New Years Resolutions?

Every year I ask myself if I should make a New Year's Resolution. But who are we kidding. I know that I would be really good about it for a few weeks but eventually it would slow down or stop completely - you know the same thing that happens to all my good flossers out there ;)  But this year I did challenge myself to make some changes. Little things that if they don't happen every time I am not devastated.  So here they are and how they are going.

1) No snacking all day.
        This has been especially hard for the kids. My kids love to graze - never eating a full meal and then being done. Especially with dry cereal - they could eat cereal ALL DAY EVERY DAY!!! So we have been working at having a good breakfast and then making it to lunch time before we eat again. I admit I do give in a few times but make sure it is a piece of fruit or something else that is a healthy decision.

2) No "pipe" for Kendall except for bed.
        Obviously this has been the hardest on Kendall. She loves her pipe. But we have found she really doesn't need it during the day - just chews on it. Or she uses it to calm herself down. That part has been the hard part for Keith and I. It is much easier to throw in her pipe when she is crabby than it is to deal with the crying. But she is getting pretty good at it now. As soon as we wake her up in the morning she takes it out and puts it on her night stand. When we bring it back out or hand it to her she runs straight to her bed :)

3) Family dinners
        For the longest time Keith has worked his 2nd or 3rd jobs in the evening. But at the start of this year we looked at our priorities and we came to a decision that Keith was going to cut back on the extras. So that encouraged me to step up my cooking skills. It is so much more fun making a dinner for more than just me. So when he would work I would feed the kids and just graze myself. So now we sit down every (90%) night and eat as a family. I have been doing really good at coming up with different recipes (thanks Pinterest). And I have loved seeing my family grow closer and hearing the conversations we have at the table. Looking back this was vital to my family growing up and I want this for my family. And I know it is sticking with the kids. Last night Keith and I were talking and out of the corner of my eye I saw Cohen and Kendall sitting at the table - holding hands - saying a prayer before they ate their fruit snacks :)

So these are not necessarily resolutions but they are challenges for our family - challenges that I hope will make our family stronger in 2013!! I would ask as you read this that you will pray that we continue to strive to be a family that is focused on each other and on Christ!!

With love from the zoo