Monday, January 24, 2011

meatless monday

in an effort to save a little money on groceries this year, we have implemented meatless monday! tonight's dinner was delicious and filling. my sweet hubby is a meat eater if i've ever seen one, so i'm very thankful that he is on board with this. and i was even more thankful when he took his first bite of this meal and said "that is actually REALLY good!" and then when he finished he said "and that was super filling!" yay!

you too can make this delicious cheesy green bean skillet by following this link to finding joy in my kitchen! "SnoWhite" has tons of wonderful recipes! she is actually my go-to site for finding "made from scratch" recipes.

Monday, January 17, 2011

10 months!

saturday bella turned 10 months old! we are in the double digits and 2 months shy of a year. our little darlin' didn't disappoint on making her self seem so big this weekend either! she is doing new things daily, and often multiple new things in a day!

at 10 months you:
  • are wearing mostly 9 month clothing and the occasional 12 month clothing. but only when wearing your cloth diapers. this past weekend on a trip home we used disposables for the first time in 6 or 7 months and realized that bella is a lot smaller than her cd's make it seem!
  • still have 4 milk feedings a day and 3 meals (kind of) a day. you have been on somewhat of a hunger strike for a few weeks. you still gobble up breakfast but lunch and dinner are hit and miss.
  • have 8 teeth! and you know how to use them (and how you shouldn't use them too...biting!) you love to take little bites of your cheerios and other snacks.
  • would crawl 24/7 if we would let you...and we don't because you must sleep!
  • take 2 naps a day. one around 9 and one around 2.
  • go to bed for the night at 7. when teething isn't bothering you, you sleep until 6 or 7 am.
  • can clap your hands! (one of the new things from the weekend!)
  • can sign more! (another new thing!)
  • can stand up without pulling up on anything, but you still mostly use things to pull up. and you "cruise" all over the place.
  • are really starting to enjoy walking with your push toy.

so as sweet cindy starr taught us tonight, we will keep playing, praying, persevering, and preparing you through your growth and development. happy 10 months (and 2 days) baby girl!

Tuesday, January 11, 2011

follow up...

so week 1 of goals for the new year wasn't too bad. as for our family goals, we mostly kept them. i mean, we didn't miss any of our bible in a year readings, we memorized our scripture for the week (this week is matthew 1:23). we prayed together a few times (not every day though). we did NOT have 3 intentional times together. so sad for that. but we aren't giving up!

my personal goals went pretty well too. i didn't wake at 530 every morning but i did work out 4 of the 5 weekdays. and i believe that i have lost 2 lbs! i'd say thats pretty good for 1 weeks in. i started reading my first book (which i've been wanting to read for a long time now) treasuring God in your traditions. i'm very excited about this book. and i really should be able to finish it quickly considering how short it is...but we shall see. :) i made bread on sunday and used it for our lunch sandwiches yesterday. it was very yummy but far from perfect, so i shall keep trying. i've been clipping coupons some (and have had adam print some coupons at work since we have no ink in our printer) and have some kashi coupons that will allow me to get 3 boxes of cereal for a little over 2 dollars. yes, the goal is to not buy cereal as frequently, but when its that cheap, i think its ok!

bella is doing great with her goals! :) she is standing without holding onto things for longer periods of time each day. she still doesn't associate sounds with things to make words, but i know it won't be long! how on earth is she going to be 10 months old this week!? goodness, make a momma cry.

how are you doing on your 2011 goals?!

Sunday, January 2, 2011

goodbye 2010....hello 2011!

happy new year! 2010 was so good to us. we had our first full year in our first house. we welcomed our first child. we celebrated our first niece's first birthday. we celebrated 2 years of marriage. we spent lots of fun time with friends and family! i had these great plans to make a month by month post about what we did each month with pictures and everything....but i don't know how to put the pictures in order, so it would be confusing :)

one night last week, adam and i sat and discussed our goals for 2011. we created individual and family goals. i'm hopeful that this will be a year of great growth for us and i'm hopeful that with a little accountability, i'll keep up with my goals!

family goals:
-read the Bible in a year. our awesome small group leaders got each couple in our small group and one year Bible for Christmas. so far, we haven't missed a day!
-memorize a scripture a week. operation Christmas child has a little resource that is a verse a week for the year. we are starting it now. week 1 is Isaiah 9:6. we will work on memorizing it each day this week. then next week we will get a new verse. i'm very excited about this goal.
-train for the haubstadt sommerfest 5k. 2 weeks before we found out i was pregnant with bella joy, we ran this race and i ran the whole thing without stopping! i want to be in that kind of shape again. its not til june, so hopefully thats enough time!
-intentional time at least 3 times a week. this is for adam and i. we don't have a scheduled date night. so our hope for 2011 is to spend intentional face time in real conversation with each other at least 3 times a week.
-have a monthly budget meeting. (we should have been doing this already!!!)
-daily FAMILY prayer time. (also, should have been doing this already!)
-thankful thursdays. this is in the works...but it will be dinner with a friend, couple, or family (or maybe someone we don't even know yet!) we are hopeful that this will be kind of our ministry where we can provide dinner for someone who may need it. and sometimes it will just be dinner with friends!

adam's goals:
-lead our family more effectively.
-train for a triathlon (pending finding a bike for DIRT cheap!)

emily's goals:
-read 10 books (i need to go ahead and chose those books.)
-be a more cost effective menu planner/couponer/baker. i started making adam's granola bars last year and that inspired me to want to make more things from scratch in hopes of saving money. so we no longer buy granola bars or tortillas and hope to stop buying bread in the very near future. it is also our hope to stop buying cereal (or buy it much less frequently) and have more homemade things for breakfast (eggs, waffles, granola, etc.)
-lose 25 lbs. i can't really use the excuse "i just had a baby" anymore :) she is nearly 10 months old! so starting tomorrow, i will rise at 530 and elliptical or work out some other way for at least 30 minutes each weekday. this is going to be very very difficult for me, as i love my sleep, but i know that once i get into the routine i will love it and i will have WAY more energy!

bella joy's goals:
-learn to walk.
-turn 1!
-go to story time at the library.
-associate mama and dada with the people :)
we couldn't leave boo out!

the jochims are very excited about 2011 and hope you are too! do you have any goals for 2011?!