Author: Raptor Mama

You guys! It’s April! And I took a long term sub job that started last week and will go through the end of the school year. It’s crazy, but also exciting. :). That does mean that I don’t have quite as much time to craft, but the kids are sweet and I love being up at their school. That said, I was not at all sad when we had a snow day today! Let’s see how March went.

1. March 2024. Well, I was doing great until I took the long term sub job, but that’s ok. I just finished up week 11 this morning and I’m still loving this new system.
2. September 2023. Nope. Didn’t even look at this.
3. Africa Scrapbook. I didn’t get much photo editing done, but I did decide that I wanted to watercolor my cards for it. I’ve been practicing and it’s so much fun!
4. School Scrapbooks. Nope.
5. Prep for Visitors. Yes! We had the best time!
6. Easter. We made it! It didn’t feel like Easter, but the kids were good at Mass and we had a fun tea party for my birthday so I’m counting it as a win!
7. Hexies. I got them bound! Now I just need to finish quilting them. One day…
8. 2019 Scrapbook. Nope.
9. Eclipse. Well, I made sure I had the day off of work before I took the sub job, but that’s about as far as I’ve gotten. lol.
10. Beach. It’s actually been pretty chilly! But I did run over to the beach after I took my bestie back to the airport and it was perfection.

April?

1. March 2024. I want to finish this and I think I can do it as I only have 2 weeks left.
2. April 2024. I do not think I’ll be able to get these pages done, but I do want to keep up with the photo editing/ printing. I can do the editing during my downtime during the day so I think this is possible. Then next fall when the kids are back at school, all of the pictures will be ready for me to scrap!
3. Birthday Party. omg. The twinsies are turning 9! In like a week and a half! We did manage to get invitations out so that’s something. I need to plan some stuff for the actual party though.
4. Summer Plans. I’m not doing a theme for the whole summer, but I do think I want to do weekly themes? Also trying to think of a lose daily/ weekly structure so that we are not sitting around the house all summer irritating each other.
5. Quilting. I decided to start a new quilt that’s been on my list for a while- a scrappy strawberry quilt! I’m hoping I can get one block done this month. 🙂
6. Eclipse! The eclipse y’all!!! I’m so freaking excited!
7. Africa Scrapbook. I want to set aside some time to work on this. 🙂
8. Quilt Guild. I tried to go to the meeting this month, but I think I must have gotten the date wrong as no one was there. ::sigh:: I need to try again next month!
9. April Break Plans. The kids and I have a week off in April. I want to plan some fun day trips I think!
10. Survive? I think I can, I think I can, I think I can…

We made it through February! And now things are starting to warm up a bit but more importantly, THE SUN IS BACK! And I’ve made some big changes to my memory keeping projects and I love it! Let’s do goals first, shall we?

February Goals.

1. Vacation. We made it! And it was wonderful!
2. August 2023 Project Life. I actually got this done! It’s a miracle!
3. Hexies. Well, I got them all stabilized and I got them bound enough to take to Texas. lol. I could finish the binding in an evening I think, but I’m so sick of it that I need a break.
4. February 2024 Project Life. Done!
5. February 2024 Scrapbooks Pages. Done as they’re gonna get! I’ve decided to abandon the scrapbooks going forward in favor of a more robust project life system with loads of inserts. I’m loving this system so much! Maybe I’ll even write up a blog post about it…
6. Valentine’s Day Theme. I never did write up a blog post about it, but she did enjoy the sensory bin! And she’s delighted with the St. Patrick’s Day one I put together for March!
7. 2019 Scrapbook Assessment. Nope. I didn’t even look at this.
8. Meet People. I did, in fact, go to the guild meeting! And everyone was super nice and I’m super glad that I went!
9. Game Night. This is still a work in progress, but I did make a tonk! We also played some board games in Texas with my mom- Monopoly and The Game of Life. But the 1960’s version of the Game of Life. It was hysterical! At one point I was entertaining an “Ambassador from Mars.” Love it!
10. King Cake. This did not happen this year and I’m trying to be ok with that.

So March Goals?

1. March 2024 Project Life. I’d like to keep current which will include adding inserts as needed. I’m loving how streamlined this makes memory keeping. And since I don’t feel like I’m scrapping every picture and story twice, I’m really enjoying being more creative with my layouts.
2. Finish September 2023 Project Life. This one is a bit of a stretch because it includes my trip to Africa, but maybe?
3. Africa Scrapbook. I am actually super excited about this. To the point that we finally broke down and bought a large format photo printer! I’m so stinking excited. I’d like to finish mapping out the structure for the album and decide on the full page photos for the start and stop of each day.
4. School Scrapbooks. Speaking of large format photos, I’m super excited to be able to update the kids’ school scrapbooks! They are designed to have an 8×8 photo of each kid on the first and last day of school and I am woefully behind on printing them.
5. Prep for Visitors! One of my besties is coming up for a visit this month and I am so freaking excited! Then my mom is coming up in April! Yay!!!
6. Easter. Easter is going to be another hard one for me. It’s a big time family holiday for me- usually my aunt and uncle and cousins all come up from Houston and we have a big celebration for Easter and my grandmother’s (and my) birthday. Obviously this year we will be celebrating alone. I need to brainstorm some strategies to avoid the sads and to help the kids make some new traditions.
7. Hexies. I’d like to get these bound! And lay them out and figure out how much more quilting I need to get done.
8. 2019 Scrapbook? Maybe I can make myself work on this. It’s pre covid- so… it’s depressing. We’ll see.
9. Eclipse. Make plans for the Eclipse!
10. Beach? I’m missing the beach. And it’s finally getting warmer! Maybe I’ll make it down there in March.

There you have it! Some goals for March and only a day late. lol

Let’s see how we did in January.

1. December 2023 Project Life. Done! And I learned how to print photos from my phone which is exponentially faster than emailing them to myself and printing from the computer.
2. December 2023 Scrapbook. Nope, didn’t even look at this and I’m honestly ok with that.
3. Rainbow Stairs. Welp, the shipping on those vinyl things is $30!!! Needless to say, the paint is looking more and more attractive. Side note: I have no idea why paying for shipping makes me so crazy. lol
4. Snowflake Theme. The sensory bin was the only thing that got done, but Mia loved it! I even caught Xander playing with it a few times.
5. Stabilize Hexies. Not quite there, but I’m so freaking close I can taste it!
6. Start Subbing. Done! And it’s been great. It feels really good to be getting back in the school (and seeing other adults!)
7. Prep for Trip. The only trip prep I’ve done is to look at flights for this summer. hahahahahaha
8. Walk Every Day. I honestly didn’t bother tracking this, but now that we have to walk the freaking dog 45 times a day I feel like I’m doing pretty good here.
9. Paint Bedroom. Done! And I love it!
10. Thank You Notes. Done!

And I didn’t put it in the goals (how?!?) but I actually finished January 2024 Project Life AND the January 2024 scrapbook pages! It’s a miracle! Figuring out how to print photos directly from my phone made a huge difference! I know I say this every year, but I am really super duper hoping that I can stay caught up this year. hahahahahahahaha

And now some February Goals!

1. Vacation in Texas! We get to fly home for a week in February when the kids have their school break. I still need to plan all the things!
2. August 2023 Project Life. Slowly trying to fill in some gaps in the older books.
3. Finish stabilizing/ binding hexies. I’m so close!!!
4. February 2024 Project Life.
5. February 2024 Scrapbook Pages.
6. Valentine’s Day Theme. OMG. I redid Mia’s whole desk area and she is beyond thrilled! Along with that, I made her a Valentine’s Day sensory bin. I’m going to try and write a blog post about it next week. 🙂
7. 2019 Scrapbook Assessment. Ugh. I think I only have 2 months left to finish out this book. I’m not sure if I’ll get to this or not, but I’d like to figure out which pages I’m actually going to do and find/ print those photos. A big part of the problem is that photos these old are no longer on my phone or my computer.
8. Meet People. EEEPPP!!! I think I’m going to try to go to the local quilt guild meeting this month.
9. Game Night. We played a silly table top game called Tonks in January and even Mia decided to play with us. It’s rare when we find an activity that everyone actually enjoys so I was pretty thrilled when everyone had a great time. I’d like to make my own Tonk and make a base battleboard grid thing.
10. King Cake. Mardi Gras is coming up y’all! And I don’t think I’m going to find a tasty king cake at the local grocery store. hahahahahaha. I need to dig out my recipe and make this for the kids.

And there you have it! I think I’m most excited about working on Project Life this month. 🙂

2023 was a year of incredible change for our family! We made the painful (to be fair more painful for some of us than others!) decision to leave Texas and move to Maine to start a new adventure. In addition to a whole new state, Kate started high school and got involved with technical theater which does my little inner stage manager heart good. Mia has had a massive developmental leap and it now doing amazing drawings and reading anything she can get her hands on. And Xander has fallen in love with all things snow and winter sports! He and Kate just started ski lessons at a little learn-to-ski area in our town and Xander especially is obsessed. As for me, I fulfilled a lifelong dream and went on safari in southern Africa which vastly exceeded my sky high expectations. 🙂 With that in mind, let’s take a look at the 2023 annual goals.

1. Old Project Life. OK. I’m going to be honest here, very little scrapping happened once we packed up the house in Texas. But, my new scrap/ sewing room is close to set up and I’m hoping to get a ton done in 2024! I did a whopping 5 layouts from old Project Life albums this year.
2. Current Project Life. I did marginally better here in that I made a few layouts at all. I ended the year with 15 layouts done in 2023. So only a bazillion to go.
3. Old Scrapbooks. See above re old Project Life. lol. I got 25 layouts done this year from older albums.
4. Current Scrapbooks. I did 15 layouts? Y’all. I only did 61 total pages in 2023 across old and new Project Life and scrapbooks. I need to do better this year!
5. Lose 30 pounds. I was doing horribly on this one until we moved, but thanks to the cooler temps and lack of a fenced backyard, we are taking the dog on multiple walks a day. So I’m proud to say that I lost 14 pounds this year bringing my grand total up to 59 pounds lost! I’ve officially lost the baby weight! Now if I can just lose the taco weight…
6. Africa. Best trip of my life and I’ve been to some pretty darn cool places. 🙂
7. Hexagons. I’m not done, but I’m getting closer! I’ve started binding it while I quilt it and it’s helping me to see more progress.
8. Try New Things. Oh yeah, you betcha.
9. Crafty Nights. I had a bit of a slump this fall, but I think I’m finally getting my crafty mojo back.
10. Felt. I did make some progress on the advent calendar! It’s still not done, but it is getting closer. 🙂

So now goals for 2024! This year, I kind of just did big categories.

1. Books. I read pretty much every day, but I’ve gotten into the bad habit of just reading trashy romances. My goal this year is to read 12 books from different genres. I’m not talking War and Peace here, but just actual real books that have a plot and character development. Once I finish the book, I’m going to print the cover and make a teeny tiny copy of the book for my dollhouse. I think it will be so fun to add real books to it!
2. Project Life. Here’s the deal. First priority is 2024. Second priority is the second half of 2023- once we arrived in Maine. If I can look at 2021 and 2022 without being sad, I’ll work on them too.
3. Scrapbooks. The plan is the same here, except that I have unfinished scrapbooks going back to 2019. ::sigh:: So I think the main goal will be 2024 and the second half of 2023, but I have got to put 2019 out of its misery…
4. Home Projects. So many fun house projects I want to tackle! Among them, rainbow stairs, painting all the things, built-in lockers for a mudroom area, wallpaper for the dining room, and finishing out the laundry area.
5. Monthly Theme. I’m so excited about this one! I set up a little area for Mia to have a sensory bin and some Montessori trays. Currently, all it has is the (adorable) snowflake themed sensory bin, but I’d love to add some Montessori trays and little activities. Also following under this goal is craft projects for the house. Now that we have space (yay basement!) I want to make a tub for each month and then when I see something cute at the dollar store, I can throw it in the tub. I think I might need to turn this goal into its own blog post, but I’m counting it as a win if I manage to have a singular themed item…
6. Hexagons. Oh boy. I’m taking the kids back to Texas in February for their break and I really want to have the hexagons at least stabilized and bound so that I can bring them down to show my grandmother. It’s doable, but I really need to stay focused on it if I have any hope of finishing.
7. Quilts. Speaking of quilts, I do have a few other quilts that I need to just buckle down and finish- the log cabin, hearts, and the color wheel. Not sure what else but I’m sure I’ll come up with something!
8. Game Night. We are really enjoying game nights in Maine! I’ve always wanted to be a board game family and I feel like the kids are finally at the right stage to play games that are actually fun. (Candyland is not my favorite.) This isn’t a super measurable goal, but I wanted to put it up here so I could continue to make it a focus this year. I know, I’ll say 12 game nights this year. I actually want to make it a weekly thing, but maybe we’ll work our way up to that.
9. New Friends. I’ve got to put myself out there more and make some friends! Maybe I’ll set a goal to go to an event or meeting once a month? I also just turned in my application to start subbing so I’m hoping that gets me out of the house a few days a week.
10. Explore Maine. I’d like to average 1 new place or experience a month.

Should we push on and do January goals? Why not.

1. December 2023 Project Life. I think I have 2 weeks left to do.
2. December 2023 Scrapbook. I need to edit/ print photos and do this. Honestly, I’m probably only going to have 3 or 4 layouts and I’m ok with that.
3. Rainbow Stairs. I was doing some research and I think the best way to approach this is going to be to order a set of vinyl from Etsy. Initially, I was planning to paint them, but by the time I bought 14 different colors of paint, I figured I might as well just order the vinyl. I’m quite sure it will be easier and look better! RaptorDad suggested that we order 1 piece to try it out before we order the whole set and I’d love to get that done this week.
4. Snowflake Theme. The sensory bin is already done! Maybe now I’ll try to make a few Montessori trays? Or a wreath? IDK.
5. Stabilize Hexies. I think I can, I think I can, I think I can.
6. Start Subbing. I turned in my application yesterday and I have an interview tomorrow! Eeeppp!
7. Prep for Trip. I need to pack and get organized for our trip in February! It’s coming up soon!
8. Walk Every Day. I was going to put 10K steps a day, but it’s the 3rd and I’m already failing on that one. But you know what? I did manage to go on a walk both days!
9. Paint Bedroom. An alarming number of walls in this house are this awful mauve color and I’m slowing painting over them. Next up is the master bedroom.
10. Thank You Notes. Kate and I still need to write ours and I need to actually mail out Xander and Mia’s. I want to get this done this week!

And now that I’m done with my annual way-too-long blog post, I’m going to post it and get to my to do list for the day. 🙂

It’s a whole new year! And 2023 was a doozy. I think I’m going to break this into several blog posts, the first of which will just be the general December goals reflection.

1. Advent Calendar. It’s still not done, but it’s closer than it was and we all had a great time doing it, even if the last 10 were just outlines.
2. St Lucia Buns. Ugh, I kind of dropped the ball on this one, but we did have some cinnamon rolls a day late so yay?
3. Buy all the things. Done!
4. Wrap all the things. Done!
5. December Daily. Nope. Totally gave up on this before I made a single page, but this goal did push me to take some more pictures so I’m counting it as a win anyway.
6. Project Life. I think I managed to do 2 layouts? To be fair, we lost power for 4 days which put a real damper on editing and printing photos.
7. Scrapbooking. lol. I did a singular layout. In my defense it was super cute!
8. Reflect on 2023 goals and create 2024 goals. Still working on these!
9. Plan activities for Christmas break. Well, we mostly stayed nice and cozy at home, but Kate and Xander did start ski lessons so that was fun!
10. Write thank you notes. I haven’t managed to write mine yet and neither has Kate, but Xander reminded me that he needed to write his and he and Mia sat right down and did them! I really needed a parenting win and this was a huge one. 🙂

I’m going to (hopefully) finalize my 2024 goals today and then I’ll write another post. Stay tuned!

It’s December y’all! And I feel like I’m living on the set of a Hallmark movie. Seriously, it snowed and it was MAGICAL! Let’s see how those November goals went.

1. Advent calendar. Whoops. Although I did make some more progress! I’ve now gotten 14 of the ornaments done. Only 10 to go! And the kids are having so much fun!
2. Advent activies. Fail. I’m still writing on them each day right before I pull them. lol.
3. Thanksgiving. The week leading up to Thanksgiving was a real doozy, but the actual day was lovely. Complete with facetime calls to talk with family back home.
4. Christmas list. Well, I didn’t get much of anything done in November, but this week I’ve gotten quite a bit ordered and shipped. Mostly thanks to my elves over at Amazon!
5. Project Life. lololololol.
6. NaNoCraftMo. I’ll be honest, I just wasn’t feeling it this year. I need to get my crafty mojo back!
7. Blog. Well, I got 1 out of 4. Better than nothing!
8. Hang some pictures. Nope.
9. Christmas cards. Nope. To be fair, I could still try to get these out, but ugh.
10. Front yard pictures. I was hoping for a somewhat posed family picture (see above re Christmas cards) and I didn’t manage to get that. But I did some fun candids of the kids playing in the leaves! 🙂

And now onto December! (Only ::checks watch:: 8 days late. Whoops.)

1. Advent Calendar. It’s almost comical at this point, but I still feel compelled to put it on here. Can I finish another handful of the ornaments?
2. St Lucia Buns. Yummy yummy. I want to make these again this year.
3. Buy all the things. After today, I’m so close to being done!
4. Wrap all the things. We went up to Target this week and picked out this year’s wrapping paper. 🙂
5. December Daily. I seriously doubt that I make any progress on this, but I’d at least like to have a photo for each day.
6. Project Life. 4 layouts.
7. Scrapbooking. Maybe I could do a big push to finish 2019 before 2024? lolololol
8. Reflect on 2023 goals and create 2024 goals.
9. Plan activities for Christmas break.
10. Write thank you notes.