Priorities and Goals

Okay, my first post on my revamped blog! So exciting!

I decided to start this blog to help my other working mommies out there. I am in no way perfect at keeping a house running, but I am learning new tricks and things that help me all the time.Pinterest has really been a saving grace for me in helping with organization ideas, recipes, and cleaning tips. I now create a two week menu. We have a cleaning schedule that we stick to. I have made several homemade cleaners that were posted from other blogs. It has really been great and helped me see that yes, my life is hectic and there isn't a lot of time for everything, but there is time for the things that are important.

It really come to your priorities. My priorities for my family and life are:

1. Have a happy marriage - This is super important to me and my husband! If we don't have a happy marriage then what do we have??? (a miserable family) I always want to strive to be an example of the wife I want Sophie to be. I want Klint to be the example for her to look for in a husband. I want her to see us working together to make our marriage work. Something I am going to try to start doing is using the book The Power of a Praying Wife. I downloaded just the prayers on my Kindle and have the hard copy on my bookshelf (need to relocate it to my bedside table). I think it is important to pray for your spouse and that is something I am working on in the new year!

2. Have a happy child - This does not mean that Sophie gets what Sophie wants (which she is pretty good about not saying "I want" too much). I want her to be raised in a house with love. I want her to be raised in a house where we love God and show that love to her. I want her to see us pray and have her pray when she wants too. I want her to know that we punish her it is with love and because we want her to be the best she can be! She is already a great kid to us. I know this will just get better!

3. Have family time every night - This usually happens around the dinner table. I have not always been a woman who cooked. I will admit that until recently, I was calling Klint every afternoon to find out what drive-thru sounded good for dinner. This was not good for us (weight issues and Klint's diabetes) and what kind of example am I being to Sophie? When I picked her up from daycare her first question was "Where are we going to eat?" Now she asks, "Momma, what you cooking?" which is so much nicer to hear. When we have our dinner, the TV is off and we just have our family time. We eat, talk about our day, try to get Sophie to taste something on her plate. I love it! Is it always convenient? Not always, but it is what we have raised Sophie doing and she expects it. It is a good habit to have!

4. Have a clean house - I don't mean immaculate by any mean. I simply mean I am not too embarrassed if you stop by. In all honesty, our house has never been filthy. It has always appeared lived in to me. I love the picture below, it truly describes my theory on the house. We have a two year old! Can I truly expect my house to be spotless? Nah! But I can try my best to keep it decent, thus we have a weekly cleaning schedule which I will share in a later post!

5. Raise Sophie in a God fearing home where we love to go to church - We honestly go to church every time the doors are open if we can. We go twice Sunday and on Wednesday night. I am not bragging and I am not saying it is always easy on a toddler's schedule, but it makes us feel good and Sophie loves church! She loves her class, she loves the people, and she is considered an adopted granddaughter by several of the members. She is so outgoing and doesn't know a stranger at church. There is no telling who she will sit with or visit with. We also send her to a Christian daycare. She learns Bible stories and she already knows so many verses. My favorite is John 3:16 and she nails every word except everlasting. It comes out more like "essersasting" but that is still a good effort and just precious!

6. Have time for me - I do get an occasional breath from my whirlwind of a life! I think everyone needs to try to find that time. My husband bought be a Kindle Fire for Christmas and it is my little escape. I love to read! I read four books over Christmas break and two more since then! It is great! It is also helpful with pulling up recipes on the web and having it handy in the kitchen. Great investment! I love to get the occasional pedicure with friends. I have been known to go out of town for a girls' weekend. And a bubble bath is always a girl's best friend! I may not get time every night, but I never feel deprived if I don't.

So, that is my life in a nutshell. I hope to share a lot of the things that I have found and tricks that I do to help other full time working mommies or stay at home mommies keep their lives in running order!