We finally made it to a 4-H foods project meeting this morning. Alex loves to bake and loves to eat cinnamon rolls, so we made it to the perfect lesson. Cinnamon Rolls!! He finished them at dad's house but I will make sure he practices another batch here too.
So thankful to his foods leader, I don't really know much about baking with yeast so Alex and I both learned some tricks. I hope these can be a fair entry!
Well, not technically a snow day, the boys already had the day off of school because of Parent Teacher conferences. Yesterday when we got the snow it was too windy and we did not leave the house all day. When we found out our friends were sledding in the park next to the house today, we bundled up and headed out.
Sledding was fun, rolling down the hill without a sled was fun, building a fort was fun and we all ended with a snowball fight. We should all sleep good tonight. The only other item on the agenda today is to watch Encanto. Alex has seen it a couple of times and he is tired of me not knowing what he is talking about! So this day off school and off work, we are going to the movies.
Happy snow day everyone!
Daryl is a month into middle school basketball but with COVID and snow days he has only had three games. He had two this week and I got to see both, and man it is funny. He plays on the B team and they try really hard. But basketball has a lot of rules! You can tell most of them play on the playground as many time when one team scores a basket the other team tries to take off really fast without going out of bounds first. The walking and double dribbles are only called about half the time, or we wouldn't get to play a lot. Lastly, that darn half court line vexes all the point guards as they get pushed back to it and then accidently step over.
They are all learning so much, and I think I've seen two wins and two losses. The score is hard to remember when you are just watching all these kids have fun and play out their NBA dreams. In one game Daryl scored six points and he was on cloud nine! I appreciate so much about Daryl's middle school but one of the things I love the most is how all kids that go out for sports get to play. There is a varsity team and I'm sure their games look a lot different. But I kinda like B team, there are a lot of reasons to giggle. I asked one of the referees on Wednesday how he keeps a straight face. He said it is hard sometimes!
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| Go #4! |
On Saturday I was so happy to participate in 4-H Club Days for many different reasons. First, our club decided to do a new event for us. They tried doing a Model Meeting and I think they learned a lot! They had a practice outside of our club meeting, recruited some friends from another club to help and found a theme that made it fun for them. The club voted on the theme and much to the disappointment of Daryl and Alex, Star Wars won. They wanted sports but they lost the vote, and we had a conversation about how democracy works, and if you are a part of a group you don't always get your way.
Daryl was the president for the model meeting and Alex was the recreation leader. We practiced a little at home and they both did great! So proud of them! They received a Top Purple for their effort.
Alex and Daryl also both did an impromptu talk. Daryl likes this event and had done it before, this was the first time Alex tried it and he was very nervous. But they both did the event, and I'm glad they keep trying new things. They both got blues for their talks.
I was happy to be a Club Leader and 4-H mom at Club Days and when our events were over, we left! It was so weird not to have to wrap up the event, and it was really nice. The 4-H Agent and Program Assistant were doing a lovely job, and I'm proud to still be a part of Shawnee County 4-H!
Our Saturday did not stop there, Alex still had soccer and we did some valentine's day shopping for next week. We were on the run so much that at 5pm when we got home the boys were asking for dinner but I needed a nap first! Sometimes you have to wait for the cook to be rested or you're more than welcome to make a sandwich!
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| Daryl doing an impromptu in what he insists are "nice" sweatpants. Ugh |
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| Alex doing his impromptu in what mom would consider a nice outfit. |
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| Daryl leading his club's model meeting! |
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| Alex wearing a borrowed hat to dress with the theme! |
I am pretty proud of my progress this month. I had three days of doing absolutely nothing, but was ahead of the game to that point so I still finished strong! How did you all do?
Read 21 Books: 2/21
This month I read Maid by Stephanie Land and I'm Thinking of Ending Things by Reid. The first book is now a Netflix series but based off of Land's life as a part of the working poor. For me I enjoy books that broaden my viewpoint and this one did. If you don't understand welfare programs, you should read this book. People paying for groceries with benefits should not be the subject of scorn but the system. Eye opening.
The next book I picked up was a fiction thriller and it was not my favorite. If you like the genre of wondering "what the heck is going on," it would probably be for you. The upside is it was a shorter book so like it or not, it will go quick. LOL
Run 720 Miles: 61!
To hit 720 I need to get 60 miles a month. I had to take some time off because I was sick, so in the last three days of this month I needed to run 11 miles! I did 12 and ended my run this morning at 61 for the month. Yay me!
Money Goals: (You gotta tell your money what to do, or it will just disappear)
Add 2K to Savings, Was able to put some money in savings this month.
Pay Mortg principle down 5K, Did make an extra principle payment
New Living Room Furniture (Home), Got a rug and I have a couch in mind that I want. I think this will be done in Feb.
Replace Some Windows (Home)
Replace Window Blinds (Home)
Create Backyard Oasis (Home)
Trips: 0/3
Days I hit all of my Daily Habits: 11, that was with a lot of effort, too!
Daryl and Alex both finished one book in January. Daryl read To Kill a Mockingbird and Alex read Dog Man Grime and Punishment. They are right on track too!
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| How I keep track of my daily habits. This is really going to challenge me this year! |
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| I made a fruit pizza for the chiefs game. The pizza ended up better than the game. |
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| Keeping my New Year's resolution of ordering more dessert! Who knew a triple brownie delight was actually 3 brownies stacked on top of each other! LOL |
2022 Motto: I am only competing with myself, I just want to be better than the woman I was yesterday. I make my yearly goals for this reason. If you don't know what you want to do with your time, it will just float away anyway. I want to be intentional the year with my most precious resource, my time. I feel the same way about money which is why I live by my monthly budget, and have for about 12 years now.
For clarity, what am I trying to personally improve? The monthly goals should make me healthier, my home cozier and my point of view wider. So this is the year of health, home and viewpoint. I've always liked even number years, so let's go!
Read 21 Books:
This is up one book from last year, and I'm going to try and keep a good mix of fiction and non fiction, even thought I really love fiction. (Viewpoint)
Run 720 Miles:
This is down from 800 last year but I realize I also like to lift weights and play tennis with the boys. So not all my fitness is measured in miles. Yet, last year miles was demanding more of my fitness time than I liked. And I got hurt and didn't make it to 800 anyway. Here is to 60 miles a month and 720 for the year! (Health)
Money Goals: (You gotta tell your money what to do, or it will just disappear)
Add 2K to Savings
Pay Mortg principle down 5K
New Living Room Furniture (Home)
Replace Some Windows (Home)
Replace Window Blinds (Home)
Create Backyard Oasis (Home)
Trips: I would like to take three trips this year. One with Mom, one with the boys and one with the girlfriends. (Viewpoint)
The newest thing I'm trying this year is to keep a daily habit tracker. I got this idea from a book I read last year "The Happiness Project." The author tracked the good habits she did everyday in hopes of making them automatic. It is an idea that has been around a long time and I like the quote about it that goes, "It doesn't matter what you do every day, it matters what you do most days." So I will update monthly how many days I did all five of my good habits. The habits might change but for January they are 1.) 8 glasses of water 2.) Read 15 min. 3.) 10 min Tidy Up 4.) Move 30 minutes 5.) Declutter 1 thing.
That is a lot of plans for my year. Now it is time to get to 'em!
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| Never got these posted from Bowling with Grandma before she moved back to SW Kansas. |
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| She beat us all, of course! |
