's 'baby' book. It's already incredible to see how much his little signature has gotten better since the beginning of the year. It will be fun to see how his name changes over the course of his academic career. So geeky, but whatever, I'm his mom and I have a right to be a big ole sappy nerd.
#52 spend/share/save piggy banks for the kids (July): another pinterest win. Gemma had a standard piggy bank and Grey had one, but then shattered it. Plus, I like the idea that they can visually see different ways to use their own money. We haven't had too many discussions or learning moments with them yet, but they do ask which bank they should take money out of for various things ("should this be spend money or give money?")
#66 take the kids to a Curve baseball game (August): this task is a perfect example of how having things listed on the 100 small things list pushes me to make fun happy. On this particular day, we were having a marathon playdate at the Fiores house and by the time the game rolled around, I was pretty un-motivated to do anything. But it was down to the wire for game opportunities, so we loaded all five kids up and forced ourselves to the game. Turns out, we had such a great night and I'm so glad we went - not just to cross it off the list (which was the reason that at least got us out the door in the first place) but it was such a wonderful close to summer - we even had fireworks after the game! Perfection (thanks Katie for just going with the flow. xoxxox)
#80 Re-read a Tree Grows in Brooklyn (July): love it still. so much.
#87 Outside brunch/meals in the summer (summer): since this didn't have a quantifier, it gets marked off because, well, we DID eat meals outside this summer. In hindsight, now that the weather is cooling off, I wish we would have even more!
#94 Order a lovely print that makes me happy (September): I had originally planned to order one from Etsy, but then I discovered that an old co-worker of mine paints beautiful canvases these days and I couldn't resist. I ordered a gorgeous painting from Lucy that now hangs in our bedroom. It is so soothing and inspiring. I love it!!
#97 start a first day of school eve tradition (August): this task sort of morphed into something different, but I like the end product better than the goal. We spend the last Sunday before the school year swimming and enjoying the summer sun at the Quemahoming Dam with our family and friends. I also tried to make 'get ice cream' on the first day of school eve a thing - but we had a baby cutting teeth and absolutely cranky and some truck trouble...it happened, but it didn't feel like I had hoped at all. So Last Blast of Summer picnic is the tradition!
Working towards completion on these projects:
#6 Read 12 books (at least 2 classics): I'm up to ten books read - only one classic finished. Thanks to the Inspired Readers Book Club, I've found it easy to stay on track with reading. Three of the books of my ten already read this year are because of the book club!
#10 Get rid of 50 things: little by little I am chipping away at this thing. I am up to 25 'categories' of items that we've either thrown away or put in the donation bin. hooray! Some new categories we've thrown away include: donating some YA novels to a local high school, baby socks, craft paper/supplies, tattered blankets, and shoes from our closet. throw.away.all.the.things.
Practicing Intentional Empathy
#74 Go One month with NO dining out: we're in the middle of no-dining out month and it's going well. There have been a few temptations, but we've held strong. We've discovered two loopholes, it doesn't count if someone else is footing the bill (thank you Gigi and Pappy who took our whole crew out for dinner early this month) and also using old gift cards (!) we are so horrible at using gift cards we've received and this month has actually reminded/encouraged us to use them up.
#75 for One month, blog every single day: it's happening right now. woohoo for the sixteenth blog post in a row!
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The heat is turned up, friends! I'm down to the last portion of the year and lots of things coming up with the holidays - but I'm determined! So on I march!
what goals have you reached this year so far?
Ummm, some of your little things are BIG and therefore should count as at least five. Just sayin'!!!
ReplyDeleteYou are SO inspiring!