My 2011 Goals

I hate writing New Year's resolutions.  Hate them.  I always feel like I'm setting myself up for failure because in the past they've always been so unrealistic.  Like the year I said I would go to the gym everyday.  Yeah, that was realistic.

This year I wrote up some goals the other day that point in the direction I want to go.  Will I accomplish all of them?  Probably not.  On the other hand, it's always nice to have a path laid out in front of you so that if you find yourself getting off track you can just say, "Hey self!  The path's over here!  Why are you out walking in the weeds by that lake?  You're going to fall in!!!"

So---for better or worse, here are my goals for this year.
In the ideal 2011, I am:

Healthy - I am managing my illness.  I am planning healthy meals and snacks for my family.  I am exercising at least 3 days per week.  We just bought a 3 month membership at the local rec center so I'm planning on taking the kids 2 days a week to swim (one of those times is for their swim lesson and once for just fun).  I'd like to make it over one other time on my own before they get up in the morning.  I have an appointment with the trainer on 1/10 to come up with a realistic workout that accommodates my knee injury.

Happy - My husband and I are close and are going on a couple of date nights per month.  I am planning time each month to spend with friends.  I am spending less time on the computer and watching TV and more time living my life.  I'd like limit recreational computer time to 30 minutes (with allowing extra time for listing things on eBay or doing household related items) and limit TV time during the week to 1 hour per day.

Getting to know God - I am spending time daily in study, prayer, and meditation.  I am committing one hour per week to a cause I am passionate about.  I will find a church situation with which I can be content.  I will continue to teach Sunday School and write for the prison ministry.  I will commit myself to listening for God's voice in my daily life.  I will plan family devotions.

A good example for my children - I want to feel like my kids would be great adults if they modeled my behavior; therefore, I need to think more before I act or open my mouth.  Continue to teach them and read to them.  I want to give them opportunities to try new things and have new experiences without being pushy.  I want to give my children equal individual attention.

Pursuing a personal goal - I want to establish a meaningful goal so at the end of the year I can celebrate a tangible achievement.  Some ideas are pursuing publication for my children's book, getting family scrapbooks up to date, and starting a trip fund so we can go on a big vacation in 2012.  I'd also like to finish the quilt I started for my nephew's birthday 2 years ago.  Unfinished projects be gone!

Now that I'm reading all this back, I must admit I feel a little bit overwhelmed.  I know in my heart though if I break it into baby steps I can accomplish more than I imagine.  Here's to a 2011 that brings success, accomplishment and beautiful blessings to all!

See this box of petit fours?

It used to be full when it arrived last night.  Now there are 10 holes in it due to the one and only Tom Thumb. He's the ultimate petit four thief!

An interesting place to be...

A lot has happened over the last month.  Red has suddenly shown lots of interest in doing school related things --- playing Rightstart math games (she loves Go to the Dump), doing reading lessons (we just finished lesson 122), and reading aloud to me.  It's a whole new world of cooperation and I'm loving it.

School is going well.  Red is concerned already about going to first grade next year.  I told her that we'll cross that bridge when we come to it and not to worry herself. 

I'm in preparations for Christmas.  While I'm done with buying gifts, I still have to wrap every single thing I've purchased.  *sigh*

For your amusement and entertainment, here are my friend Maureen and I with the 20 "gingerbread" houses we made from graham crackers for Red's class holiday party.  I was expecting about 2 hours of work and it became a 6 hour tour.  Never again!

Red and Tom Thumb with Santa

Merry Christmas to all!

Halloween and everything else...

Halloween was much fun this year.  Here's our Tom Thumb Dragon getting ready to trick or treat.  I tried to upload some other photos, but my blog is refusing to load them...maybe later.  Halloween was loads of fun.  That night "The Sugar Sweet Fairy" came and picked up their excess candy (we let them each keep 5 pieces) and traded it out for a Tangled doll for Red and a Percy train for Tom Thumb.  Well worth it as far as I'm concerned.  We're trying really hard right now to keep a cavity at bay for Red.

School is still going well for Red.  We're still plugging away at OPGTR and we're at lesson 113 now.  Yay!  We're doing some writing practice and a wee bit of math.  I wish I had more to report, but we've had some sickness going around in our house that has been holding us back from doing much. 

Happy November to all!

Coming up on Lesson 100 in OPGTR!

Yesterday we finished lesson 98 in The Ordinary Parent's Guide to Teaching Reading, which was about the long O sound of OA .  I feel really strongly that reading is the most important thing Red should be doing academically right now.  Since she is going to 1/2 day afternoon kindergarten five days a week, we have dropped doing math and writing at home (except for practice work that is sent home by her teacher).  We have continued plugging away at OPGTR for about 15 minute per day.  Although she doesn't come to the lesson enthusiastically everyday, we are making progress and she's fighting me about it less and less.  There are 231 lessons so I'm hoping we finish it by the end of her kindergarten year. 

I really can't say enough good things about that book!  What I love is that it systemically teaches phonics in an order that makes sense and is easy to understand.  The only bummer is that so many "easy reader" books that are out there depend on the child's ability to memorize sight words in order to read the book.  My plan right now is to keep working away at OPGTR, and then when we finish it to have her start reading to me 10 minutes per day from a book of her choice.  Currently, Red has no interest in reading aloud to me.  She will do so when asked, but not of her own choosing.  On the other hand, she will sit there and listen to me read all day.  Today she stayed home from school because she was feeling ill.  She took a two hour nap this afternoon (she napped?!?!  That's when I definitely knew she was sick).  She watched some television, but over the course of the day I must have read aloud to her for about three hours.  We finished reading Charlotte's Web (what an outstanding book!  I can't wait to read it to Tom Thumb when he's older), we read a whole bunch of Mr. Putter and Tabby books including this one (love 'em!), and started Twenty and Ten.

School overall is going well.  I signed on with another mother to be co-room parents.  Our duties are to plan crafts and activities when there are holiday parties at school.  Red can't wait to go to school everyday.  She's only had to sit at the "peace table" (AKA the naughty spot) twice so far---yay!  My only complaint is that the teachers haven't really hit their stride as far as organization goes yet, but I think once they get that all worked out it should be fine.  One thing I really like is the "Friday Folder".  Every Friday Red brings home a folder in which the teacher includes comments about what she's working on currently and her behavior.  It's nice to have some sense of what's going on on a week to week basis and not just hearing about it at parent/teacher conferences--- which by the way are coming up around Thanksgiving.

Tomorrow the kids start back to swim class.  Tom Thumb will be a Tadpole (the first level after Parent Tot classes) and Red will be a Sunfish (her first time in the lap pool learning how to do the crawl).  While Tom Thumb can't wait to go tomorrow, Red is very scared about not being able to touch the bottom of the lap pool.  There's no shallow part.  The shallowest area is about 4.5 to 5 feet deep.  It's just shallow enough for me to have my shoulders above the water and I'm 5' 11".  Red is only 41" tall.  Our regular babysitter Colleen who is also a lifeguard there is going to meet us a few minutes early so she can help Red get acclimated to the lap pool before her teacher takes over.  Luckily, the teacher is Colleen's boyfriend so we already know him.  I hope that helps matters.  We'll see how it goes.  Fingers are crossed that there's not too much crying.

Tom Thumb is 3, a princess tea party, and Old Car Festival!

Last week Tom Thumb turned 3.  Yay!  It was such a great day.  He was so happy and loved all his gifts and his Thomas cake.  We bought him a big set of Magna-tiles which he adores, as you can see here:

It was a pretty big week.  Red also went to a friend's birthday party,which was a princess tea party.  We took a pink limo to the party (the mommies were invited), the girls had their hair done and got to wear ball gowns, participated in a fashion show, and ate ice cream sundaes and other treats.  This all happened while a group of women dressed like princesses and ladies in waiting sang and danced.  Needless to say, the party was over the top!

Here's the princess welcoming them to the party!

Here are all the little princesses.

And introducing Princess Red!

And just to top off another busy week, we took the Model T to Old Car Festival. 

We had a great time driving around the car, seeing friends, and participating in car games.  The funniest one was the Chinese firedrill when Red got out of the car and just kept running to the finish line instead instead of getting back in!  We stayed for the fireworks and dancing to 1920s music that night, and Andrew danced with an older woman.

...and danced with Natalie.

I also drove the car for the first time and very appropriately won the slow car race. 

Cheers to another great week!

Our First Day of Public School and forget China

Red started public school this week.  She only had two days because our district had off two days for Ramadan, but so far she really seems to like it.  What's working for me is that she always required a lot of extra attention while Tom Thumb was down for his extended afternoon nap.  Now she's not here.  It's like a 3 hour break when I can actually do some housekeeping and stuff.  Have I done that yet?  No, but I have good intentions.

One thing that does bother me though is that she will not tell me what she did at school during the day.  It's probably a control issue on my part.  When I've asked her what she did, her response has been, "I don't know" or "I forget".  I told the Cobbler that I'm just going to start grooving next week with what I originally planned to do (i.e. our read aloud list, OPGTR, Rightstart A, a bit of Getty Dubay A) so have some idea what is actually going into her little mind.

Now as far as our studying China plan went...well, it didn't really go.  We did watch Big Bird in China, which the kids really liked.  We read a couple of books.  Then, when I took out something else to do that was Chinese the reaction was, "Another thing about China? (sigh)"  I guess I learned my lesson.  When the path of study is not child led, it can be too much especially at age 5.  Now that I'm writing this Red just walked in with a piece of paper and said, "Look Mom--- I wrote in Chinese!"  And she had!  She copied characters out of one of the library books about China.  Then she said, "What do these say?"  Of course, I have no idea and really no way to find out.  (Big sigh)  I guess something did sink in.