Candi

I had written down my goals for June and ended up being pretty successful at completing most of my goals. Recap of June Goals:

1. Blog at least 2 times per week and Post at least 1 video per week – I accomplished this if you include the weekly blog posts for my 365 Days of Gratitude. Sorta cheating I know, but hey, I posted something at least. And I posted 7 videos as well.

2. Paint Blake and Chase’s bedroom – Total fail on this one, which I should have never put such a thing on my list when I had so much to do to prepare for Andrew’s Graduation Party.

3. Organize photos and scrapbooks for Andrew’s Graduation Party – I got all of his scrapbooks done (3 of them) and I ended up making a video instead of making the trifold poster boards that many make.

4. Walk at least 4 times per week – Partial success here. I walked a total of 12 times in June for a total of 36 miles. If I look back through my Nike+ account I had only one other month where I walked that many miles and that is the month before my first (and only) 5K two years ago. So with that fact alone I would say I was quite successful at going above and beyond what I would normally do. I decided to walk at least an hour each time instead of trying to walk as often throughout the week. I dropped some pounds as well, so Yippee!

5. Decorate my office – I got a good start, but I’m not quite finished. I found a piece that had the exact colors I was going for above my desk and then I found these cute ceramic pencils and a green lantern for the kids desk.

On to next month…

July Goals

1. Paint Blake & Chase’s bedroom
I’ll keep this one on the list again this month.

2. Organize the basement filing cabinets
We have a large filing cabinet in the storage room of our basement that has stuff in it from 2001, when we first moved into our house. It’s really time to purge a lot of what’s in there to make room for new stuff that needs to be archived from my office files.

3. Read 2 books
I love to read more than any other hobby but because this house is so loud and chaotic at times I feel like it’s the last thing I do. I want to read at least 2 books this month especially while I’m relaxing around the pool. Right now I’m reading If I Stay and it’s really good so far! The movie comes out in August.

4. Spend less money on groceries and eating out
Ken and I have gone over our expenses so far this year and we have realized once again that way too much money is being spent on food and eating out. We need to buckle down and try to decrease the amount so we can work at saving more money instead.

Day 168

Tried out this sausage pasta recipe that I found here. Turned out great and everyone loved it. I didn’t think it was really all that spicy though.

Day 169

Kids last day of school, yippee!!

Day 170

Can still remember when we had Andrew list his goals right before his Senior year started. It sure went by fast.

Day 171

I had a special guest for dinner.

Day 172

Alfalfa!

Day 173

Andrew and Chelsea…such a cute couple!

Day 174

Chase has been spending a lot of time on the computer…wish I could say it’s for something educational, but he has been trying to complete a level on a video game and is looking for shortcuts.

Day 161

This is the first time one of the kids has had to make a store window for their mini society project. Karli’s turned out pretty cute. She had it all planned out in her head before she even got her supplies out. Such a crafty girl!

Day 162

Taco salad for dinner per Chase’s request.

Day 163

Tori is so scraggly…but still cute =)

Day 164

I loved the board that the girls from Karli’s dance company made for their recital this year. Each of the girls wrote why they love dance. Karli’s said, “I love dance because it’s my life!”

Day 165

Karli and her big buddy, Ana, after their dance recital.

Day 166

The kids and I made fruit pizza for Ken for Father’s Day. Andrew and Chase also dug out some stumps that were in the backyard while Ken and Blake were at baseball. That was Ken’s only request for Father’s Day!

Day 167

Karli is all ready for mini society with all her ninja stars.

Day 154

Shaggy boy was making sure we didn’t waste any food.

Day 155

All registered for fall classes. Hard to believe I’m the parent of a college student!

Day 156

Seen the Fault in Our Stars with the girls. Great movie…bring tissues!

Day 157

Following Karli home on Chase’s bike. She’s such a boy sometimes.

Day 158

Thrilled that a break from homework is almost near! I can feel it! It’s so close!

Day 159

Cleaned my work laptop keyboard and now the space bar doesn’t work. Good thing plugging in an old keyboard works. Otherwise.I.would.be.typing.like.this.all.day.

Day 160

Karli’s Dance Recital line-up…she has lots of quick changes, but we can do it!

Chase’s 5th grade graduation photos are a perfect representation of his personality. He is our most outgoing and friendly kid. Hard to believe that he was the most difficult baby. He would cry and cry and we could never figure out what was wrong with him. Now he is the happiest little dude. He makes friends with everyone and he has been the easiest and most drama free of them all. {Knock on wood of course!}

Waving to us!

So proud of our boy!

Right after graduation Chase said, “Just stand here in the hallway and take pictures of me with all my friends.” Finally a kid who enjoys have photo after photo taken of him and loves to smile!

And then we have Blake. Thank goodness I took this photo of him in the morning before school because he has yet to give me more photos.(He got photos taken with a bunch of his buds afterwards but I need the other parents to send them to me.) Unfortunately we weren’t able to attend his 8th grade graduation ceremony because Andrew had college orientation and Ken had already signed up to volunteer for Karli’s field trip. My parents went in our place thank goodness! My mom got video of Blake receiving his certificate which was nice. Blake and a bunch of his buds decided to wear bow ties. He wanted red and all I could find was a real bow tie so Ken had to use YouTube to learn how to tie it. I can’t believe he is going to high school next year. Crazy!!