A New Year + A New List

I'm not sure how you ladies feel about January but January and I have a love-hate sort of relationship. I love January in that it's a time to start over; a time to re-evaluate. A time to set new goals and new priorities. A time to start fresh. But at the same time, I hate January. It's cold and boring. There's nowhere to go; nowhere to be after the hustle and bustle that November and December brings. The decorations from the previous season are gone which leaves our homes feeling lifeless and colorless. Anyone else feel the same way or is it just me?
But instead of focusing on the downside of the month, lets talk about the upside. New goals. I'm a list maker without a doubt. However, when it comes to New Year's resolutions, my list is pretty short because let's be real, I struggle to keep my head above water three-fourths of the year so tackling a long list of resolutions doesn't work for this girl. Over the last few years I've tried to stick to a just a handful of goals and so far that's worked well for me and my little family. 
This past year, I set three major goals for the year. (You can read more about them here)

1. Be present with my friends and family 
2. Clean out, weed out, and organize our home
3. Tackle home projects- focusing on our living room and master bedroom 

In looking back over this list, I realize I seriously need to try harder with the first goal. However, I did make major progress on cleaning out, weeding out, and organizing our home despite that the job isn't quite done yet. But we did at least complete our living room and master bedroom makeovers by the fall. I shared our living room updates but as I wrote this post, I realized I never got around to sharing the master bedroom. Oops. I'll try to do that before our room is taken over with baby things :P No promises though! 
With all that said, let's talk this year's list of goals and to-do's. 
Be Present Since I still need to work on being present instead of on my phone or on my computer while I'm at home with my family or out spending time with my friends, this is my top priority this year. With our family expanding this year, I definitely don't want to look back on the year and realize I missed so many milestones and memories because I was looking at a computer screen. No facebook, instagram, or blog post is more important than making memories with the ones I hold closest to my heart. 
Spend Time with my Husband This year is going to be a big year for our family with the addition of our little guy. As I've been told by many people, going from a family of two to three isn't near as hard as going from a family of three to four.With this in mind, I know Kevin and my time is going to be spread thin and finding time for each other is going to be few and far between. With this in mind, I gifted Kevin twelve pre-planned and prepaid dates for Christmas this year. It's my intention that we find at least one day each month for each other. A day we can go out, loosen up, have some fun, and reminsce what it was like to be just Kevin and Sara... not just Mom and Dad. 
Continue to Clean Out, Weed Out, and Organize This was a huge task last year and despite that didn't get done, I am so happy with the progress I made. You have no idea how much junk we needed to clear out. My goal is to finish cleaning out everything we don't need, want, or use anymore this year. Once that's accomplished, I vow to work hard to keep it all organized and in it's rightful place so that this doesn't have to go back on next year's list!
Tackle a Few More Home Projects Since moving into our house five years ago, we've done quite a bit to make our house our home. This year there are just a few things I'd like to do. With Kevin planning on purchasing a new vehicle this year, I'd love to expand our driveway and add lights to our garage. Once that project is complete, if we have a little extra money left over, I'd love to have our kitchen cabinets painted a creamy shade of white; as well as add a six person table to our kitchen.
Draw Closer to Him  This year I felt like I was more distant from God than I've ever been in my life. I allowed the hustle and bustle of being a wife, mother, teacher, and business owner get in the way of my time with God each day and without realizing it, I grew further and further away. This year, it's my hope and plan to start each day with a devotional and prayer so I can draw closer to Him. It's my earnest prayer that in starting my day with God it'll better reflect in my attitude and actions each day in an effort to lead others to Him.