4 Things I Want To Get Better At Planning

When it comes to my planning skills in certain areas, I have to admit that I've been slacking a little.  With so many changes still come and my little darlings getting older, it's time that I get my act together and put more effort to planning things out so that our lives run smoother.  While there are a number of things I want to get better at planning out, today I'm only going to share four with y'all.  

Family Outings & Playdates:

These past few months, we've just been kind of keeping to ourselves.  Sadly, playdates and family outings have been few.  However, I want to change all of this.  The kids are at an age when socializing and interacting with their peers is really important, especially for JJ.  And of course, I definitely want to make sure that we get in lots of family time outside of our apartment.

So, my plan of action is to volunteer to host and plan a playdate for our playgroup or with some friends.  I'd love to do this once a month, but will start off slow and do it every other month.  I've also come to the conclusion that most of our family outings will probably just include me and the kids.  The Mr's work schedule is grueling and he needs his rest during the day so that he can be alert at work.  His life and the lives of others depends on him being able to properly function and make sound decisions.

Some family outings that I'm looking forward to planning are a picnic in the park, a trip to the new aquarium and $1 movies.  I can't wait to do all of these things with Moo and JJ (and hopefully the Mr can join us on a few.)

Crafts:

I've always considered myself a craftsy type person.  I sew, crochet, do needle point and a few other things.  However, those are adult crafts or at least crafts for kids older than mine.  Moo has really been asking to do crafts lately.  And while I'd love oblige her, one look at our craft closet has proved that I have indeed been slacking in the planning department on that.  All we had were glue and and crayons on top of crayons.  Only so much you can do with that combination.

Therefore, my plan is to hunt a checklist of basic supplies that we should keep hand for kid crafts.  This will not only come in handy during the rest of summer break, but when school starts and they have to do projects this fall as well.  Here's to hoping that we don't get too carried away stocking up on supplies.  If you have a must-have arts & crafts supply or tool that you keep handy for crafts with your kids be sure to leave it below in the comments.

Holidays & Special Occasions:

Now that the kids are getting older, holidays and special occasions like birthdays are more important in terms of details and starting traditions that are unique to our family because they are at an age that they can actually remember these events.  When I was younger my mom used to go all out (within her budget of course) for holidays.  All the girls including my mom would have matching outfits and my brother's would coordinate with ours.  She'd throw a big Christmas party at our house on Christmas Eve and all of my aunts, uncles and their children would come.  

There'd be singing, dancing, eating, laughs and just all around good times.  I really want to start my own special traditions with my family.  And with so many people that I know passing, I definitely want to put in more effort with planning special and memorable birthdays for the kids to mark them having seen another year of life.  I really want to put together a great birthday for the Mr.  As a child, he never got birthday presents or really had anyone to celebrate his birthday with or party or anything.  So, to this day he just pretty goes on like his birthday is non-important and that's just not true.

Life deserves to be celebrated, especially when you've been blessed to make it another year.  I'm determined to throw him an awesome party or if he absolutely insists on no party, at the very least, I want to plan him a surprise that he will never forget.

Meal Planning:

School will be here in about 45-50 days give or take a few.  As mentioned on here several times, my children have multiple food allergies including gluten, eggs, milk, soy, and fish to name a few.  That means that I will be packing their lunches everyday as well as buying all of their treats when they have any kind of party at school.  Therefore, I'm going to get serious about planning out all of our meals from week to week.  This reduce headaches and stress all around.

Another reason, I want to get serious about meal planning is that it's time to switch up our menu.  Moo made it very clear last night that we tend to eat same things from week to week.  Even though they have dietary restrictions, I still want my kids to be able to enjoy food.  So, I've been tweeting and asking other moms with food allergy households for some help.  I'm super excited to try out some of the recipes that I've gotten so far and look forward to blogging about them.

There you have it.  I'm hoping to have these four things down and stay on top of them the rest of this year.  I will be making adjustments as I go along.  I'll also be sure to share what works and doesn't work for us and any other techniques or tips that I pick up along the way.

Is there anything that you would like to get better at planning out?