December Photos

Look how on the ball I am with posting pictures! The new year has given me new energy. December was filled with lots holiday merriment and the magic of snow!

This Year's Resolutions

The first time we looked at our future home, it was in the snow. Now since I grew up in this neighborhood I had seen this house many times. However the first time we really looked at it, looked with the possibility of it being ours, was on a magical white Christmas in 2010. This year, seeing our newly rebuilt home in the snow, feels like we have come full circle somehow. This holiday season has felt healing after so so many tumultuous holidays in recent years. Between my cancer diagnosis coming in December and the fire just before Christmas last year we have had some stressful holidays to say the least. This year, completing all of our holiday rituals again, decorating the tree, Christmas morning at home and baking holiday goodies, it all feels like I have laid that part of my life to rest. I am ready to move on, clear the slate and greet the future with optimism and new energy.

Every year I try to record my resolutions on the blog. I love keeping a record and revisiting old goals. Sometimes they work out, sometimes they don't, but it's all a learning process and I relish the chance to set new goals with the knowledge of my previous goals behind them. I'm not going too crazy with the resolutions this year but I do have a few things I want to work on to improve myself and my quality of life.

First of all I want to make time for art this year. My kids are getting older now and enjoy making art with me. I have no more excuses for putting aside my artwork. I want to find the joy in art that I did as a child. I find making art very satisfying and it is part of self care for me to make it a priority. My plan is to fill at least three sketchbooks this year but I'm hoping to do even more.

My second resolution is more related to my children and our family culture. I want to designate a day to spend at home, a day when we don't leave the house with very few exceptions. One of the joys of homeschooling is setting our own schedule and not being overly busy but somehow we have become over scheduled. There are so many books we want to read, so many projects we want to pursue. Echo's goal this year is to learn to read but we never seem to have time to work on it because we are always rushing somewhere. I strongly feel that children need large amounts of free time to explore their interests and let their imaginations take them wherever they want to go. We will use our day at home to read, build, create, cook, snuggle, play and bond as a family.

One resolution suggested by my brother is to stay in better tough with him, I think it's a good one so I'm going to keep it :-)

A new year's resolution list would be complete without a fitness goal so to round out my list I am going to commit to doing my yoga practice at home at least a few times a week in addition to my once a week class. I found a good youtube channel for yoga called yoga journal that I plan to use to guide my practice.

I will definitely come up with more goals as the year goes on but this is a start. What are your resolutions?

November Photos

Finally getting around to posting some highlights on the blog. Hopefully December photos are coming soon!

I pretty much only got photos on my real camera from two events in November apparently. Our anniversary trip to Vogel State Park was the first.

My Anniversary present, a brick commemorating the place we got engaged

The second was the Harvest Hunt at Oakland Cemetery. We have competed in this for a few years running now but this year we one!