What. A. Year.
Seriously though, this has been on of the most eventful years of my life.
We sold the farm that my husband built from the ground up 15 years ago.
We paid off all of our debts.
We bought our dream property.
We built our dream home.
We vacationed in Florida and Colorado (twice for Brian).
Charlee Adeline turned 6 and showed her first cow.
Andlee Kay turned 5 and found her calling as a dancer/cheerleader.
They both went to kindergarten this year and are thriving.
Hudson Joe turned 4 and started school. He’s onry as the day is long but never missed a beat when it came to not being with us for the first time. Such a big boy.
We welcomed our greatly desired and prayed for rainbow baby, Eilee Leighton Louise, into this world and grew to become a family of 6. She’s the happiest and calmest baby ever.
We celebrated 8 years of marriage and 9 years of being together. This was our best year of marriage yet. We connected on an even deeper level and fell more in love. I can honestly say that i can count the serious fights on one hand. Actually, two fingers. There were two. TWO. Who am i anymore? *insert back pat*
We lost one of the most loving people that i know, my aunt Jerri.
My brother and sister in law added another precious niece to our family.
My dad retired after working his entire life and has simply enjoyed life relaxing. Something no one deserves more than him.
My mom is almost done with college and has made the deans honor roll at that.
My cousin Taylor and her man Cody moved back close to home after living in North Dakota for the last 5 years.
My grandpa was diagnosed with cancer and is still in the process of trying to get rid of it.
Our year was full of many things. Many emotions. Many memories. Many milestones. Many tears. Many laughs. Many accomplishments. Many prayers.
Brian and i are internally and passionately grateful. I feel like the term ‘blessed’ is a vast understatement. We are in a place of complete contentment. We’ve lived through scares and losses. We’ve seen how short our time here can be. We’ve lived with the regret of things left undone or unsaid. We can honestly say that we live for the moment. We spent more time with loved ones this year than ever before. We cherish people in a way that we didn’t before. We know that we aren’t promised tomorrow so we must live each day as if it’s our last with our family.
For the year of 2018 i don’t have any resolutions really. I set goals for myself all year long in great detail so I’m not one to do the once a year resolution thing. We obviously plan to spend time with family constantly like we already do. We plan to travel like we do each year anyways. We plan to enjoy time together with our babies and together alone as always. The usual obvious stuff.
But i will share some of my current goals for myself:
-Breastfeed Eilee until her 2nd birthday at least
-Do better about meal planning and budgeting. I want to become an extreme couponer — to some extent.
-Lose 15 lbs (But honestly with breastfeeding i can’t hard core diet so as long as I’m not gaining weight this goal isn’t a big priority for me. Breastfeeding and chasing 4 kids is my cardio so working out doesn’t make the goal list today, boys.)
-Make more of my own candles and soaps. We are in the process of going organic with a lot of things. We already raise and butcher our own meats, grow our own garden, cloth diaper most of the time, cook at home/avoid processed foods, make some of our own cleaning products, buy fresh foods, use oils and homeopathic treatments to illnesses, ect. I find myself converting more and more with time which is so weird for me. I mean, I’ll always enjoy cruelty free cosmetics, Starbucks, and pizza. I appreciate modern day amenities with the best of them. I just find myself being very cautious of what we put into our bodies. What we breath in. What we eat. What we touch. Ect.
-Organize inside of my kitchen cabinets (they are the only space in my home that’s cluttered besides the playroom and that shits a lost cause anyways)
-Keep embracing ‘Callee’. I lost myself in the title of mom of four. Yes, being a mom is who i am and what i live for. But I’m not JUST a mom. Among the obvious things like living for family; I’m a fun, young, edgy girl who loves tattoos, makeup, fashion, reading, Harry Potter, loud music, girls nights, shopping, traveling, photography, and my favorite thing to say is ‘fuck twat’. I’m not just a ‘frumpy soccer mom with a bunch of kids’. I can be myself and continue to be an incredible mom. They can go hand in hand.
I hope that y’all had a wonder and safe New Years Eve. I hope that your past and your future saw/sees immense happiness. I hope that there were lessons learned and spiritual growth. I hope that whether you set goals or not for the year that you get what you’re looking for and hoping for. Goals are always a wonderful thing. Do your best to keep them if you made them.