2013 Theme Word and Topical Study

Starting a couple of years ago, I have tried to pick a theme word that I could focus on each year.  In the past, I've chosen Declutter, Simplify, and Celebrate.  Last year (Celebrate) I kinda fizzled.  I knew what my goal was at the beginning but ran into some road blocks such as lack of funds and the incredible heat this summer that pretty much left me doing very little all summer. As fall progressed, I started to think about what I wanted my Theme to be in 2013 and came across a few different ideas such as "home", "kids", "marriage" but all of those seemed to specific.  The more I thought about it the more I realized that I wanted my Theme in 2013 to be:

Family

 I think that my focus, as my kids are reaching the age where they love to do things, needs to be in creating both traditions and just "routine" for our family.  Everything from special things for birthdays to special meals around holidays to going geocaching as a family and lots of camping.  Part of this family concept also involves being intentional with both my kids and my husband.  (Maybe my theme should be "Be Intentional!!" By this I mean planning things for them; daily with my kids.  We have preschool starting and I want to be Intentional each day with my plans for both learning and fun activities.  I want to be intentional with my husband and making sure he gets little things to make his day better - maybe a gift card to Starbucks so he can stop and get a good coffee while he is working all day or keeping his favorite candy in the house to keep his sweet tooth happy.  Also included in this "Family" concept is dates - kid dates and adult dates.  We want to take our kids out individually on dates and spend time with them and Darryl and I need to go out a little more, if we can, or at least have more dates in with movies and maybe even a game or two.  It all takes planning or, honestly, it will never happen.  It's easier to sit around and do nothing than it is to get up and do something, isn't it?  My kids are just starting to get into games and movies so I want to plan a movie night once a month and also play games at least once a week :-)  I believe that by focusing on all of this during this one year, we'll build a firm foundation that we can build on in years to come. 

On to my Topical Study - a friend of mine posted on facebook looking for ideas on what to study in the coming year such as marriage, family, discipline, etc.  I realized that it is a great idea.  So I thought about what I wanted to accomplish this year and I've decided to focus on . .. . "Growing Conscientious and Obedient Kids" I think it is so easy for kids to say "please", "thank you", "I'm sorry" and so on but do they mean it?  I see a need in my own kids to teach them to think first and react second; to stop and pick a toy someone dropped instead of running by it.  I also want my kids to react to my requests and do what they are told (isn't that a novel idea??)  I feel like I'm lacking in how to get them to do this so I figured I would focus on this concept this year - reading books, looking up great ideas, instituting chore ideas and more.  I'm looking forward to learning how to parent my children better in order to help them be better children. :-)

So that is what I'm focusing on this next year.  Watch for my monthly goal posts (hahaha that is like football and I love football!!) so you can see what my goals are each month and what I accomplish as well.