Life is good

The title pretty much says it all.  Life is good.  As of September 3, I started a whole new list of goals (similar to the goals I set and accomplished during my Last Year of your life challenge) I want to accomplish this year.

Personal goals:
1.Finish my memoir.  I know I have been saying this for a while now, but I think it will be the final nail needed for closing up the past and leaving a complete record for my children if they desire to know any of it.  To be honest, it might even be something I might try and publish, but for now the goal is to finish the last year or two worth of chapters.
2.Learn to use and be comfortable with my air brush.  yup, that's right.  My awesome boyfriend invested in a very fun (and expensive) tool to help me further my cake business and add to my skills by learning how to use an air brush and color things with food coloring.  I am very excited about it, but still need to start practicing.
3.Visit someplace new.  There is so much to experience and I am the type of person who stays where I am comfortable , so this year, at least one, I will visit someplace new. 
4. Teach/complete a full year of pre-school for Dorian.  Well as you can see so far I have been successful in this one.  However it takes A LOT of prep work, which is worth every minute of it, but I also know I still have lows and little motivation at times, so this goal give up on me or on Dorian.  we have only completed two weeks so far, but it has already been such a blessing.  Our schedule  is reliable and set, creating an easier day for both me and the children.  I feel validated in contributing to the lessons and proud as my children thrive and learn.  Even my one year old can point at an A, say it is an A and then go a, a, a.  However, it would be great to have your support every once in a while just to get the encouragement to keep going :)
5. Maintain a size 12 pant size and a size medium shirt size.
6. Create enough pieces (crochet) to sell at a craft fair.  I am always making baby blankets for friends and dresses for my daughter.  Matt has very lovingly expressed on several occasions that he feels I have a talent people would want to purchase.  I have sold several pieces in the past to know what it sat a quality I could sell and be proud of.  Matt said I needed to get enough to sell so that he can get me a booth at a craft fair.  I think it is a great goal to fill some tv time with the kids and expand a craft I already enjoy that I thought this was a great idea.
7.Do FHE every week.  Sadly, I am already slacking on this one. I need to learn to make this easy and not as elaborate as preschool or it will never get done.  I am thinking we will start by discussing the articles of faith and why they are important and finding a way to incorporate it into our bedtime routine.
8. Attend the temple at least once a month.  Now this is something that I already do, but it is important enough I want to keep it a priority.
9. Make a trip.  There are serveral places I would like to visit (TX, TN, IN) and I feel I will never do it unless I commit (hence the goal).  Plus I am hopping to take Matt with me as my mom recommends a road trip with a boyfriend or girlfriend as you spend 24/7 with the person, helping one see capability and or stressors to work on.
10. Experience 5 new things I have never done before.  As you know, I spent all last year working on Cherish 2.0 so why not add new experiences to the new upgraded model, which in the end just furthers the upgrade.

Matt and I made several shared goals we plan on working towards together, and while I will not share them all, here are the two I am most excited about:
1. Read the Old testament and Book of Mormon all the way through: having only started 5 days ago I am already behind.  Matt has already finished Genesis while I am just now getting to Genesis chapter 30.
2. Get married.  Yes, that is our goal.  This is something that will take some time as we are still learning and taking our relationship slowly, but in terms of thinking ahead this is something we both want.  Both Matt and I want to be sealed in the temple for time and all eternity, but Matt, having been newly baptized will have to wait until March/April until that is even possible.  We are at the step in our relationship where we are beginning to discuss the future and all that it will entail and we are both very excited about it.

My relationship is going very well, my kids are happy, healthy and learning, my business is taking off and I am happy with my spiritual goals and achievements, that life is good. I still have some personal trials (including my health, that prayers would very much be appreciated) but the trials at this point pale in all the things I am blessed with.  I love you all so much and feel so blessed that you take the time to read what I write.

Last day of B week

I can't believe today is already Friday! B week flew by.  Here is what we did on our last day of B week:


As always we practiced writing our B.  I would say he had greatly improved since Monday

My son then did a B maze to help get the bee to his beehive

We then built a building with blocks

Painting a balloon

And the highlight of our day: baking buttermilk biscuits!

My son was so proud ad I let him make them all by himself

hope to see you all back next week for C week.  My son is already asking what we are doing and is convinced we don't need to take the weekend off :)

B week, Blue, Brown and Black

B week continues and once again we all had a lot of fun!


Today we made a black,

 blue,

 and brown bear.

My son did the top three and my daughter did the bottom one

Band-aids on the letter B

lastly, we sorted m&ms he kids could eat every color except blue and brown; mommy got to eat those colors because I am the b, b, boss :)

B week, Day 3

Today was one of my favorite days of preschool so far.  The day was full of B activities.


Today my children got up from their quiet time to find a bunch of butterflies! With a net in hand and the magic word, b, b, butterfly my children caught them all (with a little help from Matt)

 We used painters tape to tape the strings to the ceiling so it quickly and easily came off when swooped at with the net.

My son then practiced writing his B (left handed)

 (right handed)

 We then had sticker time! Bees, butterflies and flowers

As if the stickers were not fun enough, we then glued b, b, buttons onto the letter B!

We then talked about bodies and how they too started with the letter B, so we decorated a couple of bodies and...

pinned the bodies on my sister's head, Brianne

My kids had so much fun pinning the body on Brianne Brown.

It looked like so much fun, I played along as well :)

Although cheesy, I felt clever at the alliteration poem I wrote.  When I said the word banana, my son had to raise his banana in the air and when I said the work bird, he had to make the bird tweet

We then placed our bananas on the tree we had from last week

 

Usually preschool lasts about an hour, but today we had close to an hour and a half worth of fun B activities.  We finished the day by having the special surprise of going to the b, b, beach (Cherry Creek Reservoir)  I hope I am not driving everyone crazy with all the preschool posts, but this is my focus and I feel amazing as I magnify my talents and watch my kids learn and magnify theirs.  Life is good and we are all so thankful for preschool!

B week, bee day

Today as we learn the letter B, out focus is on bees!

A always we start by writing the letter B

Our first activity of the day was to get the Bees home to their B

 We then made a bee out of the letter B

A short little review of last week

We then made our own beehives by gluing honeycomb onto a beehive and then of course adding our own bees.  My children loved this activity as I had him say b, b, B as he placed each bee.

B week, day one, bubble day

A whole new week means a whole new letter.  Dorian was excited to do preschool again after taking the weekend off. Here is what we did today:

 First we practiced writing the letter B...I am so excited to see how it improves over a weeks time

 Then we did art with bubbles

 Bear shaped (if you use your imagination) treats

 A huge bubble ball

 we then bounced on the ball to break the bubbles!

 bubble time in the sun

 then to finish it off we did a blue bubble bath!

Bee day tomorrow, which I am personally, very excited for. Offer still stands, if anyone in the local area is interested, we would love to have you over for preschool!