new [school] year resolutions

1. have a meal plan done every week (for real this time!)
+ at least one night a week will be with each kid specifically helping/learning a certain meal... savannah has already learned how to make scrambled eggs and mac & cheese the blue-box way. I think next up is to teach her real mac and cheese. I want to pin down two or three "meals" that the kids like and can learn to cook themselves. Tacos, spaghetti, salmon patties; easy basics that they can get down pat. My eventual thinking is if we learn a new recipe (and techniques in the kitchen), a couple a year or so, then by the time they're teens and off to college, they'll have a nice little repitoire of meals and not have to live on Ramen and cereal when they're on their own.

2. devotions with the kids before school in the morning rather than tv
this may be an evening/bedtime thing (we're still some days struggling with our early bus this year) but I'd love to start off our school days with the bible, prayer and a blessing together.

3. reinstate game night
I scored a bunch of classic games at a thrift store recently and the kids have been way into board games again. Wednesday evenings: game night around here.

4. more family walks
now that the evenings should be cooling down a little -did you hear me September??!?? should be- I'm hoping to get everyone out the door after dinner and stroll the neighborhood a couple of nights a week.

5. photos, photos, photos.
my goal in these first couple of months of school and my (huge quotation marks here) "free time", before we get too deep into our foster care training and paperwork and that big ball gets rolling a million miles a minute is to sort, print and albumize photos. from the last six years. yeah, shouldn't be too big of a job.


Do you have any new school year resolutions?