Resolutions Revisited {Reevaluated}

1:Reading and learning more sign language: Fail...no reevaluating this one. I just need to try harder.

2: Crochet a granny square a day for my blanket: So-so...I've missed a couple of days but then made them up...until I missed yesterday.
{Reevaluated} I will crochet or knit everyday it just might not be a whole square or a square at all. One of the days I didn't do a square was b/c a knitted a hat. Also, I contacted the local children's hospital and found out that they take handmade items (wasn't sure since they don't take stuffed animals). I want to start making hats and baby blankets to donate.

My blanket so far and the squares I made last week but haven't attached yet.

3: Fitness:
*eat right and log it: check! I've been good about this everyday: MyFitnessPal
*weights 2-3 times a week: uh....needs work lol I did make it to the y once and did weights. I have plans to go twice this week.

 {Reevaluated} I'm bumping my weights goal down to 2x a week. Once this becomes routine I may add the 3rd day.

*30 Days of Yoga: check! I haven't missed a day! I am absolutely loving the 30 days of Yoga with Adriene  Yoga makes me feel great and I'm seeing progress in my flexibility already. I had planned to do the daily video in the morning but I like sleep too much to get up earlier than I need to. I've been waiting till the kids go to bed and am loving it. It's the perfect way to end the day. I have noticed that I need to lock the dogs out of the room while I practice unless I want them to participate. 

Downward dog = kisses from the dog

Please comment below! I'd love to hear from you! 

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School Update: Jan. 2015

We're about halfway through what the normal school year tends to be so I thought it would be a good time for an update. Over all I say things are going pretty well. Sean and Maddy are both ahead of schedule on math and language arts. They worked faster than I had thought so I think we'll slow it down a little for the second half of the year. We're unfortunately are behind with science and history. Part of it was illnesses (like me being sick most of December). We also never got into a good routine and that was my fault. This will change starting this week. One change I'm making is only concentrating on either science or history per week instead of trying to do both each week. I think this will be the key. With only one of those subjects to concentrate on, it should help me stay more organized and make weekend lesson planning easier.

Mr Skeleton from one of our science lessons

Speaking of organization, this morning while browsing pinterest I found Amongst Lovely Things' post: How I’m Using Spiral Notebooks to Simplify Homeschooling. I thought it was a great idea and since I had some notebooks lying around, I decided to give it a try. I'm hoping it helps keep us organized and on track. Sean and Maddy both seem excited about it.

 Sean and Maddy's notebooks and the basket to hold the notebooks and the day's school books. 

Self care is referring to things like brushing teeth, brushing hair and such. the first page of their notebooks has a list of what they are to do. Sean has laundry on his list b/c today is his laundry day. Maddy's was yesterday. Our laundry schedule is another new thing I'm trying out to keep myself more on track.

 

I even have a notebook of my own. Those items under self refer to things I'd like to do for myself. Today they are all some of my new year's resolutions: 30 days of yoga, crochet a granny square a day, read more, and a reminder that I'm going to go to the gym tonight and lift weights.

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Good Bye 2014, Hello 2015!!

It's that time again! Time to say goodbye to the old year and hello to the new year. I like to say goodbye to the old year by reminiscing.

In 2014:

• We begun the new year will lots of new life in our little suburban homestead ...and more in February! ...and more later in the year that I didn't blog about, including hatching eggs under a broody hen for the first time.
• I focused on my crafty side and opened up my Etsy shop: Made by Mama Dani
• I started the year having just lost a few daycare kiddos but have ended the year with a full house and a nice wait list for my home daycare.
• We said goodbye to our beloved Dachshund Annabelle.
• And said hello to a little firecracker Boomer.
• We started a new school year with Sean in the 1st grade and Maddy in kindergarten.
• I brought back Fun Lunches for the kids.
• The kids had a fun and busy year with Maddy continuing dance, Sean continuing soccer, and Sean starting scouts, and we all started going swimming at the ymca: update post #1 and update post #2
• Maddy turned 5, Sean turned 7 and Emily turned 3 this year. ...my my have they been growing!
• Richard and I celebrated 8 years of marriage! 
• I became serious about bettering myself. I logged my food and made better choices. I worked out regularly with cardio, weight lifting, swimming, and yoga. I've lost about 14 lbs!

Onto the new year! My intentions for 2015:

• As cliche as this is, I plan to continue working at bettering myself. I will work on the last 20-30 lbs I want to lose. I will continue to make good food choices. I will continue to work on making exercise part of my routine. I plan to lift weights 2-3 times a week, have regular swim time with the family, and regularly practice yoga. Join me on my facebook group Girls Rule {Boys Drool} Fitness and/or on MyFitnessPal
• I will be beginning the year with 30 days of Yoga with Yoga with Adriene. I'm going to give morning yoga a shot, wake up and get on the mat before I do anything.
• I will find more time to read. I am working on Wicked and then plan to read the other 3 books in the series.
• I will learn more sign language and share it with the children I care for. I will start this with one of my Christmas gifts this year: Sign to Learn: American Sign Language in the Early Childhood Classroom
• I will expand my butterfly garden this spring. I need to add more nectar plants to attract more butterflies and need to replenish the Milkweed that did not return this year.
• I need to remember to write down all the cute kid moments I want to remember years from now: with my Kids Say series
• And lastly, I will continue with my creative outlet: knitting and crocheting. I have started a stack of crocheted granny squares. My goal is to continue at least 1 square a day until I have enough for a patchwork blanket for myself.

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Good Bye 2013, Hello 2014!

Holy moly am I late with this post. It's almost February! But then again, how long has it been since I wrote a post!? Too long!

I like to begin the year by looking back at the previous year. In 2013:

• Maddy turned 4 and had a mermaid party. 
• I lost count of the butterflies we released.
• We added to our flock and hatched eggs for the first time.
• Our rabbits had successful litters.
• We kept 2 female and 1 male rabbits to expand our rabbitry.
• I processed my first rabbit.
• Maddy preformed in her first dance recital. She did beautifully!
• Sean started playing soccer. Maddy joined him later in the year.
• We're officially homeschoolers. According to our city, Sean's a kindergartner but he's more on the first grade level.
• Richard and I celebrated our 7 year anniversary. 
• We added a house rabbit to our homestead; a lionhead named Thumper.
• Sean turned 6 and had a Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles party.
• Emily turned 2. She just had a family party but had a Dora/Minion/Thomas the Train cake...her favorite things.
• Our does (minus one that was too young) had another litter in December.

Now to look forward to this year. In 2014, I plan:

• I plan to do monthly photo shoots of the kids.
• I plan to blog more.
• I plan to use natural options more when it comes to medication and cleaning.
• I plan to eat dinner at the kitchen table more...we've become too lazy with this somehow.
• I have something else I plan to do but I'll make that announcement later. ;)

I will post a couple of update posts with more pictures this week.

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Good bye 2012, Hello 2013

We're saying good bye to 2012 so I'd like to take a look back on what happened this past year. I typically link back to posts but many of my posts are still missing pictures from when I moved pictures in my web album; I hope to finish fixing it soon.

Our 2012 Christmas card picture

• We started the year in a baby moon with a brand new baby.
• We celebrated Maddy's 3rd birthday with an art party. 
• We had to get rid of our mutt, Keme because she attacked our other dog, Annabelle.
• We adopted a pug pup, Gizmo.
• Maddy tried dance again in the summer. She loved it and wanted to continue in the fall.
• We released over 70 Black Swallowtail butterflies and still have 41 chrysalises in our butterfly cage to release next spring.
• Sean started Kindergarten. 
• Richard and I celebrated our 6th wedding anniversary. 
• We celebrated Sean's 5th birthday with a dinosaur party.
• We adopted a rabbit trio with the plans to breed them for meat come spring time.
• I worked with a group of locals to get the city to reconsider zoning that bans backyard hens. We won!
• We got 3 baby chicks; half of what our flock will be. 
• We celebrated Emily's first birthday!
• We changed a lot of our eating habits and I lost 16 lbs!
• I am ending the year with a booming daycare business. Most of the kids I care for are the same kids I had last year.

Even though I failed at project 52 posts this year, I did take a lot of pictures through out the year. 

Looking forward to 2013, here's what I'd like to accomplish:

• Our healthy changes will continue. I want to lose 10 more pounds.
• Along with taking lots of pictures of the kids, I will start being in pictures more.
• While on the subject of pictures, I will do a better job at quickly backing up all pictures instead of them sitting on the computer for months first.
• We will be trying our hand at gardening again and this will be a better year.
• We need to do some major decluttering around here.

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Good bye 2011, Hello 2012

At the beginning of a new year I like to take a look back at the previous year. Here's a look back on 2011:

• We celebrated Maddy's 2nd birthday.
• We found out we were expecting #3!
• Keme had puppies.
• We evacuated because of hurricane Irene.
• Maddy tried out dance class but ultimately decided not this year.
• Sean had his first (and hopefully only) trip to the ER.
• Richard and I celebrated our 5th wedding anniversary.
• We celebrated Sean's 4th birthday.
• We may finally have answers on Sean's small size.
• I had ups and downs with the daycare business but am ending the year on a good note.
• Last but definitely not least, we welcomed little miss Emily Noelle into our family on December 29, 2011....birth story to come.

I also attempted Project 52. I did pretty good right up until the end (only missed 2 weeks).
Here's most of 2011 in pictures:

I'm really looking forward to 2012. Here's what I would like to accomplish:

• Work on living on a budget better. 
• Build our savings.
• More quality time with Richard.
• More quality time as a family.
• Cloth diaper Emily...no falling back onto disposables like we did with Sean and Maddy.

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Good bye 2010, Hello 2011!

Wow, another year gone. A pretty good year too. Let's start with a look back at 2010.

In 2010:
**We became first time homeowners by buying the house that not only I grew up in but is also the house my mom grew up in!
**Welcomed a new fur baby into our life.
**Maddy had her first birthday.
**Sean went through lots of testing to find out why he wasn't growing normal only to have a growth spurt after all the testing was done.
**We had a vacation to Maryland to visit with family. On the way up met an online friend and her family in person for the first time.
**Sean had his third birthday.
**We had a day trip down to Nags Head to meet two more online friends in person for the first time.
**I started homeschooling Sean.
**We celebrated our 4th wedding anniversary.
**I became an Avon representative.
**I had many ups and downs in my daycare business but ended the year better than I started it.

All I hope for is that 2011 be as good or better!

In 2011, I would like to:
**Make the pup a family dog...more training and exercise. She needs to learn not to jump on people, nip at my feet (herding dog!) and just be calmer! Then she'll be allowed in the livingroom with everyone else.
**Stop caring what some think of my attachment parenting/non-mainstream ways.
**Be more active...walking the dog will kill 2 birds w/1 stone
**More date nights w/hubby

Hello 2010!!

Happy new year!! 2009 wasn't a horrible year but I have a good feeling about 2010. Here are my 2010 resolutions:

1. Spend more one on one time with Sean and Madison
2. Start having date nights with hubby
3. Become a home owner
4. Work out more
5. Learn to quilt
6. Do better at blogging (I did all of last years blogging this morning..thanks to copy and pasting what I posted on FB, FTM and such lol)

This year will be a good year because I learned some VERY important lessons last year. There are some stresses that are easily eliminated from your life. The hard part is figuring out what's worth worrying about and what's not. Another thing is to learn that some people thrive off drama. My dad told me "Don't wrestle with a pig because both of you will get muddy but the pig will enjoy it." It's so true! In 2009 I also learned that no matter how hard you try, you can't get along with everyone. Sometimes the best thing to do is to just walk away and not worry about what is thought of you. You can't make everyone like you no matter how nice you are. I have learned what really matters. My kids are of course my #1 priority. If it's not in their best interest, then forget about it. I also learned that blood does not equal family and family is not limited to blood relations. Family (related and not) is not who is here now but who has always been here and never left. Family is everyday. My family is what matters to me...and you know who you are! Here's to a wonderful 2010!!