blog slacker

These last few weeks have gone by so quickly! it's February next week? Didn't we just celebrate Christmas? I've got my days (and months) all mixed up. I have been doing well sticking to my new schedule but ever since Braylen's birthday party, I have been slacking a bit.

We had Braylen's 2nd birthday party on Jan. 15 and had a blast! He received so many wonderful presents and he enjoyed every single minute of it. We had an Elmo birthday theme and my mom made an awesome cake. We served chili, gumbo, and broccoli cheese soup with cracker, bread, and veggies. What a great memory!

The next morning, Guy and I left for Gatlinburg for a 5 day stay in the Smokies with our good friends from YL. There were 13 of us and we had such a great time. Lots of fellowship, community, shopping, EATING, hiking, reading, game playing (mostly speed scrabble and settlers) and resting. Braylen stayed with my parents and Guy's parents and we missed him so much. We had a nice reunion with him when we came home on Wednesday evening.

Then 2 days later, we left for a YL leader retreat up at Great Wolf Lodge. Braylen was able to come with us and our favorite babysitters were there to help watch him while we attended classes and worship sessions. What a great weekend! We left feeling so encouraged and spurred on to love God and love others. We were reminded just how much the Lord wants to use us as missionaries in Boone County High School.

Then Sunday was my birthday and I got to take a nap so that was fun. :) I have two more years left in my twenties. Cool. Also Guy made jambalaya for dinner and my parents came over to eat with us. It was delicious. I love my little cajun cook. He's so cute.

Now I am back to the grind of things but just not back to my normal routine. I have way too much laundry to do and my kitchen has powdered sugar everywhere because I'm (well my mom really is doing it) making a 2 tiered cake for a baby shower this weekend. Our dear friends Katie and Kevin Williams are adopting the most adorable baby boys from Ethiopia. Couldn't be more excited for them. God is good.

Speaking of good, I have a great granola recipe that I am going to post asap. Everyone needs to try this because it's so delicious.

Happy Friday!

Ready or not

Hello friends. This week has been so crazy! Cleaning, organizing, cooking, preparing, packing, "laundry-ing".............we have a YL party tonight, Braylen's bday party on Friday, and we're leaving for Gatlinburg on Saturday morning. Could we pack anymore in?? Oh yes. Jess and Vince are coming home on Thursday! Yea! Lots of really fun things are happening. We are so grateful to share these memories with the people we love! I just finished creating Braylen's birthday video and will post it on youtube after we have his party. He is going to have so much! We are having an Elmo party and mom is making him an Elmo Birthday Cake! He calls it "mel-mo." So cute. I showed him a few "mel-mo" videos on youtube and now everytime I open the computer he says "mel-mo? mel-mo?" Hilarious.

Before the beginning of 2010, Guy and I sat down and wrote out a list of family/personal goals that we would like to accomplish. One of mine is to treat my position as a stay at home mom as an actual job. I wrote about it a little bit in this post. I have finally created an organized method for staying on top of chores and accomplishing things throughout the week, month, and year. I wanted to share it with you in hopes that you would join me in prioritizing our time in ways that is glorifying to God and helpful for our families.

I by no means have mastered this way of living. I am such a procrastinator and am not self-motivated. I just can't see the big picture! I live in comfort. So it is a struggle for me to stay on top of things. I am so thankful for God's grace (and my husband's).

The "method" is as follows-and was created by someone else! :)

I went and bought an index card box, index cards, and little dividers from Walmart. I titled the dividers like this: Daily, Weekly, Monthly, January, Feb, March, April and so on.

Here is what is behind each tab-and you can change yours to what is a priority for you:

Daily: (written on one index card)
1) Consider dinner preparations-thaw meat, etc
2) Make bed, tidy bedroom
3) Have QT
4) Sweep floor in dining room
5) Laundry-wash 1 load, dry, fold, put away
6) Maintain dishes
7) Check bank account
8) Workout
9) 1 hour work for Young Life (office stuff)-at least 3 times a week

Weekly: (one index card for every day)
Sunday-
Plan for the week
Plan meals and grocery list

Monday-
Gym
Grocery store
Dust living room and clean floors

Tuesday-
Gym
Dust bedroom and vacuum
Change sheets

Wednesday-
Gym
Clean up bathroom and empty trash
Organize bills and paperwork in office
Dust and swiffer office
Trash cans out to curb

Thursday-
Activity day with Braylen-Zoo, museum, library, etc
Sweep and swiffer kitchen, Dining room, hallway

Friday-
Gym
Craft activity with Braylen

Saturday-
Gym (if I can make it)
Dust, vacuum, organize Bray's room

Monthly: (one index card)
1) Organize hall closet
2) Clean out van
3) Clean out refrigerator
4) Organize paper work

Each month has a divider:
January:Clean medicine cabinet, toss expired meds
February:Clean hard to reach places-behind stove, sofa, fridge, etc
March: Organize basement and laundry
April: wash windows and screens
May: Organize pantry and kitchen cabinets
June: Wash comforters and blankets
July: Clean and organize basement and laundry
August: Clean out drawers and closets
September: Clean out linen closet
October: Defrost and clean freezer, fridge, stove
November: Dust inside China Cabinet
December: Turn mattresses over and vacuum furniture, drapes

Two!

Guy and I are amazed at how quickly two years have gone by. Braylen is going to be 2 on 1/15! I mean seriously! Can you believe that? My sweet, little, babe is all grown up! Braylen is the most wonderful blessing anyone can ask for. We are constantly amazed by his sweet personality. He continues to bring joy to everyone around him. (Side note-today when we were shopping for daddy's birthday present...Guy's birthday is tomorrow by the way! Yes, all 3 of our birthday's are in January.......I had to stop and "quietly punish" Braylen for not listening to me. I was trying to get him to look at me and when we finally made eye contact, he leaned in and gave me a kiss! ha. He is so sneaky trying to get me to stop punishing him!)

Here are a few of my favorite Braylen milestones that have happened these past two years!

1. His birth!

12 hours of labor and an epidural that ran out-it was certainly worth it!

Braylen Kenneth Domec

1/15/09 at 7:43pm

9 pounds, 1 ounce

2. Learning to sleep through the night!

(he started sleeping through the night at 10 weeks!)

3. Smiling!

4. Going to his first Young Life camp

(YL has a "no kids allowed" leader policy BUT if you are nursing you can bring your baby! My sister came with us to camp in 08 to help-it was just a few weeks before her wedding!)

5. Rolling over

(this isn't really a picture of him rolling over but how sweet are my boys!!)

6. Eating solid foods

7. Swimming

8. Walking

(it was just last December that he first started walking!)

9. Kisses!

10. Taking Braylen to the beach for the first time!

There are of course so many more great memories! We so look forward to many more wonderful milestones with our little boy! Thanks for your prayers. We certainly cannot do it without the support of our friends, family, and our Savior! What a great God we serve. He is so good to us!