Bring on 2020!

I don't like to put a lot of pressure on myself at the beginning of a new year with starting new goals right away since it starts during a very cold season in Michigan, which means, typically, I have sick kids who need extra attention, caring, and washing done for them, as well as in the house. It's also very dark in Michigan this time of year, so desires to be outside to play before or after school are very low, making anything related to the outdoors difficult, unless you don't mind being in the dark and/or very cold temperatures.

This year, however, I actually have been able to start some new goals and be excited for them right away. It's easier since no one is sick, yet, and we have the awesome new Children and Youth Program for the kids to set goals for themselves in the intellectual, spiritual, physical, and social areas. Jason and I worked with our kids on Sunday to choose attainable goals for them to start on. I set some of my own for myself, so I have felt pretty motivated this week as we went back to school. I could tell the kids feel motivated also.

On a side note, just before Christmas, Victoria finished working on her last two goals to earn her Personal Progress medallion! She's 15 and a few months, so she did a great job earning that in those few years. She hasn't gotten the medallion yet, but hopefully soon. Even with that accomplishment, she's still excited to start on some new goals.

An unwritten goal, that my girls didn't want to even make a goal for because they know they're going to do it anyhow, is that they're both making new sheet quilts for their beds. They helped me repaint the boys' room over the break and reorganized their stuff with the new desk. We made it look really nice and I think it encouraged the girls to freshen up their rooms. Then they both said to me, separately, that they wanted a new quilt for the bed in each of their rooms. I reminded them that we just had Christmas and that quilts can be pricey and persuaded them to make sheet quilts. We found good sheets on sale at Target and are now in the process of making some quilts.

Erik wanted green, Austin wanted blue, so we settled on turquoise. I thought it was too bright at first, but I really like how it lightens the room now!

Victoria's organizing skills

Covering up the drab green and beige.

The new desk.

They didn't want to part with the stickers on their beds yet...

They got these cool space tents for their beds for Christmas. You can also see the big box on Austin's bed that he didn't want to part with yet either. That box was one of the reasons we did the room spruce-up!

Luke was very interested in Karissa's cutting of the fabric.

We're all enjoying rereading the Book of Mormon again. We know the story of Nephi really well, so it's nice to have some good conversations about the story since they all understand and know it.

So, despite Austin starting the year off with a broken arm, which, by the way, is a buckle fracture, but closer to the growth plate than last time, though still only 3 weeks in a cast, we've started off 2020 ready for action!

The girls and I went to the temple.

I took the kids sledding on New Year's Day to get some fresh air, even though Austin's arm wasn't in a cast yet. We went to a small hill for that reason, and because the snow wasn't great, as you can see. 

Austin won the Jumping Jackpot at an old-fashioned arcade I took the boys to on our last day of break.  He earned 649 tickets!!

Erik did well on the Ski Ball.

Austin got out of school early the first day back to get his cast on. We used the last of his gift card at Cold Stone while we were at it.