2018 Goals

I don't plan to do monthly goals this year because they all seem to revolve around similar themes: eat better, workout more, clean more, get organized... Let's just call those Allena's Life Goals and move on, okay?

Overall, for 2017 I wanted to adjust to being a family of 5 and not get post-partum. 50-50 for the year, ha! We are rocking being a family of 5 as we move into year 2 of our new normal. The first year is always rough, but we got into a groove and things are good.

For 2018, I did want to set a few smaller, fun goals that are measureable but challenging. {In addition to Allena's Life Goals, of course!}

1. Get Outside - This is my one cheat that should probably be a Life Goal, but I find it important enough for the year to focus on it here. I am not an outdoors person. I used to try and say I was, but if I'm being real, I'm not. BUT I know how important nature is for everyone and especially kids. I want us to leave the house in the morning on 'adventures' and not come home until Paige needs to nap. I want to explore, try new parks, just get out of the house! In the summer, we spend a lot of time in our neighborhood pool - sometimes 5 days a week - but I'd love to see us spending more time outside the rest of the year.

2. Finish Trent and Drew's Baby Books - My first 2 babies aren't babies anymore. SOB. Most baby books only cover the first 5 years, so I want to get theirs done. Trent's is in pretty good shape minus pictures, but Drew's could use some work. Luckily everything is on the blog, so it's just transferring it over and printing out some pictures. I lost the hair from both of their first haircuts, and I might have thrown Trent's baby teeth away, but I can at least add details and pictures!!

3. Win the Book Challenge - Sorry Allison, you're going down! I posted in November about the POPSUGAR book challenge - it's a year-long challenge with 40 prompts and 10 bonus prompts. Knowing Allison and me, it's going to take the bonus prompts to pick a winner - and the winner has to pay for movie tickets and snacks at our first 2019 movie! In 2017, I read 58 books, and it was 75 in 2016, so I'm not worried about the number of books, but some of the prompts are challenging, so I have to make sure I stay on-top of it. Right now, I've got ideas for 17 of the prompts and have 3 checked out/in progress - not too shabby!

4. Photo-a-Day - I feel like I didn't take enough pictures/videos this year. I would go days without any pics which isn't like me! Brent is rolling his eyes right now reading this. I want to make sure and take a picture every day, and I'll do a weekly post showing what I've got. I'm trying to come up with a name for it... Photo-a-Day by Mama A?

See? Nothing too crazy on here, but I think some good goals! We'll see how this goes in 360 days!

December 2017 Book Review

Guys, I think I had a really strong December! 5 really enjoyable books and several of them with some weight to them too.

Before We Were Yours by Lisa Wingate - A historical fiction story about 5 poor siblings stolen from their family during the 1930s. Georgia Tann was a real woman considered the 'mother of modern adoption' who was actually doing really terrible things to get children to sell and also treating those children terrible. By some, she is considered the most prolific serial killer because over 500 children died under her care for almost 30 years. This story jumped from the present where Avery is realizing there is some connection from her family to this horrible part of Tennessee history to the past where Rill and her 4 siblings are going through a living nightmare. OMG this story was TOUGH to read at times - especially knowing it was based on history but it was also SO GOOD. I loved it so, so much!

The Hate U Give by Angie Thomas - Starr is riding in a car with her friend when they get pulled over by the police, and her friend is shot by the officer. Was it a racially motivated murder or a cop just doing his job? This was such an important book to read in today's society where prejudice is still all too prevalent - in my comfortable white life, I need to read more stories like this. 

When Dimple Met Rishi by Sandhya Menon - This was definitely the cheesiest book I read this month, but it was a relatively fun read. Dimple and Rishi's parents want to set them up {unbeknownest to Dimple} and hilarity ensues when they do meet. Dimple is AGAINST everything traditionally Indian while Rishi is definitely FOR it - it was fun seeing their different perspectives although a smidge too YA.

The Chilbury Ladies' Choir by Jennifer Ryan - A WW2 drama set in England about women of the homefront - LOVED IT! The story jumps from 5 different perspectives told through their journal entries and letters - the way the story was told kept it fast paced and there were enough storylines going to make it very interesting.

The Book Thief by Markus Zusak - Liesel steals her first book the day her brother dies - on a train on the way to their foster family in the early days of WW2 in Germany. The narrator is Death - such a unique way to tell the story - and it took me a little bit to get into a groove with the way the story is told {each part is about a different book Liesel steals}, but this was wonderfully written and such a good story. There aren't many books that I've come across that are from the German side, and even though they were the bad guys, there were still a lot of innocent 'regular' people starving, struggling to get by, being bombed by the Allies, oppressed by Nazis...it was good to remember war and Death doesn't distinguish good from bad. A really great book to end 2017.

I read 58 books in 2017 - I read 75 in 2016 - so this was a slower year for me {damn post-partum!}, but I'm hoping for at least 60 in 2018 - the POPSUGAR book challenge Allison and I are going to do has 40 prompts, plus 10 in the bonus which I bet we'll have to get into to declare a winner, so I have got to get after it! Here's to a great year of reading!