New Year, New "Normal"

This past New Years Eve was unlike any we'd celebrated in the past. Rather than going to a party, a friend's house or hotel downtown, we chose to have a delicious Hibachi dinner at our local Japanese restaurant with our children. Then we went home and if my memory serves me correctly after the crazy month we've had, we all were asleep before the clock struck 12.

2011 has brought so many changes to our lives, and like that family dinner on the last day of 2010, all of the changes have been wonderful.

Along the short, yet very busy journey of the past month, not only have I not had enough time to blog, but I even did not have time to dump my memory card filled with nearly 500 photos dating back to Christmas onto our computer and external hard drive. Most of you reading know that if I'm too busy to do that, my schedule is beyond FULL.

Over the past few days though I've finally loaded our photos from the camera onto the computer, put the photo managing software I use onto my new laptop and have set myself up to begin blogging yet again--yippee!

While blogging to me is not the only way to preserve my girls' grins and giggles (afterall, I scrapbook and journal stories by hand for them too!), I've realized over the past month how much blogging helps me to better keep track of and record the special memories we share with our family and friends. I've missed writing down the silly things my girls say and the details of our outings, not just in my month of zero blogging, but also over the past year when I've not been able for one reason or another to write and upload photos the way I like to.

And so as I finally am ready to begin "living" again (instead of packing, unpacking, organizing, arranging, etc, etc, etc......), I am ready to make time to keep better track of our memories here. Doing so helps me later to recall the stories and situations as I'm making physical scrapbooks, so blogging is an important tool for me :)

Which leads me to share my New Years Resolutions for 2011. I have to admit, at first the list was quite lengthy. I had it in my head that I would begin my very own Day Zero Project complete with a 365 photo project and other lofty yet attainable goals for not only the upcoming year, but the upcoming 1001 days. Then as I organized and compiled my goals, I realized that this is not the time for putting pressure on myself as we adjust to a new home and adapt in 8 weeks from now to having a new addition in our family. So I made just two resolutions for this year...

1. To be the BEST that I can be in all areas of my life

2. To write more

Those two goals encompass everything that I was plotting out for my 101 Day Zero goals and more. I want to be the best wife that I can be, the best mother, the best Christian, the best homekeeper, the best teacher to my children, the best friend, and so on. And along the way, I want to take time to write--write in my girls' journals, keep up with my new baby's calendar and baby book, write by hand to friends and loved ones, write on this blog, etc.

So as I get back into blogging, as we embrace 2011 and the new normal at our new home in a new neighborhood in a new city with a new baby on the way, I hope that I can do my very best in all things and most of all provide the love that only a wife and mother can for her beautiful family.