I haven't posted much this last week because I've been enjoying our lack of school schedule. Spending time with the kids, and cleaning out the house. It's been heaven. I was dreading our return to early mornings, school schedules, and the general return to "real life." It's been such a nice break.
It's not completely ending though. This January we're doing something a little different. You might remember this post. It starts now! And I'm really looking forward to this time. I probably won't be posting as much during the month. But will post on my other blog...which I'll do a separate post about.
There have been some habits I've wanted to integrate into my life for quite a while now, but it's been hard to do with everything else going on. So the plan for the month of January is to get rid of all the extra commitments so we can focus on those new habits ~ setting up the basic structure of our days in a way that reflects our values/priorities ~ and then put everything else in around it. Instead of vice versa.
I've been thinking a little about what I'd like to accomplish in 2011 as well. I love the "fresh start" that January brings. I find that if I don't set goals I'm not as intentional with my time.
Some of my goals for 2011 are to....
~Read the whole Bible this year. Our church did a study together that was "read the bible in 90 days" I wanted to do it SO badly, but my Dad was dying at the time and I just couldn't manage it. Ever since then I've really wanted to read the bible in it's entirety, but it just hasn't felt doable. But I think I can do this now. I found a reading plan, and I've already started it. It's going well and seems manageable.
~Exercise regularly. I started last May and was really good about it but my elliptical broke and we had to get it fixed, and then the holidays started...and I haven't started up again. This requires me getting to bed at a decent hour. Which proves to be the hardest part of the equation.
~ I want to try to continue to minimize how much "stuff" we have. Have less, experience more. This was a goal for last year too. I made some progress, but still need to do better.
~ I'd like to learn how to do shoot in RAW and do photo editing.
~ I want to start reading more again.
~ Minimize my time on the computer. It's so easy for me to stay up too late being on the computer. It's a bad habit I've been working on for a while...I still need to do better here too.
~ Finish cleaning out/organizing my house. This is a constant process, but I'm taking the "Clean out" to a whole new level. I'm tired of "stuff." And I hate drawers and shelves that are too full. It makes me crazy.
Get ready house. As Dan would say, "It's on." :)
The truth is, I could write about 50 things I'd like to learn/do and improve on this year. But at this time in my life the majority of my time and energy is committed simply to caring for my family/home. But these are just some small, basic things that I'd like to do to make life more purposeful, healthier, enjoyable and more manageable.
And just a little update from this last week. We had a wonderful week with the kids. Friday night I sank into bed with a sigh and told Dan, "It's been a glorious week." I have loved having the kids home with no schedule. We did have one hairy morning when the kids were driving me crazy and I shooed everyone outside. Thankfully it snowed the night before and they had a great time. But apart from that, it has been wonderful. I have spent the time playing games, cleaning up from Christmas, organizing the house, and just being together as a family. One morning this week Matthew, Andrew, Kaitlin and I were all snuggled under a blanket on the sofa and it was just so nice. No rushing off to get to school....just being together. We'd often stay in our PJs until 3pm. One day, Dan got home from work when I was drying my hair. :)
Here are the photos from the kids time out in the snow....
This next series cracks me up.
Do you see that be snow ball Andrew is carrying and the unsuspecting Matthew with his back turned?
You see where this is going, don't you?
Got him! :)
This is Kaitlin's little "No Man." :)
Soooooo happy to be in the snow!
A monkey escaped from the zoo and came to build a snowman!
Oh! It's my Monkey!
A "cheese"y Matthew and his "melting" snowman.
Notice I'm putting my captions under the photo now? Dan gently suggested that it might make more sense.
I've also gotten a great start cleaning out the house over the week. We cleaned out all of the kids' toys, put all the pieces back wherever they belong...It was a CHORE! But it was actually fun, and the kids enjoyed having me parked it the middle of the floor with them sorting toys. Matthew helped me figure out where all those little things went ("Star Wars, Playmobile or minifigure, Matthew?") while Andrew and the Bug just played around us. The kids went through the process of editing their toys to make room for their new ones and so we donated & shared quite a few. And now it's easy for the kids to play with things and clean up is easier too.
Here's one of my little projects. I put our Christmas DVDs into this little organizer and it's really a space saver!
See all the DVDs on the left? That's how many fit in that case!
This is what it looks like inside.
I'm hoping to get a few more and store them by genre. I found this one at The Container Store it's by Case Logic, but I'm hoping to see if they carry them anywhere else.
I've been reorganizing my kitchen too, now that we finally have room to breathe thanks to this beautiful new piece of furniture!
I'm so grateful for this because we received a lot of beautiful crystal, china and silver as gifts when we were married (and through the years since). We also inherited some pieces/sets after the passing of my Aunt and Grandmother. We have been bursting at the gills trying to store all of it. Getting out the china for dinners was a real chore, but not anymore!! It's SO easy and it freed up a whole large cupboard in our kitchen and space in our linen closet too.
This has nothing to do with this post, but another holiday tradition is the "Yule Log." Mom brings this from our favorite bakery in Richland. We actually didn't eat it on Christmas because we were SO full from dinner I didn't have the heart to make people eat cake too! But we enjoyed it the next day. It was delicious. I forgot to include this photo in our Christmas post so I'm putting it in here. :)
I hope you all have a wonderful 2011!!
1 comment:
Fun times in the snow!
Your New Years party looks like a blast ~ great dancing skills :)
Jo
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