April was a hard, exhausting month over here. We had illness and medical stuff and anxiety and the regular ups and downs of life and school stuff with the kids. There were definitely wonderful moments, but I felt really thrown off and am ready for a new month to pivot and refocus. I was SO ready to work on my Powersheets prep for this new month.

APRIL MONTHLY GOALS:
Plan and celebrate Holy Week/ Easter: We observed a ton of traditions during Holy Week that meant a lot to me and it was worth the planning and even the baking the warmer weather than I’d have preferred.
Plan May Celebration Central: I have to admit… this did not go as well as I’d hoped. I feel al little stressed about details that are not yet worked out and I am trying to let go of my typical planning/overplanning and just go with the flow but hoping that next year I go back to getting everything set in April!
Family Brainstorm for Summer: This honestly did not happen at all. Hopefully next month.
Finish Spring Cleaning: This happened but it’s hard to even tell at this point… the struggle is real LOL
Finish Photo Catch Up: NOPE. I had hoped to get through 4500 pictures last month. I got through maybe 500. May is not the month to pick this back up but hoping to have a new photo backup system by June!

APRIL WEEKLY GOALS:
Meal Prep/Try a Recipe: 3/4 weeks isn’t too bad. I am really obsessed with some of the recipes I’ve been trying from Shalane Flanagan’s cookbook Run Fast Eat Slow and meal prep was SO necessary for how crazy April was and will continue to be important for May.
Budget Check in/Family Meeting: This absolutely fell by the wayside and it is amazing how fast it made it feel like our schedule was in disarray and how inflation’s effect on our grocery bill feels even worse when I am playing catch up on weeks of grocery bills instead of having it be a incrementally more than expected each week. Yikes. We caught up the end of the month though and are back on track to stay in the routine going into summer!
Photo Routine: See above about photo catch up. This didn’t happen at all. Not even a few weeks.
Write: The only weekly item to happen each week. So I’ll celebrate that win.

APRIL MONTHLY GOALS:
Strenght & Stretch: YES. This was a really great daily goal and I am super proud of myself for managing to take a 20 minute core class by the end of the month. Considering I was struggling with 5 minute postpartum core classes at the beginning of the year this is a HUGE accomplishment.
Sips & Steps: Hit and miss but happened more often than it didn’t. I feel like I’m in a good place with my hydration to be ready for the summer when I need ti even more than usual.
Morning Routine: HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHHAHAH April was chaos.
Evening Routine: HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHHAHAH April was chaos.
Music Time: HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHHAHAH April was chaos.
Read Aloud Time: The only other daily thing I did almost every day aside from post-dental sedation or else when I was too sick to read aloud.
Sleep Goals/Screen Limits: HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHHAHAH April was chaos.

Let’s move on to May! May is always such a busy month and since having school stuff back in play after missing the end of year events the last two years it feels like it is an even more packed time of high emotions and transitions. I am trying to remember I don’t need to do these things perfectly. I just need to make little by little progress.

MAY MONTHLY GOALS:
*Celebrate Everything: Birthdays, Mother’s Day, end of school, anniversary, MOPS traditions, the World Vision Global 6k … so much to think about and celebrate and I am ok letting a few things drop even after feeling like I’ve already dropped the ball on so much last year because I need to make these special occasions.
*Prepare for and enjoy school volunteer days: For the first time since my son started at his new school they are allowing volunteers on campus. This comes with some prep work though because I’ll basically be teaching the class for the day and 2nd graders are not my usual age level nor am I teaching my usual subject so… definitely need to prepare so I can just have fun that day. I get one more volunteer day this year for my middle kid’s class too. I’m so sad for all the co-op days I lost with her but so thankful that at least some returned this year.
*Finish memorizing/rehearsing/prep for Alphabet Shakespeare Show: It is hard to believe that in a little over a month my husband and I will be back on stage together. It has been a LONG time, so much longer than we ever could have guessed and I am excited and nervous and ready to put in the work and make it all happen. If you are in the Phoenix area and want to come see us, you can get your tickets HERE!
*Create/Plan Summer Bucket List: We are intentionally keeping it a really low-key summer so we can budget for the fall and all the events coming up with that, but that doesn’t mean we can’t make some magic happen so this is a way to let the kids look forward to a few special treats.
*Create/Plan Summer Routines: Planning some routines to keep me sane, keep my marathon training on track, keep the school age kids from the “summer slide” etc. etc. etc. Some favorite routine components we started last year include starting the day with read aloud books and having themed dance parties.
*Set up new technology: I got a new running watch for my birthday! And I have… no idea how to use it and am feeling old so I want to put some time into that before training starts up. We also need to set up a new system for backing up photos as our old desktop and portable hard drive are getting old enough to have trouble connecting with my phone and it is important to me that my photos are backed up to some physical piece of technology and not just the cloud.

MAY WEEKLY ITEMS:
*Budget Check In/Family Meeting: It did not take long for things to fall apart when we didn’t have this weekly item last month. It feels so good when this routine is in place.
*Write: We will have final revisions on our script before we go into tech/dress rehearsals for our show and thenI want to keep up on my regular blogging before my annual break next month.
*Strength x2: I hit strength work hard last month and I’m ready to focus on 2 days a week this next month while things are super busy and as I start transitioning into what I want my strength work to look like this summer during training.
*Inbox 0 work: This absolutely exploded during the chaos of last moth and I have SO MUCH to catch up on and so little will to do it… BUT I know my brain is happier and my communications clearer and more timely if I can get this back under control. Luckily it should be easier this time around after unsubscribing from so many emails during my spring focus on this.
*Legacy Journals: Something I have really let slip over the past year is writing in my kids’ legacy journals about cute things they have said or done or things I notice about right now. I’m ready to get back to that and stop judging myself for not being able to remember all the things I meant to write down but forgot. Progress not perfection.

MAY DAILY ITEMS:
*Celebrate!: While we don’t technically have an official celebration EVERY day in May, it feels like there will be some sort of exciting thing to lean into and our schedule is dizzyingly busy compared to what it has been for a long long time so trying to embrace the chaos and choose joy.
*Morning Routine: SUPER ready to get myself back on track here. This is always tricky as we get toward summer because my kids wake up with the sun in spite of the blackout curtains we have in their rooms…
*Evening Routine: Rest and sleep are going to really need to be a priority the next 6 months and I know that starts with sticking to a good evening routine. I know what I should be doing. Why is it so hard to just do it?!
*Screen Limits: Another factor in getting good rest- not staying up too late on my phone or in front of a computer or TV…
*Yoga: I cut way back on my practice during peak training and while I started getting back in the routine last month, I know that it is SUPER important to keep my practice up and build my flexibility and strength before adding on a ton of mileage later this summer.
*Hydrate: Summer is coming. enough said.

PS: If you are one of my fellow Powersheets users- it is not to late to start this month’s prep work if you haven’t already! I’m cheering you on as we close out the first half of this year!