2014 Resolutions

I have no idea what next year will bring. I am just glad that 2013 is over! What a year, and I am happy to see it put behind us.

In 2013, we had a string of bad luck. The year started out great, we were not sure what the year held for us but we sure didn't expect a year of misery.  The bad luck began in January when my great aunt Spuddie died. Later in the year, her daughter passed away also. We weren't especially close to them, but they were family and it was sad. Then Charlie was severely burned in March which resulted in a CPS case and custody battle.  Because of that mess, Keith and I couldn't accept jobs that were offered to us in South Dakota, so we didn't move into our house as planned. In April I cut my finger so badly that I had to have stitches and then I broke my ankle in June causing all kinds of inconvenience for everyone and plenty of pain for me. Because of that, we didn't get to go on our summer vacation to see family. Actually, Keith and Gracie did, and they were gone when I broke my ankle. But poor Gracie wrecked on her bike while on vacation and she had to get stitches in her chin. Our dog died in July.  The fall wasn't too bad but that seems to be when the legal bills hit us hard and the lawyers all wanted more money. I sprained my other ankle and Keith had to return to work. Unfortunately, Andrew shattered his spleen not long after returning home from deployment and we worried a lot about him. We rented out our house in South Dakota. Turned out, our renter screwed us over and hasn't paid a cent in rent yet and only a fraction of the utilities. Now we're faced with evicting the poor guy in the middle of winter. At least he is shoveling the walks. December came along and Gracie started to doubt the magic of Santa Claus.

Even though we had more than our fair share of burdens and hard blows, we were able to scrape together a lot of good stuff to see us through the year in good spirits. The best thing about happened on March 1st: Alfred was born! He is such a great baby! That kid is the happiest and healthiest baby and he's most definitely the highlight of the year!  At the end of the year, we're all healthy! Charlie is healed and healthy, Andrew is doing really well, Gracie's scar isn't too bad, and I'm all healed up too. Nobody else ended up injured or sick (aside from the standard sniffles and snotty nosed colds that we all get from time to time).  Libby was able to start school here at age 5 and then finished kindergarten in November, and Gracie is happy to be back in her classroom instead of starting a new school in South Dakota. We had a very fun year using our Disneyland passes and we managed to take Henry and Charlie too. An online friend of mine from Canada moved in just down the street and a few of my friends have truly shown me what wonderful people they are as I needed help from time to time this year. Keith's job welcomed him back with open arms making our decision to stay much easier. At the end of December, our daughter regained full custody of Charlie and ending our year on a high note.

In 2014, I hope to keep all of the misfortune and hard luck behind us. We've had enough of that!  We are looking forward to a good year.

Libby will move up to first grade in January, as she's been doing first grade work for a month now and moving her to first grade will "begin" her formal education. If the opportunity arises again for us to move to South Dakota, she will not qualify for first grade because she is 30 days too young there and she will be required to either repeat kindergarten or sit out a year. With her moving to first grade now, she will be allowed to continue her education. Whew!  Plus that, she's doing great and is ready for first grade so we want to keep her engaged at her level of learning.  I anticipate that Libby will have a big growing year. She just lost her first tooth and has another wiggly one. I suppose the tooth fairy will be a frequent visitor in the next year.

Gracie will finish second grade, hopefully on a strong note, and begin third. She'll be in the same class with the same kids and the same teacher for third grade, and Libby might join her since they mix grades 1-3. I don't think much will change for her in the next year except that she will continue to enjoy being a kid. She's fun, I hope we can just enjoy Gracie for all the fun that she is and have lots of good times with her telling us corny jokes all through the year.

Charlie is going to start preschool (again). Now that he's three he is such a big boy. And he tries to be as big as Gracie and Libby. I suppose 2014 will bring changes for him too. He will probably meet and visit his dad which I pray will be a good experience. I plan to enroll him in swimming lessons and other big boy activities. He is sure to have a fun year. I would really like to get him out to Wyoming to see his Great Grandma and his Great Great Grandma. I know he would love it!

2014 is the  year that nothing is stopping me from going home to see my mom and grandma. I'll get there! My mom just bought a new house and I'm anxious to see it for myself. I'm very happy for her and of course I want to see my grandma. I love going to her house and since I missed out last summer, then it's a top priority for this year.

We would like to welcome a new dog to our family this year. We are very selective though, we want a female golden retriever like Sandy was. She was a great family dog and so we want the same breed. We've discussed getting one locally, but around here nobody adopts a dog, everyone "rescues" a dog. We don't want to adopt one from a rescue because they get puppies that have been malnourished, sick, the parent dogs lived in deplorable conditions and the dogs just have a very poor start to life. A lot of them have not only been abused with neglect, but with violence. We want a healthy dog that isn't going to fear or bite the children. We decided to look for a dog from a family or a source that has a healthy mama dog (probably from Wyoming or South Dakota). We are open to considering a dog that is up to 2 years old if that pup has been treated well and is healthy. Adding a member to the family is serious business, we're not just going to take any old flea-ridden puppy. We want a good fit.

The only resolution I have for 2014 is to have a better year than 2013!  I hope we all stay healthy and free from injuries and illnesses. We certainly don't need any more of that for a while. I'd love to keep adventuring with the kids to lots of places having fun and learning more about the world. They are such fun kids and I really do enjoy our outings, we all do. Hoping for many more! We hope 2014 is a  year that will keep us strong as a family and we can be good to ourselves and each other. We want to be good friends and valuable people too. We're hoping 2014 is just a good year filled with smiles and happy days!

Hoping the same for you too!