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At the beginning of the year, for the first time in my life, I only set one resolution for this year. But it also was the most powerful one!
I wanted to allow myself to dream big and build a happy life one day at a time. So I made a commitment to myself: That every single day of the year I’ll try to do little things that make me happy, that I will believe in my dreams, and that I will have the courage to chase them.
This resolution is not about checking many things on a wish list in a short time. It’s about enjoying the present and creating a happy and meaningful life.
The first step I took at the beginning of the year was to start a bucket list. The list includes both small things that can bring me a smile in an ordinary day and big things that I dream of.
To be more intentional in my journey to a happier and more meaningful life, I’ve decided to post a monthly update on it. This will help me keep track of all the important things that happen in our life, celebrate the wishes that came true, and add new ideas to the list.
My hope is that these monthly reports will also inspire other moms to make more of their wishes come true! I want these reports to be helpful too, so I’ll share here our favorite finds from every month.
You can read the previous reports here: January, February, March, April, May. This report will include two months but I hope to come back to the monthly reports next month.
Let’s get started! 🙂
June: A month in a word
The word of the month was play. June was one of the most playful months of the year and I was glad to see how much my son enjoyed it.
July: A month in a word
The word of the month was family. After a long time, we got the chance to visit our families and we spent a wonderful time with them. One of the hardest things for us since moving to Califonia was to be so far from our loved ones so this visit was a great chance to enjoy their presence and have a nice time together!
What happened these months & Favorite finds
When preparing this post I realized that I don’t have a lot of photos at hand from these two months. But both months were very eventful and I’m grateful for all the happy moments that we enjoyed during this time.
June
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My son went to a summer camp and had a lot of fun
B. loved the summer camp because he played for hours with other kids and spent a lot of time outdoors! He played with water and sand, and the teacher prepared many fun games for them to try! It was a wonderful experience and I was glad to see him so excited about it!
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At home we focused more on emotions and building self-control skills
The Time-In Toolkit from Generation Mindful was such a great resource for us! It helped me deal with the moments when B. was overwhelmed by big emotions and it also allowed us to have many great conversations about emotions and how we can deal with them.
The Time-In Toolkit is a project that was fully funded on Kickstarter in less than 48 hours. I liked it a lot because it focused on love and connection and it’s a wonderful parenting tool. If you want to discover more details about the toolkit, you can find them here.
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We visited many preschools and finally enrolled B. in the next school year
It was tiring to visit so many preschools and the decision was harder than we expected but we finally found a good place for B. and we enrolled him in the next school year. He will start Pre-K this month and I hope that he will like his new teacher and colleagues.
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I launched the Family Travel Bundle (and I was very happy about it)
The Family Travel Bundle was a project that I created with a lot of joy because I knew that it will help families during their summer vacations. And I was right!
The bundle received a great feedback and I’m happy to know that the activities kept many young kids busy during family trips!
B. helped me with his feedback for each of the activities and he took his role very seriously. This was a great way for us to connect and have fun together even while I was working.
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We spent time in nature almost every day
I loved doing this and B. enjoyed it too! The weather was great and we explored nice places close to our home. B. was happy to go on long walks with me or ride his scooter or bike on trails, exploring nature and enjoying the fresh air.
July
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We spent most of the month in Europe
The 18-hour airplane trip was tiring but it was worthwhile because we spent 3 lovely weeks in Europe. We visited our families and friends but we also did a short road trip through Spain and Andorra.
B. enjoyed spending time with his grandparents and it was so wonderful to see the whole family reunited!
( One helpful activity that we discovered during these last flights and that kept B. busy for a long time was solving sticker puzzles. We found 2 different types of sticker puzzles and he liked both. You can check them out here and here. )
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We celebrated our wedding anniversary with a special vacation
On the 11th of July, we celebrated our wedding anniversary and we offered ourselves an awesome gift: our first vacation alone since we are parents. This vacation was a great opportunity for us to reconnect, spend quality couple time, and enjoy special moments together.
*** While writing this post I realized that all my photos from July are on a different phone and I’m sorry that I don’t get the chance to show you some pictures of the places that we visited. If you plan to visit Costa Brava, Spain and you would like more details about that region just let me know and I will be happy to share them with you!
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My favorite find
One of my guilty pleasures is buying nice planners and the last 2 months brought 3 new planners in our house. 🙂 I bought two of them during our vacation but my favorite one was this planner that I ordered from Amazon. I like it because it is big enough for all projects and it’s undated so I can use it any way I want.
An update on my bucket list
If you’re curious to check out the list, you can find it here: Dream big. Dare more. Do the things that make you happy – My bucket list.
Wishes that came true this month
- Read “Peaceful Parent, Happy Kids Workbook: Using Mindfulness and Connection to Raise Resilient, Joyful Children and Rediscover your Love of Parenting“
- Create a new ebook for moms
- Go on a romantic vacation with my husband
New wishes on the list
I also added 4 new wishes to my bucket list. You can check them out here – they are marked with “added June / July 2018”.
June and July passed by so quickly and in August I just want to slow down and enjoy the last summer days before my son starts school. The fall will come with a new schedule for all of us so for now, all I want is to spend time with my family and enjoy it.
I wish you a happy and meaningful month, with many wonderful moments with your loved ones!
More from Playful Notes
- How to reduce screen time for kids (and what to do instead)
- 5 easy tips that will make bedtime easier and more peaceful {+ printable bedtime routine checklist}
photo credit Pinterest photo: evgenyataman / depositphotos.com
