Progress Report- May

The purple stuff is what I accomplished in May.

Family

Monthly date night with Leonard (Jan- We saw The Hobbit, May- for our Anniversary we had dinner at Mongolian Village then saw The Age of Adeline)

Monthly parent-child date night (Jan- Len & Kaleb, Feb- Jen & Noé, Mar- Len & Gavin, Apr- Jen & Teague, May- Len & Hiram)
Weekly phone call with my parents (I speak to my parents often, but I need to make a chart so I can make sure I'm always checking in with them.)
Be more involved in our siblings' lives (Tickets are bought to visit my sis and her new baby in June!)
Work on family history of all great-grandparents (I've found all of my great-grandparents names and most of their children.  I just need my granddaddy's siblings and then I can work on Len's great-grandparents.)
Give journal gifts to kids (that I bought last year, ugh!) (Kaleb & Noé now have their journals, I've put Teague's letters from last year in his, but I need to still write this year's.  Ali's letters are written.)
Organize kids' pictures for the someday I will scrapbook them
+ share those pics with extended fams
Have a "fancy" Sunday dinner each week (We do this when we have the missionaries over!)
Throw fun birthday parties for each of my kids (Noé had a slumber party, Kaleb cooked us a 4-course meal, Teague had a little party with some of his school friends- the boys, Ali had a family party.)

Home
Tidy main floor and master bedroom daily (I have been getting better at this, and doing a load of laundry each day instead of having a laundry day each week)
Have kids tidy their rooms and basement daily (They're pretty good when I ask them, I'm looking forward to the day when I no longer have to ask- they just do it!)
Be more consistent with weekly family chores (Family Fun Bucks got funded!  I can't wait for ours to arrive!)
Organize ENTIRE house (hasn't been done since 2012!)
Paint 6 new canvases for newly painted basement & finish other artwork for the space (I've started 2 of the 6 canvases, I've worked a little bit more on the 2, this is slow going, but I'm still working on the 2)
Get new bedspreads for Kaleb & Hiram's room (Kaleb & Hiram have new quilts, as do Noé & Ali for when Ali is out of her crib, and I've ordered some new ones for Gavin & Teague- we're doing a major room switch-up this summer)
Get new roof!
Get estimates for new hardwood and tile flooring for main floor (and hopefully get them done!)
Paint main floor walls and mix up artwork and print new 16 x 20 photos (We just hired a painter to paint our main floor, up the stairs and upstairs hall, and down the stairs, hooray!  We painted the basement in February and the bedrooms are still good from when we painted in 2010.)
Give more love to yard (We just hired a lawn company to help us out with this.)

Personal
Lose rest of pregnancy weight (I gained a whopping 60 pounds and have only lost 30.  I keep losing and gaining the same 3 pounds, ugh!)
Go to bed early (Len and I have been better at this and Ali has been sleeping well.  It's amazing how good sleep is!)
Eat healthy breakfast, lunch, dinner (Breakfast- always, Lunch- sometimes, Dinner- never, ha!)
Keep splurges for special occasions (Trying to, but there are lots of special occasions)
Climb stairs for 5 minutes after each meal (I did this for one week, sigh. I tried this again but didn't get very far.)
Walk OUTSIDE daily (This hasn't been daily, but I'm getting out as often as I can now that the snow has melted.  I just got a new double stroller so the little ones and I can get out each day. Not every day, but some days.)
Start doing 5-factor fitness exercises again
Drink 3-4 quarts (liters) of water a day (I usually get 3 in each day.)

Enrichment 
Serve my Relief Society sisters better with Visiting Teaching and my responsibilities as secretary (Doing the best I can.)
Share my testimony with others more freely *I know that Jesus Christ lives *I know He loves me and I love Him *I am grateful to be a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (I still struggle with sharing my feelings in conversation, but I have been sharing quotes that have uplifted me on facebook and this blog.  I told our lawn care rep about our Young Single Adult ward and he seemed interested in going.  I hope to see him again to follow up. I helped a high school friend find the Bishop for his neighborhood so he could go and get some religious guidance.)
Attend the temple quarterly, and attend a new temple for our anniversary
Take the kids to the beach (don't care which ocean, but a beach at the ocean!)
Visit our Lee, Pittl, and Reil families- this goal is for every year, but it seems to work out every other year.  *I want to visit Mandy when her baby boy is born and all the Lee's (As I mentioned above, my tickets are bought!  I'm so sad Eri will be in Hawaii then, but hopefully Brent's fam can come.) *I want to visit the Pittl's in Indiana this summer and/or in Idaho this Christmas *I want to spend Christmas 2017 with the Lee's and Thanksgiving 2019 with the Reil's
Do something BIG for Leonard's and my 40th birthdays!  *We had a plan to get awesome steampunk costumes, go on a hot air balloon ride and hire a professional photographer to document the event (Tickets are bought for our hot air balloon ride!)
Dance my best in the spring recital with Noé (Noé and I both performed!)
Take time weekly to create
Get caught up on blog for 2014, stay caught up for 2015, make blurb books for years 2009-present (2014 is caught up)
Do everything I can to adopt Macy & Sasha (and pray for a miracle that we can find them and complete our family) (We met with our Bishop to get connected with LDS Family Services (in Toronto) for a home study to then connect with Adoption.com.  I've also sent for information packets from the CCAI Adoption Services.  Unfortunately, Adoption.com is only for American families.  We've learned more from CCAI, but it is really expensive.  I'm really hoping we can get a posting to China or India that will help us adopt within the country.  I hope this dream comes true, but if it hasn't in 5 years I'll let it go then.  A good friend told me, "If anyone could adopt 2 more children and raise them well, it is you and Leonard."  This helped my heart so much as she sees me and my family often, and has seen our house clean and messy, she has seen me calm and frazzled, yet she still thinks I'd be a good mom to 2 more sweet babes.  I hope I'll be able to!  We were offered a spot on the quota list for adoptions from Haiti.  Unfortunately, we didn't think the timing was quite right as we're trying to figure out where we're going to be living.  We want to live abroad so badly, so hopefully we can move soon and then start the adoption procedure with Haiti or China.)