Ringing in the New

Our 2015 ended like this:

I babysat Regan, Ira, and Isaac on Wednesday.  Isaac is a busy boy with fantastic eyelashes!

Wyatt spent the last few days of 2015 and the first day of 2016 on a beautiful farm with a friend.  I received this picture of him fishing via text.

The tree is dying.  I finally got some quiet time in front of it.  I even lit the mantle candles for effect, and it was pleasant.  I will do it again today.

I spent the afternoon with my high school friend.  We enjoyed a lunch out and then baked cookies together before I returned home to get Julia off to her sleepover.  Hopefully, Kim and I will get more time together in the New Year.

Beautiful young ladies - inside and out. B also has fabulous eyelashes - possibly the longest natural lashes I have ever seen, and it would be hard to top my mom and Savannah on that front.

For the first time ever, Andy and I were childless on NYE.  Zach went out with friends.  Savannah partied with girlfriends and slept over.  Julia was at a sleepover with some cheer friends.  

Andy and I rented a movie and were about halfway through it when 2016 quietly entered.

Goals for 2016

The immediate goal is to paint Savannah's room.

My main goal is admittedly very shallow.  I hate the floors in my house.  We are not a family who should live on carpet (especially since I cannot vacuum during the day or on Saturdays), and our tired, worn carpeting throughout the house desperately needs to be replaced.  I know there is no way to do this for the whole house, so I am hoping to have the living room carpet replaced with hardwood (we actually have exposed nails in the living room and have had for a while).  I will just have the rest of the carpet professionally cleaned and hope eventually that I can replace the rest of the flooring.

It would be nice to replace our ripped and sunken couches too, but Andy is absolutely opposed to that until Zach moves out, so unless I can come up with some extra income to cover that myself, I will have to wait on couches for a few more years.

I started the day at Jazzercise.  The journey to 150 classes in a year starts with one.

I hope to spend more time getting to know my camera settings better.  In fact, I am working on registering for a free class but need some things to come together first.  I found a truly incredible deal on a long desired camera upgrade and am still deciding whether to go for it.  I know - another shallow goal.

As it will be a politically charged year, I believe I will spend far less time on Facebook.  I like social media for catching up and keeping up with friends but not so much for political soapboxes.  For this reason, I am using Instagram much more and liking it much better.

Dare I dream?

New floors and the fact that we had car repairs in 2015 that wiped out the budget means that we will not be going on vacation again this year, but maybe I can take a virtual vacation via Google :)

I would really like to see Savannah get a full scholarship to her first choice school (room and board included).  She has worked hard, and she has the goods, but since we did not hear from them over the break, our hope for this is dying.  She knows that unless something else comes through, she will have to spend two years at a school that is not the best choice but would be free before pursuing her dream.

Maybe Andy and I will have a week off at the same time this year?  I know he won't get holidays off but maybe a summer week?  I am getting used to not seeing him and appreciating when we do get time together, so maybe I will handle this new normal better in 2016 and let go of some of my bitterness toward his employer.  

Of course the biggest thing that is not a dream but is about to be a reality is that I will be an aunt again.  I have cleared my calendar on January 11th so that I can meet my new niece!

Wishing you many blessings in the new year!