Hooray for the New Year!

I hope everyone had a great Happy New Year! We had a fun casual get together and then yesterday I spent our usual first weekend after Christmas to take down all the decorations. I also managed to get in more organizing - hitting our closet and underbed storage, the junk drawer, and the laundry room, yay! My goals this year are to really concentrate on enjoying and appreciating my family. When I started back to school in the fall, I noticed that I didn't spend enough quality time with my girls during the week. It got to the point where they wouldn't come to me anymore if they needed something because I was 'busy doing homework', C says. I don't ever want my girls to feel like I'm not there for them, so my main goal this year is to find a balance where I can manage school while still giving my family the time and attention they need. I also want to maintain a 3.8 GPA or higher (I'm at a 4.0 right now) so that hopefully I can get a scholarship this fall. And I also want to take time at least once a week to do something for myself. Just a few goals, but very important ones to me ;)

After Christmas I've been in an organizing storm and each day I take on a different part of our home. So far, including what I did yesterday on the 1st, I've organized the armoire that holds my scrap stuff, our entry closet, the girls' closet, our outdoor storage closet, our bedroom bookshelves, and our living and dining areas. It's amazing how much a freshly organized space can motivate you to create! I'm sure it also helps that I haven't had the time to papercraft as much as I used to, lol. I used these same papers to decorate my binder and dividers and I'm really proud of myself for using up all the leftover scraps in these pages! This page is of A helping make the green coconut grass topping for her B-Day cupcakes back in '09. Look at those chubber cheeks!

Here's another of A the same year. She practically lived in her swim 'soup'. The only time she wasn't wearing it was when it was in the washer! Of course we live in a desert where summer seems to last from April through October so it completely makes sense, hehe. It's so fun to make something pretty at the beginning of the New Year. Today I even get to go over to a friend's to crop! I haven't done that since August! I hope you enjoy the pages. Good luck with your own goals this year and have a wonderful weekend!