The Six of Us

And I love it.  Really I do.  It has everything I need.  Menu planning section.  It does have some stuff that I won't use but 90% of the stuff I love and will use all the time.  But I need to stop.  I get a little too obsessed for the future and most of the stuff I plan doesn't pan out like our overnight trip to McCall which was so disappointing.  Now we are trying to find something else but every weekend in February we have something planned.  Anyway...So I am limiting the time I am able to plan for the week at 30 minutes a day.  We will see how it works. 

Hard to believe he is 11.  My sweet little seven pound boy is now a fifth grader.  He is still my try everything once kid.  Still hasn't had a broken boy and has only had one visit to the ED.  He has his moments but he is really such a sweet kid.  He is my kid who will come lay with me on the couch.  He was so disappointed he didn't earn honor roll last semester but he is certain to get it this quarter.  He seems to be enjoying boy scouts.  He is always looking forward to the next big thing.  Middle school, and driving. He doesn't like being the center of attention.  He is still pretty determined to make it to West Point.  I hope Jake will always dream big because he is really the kid who can reach his dreams and make life happen.  He is my experiment kid.  I get to test him out and learn so many mistakes on him. 

So I love planners. I had a little one last year and bought a small one in December 2015.  But it wasn't enough.  I kept looking for the perfect one and although I am not sure I found it I think I found something close enough.  It is called the "Mormon Mom Planner" and I figured I would give it a try.  I have nothing else to lose really except $40 and I figure I can always go back to my old one if the new one does not work.  It has been years since I have carried a planner before half way through last year.  But I enjoy being able to just write stuff down and have it there.  I don't really like Google calendar although I have tried to use it.  There was an online one I really liked ....now I can't recall the name but it was great for online but really I am a pen and paper kind of girl.  So for the next week I will use my small planner and then hopefully before our trip to McCall I will have it so I can sit in the condo and plan stuff.  I almost talked myself out o

Short story long.... Luke has never ever gone to bed easily.  Since he was born he has just been a troubled sleeper.  He was a year before he slept through the night which is totally different then the other three who sleep through the night (with a few exceptions) at 4-6 months.  But not Luke he was up ever two hours for a year and then just stopped.  But he will still scream himself to sleep.  For hours.  It was heart breaking.  Nothing worked.  We had a semi routine but with the older kids in activities then it was tough.  We were really struggling on what to do with him.  Lots of prayers on this kids behalf.  Actually I have probably said more prayers for him and for me because of him then all my other kids combined. Fast forward to the beginning of the year.  Kids were heading back to school and Victoria could not go to sleep until 10 or later because of screaming Luke. So I did a ton of research and prayed about it and it all came back to the fact that Luke needed a routine. 

Right now I don't have a whole lot of new goals.  1)I want to keep up with training and doing 21 Day Fix. 2)   Our biggest goal is to pay off a good chunk of debt. 20k to be exact.  Lee thinks it is too big of a goal but we will see. (Update 1/4/16) I just did the math on this and it will be close to $1500 a month to pay off not sure that is feasible unless I work way more then I want to) 3) Read two books a month 4) Paint master bathroom 5) Paint downstairs bathroom 6) Declutter (this is going to be on my list every year I am sure) 7) Take more adventures. 8) Run SLC Marathon 9). Play more with the little people.  During the summer I do well but during the winter I struggle to just play with them 10) be more authentic with who I am and what I believe. After listening to Dave Ramsey today I have decided to add some more goals to my list One one on one date with each one of the kids and Lee once a month.  Doesn't have to be big.  Could be just taking one kid to th