Hi November

Is it really November already?  Someone pinch me because I can hardly believe that we have less than two months left in 2014.  I'm starting to reflect and take stock on this year.  Considering that I spent much of last month with patchy internet, I didn't do too bad with my October goals.

I'm very proud of myself for picking up my camera a lot more than I had been.  I actually took the picture above on Halloween.  My sister was here to visit and the kids wanted to go on a little walk.  So, I pulled out the double stroller and off we went.  Now on to my goals for this month.

Holiday Prep

The holidays are always a busy time.  The stores and roads get more and more crowded the closer it gets to Thanksgiving and Christmas.  So, my goal for this month is to finish up all of my holiday prep for Thanksgiving and Christmas.  Thankfully, I've already gotten a head start on this goal.  Most of Thanksgiving dinner was purchased this weekend including the turkey and I've already been wrapping gifts as I buy them.  I'm looking forward to being able to just sit back and enjoy celebrating with my family.

Blog Sponsors

This year was a great year for YUMMommy in terms of sponsors.  And I'm looking forward to making next year even greater.  This month I'll be re-evaluating some of the sponsorships that I currently have and deciding which companies I'd like to continue working with.  Also, I want to start reaching out to a few more of my favorite brands and seeing what kind of projects we can collaborate on in 2015.

NaNoWriMo

This is my second year doing NaNoWriMo and I'm super excited.  Last year, I failed miserably.   There was so much going on that I could barely concentrate on day-to-day happenings less more writing a 50k word novel.  However, I'm in a much better place and I have already gotten off to a decent start.  Also, something that I'm doing different this year is that I've joined a few writing groups and have been interacting more with other writers.  Some are moms like me and understand how hard it is to juggle motherhood and trying to create a great body of written work.  I'll leave you guys with a look at my current book cover.

I'll be doing weekly NaNoWriMo diary posts and sharing a few excerpts from this Surviving You as well Forever Branded here.  Hope y'all will stop by!  And if you're doing NaNoWriMo be sure to add me as a Buddy.

Home Life

While Moo is doing great in school, there are a few things that her teacher asked me to work harder with her on.  So, this month I really want to make sure we get on top of those things and nail it.  Also, I'll be working with JJ on learning how to communicate using full sentences.  Right now he speaks mostly using random phrases or just one word.  I think he's up for the challenge and I'm on the lookout for fun activities that will help us with this.

We've been in our new place since the end of May and I feel like we haven't quite personalized it yet.  So, I've been pinning a few DIY and craft projects that I want to try to spruce this plain canvas.  I've been keeping my eye open for some awesome curb finds, too.

Faith

Sadly, we haven't been to church in a minute.  We've been catching the Joel Olsteen telecasts on TV.  While that's all good and well, there's nothing like going to church and being surrounded by your church family and pastor.  I feel awful for missing as much church as we have considering we're back close to the church we had been going to and have at least three churches in our neighborhood.

My goal is definitely to make it to church at least 2 Sundays this month.  Moo has been asking when we're going back and I don't want her to get discouraged.  We've been doing our morning and nightly prayers as well as bedtime devotions.

What are your goals for this month?