27th Birthday Goals and My 2nd Mother's Day

This month is flying by and I can't believe we are nearing the end of May. May is always so busy with graduations, birthdays and lots of celebrations. My birthday (May 8th) always falls right around Mother's Day so this year we spent a solid week celebrating and I think I ate cake every night for a week. The actual day of my birthday Jace and I slept in until almost 10:30am which was the best present that little cutie could have given me! Later that morning my mom came over and we went shopping and out to lunch. That night my mother in law came over to surprise me to babysit Jace while Austin took me to a birthday dinner at our favorite local restaurant, Henry's. From there we headed to Austin's softball game which was fun because he plays with all of our friends so we had cake with them! It was a perfect day!

The rest of the week was full of celebrations as we celebrated my birthday with my family, then Austin's family, my best friend Stacy's daughter had her 2nd birthday party, helped host my friend Amy's baby shower, and a friend of ours had his 30th birthday party! Then that weekend was Mother's Day weekend so I got out of cooking dinner for a week straight! I have come to appreciate cooking more in the last year but it's definitely not my favorite duty. 

Another thing I love to do around my birthday is set some goals for the coming year. My mom and I use to go to lunch at Rafferty's every year and set out my goals and I love the freshness that it brings when going into a new year of life. I am so incredibly thankful for life and setting goals always keeps my perspective fresh and my eyes focused on what is truly important in life. I came up with 4 goals that I wanted to share and I'm sure will add to them as the year goes on!

27th Birthday Goals:

1. Give financially every month- I struggle a lot with materialism and contentment. One major way I have found to combat this feeling of never having enough is by giving. It completely re-directs your focus and brings so much more JOY than any material present I could buy myself. My prayer for Austin and I this year is that we would truly be led by the Lord to give and view our finances as a resource to further the Kingdom of God instead of clench it tightly like we are often tempted to do.

2. Keep a workout routine- starting Beach Body has been AMAZING for me. I have felt so good in my own skin and had more energy. Another way for me to walk in contentment is to care for my body so I feel good in my own skin and don't have to constantly worry about it. I want to keep that up this year. 

3. Read/listen to 2 books/month- I love to read and listen to audio books and it is so much more refreshing to me than watching tv. I already do this goal for the most part but want to stay more consistent in it this year. I think I could go for more than 2 books but want to keep my goals attainable. 

4. Visit a new place- not sure where this will be yet but I've definitely been bit by the travel bug and am ready to GO! 

Mother's Day was a wonderful relaxing day. We went to church in the morning and had lunch at Austin's parents house afterwards. Then Austin and I decided that a quiet night at home sounded amazing after such a busy week. We made a pallet on the living room floor and ordered pizza for a movie night. It was the BEST and one of those moments where your heart feels so full. I have always imagined being a mom and one of the things I have always dreamed about is movie nights with my kids. We watched the pixar movie Boss Baby and Austin and I loved it! Jace wasn't too interested but still sat with us and played while we watched. I didn't realize at the time but later did that last year on Mother's Day we ordered pizza and laid around also! I'm thinking this should be our Mother's Day tradition. 

I am SO excited about this summer and Austin and I started working on a Summer To-Do list this past week. Jace is at the age where he will enjoy all the pool days and Summer activities a lot more this year than last year. Last year was all about surviving the newborn stage and we still loved taking him to the beach and pool so I can't imagine how much more fun this year will be! I also have about 500 house projects I want to do! I CAN'T WAIT!