Currently: November 2016

Currently November 2016: What’s going on this month for Life With My Littles

Hey friends! October was such a fun month for us. We did a lot of super fun things, and my husband had his first of three weeks of vacation, so we were able to go visit family in Utah and Idaho. We also went to the beach and had a bonfire and s’mores with friends, enjoyed Saturday mornings with Little J playing soccer, went to a fun pumpkin patch and apple orchard, went to Sea World, and the kids and I got to go to the fire station with some of Little J’s friends! And of course we got to celebrate Halloween, which besides Christmas is my favorite. I made Little J’s Lightning McQueen costume, and he loved it SO much. It made me so happy! Here are some fun pictures from the month’s adventures:

Now on to some updates!

Sewing baby boy’s quilt. Or at least I plan to this month. I have it all cut and everything, but I am doing a sort of complicated pattern (this one) so it might take me a while. But now that I don’t have any other real projects going on, I can really focus on it and get it done!

Planning Christmas gifts. I really like getting Christmas gifts for my kids and husband, so I’ve already started thinking about what to get them. And I also love Black Friday shopping and always go into it with a plan of exactly what I want to buy, which requires knowing what you want to get early. Ideally, I’ll have all my Christmas shopping done by the end of the month!

Focusing more on what makes me happy. I mentioned this in my Mama’s Monthly Faves post last month, but I just got the amazing 52 Lists for Happiness journal and the first list is all about what makes you happy. I wrote everything down that I could think of and quickly realized that I wasn’t really getting to do those things a ton and that little things that aren’t super important have been getting in my way. I spend too much time on social media (which honestly, who cares what other people you never talk to are doing?), and I feel like I am always trying to just get as many things done around the house as possible instead of really engaging and enjoying my time with the kids. I realized that I really enjoy doing little crafts and activities with the kids, and recently I just haven’t done a ton of them, so I’m going to try and do more of that.

Feeling excited for the end of the year and the beginning of the new year. I think they next like three or four months might be my favorite time of the year because there are so many fun holidays and traditions that happen. I am excited to do some Thanksgiving things and plan Thanksgiving dinner, and decorate for Christmas and do our advent calendar activities. And then there’s the new year which is fun for fresh beginnings and plans and I just love that. Plus, baby boy will be here the beginning of February so we definitely have that to look forward to!

Growing our fall garden. I think I talked a few times about our summer garden, but I never really mentioned that we planted our fall garden a few weeks ago. Our lettuce, spinach, and carrots are all growing so fast and look so healthy, and our peas, peppers, and onions are all growing well, too. I wish we would have done broccoli, potatoes, and strawberries, but we forgot about broccoli and we couldn’t find any potatoes or strawberries at the store, and forgot the potatoes we wanted to plant from Dan’s grandparents’ garden in Idaho. It’s so fun growing your own food!

Trying to figure out a better work schedule. Basically ever since Little J stopped napping in March, I’ve had a hard time getting settled into a good work schedule. I used to use their nap time (about 2 hours every day) to get things done, but now he’s in the office here with me during the time Little A naps, and he usually talks almost the whole time or just is constantly asking me to play with him, so I am not too productive. I have tried getting work done after my husband goes to bed (he wakes up mega early for work) and I have tried waking up early to do it before the kids wake up, but I am just not a morning person. I have things I want to do and I want to continue to grow my blog and work on my book, but I feel like there aren’t enough hours in the day to do what I want. Luckily my awesome friend Aubri just came out with her free Work-Life Balance Course for Mompreneurs, and I’m planning on doing that ASAP because she’s a genius and I know it will help. But until then, I’m struggling haha.

That’s it for me this month! November is my husband’s roughest month yet in terms of schedule, and we’ll have to adjust to him only getting four days off the entire month. But I’m excited for Thanksgiving and Black Friday and that we get to start setting up Christmas decorations at the end of the month! I’m going to try and share some of our fun kid crafts on my Instagram page, so make sure you’re following along! Until next month, mamas!