13 Things By 2013

Tis the season to make your resolutions. I was reading on one of my favorite blogs and I saw where she had a post about 12 things she wanted to accomplish by 2012, so I've decided that I'm going to try to do 13 things by 2013. Some of them may be able to be accomplished easily, but others will take a greater amount of effort and time. Hopefully I can accomplish them. I feel that it's important to always be setting goals and to always be learning something new, maybe that's why I've been in school for so long :) Anyway, here they are:

1. Purge and organize my house and my storage. I really don't know why I hang on to stuff, but some of it definitely needs to go!

2. Date my husband! We're on the cusp of extreme chaos in our house and it's more important now than ever for us to actually spend time together and reconnect so that we can be the best parents we can be.

3. Keep my car clean! I don't know about you, but with 3 kids our stuff just seems to multiply and take over any available space. Sometimes it's just my own junk, sometimes it's the kids' stuff and food wrappers, sometimes it's Jame's fishing or hunting stuff and sometimes it's all of them combined!

4. Drink more water!! I'm really bad at this. I am a Diet Pepsi junkie. I usually have one first thing in the morning and then again in the afternoon and then again maybe in the evening. I could totally use some more water in my life.

5. Re-vamp my wardrobe. I've become incredibly picky about what I buy. I have to LOVE it before I buy it. As a result, I have a lot of clothes that I've collected over the years, but not a lot that I absolutely love and wear frequently enough to justify having them. I want to try a wardrobe that I can be comfortable in and still look decent. It'll have to wait though, because right now I'm enduring living in maternity clothes until April.

6. Read to my kids more. The kids and I read a book almost every night, but lately we have been slacking. I'm just so tired that I'm having a hard time finding the energy to even tuck them in at night. So I would really like to be able to find the time to read more to them and spend time with them. I grew up reading with my Grandmother and there were nights when I would get in trouble for staying up reading too late. I just loved to read and I want to instill that same characteristic in my kids.

7. Buy less, make more. Ever since I've become addicted to Pintrest, I have found so many things that I would LOVE to make and that I actually think I could make. I made some fabric flowers the other day for a Christmas present and for my mom and I really enjoyed the process and the time I had to myself to be able to spend on it. It also wasn't that expensive which made it even better. I have big plans for my living room that involve recovering my pillows and introducing some homemade art projects. I can't wait!!

8. Continue to maintain my high GPA. Right now, my GPA is at 3.7 which is a pretty great feat considering that in the past few years that I've been in school, I worked, went to school and had kids. I hope that I can continue to maintain the momentum that I've built up so that I can set a good example for my kids academically.

9. Let my hair GROW!! I know that Jame will appreciate this one, but I have a feeling that I'll get the itch to chop either a little before or directly after this new baby arrives. It's just something that I do, I don't know why, I just do it. I haven't cut my hair since last April and so it's been about nine months since I've touched it which is a big deal for me. We'll see :)

10. Find some balance in my life. As I mentioned before, it's about to get really busy in my house and it's going to take more energy than what I feel I have right now, but if I am able to achieve some kind of balance I know that I'll be able to do it. I have to settle myself down thinking that I have to be perfect at everything, sometimes just being good is good enough.

11. Turn off the T.V. Sometimes I just have it on for background noise while I'm cleaning or doing schoolwork which doesn't make any sense because then I sometimes loose my focus and get completely distracted. Like right now :) So, I've decided that it just needs to be off. That and I don't want to waste the electricity.

12. Blog more. I know that I've said this in the past and that I've made this same promise before, but I really like my blog and I really like people being able to see my family grow and learn more about our lives. Lately, I've had a hard time thinking of what to write about and I've neglected it as a result. I promise to do better in the future.

13. Take more pictures. My kids are growing up before my eyes and I barely have any pictures of them. I haven't taken any first day of school pictures or monthly milestone pictures of Addy. I haven't been very good, but hopefully I'll be able to do better when I get a new phone (an Iphone, ha ha Jame!). Then I'll be able to actually have good quality pictures and I'll be able to load them on our computer. Either that, or I'll have to invest in a good quality camera.

Well, there it is. Lucky 13 things I plan to accomplish before the year is up. I'll let you all know how I'm doing because one of them is to blog more often. Good luck with your own "resolutions" and have a Happy New Year!! May 2012 be the best year EVER!!!