Well, my last goals post was for March and April. So what happened to May?? Well, there has been so much drama lately with the passing of my father-in-law, the news that my mom has cancer and the 101 school activities on the calendar that I decided to skip May. Frankly, my only goal was to make it through each day with everyone in my house alive, fed and clothed. (Although the “clothed” was hit and miss as I was sniffing which dirty clothes items could be “freshened up” with a 5 minute spin with a dryer sheet because I was behind on laundry.) 😉 But the school year is winding down and less hectic summer days are on the horizon so I think I am ready to get back to my goals – Summer Edition. But first I’ll do the usual review of my previous (March and April) goals.

My main goals do not change but my mini-goals change depending on the two month interval and what projects I want to complete. So here is a summary of my progress and my mini goals for Summer 2016.

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Main Goal #1: To always have God at the center of my life and to deepen my love for Him. I want his will to be my will and motivation.

March/ April Mini-Goals Reviewed

• 15 minutes of morning prayer. – I want to work on the quality over the quantity. I’d rather have 5 minutes of a really thoughtful connection with God than 15 minutes of zoning out just so I can mark a check box. – My morning prayer has been going really well. I love using the Blessed Is She daily devotionals and since my mom got sick I started praying the rosary (almost) daily. It has been a huge help in turning my mind towards God and keeping me relatively sane.  (And speaking of Blessed Is She, I think today [June 1] it’s my turn to share today’s devotion.) 🙂
  
• Short exam and Act of Contrition at end of the day. – I think I need to rearrange my evening schedule to do my exam a little earlier in the evening. I keep trying to do “one more thing” until it’s so late I need to get to bed. So I’ll plan my night reflection before I start the “one more thing” game. – Honestly, this has not been going well. Still needs work.

Summer Mini-Goals

• Short exam and Act of Contrition at end of the day. – I’m going to keep working at it.
• Monthly confession. – I got off track with this and I need to get to confession at least once a month. I can feel the difference when I don’t.

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Main Goal #2: To be a loving and holy wife to Brian and to work at keeping our marriage strong, to nurture our friendship and spend time alone to reconnect.

March / April Mini-Goals Reviewed

• Coordinate schedules and plan date outing with Brian for March and April. – This has been going well. Now that Bella can babysit we feel comfortable leaving for an hour or so to go out to lunch at least once a month.
• Daily act of kindness for Brian. – Brian’s workload will be heavy these next few months so I will try to do something each day to help lighten the load. – I’ll admit there are days when I forgot but I have been trying be intentional in doing an act of kindness or being extra supportive or affectionate. It truly makes a difference and I don’t want to stop this goal.
• Shut up and let it go. – I will also work on biting my tongue when he does a task differently than how I would do it. My way it not automatically the right way! – Hmmm, I don’t think I’d get an A but maybe a B- with room for improvement.

Summer Mini-Goals

I honestly don’t want to change these goals so I’m keeping them and just tweaking the last.

• Coordinate schedules and plan date outing with Brian for June, July and August.
• Daily act of kindness for Brian.
• Treat Brian like my husband and not my 5th kid. – Sometimes I find myself talking down to Brian like he is one of the little boys. I need to show him respect, even when we disagree.

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Main Goal #3: To be a good mother that loves her kids and spends time with them and is not always “too busy.” I want to teach them about their faith and how to love and serve God in their young lives.

March/April Mini-Goals Reviewed

• Use my free morning time to get all my stuff done so I can spend more one-on-one time with the kids during homework time in the afternoon. No computer/phone use in the afternoon. – Better but not great. This won’t be an issue again until Fall.
• Let the boys help in the kitchen more and be patient with them. – This was hard when I wanted to just get dinner done quickly and some days I had to be realistic and needed to cook alone to get dinner on the table as quickly as I could. But I made a conscious effort to set certain days aside when the boys could take turns helping me make dinner and they loved it.
• Continue with our family Lenten practices and nightly decade of the rosary. – For the most part, this has gone well.

Summer Mini-Goals

• Have “no screens allowed” blocks of time during the day to make sure the kids (and mom) aren’t plugged in all summer. – No explanation needed.
• Spend more time with the kids outside. – Whether it’s playing on the driveway, going to the park, walking along the beach, just getting outdoors and being/ playing with the kids.
• Let the kids work on the scrapbooks and photo albums sitting in the closet. Matthew still cries a little when he looks through the photo albums and scrap books (remember those??) and sees lots of baby photos of his siblings but none of him. I’ve got his baby photos and momentos in a box and blank albums/ scrapbooks waiting to be filled so I’ll let them put it together. It may not be perfect but at least it won’t be gathering dust in my closet and Matthew won’t feel like the forgotten child anymore. 😉

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Main Goal #4: To bring order into our home so I am not stressed out by the mess and chaos. When things are organized our family life runs smoother and there is more peace.

March/April Mini-Goals Reviewed

• Make a reference meal list. – Considering everything else going on in life, this was low on the list of To-Do’s and abandoned.
• Put all my printed recipes into a binder for easy reference. – Considering everything else going on in life, this was low on the list of To-Do’s and abandoned.
• Continue A Bowl Full of Lemon’s 2016 Home Organization 101 Challenge. – You know the drill… Considering everything else going on in life, this was low on the list of To-Do’s and abandoned. 

Summer Mini-Goals

Okay, this will be a Take 2 and I’ll try to get to these same goals over the summer. I still really want to do them and the timing is more realistic now.

• Make a reference meal list.
• Put all my printed recipes into a binder for easy reference.
• Continue A Bowl Full of Lemon’s 2016 Home Organization 101 Challenge. ** (I reserve the right to completely ignore the goal of catching up on housework if I prefer to go the beach or take the kids to see a movie instead. After all, it’s summer.)
• Pull out the Tahoe Trip binder and update any info for this year’s trip.

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Main Goal #5 – To take care of myself physically, spiritually and mentally so I can be a happy and healthy wife, mother and friend. Taking care of myself mentally also means challenging myself to come out of my comfort zone and facing my fears and trying new things.

March/ April Mini-Goals Reviewed

• Do a little something creative every day. – Understandably, I had to put most of my creative activities on hold.
• Continued basics – water, vitamins, walk at least 20 minutes 5x a week and in bed by 11 on school nights. – Hmmm… Not bad but not great. Maybe a grade C.
  
• Eat a timely breakfast every morning. – I think for the most part, I have done better but still have days when I seriously forgot to eat breakfast until I was starving. So goes the terrible cycle.

Summer Mini – Goals

• Do a little something creative every day. – Let’s try this again.
• Continue basics – water, vitamins and start the 100 Miles in 100 Days Challenge.
  
• Schedule a girls’ night out with the IRL friends I haven’t seen in ages!

What about you? What is the one thing that you really want to work on this month(s)? Do share!

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