You may have thought I was done with post about my plans for the year or recapping the year or whatever can fill a lot of blog posts in January. NOPE. Although I do think this is the last of them, pretty sure.
I've been picking a word of the year for a few years now (see: the bottom of this post for link to all those posts) and while it usually ends up being a word for the 1st quarter before other things take over that brain space, it does help me focus a bit at this start of the year when I have to do SOMETHING with all my time and energy that was previous consumed with Christmas prep (November & December) and running (May - October). So, a lot of planning and project happening right now. I can get a lot checked off my to-do list in the 1st quarter or at least make steps towards many items getting checked off!
In 2021 my word was SMALL and I actually remembered that without looking it up! We definitely were more intentional about supporting small businesses with eating from/at a local restaurant at least once a month, going to the Farmers Market more, and supporting local small businesses. It feels really good to be giving my money to someone other than Jeff Bezos (he doesn't need it) or Target (as much as I still love that store and still spend plenty of money there.)
2021 was also the year I started to make more small changes in the amount of trash we throw away, working on getting closer to zero waste even though we will never achieve zero waste. It's so fun to find another item we can stop buying and/or throwing away and how we are taking out the kitchen trash (our main house trash can) a bit less. If our trash doesn't get picked up for a month because of all sorts of reasons with the trash company, it doesn't really matter because it's rarely full! (We did go a month between recycle pick-ups though, and right after Christmas and that was brutal.) A lot of small changes can add up to a big improvement there.
And I am always working on small changes to make around the house to improve how it works for our family right now. Or even small steps towards bigger projects. Small really can make a difference and I will keep doing that!
As for 2022, we've really been enjoying the ages our boy are at right now: almost 9 and 4. Everyone is potty trained and nobody relies on a nap every day (although Sam still takes a couple a week, usually on early dismissal days or 15 minutes before we have to leave for drop-off. And there are days Matt or I would like a nap but that is super rare.) I am acutely aware that Luke is almost halfway to college and how precious these years are with both of them at home and at ages where they can do many things together (not everything but they still like things like playing in the snow and going on bike rides and playing the Wii!).
I have a strong tendency to get caught up in being productive. I am always trying to get things done. It seems like at least once a week that I am overwhelmed with the amount of things I have told myself I should be getting done in a day (my 10pm the night before and 6am the morning of self are so optimistic). I am always trying to read more books, both to myself and the boys, and get in more miles when it's running season and ALWAYS trying to check more things off the list. It's motivating FOR SURE but I often fail at slowing down unless it is to read.
So I decided we needed to have a year of FUN. Not all the time fun, there is still a house that needs to be reasonably clean and homework to do and plenty of boring things but, when we can, I want more fun injected into our lives. It is not my default, not at all, but I am trying, trying, to choose the more fun option as time and budget allow.
We've already booked three camping trips for this summer with another I am hoping to next week (we pay off our credit card each month but I thought maybe we shouldn't slam the bill with 4 deposits on one statement). We have a few other adventures in mind for the summer. We are trying for family game night every Sunday and I told the boys it couldn't be the Wii every week (we love Wii 100 pin bowling). We took the boys actual bowling on Luke's last day of Christmas break and they did great (and an hour was the perfect amount of time). And we have taught Sam how to play some simple card games. That kid LOVES some Go Fish! or throwing out the "mean" cards in Uno. He's not great at strategizing but he can follow along. I think I've played at least a few rounds of cards with him every single day since we taught him.
Of course, we could get a baby this year and that would throw a lot of these plans out of the window but there is still plenty of fun we can work around that. BUT, I want to try to inject a bit more fun into our day to day life. And choose the more fun option when we can. This will probably mean leaving my house a bit more than I would like, especially in the winter, but even doing more family bike rides would add some fun and out of the norm adventure to our weekends (and maybe weekdays, we'll see, depends on homework!). But two years into the pandemic that never seems to end, we all need a little more fun!
More about this will be coming next week, related to a book I read recently (even though I picked FUN before I read it!) but I've had a lot to think about on how we can make life more fun, especially for the boys. There are a lot of things I want them to remember about their childhoods but one of them is that we had a lot of fun as a family.
2020: Early
2019: Discipline
2018: Simplifying
2017: Grace
2016: Intentionally
2015: Curating
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