A Look at Goals After a Busy Summer (with photos & links!)

Since we started back to school last week, I decided this was an appropriate time to review my goals one last time before a final year-end check-in:

 

Even Newer and More Revised Goals for 2013 
Goals are in black; updates are in red.

Short-term Goals:

• Learn to change the oil in van...and maybe the wiper blades, too  Still not done this, but I did learn to operate a chainsaw.
  
  
  
  
  
  
• Run another 5K in June  (read about my 2nd 5K here!)
  
  
• Redesign The Dress for summer (or fall?) With a closet full of dresses, I decided to give Alaine's dress another rest.
  
  
  
• Finish the e-book I'm writing by the first week of June (access my free reading guide for families here)
  
   
• Compile the kids' portfolios for their school records Compiling the portfolios was easier this time as I kept up with our records all year long.  We had a bunch of friends (5 moms, 10 kids) over to review everyone's portfolios for our umbrella school... and then I breathed a sigh of relief.
  
  
  
• Plan our 2013-2014 school year  I shared my curriculum choices here, here, and here.

Longer-term Goals:

• Work with the kids on responsibility and finishing tasks to completion This is still a work in progress, but once we formulated a plan, the kids began to take more responsibility for their own work, plus they learned  a lot of new skills in the process! 
  

Gavin washing the car & experimenting with hose settings

Owen cutting tomatoes for a salad

• Continue to find ways to welcome people into our home    We did not focus on formal entertaining during the summer months, but we did host our portfolio review group in June. 
  

  

  9 of the 15 happy kids at our house for our portfolio review day

  
  We had a single friend over once for dinner and a movie and again to watch a baseball game.  Cousins came over for an afternoon of swimming and play.  A young aunt joined us for a sleepover. 
  
  And last weekend, Maddie and Owen celebrated their birthdays with a family dress-up birthday party.  
  
  
  
  
  
  
• Have a date night with Brian (at home or out) once a month  Despite a wet spring and summer (which equals steady work for Brian), we  managed to slip away for a double date with friends, an early morning yard sale date, and a dinner date for our 12th anniversary.
  
  
  

  

   
• Train for a 10K After suffering an injury in July, I decided to wait to run a 10K in the spring and hopefully get another 5K or two under my belt first.

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As it stands, these are the goals I will carry with me through the end of the year. 

Short-term Goals:

• Learn to change the oil in van...and maybe the wiper blades, too
• Run another 5K in October (if my injury is healed and I'm able to run again)
• Give The Dress  a radical new design for fall
• Do a  push-up (I've never had the upper body strength to do even 1!) and hold a plank for 60 seconds
• Finish the preparation for my October blog series, 31 Days, 31 Printables

Longer-term Goals: 

• Work with the kids on responsibility and finishing tasks to completion
• Continue to find ways to welcome people into our home
• Have a date night with Brian (at home or out) once a month 
• Train for a 10K during the cooler months of fall and winter

Did you make goals for the year?  Have you made any progress?