October Goals

 

I love October. I've looked forward to October in Chicago for a long time....especially now that I can enjoy it that much more through the eyes of a cute little two year old. I love traditions, and want to make sure we are starting and keeping our own family traditions - and so a lot of this list is rooted in that....along with some necessary goals to a. enjoy this month before newborn life begins and b. organize my life a bit before newborn life begins!

• Get up to date with our family yearbook

 I'm a big memory keeper kind of girl. I've stopped just ordering prints of pictures (unless I'm purposefully filling picture frames) because I literally have hundreds of gallon bags filled to the brim of pictures that don't get loved on. Instead, this year, I'm starting the tradition of a family yearbook. I'm using Shutterfly, which I always do for photobooks, and I'm trying to get up to date so that I don't have much too much to add in January.

• Throw Leo's 2nd birthday party

This is happening on Saturday, so I know it's going to get crossed off the list, but I'm hoping I can enjoy it along with throwing it. It's a pretty small group, the only thing I'm bummed about is that it's calling for rain. I'm not quite sure what all of the young kids are going to do, but we'll figure it out. I have a few easy activities so hopefully it won't feel too boring or too chaotic!

• Boo our neighbors  

Ok, this is also happening this week. We were BOO'ed by our neighbors on Sunday night, and we are continuing the train by boo-ing other neighbors this afternoon. It's a really cute, cheap little activity that hopefully will be a fun neighborhood tradition for years to come. 

• Go on a few dates with Joel

We have a darling babysitter that we are trying to use every other week. She is in high school (so she is really affordable), she ADORES Leo and he ADORES her, so we're trying to take advantage of the situation as much as we can these next two months. This week we are going to go to the movies and we're going to keep trying to go on fun, easy, no fuss, date nights just to enjoy getting out of the house just the two of us.

• Apple Picking on a not 95 degree day

We attempted a really fun day a few weeks back, but it was so hot, I want a do-over. I'm thinking about possibly trying to fit a trip in this weekend with my sisters, so we'll see if it happens sooner than later. My mom's side of the family has an Apple Pie day every year where we all bake tons of apple pies for the holidays, but I think that may be happening in November, so we'll have to find a few other uses for some fresh apples. 

• Make some progress on the nursery

We have done NADA, and I'd like to start soon. One of these days!  I also want to get to Ikea and load up on a few Ikea goodies...including this roller cart for the first floor so I can have necessities down here too.

• Read (at least) 1 book

I recently finished a cute, easy book, and I just love easy, fall books that kind of take you to other places for a little while. If you have any great recommendations, please send them my way. 

• Freeze a few dinners 

I've been trying to double dinners here and there to keep our garage freezer full and ready. It just makes some weeks SO much easier. I know that will only continue to be the way, so I really want to start stockpiling a bit. This week I'm adding Enchiladas to the mix, but I'd like to add a few new kinds of dinners, so again, if you have a favorite freezer meal, please pass it along! I may ask this again in November when we plan out a few freezer stocking days too. 

• Organize hall closet, playroom, and deep clean the garage 

I'd like to get both first floor closets really purposefully organized. They're both kind of a catch all, and they bug me, so I need a storage containers and systems implemented so that they become less of a pain! 

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With the holidays in November and December, plus the reality of having a new baby and all of the stress that comes with that, I feel like October is kind of our last hurrah of calm so here goes nothing!