Another Happy New Year

It's hard to believe how quickly time goes by. It seems like only yesterday that baby Henry was born, and now he's crawling, sitting up, and babbling. It seems like only a couple of years since we began our homeschooling journey, but in truth we're on our 5th official year already. As I look ahead to the new year, I can see even more changes coming. Jessie will turn 10! EEK! I'll have my first official logic stage student in the fall. (Believe me she's ready with the why questions.) Violet's work will also ramp up as she hits 3rd grade, and Benny will officially begin K. For the first time it's finally hitting me that I have only a limited amount of time to teach and enjoy them before they grow up and move on. There is so much I want to cover with them and so many things that I want to do. (I foresee another list coming in the future.) At any rate in order to focus again, I thought I would revisit last years New Year's resolutions and see how I did and where I still have room to work.
Physically:

• Improve my eating habits by:

1. Drinking more water and less caffeine free Pepsi - I've gone back and forth with this one over the course of the year. Now that our Christmas tree is out of the house, and my allergies have subsided, I can start working on being more consistent in the coming year.
   
2. Having a least one fruit or vegetable with every meal or snack - Here is one area that I didn't make much progress on last year. In order to make this more attainable, my goal is to create a list of breakfast, lunch, and snack options for myself that I can choose from each day. If I have more of a set menu, I'm far more likely to follow through here.
   
3. Using my bread machine to make more homemade bread - Again I had some ups and downs here. The goal for the new year will be more consistency.
   
4. Eliminating soy from my diet - It is much harder to find store products with soy or soybean oil. I also try to avoid dairy as much as possible. I have yet to find a butter that is non-dairy, not hydrogenated, and contains no soy. More home cooking will help, but ultimately I'm going to have to choose either some dairy or some soy.
   

• Becoming more active as best as I can for the first half of the year and reestablishing a more consistent exercise program for the second half of the year. - This will be my main focus for the beginning of this year. Baby Henry is now sleeping in long enough stretches that I feel like I can set an alarm and get up to do something. I'd like to start with 5 days a week for the first part of the year to lose a bit of weight, and drop back to 3 towards the end of the year to maintain a healthy weight.
  
• Remember my daily vitamin - I did better this year, but there's still room for improvement in consistency.
  

Spiritually:

• Spend time daily on a more consistent basis in reading my Bible and praying - I did very well at the beginning of last year before Henry was born. I'd like to recapture that consistency now that he's a little older.
  
• Try to read through the entire Bible (whether I can stay on the daily schedule or have to finish up next year) - I honestly have no idea how far I got last year, so I'll just try again this year keeping better track of my progress.
  

Mentally:

• Start memorizing my way through the Psalms - Another area that I started very well with before the baby that I'll try to reclaim my progress in for the new year.
  
• Read and work my way through the book Homeschooling with a Meek and Quiet Spirit - I actually completed this goal. YEAH!!!

Relationally:

• Try to spend some non-school quality time with each of my children individually twice a week - The girls and I have played a lot more board games this year. I'd like to spend some more time with the girls doing some cooking and sewing. With Benny, I'd like to play some more active games in addition to our reading together. I also need to make a conscious effort to find more ways for Benny to help me. He loves to work and accomplish something.
  
• Spend more time talking or doing something together and less time watching tv in the evening with DH - Another area to continue to work on consistency.
  

Other:

• Steam and put together the crocheted squares for Violet's blanket that have been sitting in a bag for over a year. - I did get them steamed last year. This years goal will be to get them put together.
  
• Reorganize what's currently in my office to make a bedroom for the baby - I made progress organizing the office part of the room and got the basics for Henry. Now that he is more active and has more toys to play with I need to reorganize the baby part of the room and buy the child some furniture beyond just a crib.
  
• Work through the pile of stuff that I have set aside to sell either by listing it on Ebay or getting it ready to consign this spring. - I did consign part of this pile. I set a few things aside to give to my niece in the coming years. Of course there is always a new pile as the kids outgrow things for me to work on for the coming year.
  

New Goals for 2009

• Establish a system to manage my digital photos so that they get edited and uploaded in a timely manner. Go back through older photos and get caught up with my backlog.
• Should I achieve the previous goal before year end, I'd like to start working on the boxes of photos I have stored from before we started taking digital photos. The end goal being some scrapbooks that the kids and I can look through together.
• Improve the consistency with which chores get done around the house both by myself and by the kids.