Author: Raptor Mama

I’d say Hello Fall, but it’s still a million degrees here on the surface of the sun. lol. Let’s see how I did in August.

1. Girl Scouts. I did pretty good on this one! I got all of the banking trainings done and went up to the bank to get all of the paperwork done. Now I’m just waiting for my debit card to arrive and we will be in business. 🙂 I also got my CPR/ First Aid training done, attended my first leader meeting (with all 3 kids on tow since RaptorDad had to go to Kate’s open house at the exact same time), and had my first meeting/ parent meeting. You guys, my co-leader is amazing! I would be totally floundering if not for her. We don’t ::quite:: have the fall schedule done, but it’s not for lack of trying. We’re just still waiting on a few people to get back to us regarding scheduling field trips. But I’m still super excited about what we do have planned!
2. First day of school pics/ interviews. Done! And extra cute as always. 🙂 I love this project so much.

3. Unicorn Quilt. The top is done! And my grandmother convinced me to have it quilted. lol.

4. Editing. Nada. Although I did finish 3 weeks of Project Life. I need to keep this momentum going, but I’m almost out of photo paper. lol.

5. Bluebonnet Quilt. Done! Well, I still need to bind it, but I’ve been watching some videos and I’m just about ready to give it a go. How hard could it be? lol.

6. Applique. I’m making progress on the second set of bluebonnets! I’m just drawing on the backgrounds as I go, but I did get 2 1/2 bluebonnets done. Just 3 1/2 to go. Then I need to start thinking about my next block…

7. Advent Calendar. All sorted and ready to go! I even got a few things stitched down. 🙂 The directions (probably from like 1982) were very brief! Not at all like the kits I’m used to working with. I think if this had been my first project I would be lost, but I have made so many bucilla projects at this point that I was able to fill in the blanks with a little bit (lot) of help from my mom. lol. I’m so excited about this!

8. Butterfly Quilt. I made a ton of progress on this! I got all of my templates made. I prepped all of the butterfly bodies. I ordered (and cut!) all of my background fabric. And I’ve almost completed 3 butterflies! (They just need embroidery.) I am having so much fun with this! I even made my first 9 patch!

9. Caterpillar Quilt. I got all of the white fabric cut for Xander’s quilt as well!

10. Professional Development. I actually got some done! I think I’m up to 22 hours. lol. Still a long way to go, but I’m finally making some progress!

Wow! I got waaaaaay more done than I was expecting to. 🙂 Let’s think about September, shall we?

1. Windchime Block. This is my UFO challenge quilt for the month. Let’s be real, there’s no way that I’m finishing this quilt in a month. lol. But I would like to finish 1 block. Spoiler alert: I was so excited about working on it this month that I started on it as soon as our guild meeting ended. I’ve now got all of the EPP done and I’ve moved on to applique.

2. Butterfly Quilt. I’d like to prep and applique 10 more butterflies.

3. Caterpillar Quilt. Create templates and prep some blocks. What I’d like to do is to cut and prep a circle each time I cut and prep a butterfly. That way, the caterpillars will be all ready to go!

4. Project Life. I’m getting further behind again. lol. I’d like to finish May and June at minimum. Getting July done would be a bonus.

5. Scrapping. Also falling further behind here. I’m sensing a theme. lol. Hmm… If I could scrap July 2018 and also scrap 10 current layouts, that would be amazing!

6. Advent Calendar. I’d like to make some progress on this. Hmm… Maybe I’ll say that I’d like to commit to 3 evenings this month where I put away my quilting and work on the advent calendar. I’m sure that I’ll ramp up as it gets closer to Christmas!

7. Plan Halloween Costumes. We’re leaning towards Little Red Riding Hood and the Big Bad Wolf, at least partially because that was my all time favorite costume of Kate’s! Naturally, I can’t find said costume. lol. Kate’s still undecided.

8. Plan September Girl Scouts Meetings.

9. Fall Break. I’m considering a mini road trip for a few days over fall break… Maybe Dallas? I’m open to other suggestions! Maybe even the beach again!

10. Professional Development. Boo. So boring. But, I need to get it done. Maybe 2 6 hour classes this month? I need to sit down and figure out a timeline so I’m not panicking in February!

I can’t believe that summer is almost over!  It seems like this summer flew by and I’m so not ready for it to be over.  🙁  Kate goes back to school on Thursday and that just seems impossible!  But before I go down a panicky rabbit hole, let’s look at the July goals.

1.  Finish Project Life gap.  Done and dusted!  Yay!
2. Project Life May 2019.  Nope.  Didn’t even touch this one.  ::sigh::
3. Scrapping- mixed media backgrounds.  Done!  And it’s working as I’ve actually made a few pages.  I’m so happy that my scrappy mojo is returning.  🙂
4. Hexies.  I actually finished my super block #10!  Amazingly enough, I only need to make 2 more super blocks and then basically all of the hexies for the quilt will be basted.  I’m putting this on the back burner for now though because I need to wait for some new fabric lines to come out!  I feel like I’ve bought every available charm pack that goes with my colors.  lol.  
5. Christmas Half Square Triangles.  I got all of these trimmed down, and about half of them sewn together and I’m really pleased with how it’s looking!  I also decided on what I wanted for the border, but naturally it’s sold out everywhere.  Grr…  Note to self, next time buy the borders when you buy the charm packs!
6. Take my kids swimming.  Done!  So many times over.  🙂  Kate’s bestie is a saint and she lets us crash her neighborhood pool on the reg.  Not only is it a totally awesome pool, she helps me watch the twins!
7. Make popsicles with the kids.  We didn’t do this, but we did one better!  I took the kids out for ice cream after Kate’s orthodontist appointment.  Yum!
8. Splash Pad.  The local (awesome) Down syndrome group plans regular meet ups and we almost never make it to them because we have so much stuff going on.  But today we made it out to the splash pad and had a great time!  I need to make these meet ups more of a priority.
9. Library with the kids.  Done!  I even managed to take Kate to the tween book club meeting that the library hosts once a month.  Have I mentioned that our library rocks?  Because it totally does!
10. Thinkery.  We made it!  So much fun.  🙂  I love this place.

Time for some August goals!

1.  Girl Scouts.  Yikes y’all.  I’ve been Kate’s assistant leader for a few years now, but our actual leader is taking a break and asked me to step up.  I have a lot to do this month, including but not limited to: figuring out the banking account, finding out which CPR class to take, and taking said CPR class.  I’d like to get all of my necessary trainings done and finalize the fall calendar and budget before our first meeting.  Luckily, my new coleader is amazeballs.  Also, I found this awesome planner.  
2. First day of school pics and interviews.  One of my favorite traditions.  🙂  I just wish I could find a new chalkboard that was identical to the one I’ve been using but not cracked!
3. Quilting.  My UFO challenge for the month is Kate’s unicorn quilt.  Dang it.  lol.  I need to sew on one more border and then figure out how to quilt and bind it.  But I think this is doable!
4. Editing.  Since I’ll need to order 8×8 prints for the kids’ interview books, I might as well go ahead and do a large print order to save on the shipping.  On that note, I’d like to edit/ upload pics for Project Life May- July.  Also, edit/ upload pics for Scrapbook November (2018)- July (2019).  Even as I’m typing this I know it will never happen.  lol.  Maybe I should just say that I will start at November and edit/ upload until I reach 200 pics.  That’s what I usually buy during their print sale anyway.
5. Bluebonnets.  I’d also like to finish hand quilting my bluebonnet quilt.  I’m actually quite close and I think a few more evenings would finish it off.
6. Appliqué.  Speaking of bluebonnets, I’d like to make a new template for petal placement and go ahead and draw onto the background fabric where the petals should go.  Then I can work on my appliqué while I’m out and about since I don’t have any hexies to work on at the moment.
7. Advent Calendar.  You guys.  My mom is so awesome.  I loved loved loved our advent calendar that we had when I was a kid so much, but I couldn’t find the kit for love or money.  She tracked down an UNOPENED one and got it for me for Christmas!  To say that I’m excited is a massive understatement.  Now that it’s August, it’s time to start on Christmas crafts!  I’d like to open the kit up, sort the threads, and get organized.
8. Butterfly Quilt.  Speaking of Christmas…  I really want to make Mia a butterfly quilt for Christmas.  In my mind, this goes along with a new big girl/ big boy room for the twins, but that may or may not be in Santa’s budget this year.  lol.  The quilt I can do though!  (probably…)  This month, I’d like to finalize the design for the butterflies and start prepping the appliqué.  Also, go ahead and order the background white on white fabric.
9. Caterpillar Quilt.  And since they’re twins, Xander needs a new quilt too!  His is going to be a caterpillar to go along with Mia’s butterflies.  How cute is this going to be?!?  Since his will have the same background fabric, I’d like to order enough for both of them.
10. Professional Development.  Boo.  I so don’t want to do this.  lol.  But I’ve put it off as long as I possibly could!  I need 150 hours of professional development by the end of March to renew my teaching certification.  Yikes.  I want to go ahead and trouble shoot my computer issues with the online classes (read: beg RaptorDad for help!), figure out a schedule, track down the certificates I do have, (I should have between 6-12 hours already done) and get 2 (6 hour) classes done.

Y’all!  If I get even half of this list done I will be thrilled.  lol.  I’d say maybe I’ll get some blogging done when the kids go back to school, but I think we all know that’s unlikely.  lol.

It’s June!!!  That means that summer is here and I have all of my babies at home!  <3 <3 <3 Let’s reflect on the insanity that was May.  lol.

1.  Project Life.  My goal was to get October 2018- December 2018 and April 2019 done.  I got October, part of November and part of April.  Progress!
2. Scrap.  This goal was massive and honestly I didn’t think I could do it.  I wanted to finish up the first volume of my 2018 scrapbook which ended up being about 20 layouts.  But y’all! I did it!  The layouts are nothing special, but they are finished and sometimes that’s what matters!
3. Sewing.  I did nothing on either the Christmas Triangles or the Unicorn Quilt.  lol.  But I did work on another sewing project that’s going to be a surprise.  🙂
4. Hexagons.  I did not get my super hexie done, but I did start sewing together all of my blocks!  Which has been super motivating and has given me the push I needed to keep going with this project.
5. Windchime.  I am so ready to play with this project some more!  But I didn’t get a chance to this month.
6. Applique.  Finished!  But then naturally I turned this set of bluebonnets into something else so I still need to do another set for my Texas Forever Quilt.  
7. Quilting.  I didn’t get anything done on the Charm Quilt, but I did start hand quilting another project.  It is much harder than I was expecting it to be and I was not expecting it to be easy.  lol.  
8. Pictures.  Done!  I love my chalk board front porch pics.  🙂  My chalk board is all cracked, but I bought it so long ago  don’t even know that I can get another one.  lol.  And yes, I totally write the wrong date on Kate’s.  ::sigh::  
9. Yard Art.  Done!
10. Summer Curriculum.  Lol.  I always have such high hopes.  This week is VBS and I’m volunteering in the pre-k class with Mia and Xander so my brain is mush!  But next week will be better!

Time for June goals!

1.  Project Life.  I want to finish 2018!
2. Scrap.  Hmm…  I need to take stock and see what I should attempt next.  Off hand though, I’d love to work on some current stuff!  Maybe I should make my goal to finish 10 current layouts.  I think I’m going to take one evening and try to make a big batch of mixed media backgrounds.
3. Sewing.  Since the Unicorn Quilt is meant to be a birthday present for Raptor and she’s turning 10 July 1st, it seems like I need to bump this up to high priority!  Of course, it would also make a fantastic Christmas present.  lol.  Or 11 year old birthday present!
4. Hexagons.  I want to finish sewing together the huge chunk of hexagons at which point I will be 1/4 of the way through the quilt!  I also want to do super hexie block #10.
5. Windchime.  I’d love to get the pieces cut out for the next block.
6. Applique.  I’d like to work on the next set of bluebonnet blocks.  I have all of the pieces prepped so it’s just a matter of stitching them on.
7. Quilting.  I’m about ready to decide that I’m not going to do any fancy machine quilting on the charm quilt and just be happy with the stabilization stitch in the ditch quilting that I’ve already done.  lol.
8. Pictures.  We’re taking another trip to the beach this month, this time with my mom, and I’m planning to attempt another round of beach pics.  I’m sure it will be another disaster, but I have cute outfits picked out!
9. Beach Trip Prep.  Off hand, I’m thinking car ride activities and fun stuff to do at the beach!
10. Montessori Trays.  I’m thinking that updating them every week is a pipe dream, but I should at least swap out the Valentine’s Day trays for a summer theme.  lol.

My rough plan is to finish sewing together the giant bunch of hexies this week and then I think I’ll reward myself my cutting out some pieces for my next  windchime block!  I’m also pondering the next block I want to tackle for my Texas Forever quilt.  Maybe the rainbow?  I’m thinking I’m going to make the stripes out of bias tape…

I’m baaaaaack!!!  I haven’t posted in a while, but that doesn’t mean that I haven’t been busy!  Let’s just jump right into the update, shall we?

April Goals:

1.  Project Life.  I may be a few days late, but I actually just edited and ordered 200 prints!  This is enough to “close the gap” so to speak.  Since editing and printing the pics is always what takes forever, I should be able to knock these out pretty quickly once the prints get here.  🙂  I also finished March of Project Life and I am so in love with my new Citrus Kit subscription!
2. Scrap.  Finish January and February of 2018.  Done!  I kind of can’t believe it.  lol.  I also wanted to scrap our spring break trip, but that didn’t happen.  Maybe next month.
3. Sewing.  I was hoping to finish both the unicorn and the Christmas quilt tops.  Spoiler alert, I didn’t manage to do either of those.  lol.  But I did start *another* quilt.  lol.
4. Hexagons.  Finish 1 block.  Done!  And I’ve halfway talked myself into changing the plan, again, and just making a king size quilt again.  Who knows.
5. Windchime.  Finish 1 block.  So close.  I got all of the hard parts done and I just need to decide on a fabric choice for the center circles.  I want them all to be the same (I think?) so I’m having a hard time committing.  Something in teal I think…
6. Applique.  Finish butterflies for Texas Quilt and prep some butterflies for Mia’s quilt.  Well, I did finish the butterflies for the Texas Quilt, but I’ve done basically nothing for Mia’s quilt.  I did decide on Xander’s quilt though!  His is going to be caterpillars.  🙂
7. Quilting.  Nada.
8. Bluebonnet Pics.  Done!  I didn’t get a single good one of the 3 kids, but I got some adorable individual ones of each of them and a few really cute ones of the kids with RaptorDad.  🙂           
9. Art Room Redo.  Done!  And it’s amazing!!!  RaptorDad and I have shared the art room since the beginning, but he decided this month to let me have the whole room and it is just as amazing as you’re imagining!  I need to finish up a few things and then I’ll do a proper reveal.  Here’s a pic while we were still working on the shelves in the closet.  It’s even better now!   
10. Birthday Party.  Done!  It was a bit crazy because we had to move it from the park to our house the morning of the party because of rain which led to many freak outs and lots of panic cleaning, but the twins had a great time with their friends and that’s what matters.  🙂  Plus, my guest bathroom has never been so clean.  lol.

And onto goals for May!

1.  Project Life.  Fill in the gaps!   That’s roughly October 2018-January 2019.  I’d also love to do April 2019.
2. Scrap.  Once my pictures get here, I’ll have everything printed to finish the first book of 2018!  And since I’ve been working on it all along, I only have 25 layouts to go!  I think I can get it done.  🙂
3. Sewing.  Still hoping to finish the unicorn and Christmas quilt tops.
4. Hexagons.  I’m going to try to finish a “super block.”  That’s one where I make 1 block and baste another 3 of each hexagon.  This is clearly a pipe dream given the rest of the list.  lol.
5. Windchime.  I want to give this some more thought and really think about what would work for the centers.
6. Applique.  I’m working on the bluebonnets for my Texas Quilt!  I have 1 down and 5 to go.  I am enjoying this project so much! 
7. Quilting.  Still hoping to get the Charm Quilt quilted.  lol.
8. Pictures.  May is when I do our end of the year pictures complete with chalk board!  🙂
9. Yard Art.  A special request from my grandfather for his birthday.  🙂  A few years ago the kids made him painted yard art signs on acrylic plates and the Texas sun has not been kind to them so we’re making him new ones.
10. Summer Curriculum.  I want to teach the babies all of their letters this summer!  Since the summer isn’t 26 weeks long (I wish!) I think I’m going to go with fun weekly themes for the summer and then do letter a week once school starts back up.  I’d like to start prepping some trays and activities.

Will I get this massive list done?  Hard to say.  lol.  I will say though that now that I have an amazing room to be creative in I’m spending a lot more time making and a lot less time watching junky TV.  🙂

Alright, I tried the whole 12 months of 12 goals thing because I thought it was a cute framework for the year.  But I’m ditching it!  lol.  Still, let’s see how I did for March.

1.  Bakes.  Well, not a new bake, but I did perfect an old bake!  A few months ago I made, arguably, the best oatmeal raisin cookies ever.  Admittedly, the bar was low because oatmeal raisin cookies are gross, but still.  lol.  The problem was the next time I went to make them, I couldn’t remember which recipe I had tweaked!  After a few disappointments, I went back to the gold standard, Betty Crocker.  Yesss!!!  These were the ones.  I will tell you that I refuse to use shortening, so instead of half butter, half shortening, I use all butter.  This makes the cookies almost lacey and super delicious.  To be fair, they also fall apart as you try to pick them up, but the taste makes it worth it!  I also do a higher ratio of brown sugar to white sugar because RaptorDad likes cookies better that way.  🙂
2. Dinners.  Nope.
3. Montessori Trays.  Big fat fail.  Which is extra sad because I even have a bunch of St Patrick stuff already made.
4. Feasts.  I did better on this one!  We made (The World’s Ugliest) King Cake for Mardi Gras along with a delicious gumbo/ etoufee hybrid thing that I made up.  Does that count as a new recipe?  Hmm…  Maybe I did better on my goals than I thought!  lol.  I also  bought the kids a box of Lucky Charms for St Patrick’s Day which blew their minds since I am generally the killjoy mom that doesn’t allow sugary cereal.
5. Hexies.  I made some progress, but I didn’t actually finish a block.  lol.  I did start (another!!!) epp project yesterday though!  I’m super excited about it.  🙂
6. Scrap.  I actually did get December 2017 done!
7. Project Life.  I did get February 2019 done!  And September 2018!  Look at me go!!!  I then decided that I was going to try to do a bulk order for November-January.  Still working on that.
8. Portraits.  Still need to get the bluebonnet pics done, but I actually took some portraits on the beach over spring break.  I didn’t manage to get a good one of the three kids together (naturally), but I did get some cute individual pics.  🙂
9. Quilting.  I actually got a lot done on the unicorn quilt!  I didn’t quite finish the top, but I got as much done as I can before me next sewing lesson.  So I decided to get cracking on my Christmas quilt!  And I’m loving it!  I got all of my half square triangles ready to be sewn together.  🙂
10. New Parks.  Oh my gosh, y’all.  The beach in the spring is amazing!  Love love love love love!
11. Blogging.  I love that I decide to ramp up the blogging and then only manage 2 posts the entire month.  lol.  Irony!
12. Health.  Well, I got 10k steps 11/31 days.  I was doing great at the beginning of the month.  lol.  Maybe I’ll try again in April.  I also only managed to swim a few times, but I did go swim today!

So…  What are my goals for April?  I’m glad you asked!  lol.

1.  Project Life.  Edit all of the pics to close the gap.  So, November, December, January.  Also, complete March 2019.
2. Scrap.  Finish January and February of 2018.  I’d also like to scrap our spring break trip while it’s fresh in my mind.
3. Sewing.  I’m hoping to finish both the unicorn and Christmas quilt tops.
4. Hexagons.  Finish 1 block.
5. Windchime.  Finish 1 block.
6. Applique.  Finish butterflies for Texas Quilt and prep some butterflies for Mia’s quilt.
7. Quilting.  I’d love to finish machine quilting my charm quilt!
8. Bluebonnet Pics.  Need to do these soon!!!  This weekend at the very latest.
9. Art Room Closet.  We’ve been reorganizing our house!  We’ve added loads more storage and I am loving it.  I need to get one more cube thing from Ikea for the art room closet and then I think we’re good!
10. Birthday Party.  I think I’m in denial that the babies are turning 4 (!!!!!!!) this month!

Hello March!  I’m not sure that I’m in love with having the same monthly goals all year long, but I’m going to give it a go for one more month.  First, let’s look back at February.

1.  Bakes.  This was a huge success!  I made a copy cat Chantilly cake from Whole Foods.  The icing was spot on, but I think the cake itself would benefit from a few tweaks.  Still, delicious!
2. Dinners.  ::sigh::  I didn’t try any new recipes this month.
3. Montessori Trays.  Well, I got 4 out of 6 done.  lol.  No pics, but they continue to be a huge hit, especially with Mia.  
4. Feast Days.  I wanted to do 3 or 4 feast days, but only got my act together for one.  That’s ok though!  It’s still better than the zero I would have done in the past.  🙂
5. Hexies.  Hmm…  I finished a block and a half.  To be honest, I’ve been wanting to work on applique in the evenings.  lol.  Still, I’m going to try to push through and get some done this month.
6. Scrapbooking.  I focused on Project Life this month, so I didn’t get much 12×12 scrapping done.  I’m ok with that though.
7. Project Life.  The main reason I’m ok with not accomplishing much on the scrapping front is because I killed it on Project Life!  I switched my kit club subscription to Citrus Twist and I was hugely motivated to get through some of my back log of Hip Kits before my new one came.  I only got 5 traditional layouts done, but I got 13!!! Project Life layouts done!!!
8. Portraits.  None this month.  Whoops.
9. Sewing.  I wanted to get the unicorn quilt top done, which didn’t happen.  But I did make a lot of progress on it.
10. New Parks.  No new parks, but we did revisit some old favorites.  And I let Kate set up the tent in the backyard for a few days while she worked on a badge.  She was planning to sleep out there, but she decided against it when she realized that none of us were willing to sleep on the floor when our nice warm beds were so close at hand.  
11. Blogging.  They may not have all been posted on Mondays, but I did post 4 times!
12. Health.  I tried to get back into swimming, but Mia got the flu and that seriously derailed my momentum.  That’s ok though!  I still swam 100% more than I did in January!

Which leads me to March!  I’m trying out spelling out my March goals to see if I like it better than trying to come up with them as I go.

1.  Bakes.  And I immediately fail because I don’t have any ideas of what I want to bake yet.  lol.
2. Dinners.  Ditto dinners.  But I’m considering some kind of crock pot beef stroganoff.  Also need some yummy fish dinners for Lent.
3. Montessori Trays.  My goal is to have some P is for Patrick trays done this weekend!
4. Feasts.  I’ll try to post more details about our line up on Monday, but my goals for the month include Mardi Gras, Saint Patrick, and the Annunciation.
5. Hexies.  Maybe I should change this to the hand sewing goals category.  lol.  I’m getting totally into applique, but I can’t let that derail me too much!  I’m going to try to get 3 hexie blocks done this month.  I’d love to get the hexies wrapped up so that I can play with my 3(!!!) new hand sewing projects.  More on that later.
6. Scrap.  I know this has been on my list for months, but I really want to wrap up December 2017.  Then I can put the Fall 2017 album on my shelf and move on!
7. Project Life.  Oh my gosh y’all!  I am in love with my new kit!  With that in mind, my goal for Project Life is to do February 2019 and then also wrap up September 2018.  I might try to alternate weeks, or I might just let myself play with the February goodies and then go back and work on September while I wait for my March kit.   
8. Portraits.  It’s time for bluebonnets!!!  My favorite portraits of the year.  🙂  I’m debating going for a more casual look this year, but I might get the girls new Easter dresses and use that.  Decisions decisions.
9. Sewing.  I’d really love to finish up my unicorn quilt top for Kate because I want to start on my Christmas half square triangle quilt.  I got the rest of the fabric for it and I’m dying to cut into it!
10. New Parks.  Well, I must be insane because I’m taking all 3 kids to the beach for spring break.  By myself.  Corpus Christi here we come!
11. Blogging.  I’m toying with the idea of ramping the blog up to 2 posts a week.  I’ve missed it!
12. Health.  Still keeping it at 2 swims a week.  And adding in 10k steps a day.  Not sure how this is going to go, but I got 10K steps yesterday.  lol.  We’ll see,