Alexa's REALLY Awesome Schedule

I did it! I've been wanting to do this for a long time now and I did it! YAY FOR ME!

Okay...what did I do?

Mothers of toddlers, I'm sure you've heard about all the benefits of having a schedule for your little one. Seriously, there are literally hundreds of articles, books, studies, opinions, etc. that you can find about how schedules improve behavior and make everyone's life easier. For me there was just one problem...

practically speaking I cannot do the same thing day after day in the same way 

at the same time!

I mean, whose life actually can be that way? Some days involve shopping, others involve trips to the library, others involve staying at home getting some cleaning done. Also, Alexa, being 2, is unpredictable from one day to the next. Last week she was a nightmare, this week she's like a totally different child. And some days she sleeps until 9am (rarely, but it happens), and other days she's up at 6:30am, which totally changes our plans for the morning. So sometimes breakfast is at 7am and sometimes it's at 9:30. And sometimes I need her to have nap at 12:00 and sometimes it can't happen until 2:30 (thank you 11:00 church)...you get the idea!

So, when I was reading all these articles, books, and studies, I'm thinking "uhhh, so how do I make a schedule for such an unpredictable creature?" It was very discouraging. After a while the thought occurred to me that "obviously, you need to have events and times in your schedule that can be moved around."

And so it became very clear what I needed to do: MAGNETS!

(poor lighting in the kitchen means you need to ignore the graininess of the pictures)

Everything from the times to each event to the day of the week and even the sun in the corner (I have varying weather pictures depending on what it looks like outside) are magnetic and rearranged daily. It's a great activity to do each morning with my 2-year old and a great resource for both of us to make sure we're not spending too much time in front of the TV or computer and that we're getting adequate amounts of play and work time each day.

Overall this project took me a few evenings, a couple hours at Kinko's, and about $15 for the laminating. Schedule events include the following items:

Blank Sheets for Writing in Special or Unpredictable Events

Bath Time                                Bedtime

Room Time                             Church

TV Time x2                             Swimming

James Time                             Potty Time x2

Playtime                                  Quiet Time

Lunch                                      Soccer

Shopping                                 Dance

Dinner                                     Crafts

Family Time                            Make Lunch

Breakfast                                 Make Dinner

Chores                                     Friends

Snack x2                                  Park

Reading                                   Outside

Clean-Up                                 Mom Time

Naptime                                   Library

Daddy Time

How exciting that we have this great tool and that it can grow with her. Here is a list (w/ links) to the Dingbat Fonts I used for the pictures (I also recently used them for a potty training chart I made, so I think they will continue to be very useful):

1. Pea Cookie’s Doodles, 2. Pea Delilah’s Doodles, 3. Pea Jokilyn Doodles, 4. Pea Shelley Belley’s Doodles, 5. Pea Stacy’s Doodles, 6. Pea Stacey’s New Doodles, 7. Pea The Bees in Love Doodles, 8. Pea Tisha’s Doodles, 9. Alfabilder, 10. Dingpartment Store, 11. ForKids, 12. Girl Characters, 13. Kawaii Food II, 14. LiveStyle, 15. PeaxWebdesignFreeIcons, 16. Scrapicons, 17. Tombats Three

Once again, yay for me (and you're welcome)! To see more things I plan on do-doing this summer, check out my list!

#36: Leave Uplifting Notes for Strangers Around Town

To see more things I'm planning on doing, here's my Do Do List and my 101 in 1001 List.

My "Do Do" List

If you read yesterday's post, you see that our family has A LOT going on, and so there's A LOT going on outside of our immediate family/vicinity that we simply cannot do. We've really had to learn to say "I'm so sorry, but I just can't" and "We really wish we could be there, but it's just not going to work out."

Seriously, it's been a bit of a drag.

That's why when my friend Megan reminded me that I have so many opportunities that are available to me and I need to take advantage of them! It's my responsibility to share this beautiful world with Alexa and James and to share them with the world everyday! How exciting! Yeah, there's things I can't do, but when I focus on the can-do's instead of the can't-do's I am so much happier, and surprisingly, those around me are happier, too!

Like Jack Donaghey said, "[The world] is made by those who do do . . . I do do."

With that in mind, here is My "Do Do" List to be completed by the end of August 2013 (some items crossover onto my 101 in 1001 List)!

• Make/Print/Laminate/Post a Really Awesome Schedule for Alexa
• Help Nick Graduate
• Move to New Mexico
• Have a “See Ya Later” Grilled Cheese Party with All Our Colorado Friends
• Stay Up Late Watching Old Movies with Nick
• Finish Reading 15 Books
• Read with Alexa Everyday
• Post on Blog Weekly
• Update the Blog’s Layout
• Leave Uplifting Notes Around Town
• Hang Out with Cousins before We Both Move
• Go to Library Weekly
• Attend City Carnival in June and July
• Make Small, Cute Going Away Gifts for My Friends
• Identify 101 Things that Make Me Smile and Photograph Them
• Be 100% Positive in All I Say for a Week
• Turn a Good Deed Daily for a Stranger for a Week
• Buy Flowers for Myself (and a friend) for No Reason
• Figure Out a Way to Exercise with 2 Kids
• Host a Game Night
• Ambush Nick with Water Balloons (you’ve been warned...)
• Take Nick to that One Indian Restaurant
• Go to that One Ice Cream Place in Louisville
• Play in Shaving Cream with Alexa
• Make a Sign to Welcome Suzy to Colorado from Her Mission
• Do Something Special for My Parents’ Birthdays While They’re in Town
• Make and Eat Jello Jigglers
• Visit a New Park
• Rediscover the Joy in Photography
• Get a Pedicure

50 Books in 2013!

Okay guys, I'm serious this time -- for reals!

I'm really going to read 50 books this year, like starting today. Thanks to my Christmas gift, my new Kindle, I'll be reading at the gym a lot more often, so that's one way I'll get more reading time in!

I know I've said it before, but this time I mean it, and I'll hold myself accountable right here, on this page (and on my Goodreads page). 50 books in a year is about a book a week, 4.17 books a month, and gives a tiny bit of wiggle room for longer books. I'll put the titles and authors of the books I read, the day I start them, the day I finish them, my star rating for them, and I'll also show you what I plan to read next. Feel free to join or share your favorite reading suggestions in the comments section!

My goal is to always be reading something! This goal will surely blow any other book-reading record I've ever made for mys elf out of the water, so I'm excited to check this off my 101 in 1001 list and create some new healthy and stimulating habits for myself. Go me and literary pursuits!

Read in 2013:
1. Breaking Beautiful by Jennifer Shaw Wolf (my aunt-in-law): January 1st-8th,  ★ ★ ★
2. Water for Elephants by Sara Gruen: January 9th-26th, ★
3. Stuart Little by E.B. White: January 27th-29th, ★ ★
4. Taken by Storm by Angela Morrison (another aunt-in-law): January 30th-31st, ★ ★ ★
5. Mr. Penumbra's 24-Hour Bookstore by Robin Sloan: February 2nd-9th, ★ ★ ★ ★ 
6. Another Forgotten Child by Cathy Glass: March 12th-15th, ★ ★ ★
7. Persuasion by Jane Austen: February 28th, ★ 
8. The Time Traveler's Wife by Audrey Niffenegger: February-April 20th, ★ ★ ★ ★ 
9. The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time by Mark Haddon: April 20th-April 25th, ★ ★ ★
10. The Princess Bride by S. Morgenstern: April-May 7th, ★ ★ ★  ★
11. While the World Watched: A Birmingham Bombing Survivor Comes of Age During the Civil Rights Movement by Carolyn Maul McKimstry: May 19th-May 23rd, ★ ★ ★ ★ ★
12. Skin Deep by Anne Hjelle: May 25th-June 1st, ★ ★
13. On Becoming Toddler Wise by Gary Ezzo: April-June 2nd, ★ ★ ★
14. F in Exams by Richard Benson: June 2nd, ★ ★ ★ ★ 
15. The Secret Adversary by Agatha Christie: July 27th-June 12th, ★ ★ ★
16. Little Men by Louisa May Alcott: October 2012-June 22nd, ★ ★ ★ ★ ★
17. The Book of Mormon abridged by Moroni: March-July 5th, ★ ★ ★ ★ ★
18. The Perfectly Imperfect Home: How to Decorate and Live Well by Deborah Needleman: July 2nd-July 6th, ★ ★ ★ ★
19. Eternal Marriage and the Parable of the Silverware by F. Burton Howard: July 8th, ★ ★ ★ ★ 
20. I Love You, Ronnie by Nancy Reagan: ★ ★ ★ 
21. Decorate by Holly Becker & Joanna Copestick: July 9th-July 25th: ★ ★ 
22. Letters to Jackie by Ellen Fitzpatrick: June 18th-July 25th, ★ ★ 
23. The Bell Jar by Sylvia Plath: July 31st-August 2nd, ★ ★ ★
24. Marley and Me by John Grogan: August 15th-September 12th, ★ ★ ★ ★ ★
25. The Notebook by Nicholas Sparks: September 20th-22nd, ★ ★ ★
26. Toilet Training in Less than a Day by Nathan H. Azrin, ★ ★ ★
27. Ensign -- May 2013 compiled by LDS church, ★ ★ ★ ★ ★
28.  Doug's Rooms: Transforming Your Space One Room at a Time by Douglas A. Wilson, ★ ★ ★
29. Ensign -- November 2013 compiled by LDS church, ★ ★ ★ ★ ★
30. A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens, ★ ★ ★ ★ ★

Butterflies, Puddles, and Friends

On Tuesday we went and played at this great place called The Butterfly Pavilion . It's three of our favorite things: bugs, fish, and of course, butterflies!

Our friends, the smaller of which Alexa is completely in love!

Oh, I forgot to mention a couple other things it has: puddles, hills to run down, holes to poke fingers in, and friends to learn with!

The Butterfly Pavilion is pretty much the funnest place ever! Thanks for the fun day friends!

#100: Build a Blanket/Pillow Fort

Alexa and I built a rudimentary blanket fort the other day (not nearly as epic as this fort, but we have limited resources of space and blankets...and attention span). We had a good time putting it together, kept it up all day, and even Daddy joined in on the fun when he got home. We'll definitely do this again soon!

To see a complete list of all 101 Things I want to do in 1001 Days, click here.

#59: Run or Walk for a Cause

Last Saturday our family walked in the Wheat Ridge Festival Parade with Families Supporting Adoption to promote a positive view of adoption in our community. It was so fun!

 Good friends, Deb and Jaran, who are (obviously) Hoping to Adopt.

 Good friends, Amanda and JD with their nieces, also Hoping to Adopt.

Cute shirt, right??

To see a complete list of all the 101 Things I want to do in 1001 Days, click here.

Movie Review: The Odd Life of Timothy Green

Nick and I went to a movie screening of The Odd Life of Timothy Green in Denver a couple weeks ago with Families Supporting Adoption and it was so much fun! (If you don't know what movie I'm talking about, watch this trailer.)

Let me just say, this movie is not my absolute favorite movie in the world, but it is pretty great and absolutely worth seeing (out in theaters yesterday)! There are certainly a lot of unflattering reviews out there, but I'm glad I saw it, despite the movie's odd/magical premise.

I think more so than capturing the adoption experience, because it didn't really at all, it captured the infertile experience better than any movie I've ever seen. The longing, hoping, disappointment (the one time I nearly cried was when the mom was in the bathroom crying over her newly discovered sterility), annoyance with crazy parents, and the excitement of finally having a child to call your own. This one clip kind of expresses that last point well:

 

Don't you love that?!

There were a couple times that I was like "Yes! That's totally happened to me/I would act that way!" (For example Cindy Green's sister says to her "I thought you were going to try to have kids of your own." Cindy's response was great: "When I first saw Timothy he sure felt like my own.") There were other times that I was like "No, that's actually completely ridiculous." (For example, they make the Green's case workers out to be really intimidating and scary, which is not true to life at all - case workers are truly on your side...actually, they're on the child's side.)

All in all, I think people should see this movie, if only to better understand the infertile couple's struggles. It really is worth seeing, so pay no mind to all those negative reviews out there!

#71: Surprise Nick at School with a Homemade Lunch

Alexa and I like keeping Nick on his toes. We show up at his bus stop or at his work occasionally just because we know he loves it.

Last week we showed up at his work with a lunch, the camera, and our awesome selves as a fun mid-day surprise. Unfortunately, we did not show up with a charged camera battery, so you'll have to take my word for it and just enjoy this picture of some of Alexa's favorite outdoor surprises (rocks and sticks) instead of one from our surprise lunch.

To see my complete list of 101 Things I want to do in 1001 Days, click here.

#8: Host a Themed Dinner Party

One of my closest friends and her husband turned 40 in June and so after everyone was done traveling for a bit we threw them a birthday party.

Well, actually, it was a birthday funeral.

There were funeral potatoes, eulogies, wills and testaments, and the ceremonial kicking of the bucket! As the honorees walked into the party Amazing Grace was playing, and then the music list included classic funeral tunes like "Another One Bites the Dust," "Ding Dong the Witch is Dead," "Wanted Dead or Alive." It was way fun!

Perhaps the highlight was that our guests of honor got a surprise hearse ride to the party. Awesome!

To see my entire list of 101 Things I want to do in 1001 Days, click here.

Music Monday: Concert in the Park

All I Need Is You, Ryan Shupe & The Rubberband

One of our favorite bands came to our town, a mile from our house, and put on a free concert in the park. It was incredible! Really perfect for a family with a toddler as there was a park right there! They were so entertaining and we all had a great time! Sorry about the sound and shakiness, but I hope you can hear what a great group Ryan Shupe and The Rubberband is!

Plus, what a great song, right?

Happiness is...Applesauce Chocolate Chip Cookies

 Drunk with Deliciosity

 Applesauce Chocolate Chip Cookies

1 C. Sugar
½ C. Shortening
2 Eggs
1 tsp. Baking Soda
1 C. Applesauce
2 C. Flour
½ tsp. Cinnamon
½ tsp. Cloves
½ tsp. Nutmeg
½ tsp. Salt
½ C. Chocolate Chips

Mix together Sugar, Shortening, and Eggs.  Dissolve Baking Soda into Applesauce then add to mixture.  Add Flour, Cinnamon, Cloves, Nutmeg, and Salt.  Add Chocolate Chips.  Drop on greased cookie sheet and bake at 400 F. for 10-12 minutes. (When we made ours, we found that 8 minutes in the oven did the trick. Eleven minutes burned our cookies pretty good.)

Dreaming and Doing

I have spent more time than I should have in the past few days dreaming instead of doing. Does that ever happen to you? You dream so much and your dreams seem so nice that actually being productive in reality gets in the way. Mostly I've been feeling that all my dreams can't come to fruition right now due to any number of reasons: it's impractical, there's not enough money, there's one too many kids to get things done, there's too many cysts on my ovaries. You get the idea.

Am I the only one that ever feels this way? A bit limited by my circumstances; like my dreams are too big for me to actually do anything about? (For example, I spent a precious naptime on a website last week creating my dream house. I only got through the first floor before I realized what an incredible waste of time the "project" was.)

(Looks cool though right?)

One of my favorite speakers gave me a nice counterpoint on the matter:

"Everyone can create. You don’t need money, position, or influence in order to create something of substance or beauty. Creation brings deep satisfaction and fulfillment. We develop ourselves and others when we take unorganized matter into our hands and mold it into something of beauty...What you create doesn’t have to be perfect. So what if the eggs are greasy or the toast is burned? Don’t let fear of failure discourage you. Don’t let the voice of critics paralyze you—whether that voice comes from the outside or the inside."

I nearly let my own interior critic stop me from making a new meal I had never done before. It was so simple, but because I didn't know one step in the process I didn't actually make it for weeks. On Tuesday I did it! No, it wasn't perfect, but I did it, and sometimes that's the hardest part. The same fear (no surprise it was another cooking ambition) overcame me on April 1st until Nick said "it seems like you are trying to come up with every excuse not to make these. Either do it or don't and move on."

Ya know what? The cinnamon rolls turned out delicious and we ended up taking some to a new family in the area. The question at hand is then, why do I let this inner-naysayer make so many decisions for me, and paralyze me in such a crippling way? Someone once told me to never take advice from your fears. For some that's easy, but it is a constant battle for me to just start something, especially if I haven't done it before.

That same favorite speaker of mine, in a different discourse, said this:

"Let’s make sure to set our 'do it' switch always to the 'now' position!"

Today I am going to do that. I am not going to waste precious time thinking of what could be instead of creating what could be. No, I can't do everything that my clever mind concocts, but there's a lot more I can do as I set out with my "do it switch" in the "now position."

There's a lot more I find can be done, despite my circumstances, when I spend less time dreaming and more time doing.

The Day After...

After Thanksgiving that is, which is wonderful! Everyone treats it like a holiday, even though it's just a Friday.

A completely magical Friday!

The Friday after Thanksgiving means that Christmas festivities and music can begin in our house! It means leftover pie for breakfast! It means turkey sandwiches for lunch...and dinner! It means watching football and lounging in sweats all day! It means minimal chores! It means online Christmas shopping (and 4am shopping if I'm feeling crazy and have a shopping buddy)! Most importantly it means that I get to spend time with my favorite people in the world!

Aly has taken to acting like the most adorable puppy ever recently!

Aly and Daddy just before our Thanksgiving feast (Gerber Turkey, Rice, and Veggies for Aly. She also had rolls and pumpkin pie, like a whole piece)!

Making My Workout Spiritual

The more I study the Gospel of Jesus Christ, the more I realize that it is so profound in its simplicity. It's all about transformation.

Transforming sinners into saints, men and women into Gods and Goddesses, individuals into families, carnal into eternal, and, in this case 151.4 lbs. into 135 lbs.

151.4 lbs is what I weighed in yesterday morning, I think the most I have ever weighed in my life. I honestly don't know if other people can tell I weigh that much (I am quite muscular), but I can sure tell, and I don't like it.

And you know, I've said it before, I can do hard things, and so if I don't like something about my life, I can change it!

I have tried eating healthier and running daily in the past, and the thing with eating well and exercising is that when you do it consistently, it actually works! Two summers ago I weighed 135ish pounds and felt great and got compliments from people on how I looked. I had eating healthy goals and ran 2 miles 5 days a week (I know around here that's child's play, but back then that was a lot for me).

Back then I had been told by my Reproductive Endocrinologist that exercising daily would help the cysts on my ovaries chill out a bit and help the crazy medication he was giving me work better. So that was my motivation when I wanted to be lazy instead of run or when I got tired while running. I would push myself and say "This is for you little baby. I'm going to be better for you. I'm going to run faster for you. I'm going to run harder for you." And so on and so forth. It was all about becoming a mother, which worked as motivation for me back then.

Once we decided that adoption was our Plan A, my running eventually tapered off and became extremely sporadic, and became a decision I had to make everyday instead of one I had already made. For me losing weight cannot be just about the weekly weigh-in, because I won't lose weight everyday/week and sometimes I'm willing to sacrifice a pound or two for a delicious slice of cheesecake or a mountain of French Toast.

This is where making my workout and "diet" (I put it in quotes because 2,000 calories is what I should be eating, I'm just going to be more diligent about it) spiritual is so important. Weight loss goals come and go, but living physically well is a lifestyle, just like living spiritually, emotionally, and intellectually well are. It's about transforming the self that is "acted upon" by cravings and slothfulness into the self that acts upon those things with self-control and determination. (source, verse 14) It's about transforming the self that is eating too often to tidy the house into the self that is able to serve others because the new self has her life in order.

Source: happilymaintaining.tumblr.com via Rachel on Pinterest

I'll share more about the specifics of my workout and diet plan soon, I just thought I would pontificate upon some of my thoughts as of recently in regards to my body and how I am trying to accept it for what it is as well as make it the best I can! And as a parting thought, here was something I found extremely funny on Pinterest the other day. Enjoy!

Source: facebook.com via Rachel on Pinterest

PS As a little bonus, if I continue to get up at 6am daily and workout 6 days a week, I get to cross off a couple goals from my 101 in 1001 list. YAY!