A 2014 Goal

During 2013, I didn't blog as much as I liked, let Facebook do a lot of my talking for me. I am placing a goal in for 2014 to try to blog 2 to 4 times a week. I know I post the same pictures I do on facebook, but I want to start storytelling again. Telling of what the girls are doing, what they are saying, and why that picture was taken. We have big things coming in 2014, we have 2 big girls, we want to take vacations, we want to remodel our house, we would love to sell and build a new house, we are looking at other vehicles --so I can carry around my nieces and nephews comfortably, we are growing together as a family, we are growing in our faith, we are learning, Ava will be busy with her activities, and I am hoping Hailey begins a few of her own.

To finish out 2013, the girls are doing great, Ava is learning starting to become interested in the days of the week, her letters/numbers, and learning different things. She is becoming more interested in trying to read and being read to. She is finding her faith at church with her little friends and loves reading her bible. Her kindle is full of sight letters/words, connect the dots, memory games and other learning games. Hailey is speaking!!! She barely said 6 or so words before November, she is now saying 'almost' sentences and more phrases. She is now saying more and trying to pronounce and copy cat Ava's words. I am happy about this. I didn't know why she wasn't speaking yet but she is now. She is still my silent little booger, only speaking when she feels she needs to but she has her moments of chatter. She is almost potty trained, which is great for the pocketbook.

I turned 30!! It wasn't scary, it didn't hurt, but its official now. I am in my 30s. It came and went fairly easy, Kenny worked through it and I was home with the girls. Kenny and I have a night out courtesy of my sister taking the girls after he turns 30.

I found out that not everyone in your circle of family and friends deserves to stay there, I can do without those that shouldn't be there. 2013 made me jump back and look first before trusting someone that should automatically be trusted in my opinion. Family should be able to take care of each other forever and any time its needed.  I have distanced myself from those that I know will do no good for me and my family. I have formed friendships with people that I think will be in my life for a long time and I don't need a lot of people in my circle, just those that I know I can trust, love, and rely on. I have reconnected with family that I once lost touch with. I have lost touch with family that I don't connect with anymore. As always I am in connection with my sisters at least a handful of times during week, without them sometimes I don't know what I would do.

In 2013, Kenny and I celebrated 9 years together and 5 years of marriage. I feels like I have been with him forever. I had a long term relationship before Kenny and honestly that doesn't hold a light to what I have with Kenny. I believe our marriage has grown, we are friends, we hang out, watch sports, work on projects together, we have our moments but they don't last too long, we talk them out get our differences out of the way accept each other for who we are and move on to the next thing. I have seen so many young marriages just fall apart and I am thankful we work on ours instead of giving up. I am thankful that we don't sit in silence wishing we could talk....I don't think he would have a choice...I would talk whether he wanted to listen or not. I get a feeling that I will explode if I can't tell him something.

In 2013, we finally got to the point of no morning naps, no bottles, and 2 little girls that understand rules so we returned to church. With Hailey over a year old and Ava almost 4, I was confident I could do it on my own. So instead of waiting on Sunday morning if Kenny had a good night at work and could go to help me with the girls, or not going when he was at work we began going together no matter what. Ava began children's church and Hailey began going to the nursery. Kenny and I have been able to sit and enjoy the Sunday sermons and I have learned more about my faith in the last year than I have in my lifetime and it has really helped shape the way I do a lot of things and think about a lot of things now. I take the time to think of what I should be doing and watch what comes out of my mouth, especially with parenting my 2 little girls.

So I think blogging more and sharing the stories of our family will be a good thing for us all to look back and look at all of our memories. I know the girls know how much we love them and how much we love each other but they will one day get to read our family story.