2016

January 03, 2016

2016

Hellllloooooo 2016.

Can we all just admit that 2015 was the fastest year thus far? Honestly, it feels like I blinked and the holidays were over and I was pouring myself a glass of champagne to ring-in the New Year.

Every January I attempt to set goals for myself. (Resolutions sounds so permanent, goals sound much better!) This year I have a few goals that remain on my list, but I've added a few newbies.

1. Drink more water.

Every year this one makes the cut. Notice I don't mention cutting back on my Diet Coke. This is strategic since I know I'm likely to fail at that goal.

2. Read more.

This is another annual goal. I have a stack of new books ready for me!

3. Make more homemade meals.

We're certainly a family on the go, which makes dinners out easy and convenient. My goal is to plan a little better and have more family sit-down dinners at home.

4. Floss everyday.

I know 99% of people tell their dentists that they floss regularly, but let's be honest - most of you are lying. :) I'm going to do my best to make sure I floss at least once per day.

5. De-clutter.

Somehow we're running out of room in our house, but I also know we have plenty of things we could get rid of or organize better. Some of these are big projects, but it really needs to be done. 2016 is the year!

6. Actually do the house projects we talk about.

We have a long list of things we want done to the house. Some things are easy, small projects and some are a little larger and require budgeting. Either way, I'd like to cross some of these things off our list - since some have been there for 6 years!

7. Volunteer more.

This was on my list last year, and I will say I made some progress in 2015. I would however like to venture out a bit more and hopefully find a few things to do as a family.

8. Get Emmett into another organized group.

I know he's only 1, but I'd like to get him into swim lessons or some other organized program.

9. Worry less.

As I get older I realize some things just don't matter and worrying about it isn't going to change the outcome. I just need to repeat that to myself on a daily basis. :)

10. Continue family field trips and adventures.

There is nothing I love more than trying new things, traveling to new or familiar places, or doing our regular family events. I hope these never end. Even when they're teenagers and we have to beg them to hang out with us.

All 10 of those goals seem do-able and attainable - no excuses, right?

Our NYE was low-key, but a blast. We met Bob & Deb at 3 Squares for a drink since they were taking the kids for the night. We kissed the kiddos goodbye and shared an early "Happy New Year" before heading to 6Smith with the Moren's.

Dinner with Mike and Jennie was super fun. The food was wonderful, as was the company. We shared plenty of laughs and cheers'd to a great 2015 and hopefully an even better 2016. Afterwards we came back to our house where we played 2 epic games of Pandemic and flipped through the NYE specials on TV. As boring as that sounds - it was perfectly awesome.

Late 2015 finally brought snow to Minnesota. Our December snow-baby has been asking us, "when is the snow coming!?" After the first few inches stuck around, Harper quickly grabbed her snow pants, boots, coat and hat and ran outside. She laid forever making snow angels and eating giant piles of snow. Pure joy.

Before the New Year we always have a "year end" dinner with my family. It's a fun way to celebrate everything that's happened in the past year and look forward to the year ahead of us. We headed to BLVD in Minnetonka, which thanks to Yelp I found out isn't super kid friendly. The kids got to hang out with Granny and Pops while we had an adult Schumer dinner. The food was insanely good and it's always a fun time with those folks.

Our final play date of the year was with Nixon. He and E are just 4 days apart and we've been trying to get together for months. Taylor (Nixon's Mom) and I grew up together playing basketball. Nearly 20 years later we have our toddlers playing together, how fun is that? 2016 will hopefully bring more get togethers.

Since the holidays are a busy time, we postponed our annual yankee swap dice game until after the New Year. Mike and Jennie hosted all of us this weekend in their new home. Helleen, Moren, Schumer and Dunnwald families filled their home. Once again, we shared great food, big laughs and regular family fun.

Tomorrow it's back to reality. 5 day work weeks (it's been a few weeks since we've had that), school is back in session and our regular activities resume. For our last "vacation" day we headed back to Mike and Jennie's to skate on their pond. Harper got skates for her birthday last year, but she was excited to crack them out again so she could be like Riley from Inside Out. I do, however think Mitch was a little more excited.

We packed up our winter gear, skates and sticks and headed to the pond. I think Harper expected to be Kristi Yamaguchi, as she was disappointed she couldn't skate by herself. We reassured her, telling her skating takes practice which seemed to help her mood a bit. Mitch and Mike both helped Harper glide on the ice, but once she got the step stool she was able to stand alone. Her smile was pretty big.

Emmett LOVED the snow and ice. He tried several times to stand up and take off on his own quickly realizing that it was super slippery. That didn't stop him, he'd just stand up and try again. Maybe next winter he'll be on skates!

Once Jennie and I brought the kiddos inside, Mitch and Mike pulled out their own hockey sticks. We watched them play for a couple hours from the window. It was clear they were re-living their glory days and it was fun to see. It was a such a fun day outside, followed by Wild hockey and Vikings football on TV. A true Minnesotan way to spend a Sunday.