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How To Stop Life From Happening To Your Good Intentions

2 / 8 / 17

 

It’s the time of year when those New Year’s Resolutions start to wear off. You’ve tried and tried to get to the gym, you’ve tried to cut out sweets but then the Super Bowl happened, you’ve tried to launch your home-based business, insert fill-in-the-blank applicable situation for you.

I’m a big believer in goals for the year, but as such, I’ve also come face-to-face with reality smacking those goals over and life challenging me to give up on those goals I set out to conquer in the new year. 

This year, I have a few simple goals. I’ll share a few of them:

1) Get up at six o’clock every weekday morning and have a 30 minute devotional time. 

2) Listen to audiobooks at the gym and redeem that time (& make it more enjoyable).

3) Never miss a Monday at the gym to set myself up to be physically active that week.

4) Set aside work hours for my business, which I work from home, each and every day.

5) Limit foods outside of my food plan to once a week at the most.

January wasn’t the month I hoped it would be. I had a hard time being consistent with the things I set out to do – and while there are always plenty of excuses to go around, as Brian Tracy says in No Excuses, stop complaining or making excuses and take responsibility if you want to make a change. I could have lived out January better to be further ahead than I am now.

That being said, I am happy to report that I did make progress on each of these goals last month! Audible has been Godsend in helping me take in good input, like Brian Tracy‘s book, helping me get more fuel and to stop making excuses. 

Here are five wins from January, one for each goal:

1) I got up at six a.m. some, and continue to pursue making this an every day habit.

2) I’ve gotten a lot out of starting to listen to audiobooks and have even started doing this some in the car!

3) I’ve missed just one Monday since getting back to the gym after the Christmas break!

4) I’ve put more time into my business and have had extra growth because of the extra intention I’ve put in! 

5) I’ve said no to a lot of foods that I otherwise wouldn’t have because of my desire to limit the intake of foods I want to avoid, and I’ve stuck to 1/week all weeks but one.

In light of my goals and progress, I want to share with you some strategies I’ve embraced over the past few years to help prevent life from happening to the good intentions of New Year’s Resolution making.

  • Revisit your goals each and every month. Write them down (research says that you are over 1000 times more likely to achieve a goal when it is written down) and share it with someone (your chances are even higher fro success when the goal is shared).
  • Each month, write down where you made progress on each and every one of your goals. My phrase for this year is “Intentional Progress”. I might not win at all of my goals right out of the gate, but I’m going to make progress intentionally each and every month! By counting our monthly progress “wins”, this gives us inspiration to keep on going.
  • Ask yourself “why didn’t I meet my goal?”. Look at your answers & readjust!
  • Commit to make this month better than the last. Winning at goal setting is all about progress! Make progress over last month and you’re on your way to getting better, and better, and better, and better!

It really is as simple as that. Culture tells us that people who have goals will fail, but statistics tell us otherwise! Keep working on those goals and just see all the good, all the progress, that comes from that intentionality!

What is one of your goals for this year? What’s been a progress win so far?

Disclosure: This post contains Amazon Affiliate links. Should you order through these links, we will receive a referral commission off your purchase from Amazon. Don’t worry- this does not affect the purchase price of the product. Thank you for helping support Canvas & Table and helping us create fresh content!

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Christmas with Little People – Part Three: What We’re Giving Our Kids This Year

12 / 13 / 16

Gift ideas for little ones

In the first part of this series, I mentioned a few rules of thumb to simplify gift giving.  Our family loosely follows this one:
“Something they want,
Something they need,
Something to wear,
and Something to read”.  

At the request of a reader, I’m sharing what gifts we are giving our two boys.  As I said, we follow the 4 Gifts rule loosely.  We’ve tweaked it to fit our family better – focusing a little more heavily on books and movies this year.  We’re focusing on various media because Baby Boy #3 is due shortly after Christmas and books, movies, and music are ways we’ve found to easily connect and spend time with our boys.  We’re also seeking to be very intention this year in giving our boys quality Christian materials.

Our boys are both toddlers.  Our oldest, Nolan, is 3 1/2 years old (he’ll be 4 in March) and Asher, our youngest is 2 (Practically.  His birthday is 10 days after Christmas.).  Nolan is our baby philosopher – he can be occupied for house building and studying how things work, enjoys reading and asking dozens of questions per book, and is our deep thinker.  Asher is equally bright- but completely opposite of his brother.  Asher is always on the move, finding abundant joy in well-planned antics, dancing the moment the beat drops, and running, walking, and climbing.

What We’re Giving Our 3 1/2 Year Old (Nolan’s Gifts)
–Lego Duplo Truck & Excavator Building Set  – Each boy is getting one toy/toy set.  Nolan has really been enjoying Duplos in recent months – and he loves construction vehicles.  All Duplo sets are compatible with each other, so we’re adding to his collection with this fun set.
–The Biggest Story: How the Snake Crusher Brings Us Back to the Garden – One of our greatest delights as parents is teaching our boys God’s Word in a way that is understandable by children – without losing the depth and richness.  Since Nolan’s birth the Jesus Storybook Bible has been a family favorite!  It’s falling apart – literally – so each boy is getting a new Bible storybook.  The Biggest Story is technically a little old for Nolan, but it will give us room for lots of discussion and room to grow into.  The way the text is written is enthralling – and will definitely capture the attention of my thinker and wild imagination boy!  Plus, the illustrations are colorful and captivating.
–Theo 5 DVD Set – Both boys will receive a movie or movie set.  We have found a variety of educational shows that they enjoy on Amazon Prime, so we’re focusing on giving them DVDs this Christmas that are Gospel-rich.  The Theo series is perfect…. classic Disney-style animation, beautiful soundtrack, solid theology, hymns, and condensed (but true to the Book) Bible stories, all neatly packed into 10-15 minute episodes that my big boy will be drawn into.  This 5 DVD includes over 4 1/2 hours of these episodes.
–The Ology – Nolan especially enjoys listening to music in the van, so we’re giving him this new album from Sovereign Grace Music.  The Ology walks through the high points of Christianity track by track, covering the concepts of the sovereignty of God, the reality of sin, the provision of a Savior, the return of Christ and more. 

What We’re Giving Our 2 Year Old (Asher’s Gifts)
–Gas ‘n Go Mower –
 Asher loves helping with household chores and he loves push toys, so this toy was a perfect fit.  Complete with gas canister, knobs and pulls, and fun sounds, this will keep him playing happily for a long time.
–Big Picture Story Bible –  For his “something to read” gift, Asher will receive the Big Picture Story Bible.  I like the look of this one – colorful pictures and simple (but yet meaningful) text will hold the attention of my mover and shaker.
–Praise Baby: Born to Worship – The Praise Baby series is similar to the now hard-to-find Baby Einstein series.  Each DVD features fun colors, shapes, and pictures all set to calm praise and worship music.  The DVD gives several playback options for the music: instrumental, children singing, or an adult vocalist.

Something to Wear 
For this category, we have traditionally given our boys matching Christmas pajamas.  They will receive these as wrapped gifts on Christmas Eve.  This time, I bought their PJs at Target on a buy-one-get-one sale several weeks ago.  This is also a great way to slash the “something they need” category, too, by keeping them set on warm pajamas that fit their ever growing bodies.

Stockings
We’re following a similar strategy as the 4 Gifts for the boys’ stockings (although I have no cute rhyme… ha!).  
-This year they are both receiving Melissa & Doug Water Wows as their big stocking gift.  Nolan’s is car themed and Asher’s features ocean creatures.  
-I’m splitting up a special set of socks between the two of them (they are close enough in size that their sock size is the same!).
–Snacks.  We’re going smart on this one and going easy on the sugary treats… Did you know that kids find other snacks to be special, too? 😉 The boys will each get some mini Larabar snacks and Apple Go-Go Squeeze pouches.
–Small toys.  Asher has a stuffed puppy that has a special place in his heart.  We’ve decided to give him the same puppy in another color as a fun stocking surprise.  For Nolan, we picked up a couple Thomas Minis Mystery Trains.

We’re excited about the gifts we’re giving our boys… they are chosen intentionally and won’t add a lot of clutter to our home.

Leave a comment below and tell us what carefully chosen gifts you will give your children this year!

Disclosure: This post contains Amazon Affiliate links. Should you order through these links, we will receive a referral commission off your purchase from Amazon. Don’t worry- this does not affect the purchase price of the product. Thank you for helping support Canvas & Table and helping us create fresh content!

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A Simple Playroom Makeover + 15 Must-Have Children’s Books

7 / 8 / 1510 / 29 / 15

Playroom

We recently moved our little family of four from a 900 sq. foot apartment to a larger four bedroom house.  Having a fourth bedroom has given us the perfect spot for a playroom for our boys.  After living in a small space, it is exciting to have a room just for play (and to help confine the toys to one room)!

The boys have really enjoyed the playroom!  Before we decorated the room, we took time to clean out their toys – leaving just the toys they love and play with the most.  As we’ve simplified their toy options, they actually end up playing in the new room more often!  

room2

Using a storage bench, we have the toys sorted into cars, trains, and a few miscellaneous toys.  It keeps it simple and the boys can play in there for hours with these!

room3

We tapped Target and IKEA for our room decor.  Target had the fun room decor we wanted and IKEA had a great selection of children’s sized items, like the easel and reading chair.

room4

Both of my boys love books, so creating a special reading corner in the playroom was very important to us.  We used a popular idea, using IKEA spice racks as our book shelves and turning the whole wall into a book wall.  I’m a sucker for children’s books, so we have a couple sturdy baskets for the overflow.  Make sure you read to the end of the post for my list of must-have books for young children!

room5

We still have a few small touches we would like to add to the room.  We plan to make and gift my oldest with a train table for this coming Christmas (shh!), so that will become a focal piece to the room in the future. 

Here are some of our most read and most loved children’s books (there are really too many for us to list, but these are our current favorites):

Interested in buying these books? Buy them through the links below and support this blog! (Disclosure: These links are Amazon Affiliate links. Should you order through them, we will receive a small commission off your purchase. Don’t worry- this does not affect the pricing of the product. Thank you for helping support this blog so that we are able to continue bringing you fresh content!)

Don’t Let the Pigeon Drive the Bus!
The Jesus Storybook Bible
If You Want To See A Whale
Little Blue Truck
The True Story of the Three Little Pigs
The Story of Ferdinand
Locomotive
Dr. Suess’s ABC Book & CD
The Very Hungry Caterpillar
Pocket Piggies Colors!
A Sick Day for Amos McGee
Hush, Little Ones
Thoughts To Make Your Heart Sing
Chicka Chicka Boom Boom
If You Give A Dog A Donut

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