Wednesday, January 1, 2014

Hello, 2014

My first post of 2014! With this post, I’m hoping to renew my interest in blogging. It’s been hard to fit this blog into my daily routine for quite awhile now, but I’m going to try to find the time to post more often. I’d like to post daily, but I don’t want to make any promises I can’t keep!

We spent last night hanging around in our pj’s playing video games.Tony and I played Super Mario 3D on the Wii-U. It’s a great game! Zoe and Brandon sat on the couch behind us playing Pokemon on the 3DS, and Landon played Team Fortress with some school friends on the computer. I guess that may sound like a pretty lame way to bring in the new year, but we were happy.

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We did do our traditional homemade pizza and dessert fondue. Tony spent the better part of his afternoon making homemade pizza crust. It took him hours, but the results were amazing! He made veggie pizza for the vegetarian (Zoe) and a Chicago deep dish for everyone else. I enjoyed both, but I think I liked the veggie pizza best! The two littles couldn’t hang long enough to get to the fondue so I gave them each a small brownie instead. Brownies are a rare treat and they LOVED it! After Tony and I got the two crazies to bed, the rest of us enjoyed a chocolate fondue. We dipped pineapple, marshmallows, strawberries, brownies and banana’s into warm, melted chocolate…it was delicious!

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No one really made any resolutions, but my goal this year is to teach my kids a bit about caring for themselves.

  • I’d like to teach Zoe to be confident on her own. I’d like her to see a reality outside of this home she’s grown up in. A life with bills. A life where you buy your own food and make it on your own. A life where you run out of something and you may or may not be able to run out and get more. I need Zoe to be confident that she can make decisions on her own.
  • I’d like to teach my middle schooler, Landon, a little about empathy. Middle school is a tough age and being empathetic towards others can be difficult when your really busy trying to be cool. I’m hoping to find a way for the two of us to volunteer together. I’d like to see him give a little of his time to something that will be a benefit to someone else. I know he’ll learn a lot through that type of experience and it also would give me a little time with just him.
  • I’d like to teach my two youngest how to problem solve without all the screaming. How I’m going to do that is a complete mystery, but I plan to do a little research. I also plan to teach the two of them how to be a little more self sufficient. I know that seems crazy given they are only 3 years old and 18 months, but putting on their own shoes is something I know they can do! Helping pick up their own toys is a MUST! Using manners is also important.
  • My personal goal, outside of teaching my children, is to be more conscious and thoughtful about my words and tone of voice. My mom made me aware of my tone one day when we were out with the kids and it really stuck with me. I had (jokingly) used a mean voice to call out to Harper to catch up with us when my mom said something like “aw, don’t talk like that to him”. She said it in a sympathetic manner, one that made me think about how I was addressing a little three year old boy. I was kidding at that moment but there have been times when I wasn’t kidding and used a harsh tone and/or words. I do that too often and I’m going to try to keep in mind that these kids deserve to be spoken to in a loving way. It’s definitely going to take work because I sure love to be sarcastic, but I’m glad I’ve got all of 2014 to practice!

Happy New Year to you all! Here’s to a fabulous year!

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