2012 aka the end of the world

I am pretty pleased to announce that for the first time in my life, I actually sat down and wrote out my New Years Resolution's. However, I quickly crossed out the word RESOLUTION and changed it to GOAL. As in plan with a deadline. Our Bishop spoke on New Years and although I had a very fiesty toddler to deal with that day, I somehow managed to get a lot out of his talk. It really hit home with me! I am a planner, overanalyzer, woman on the go - (or Nazi as my husband calls me), yet I still find myself making plans that never happen and it bothers me.

Some of the things our Bishop suggested was to make realistic goals, set a date to them, and plan the steps that need to be taken in order to accomplish these goals. He then cancelled the rest of our meetings in order to let us gather as families and plan our goals together. I was secretly so excited because I was already planning on peacing out after sacrament ( I still have no idea how we are going to make it through 1230 church when Mr. Toddler's naptime is 1/130ish...EEEK).

So we ran home, put Mr. Sassy pants down, made a fabulous lunch and planned out our goals. We set goals for our family to reach, and Eric and I set goals for the boys and then we set our own personal goals (or at least we were SUPPOSED to..ahem). We thought that if we did the following two things we might be more apt to accomplish them:

1. Post them publicly for other people to see.
2. Write them down in a place where we see frequently.

Here are our family goals for 2012 (and how we plan to accomplish them-- if you have any suggestions feel free to let us know!!):

1. Make FHM (Family Home Morning) a REGULAR weekly occurence (Since Ryan has been born we have been very sporadic with out FHM).
- Write it on calendar
- Make FHM assignment board
- Keep it to 20 min (They tend to go super long which we found is the reason why we sometimes say we "Don't have time"
-Alternate on lessons (Eric, Me,Eric, Me,etc etc)

2. Put $1000 in Savings and keep it there. Due date: Dec 31,2012
- $84/month or $42/paycheck
-By July 1st check Savings account balance- should be at $504
-Use tax return to put $150 in account as a "cushion" for emergencies.
-Open savings account not linked to regular checking/savings account... perhaps at a completely separate bank so that we forget about it.

3. STUDY the Book of Mormon.
(We were reading it together but felt like we weren't having very much understanding to it-- the other SUPER awesome part about this goal is that my Dad and Connie gifted to us this Christmas-- unknowningly-- The Book of Mormon for LDS Families, which should more accurately be named The Book of Mormon for Dummies :) but we were super excited about it...hence where we got our inspiration for this goal)
- Read 1 chapter/day OR 7 chapters/week on our own
- Gather on Sunday evenings to "Study"/Compare thoughts

4. Be able to run 2 miles TOGETHER as a family
-Purchase double jogging stroller (This is really just my excuse to buy the BOB!)
-Do daily stretch exercises
-Fit exercise (of any kind) into daily schedule
-Jog together and separate


Ok so we realize that #4 is pretty unrealistic for us since we are like the opposite of active people. But we had to throw at least one goal that we'd LIKE to do but probably won't ever accomplish!

Here are the boys goals! These were goals that we felt were reasonable for their age and also for their unique personalities and that we could help them accomplish.

Ryan:
1. Roll over by February
2. Learn to sit up
3. Learn to crawl
4. Learn to walk
5. Learn baby sign language!
6. Work on words like Mama, Baba, Dadda

We think he can achieve these this year! :) (He's already rolling over both ways now!)

Tristan:
1. Ride a tricycle
2. Ask for basic things (without whining)
3. Begin potty training
4. Count to 10/ Sing ABC's/ Learn colors (Begin basic learning)
5. Use fork and spoon and drink out of big boy cup (as in non-sippy cup/regular cup)
6. Play with PlayDoh without eating it!


As I'm typing this Ryan is practicing his latest accomplishment of rolling onto his tummy over and over... but seems to be getting too tired to roll back to his back and needs my attention so I will have to post our personal goals later!