Hopes for 2014.

I have several Christmas posts I need to wrap up so y'all will have to bear with me and deal with that in January. But I felt like I needed to write the obligatory "End of the Year" post. Obviously, 2013 was a challenge for a LOT of reasons. In June we got an offer to move much, much closer to "home." We jumped at the chance and had to move within two weeks. Our house is still on the market {if you're looking for a home in middle Georgia, let me know!} so that's pretty stressful, but we're trying to make the most of it. Definitely the biggest stressor of the year was Sonny's stroke in August and death in September. I was putting away Christmas ornaments last night and I still cannot believe I have an "In Memory of Sonny," ornament hanging on my tree. It hits me sometimes all at once and is the weirdest feeling and other times it's just so hard to believe.

SO...I thought I'd wrap up not with a recap {you're welcome to recap by reading back!}, but with my hopes for our family in the next year.

My biggest hope is for health and happiness for my sweet family. No major illnesses this year, please.

My second biggest hope is that our house would sell. I'm ready for a new family to make it theirs. I'm not in a huge hurry to buy - I won't be buying the first thing I see - but it would be SO much easier if we could get rid of ours. {Since we downsized we left a LOT of our furniture there...and I'm missing a lot of my things. And when it sells my first order of business is to switch Will's furniture out, switch my kitchen table and chairs out, switch my sofa out....and add a few things here and there.}

I'm hopeful for a few pretty big goals for myself. I've set some pretty mighty running goals - and I'm not a runner. I have GOT to start moving it. This year has taken a toll on my body and health - a move + a death in the span of a few months + not having lost my baby-baby weight means that I am up a good 15 pounds from what I weighed before Will was born. It isn't pretty, friends. I don't want to join the gym so it looks as though I just need to start pushing that big ol' stroller + two boys that together weigh approximately 60-70 pounds. I also need to start pulling the bike trailer again and doing yoga and maybe using that weight bench that Eddie dragged with us to the rental house.

I have high hopes that I'll have James writing the alphabet and reading by the end of 2014. He has been SO hesitant to even TRY to write. He's a perfectionist to the max and won't try something if he thinks he can't do it, so some of it is going to have to be done at school and not around me. He is SO READY to learn to read so we've touched on that just a little bit.

For Will I'm hopeful that he'll learn his alphabet and numbers. He shocked James and me both the other day. James said "Seven," and Will shouted, "Eight!" Not sure if it was a fluke or not, but he's picked up on a TON of things without me really trying. He's just taking it all in. He is so ready and willing to learn. Oh, and potty training. Oh my word, potty training. Let's work on that sometime this year.

I want to go on more dates with Eddie. We get so wrapped up with our kids sometimes. I have such a hard time leaving them with other people or letting them spend the night off. It's definitely a tough balancing act for me. I know it's good for all of us, but I worry the whole time they're gone. *Big sigh.* It has been helpful to live so close to a few of the grandparents who want them to spend the night. I feel so panicky when they get so far away that I couldn't be RIGHT there if I needed to be. {Maybe I need to work on some control issues in 2014? Tell me it's not just me...}

I'd love to figure out what I want to be when I grow up. Ha! That sounds so silly, but at some point I'm going to start working again and I have NO IDEA what I want to do. Should I go back to teaching? Find something else to do? Ugh.

This year I set a goal for myself to read 52 books. I'm VERY close to that goal. As I write this I've finished 42 books and have 2 more almost completed. My goal for next year will be 60 books. I think I can, I think I can. {I mentioned to Eddie how many I'd read and he tooted his own horn - he's read one!}

I hope that 2014 is a wonderful year for you all! Enjoy New Year's Eve!