GoodBye 2010... Hello 2011

Can you believe it is 2011?? I sure can't! We have had a nice weekend celebrating the New Year. Matt had to work Friday but we did get to go hang out with some friends on New Year's Eve. We didn't stay up until midnight but it was still fun. We missed getting to see the Sanfords on Saturday morning and hope to see you guys soon!! Saturday we celebrated Christmas with the Eckley side of the family (more to come later). So it was a fun New Years weekend!

I always enjoy New Years because it is time to look back and also look ahead. Also a time for fresh starts which are always wonderful! Things changed so much for our family in 2010. At the start of the year, we were a brand new family of 4. We had a toddler and a newborn. We were just trying to survive and get some sleep. Everything was still so new...

Now we have settled into our life and found our roles in the family of 4. We have a preschooler and a toddler. I can't believe it!! So much has changed... We accomplished a lot in 2010. Matt and I started well on memorizing scripture. We got about 15 passages memorized which was good. Still need to work more on that. I learned all about couponing. I have really found what works well for our family. I am not die hard but do try to use coupons when I can. I need to get back at it now that the holidays are over. I also did a great job of keeping up with the blog (I blogged 77% of the days). Matt did not do his rock border/patio. We decided to put that off for a couple of years but he did a lot of other things. He worked hard and was a wonderful husband and father! You can't ask for much more! Ben did pretty well at the potty training. Still have some issues but it is getting much better. His speech is getting so much better. His speech teacher did a test a couple of weeks ago and he has gone from about 50% understandability to 75%. So that is awesome! The therapy is really helping. He really has gone from a toddler to a big boy! I am so proud of him. Kate was a bitty baby when the year started and now she is a little girl who walks and talks! It is so amazing! I don't think she lost a single hair all year and it just has gotten longer. She is such a sweetie.

We had some amazing adventures as a family. We enjoyed our trip to New Orleans in the spring. Our beach time in May was so much fun. Ben still talks about our week at the cabin in September. Matt and I will never forget our 5 days in NYC!! (I promise to post about that soon!!!) We just love traveling.

So what will 2011 hold?? Who knows!! But it is going to be awesome!!

Matt is still unsure of his "thing" for the year. He is leaning towards mastering Spanish some more. I think that is great. He is also going to memorize Romans chapter 8. My "thing" for the year is going to be sewing. I need to learn some basic sewing things (like sewing on buttons) and also would love to learn how to make some simple clothes for the kids. One thing I really want to do is to get up earlier every day. I want to have some time to exercise and have my quiet time before the crazy time starts. Yes I know that means getting up at 5 or 5:30 but I am willing to do it! I am also going to work on simplifying our life some. My goal is to treasure the time that I have with these 2 precious gifts. There will be lots of time in the future to do lots of stuff. For now I am just going to enjoy having a 1 year old and 4 year old! As part of that I want to continue to keep up with the blog and also work on making a blog book.

I guess Kate's goals for the year will be mastering walking and talking. She will be such a big girl by the end of the year doing so many new things!

We asked Ben what he was going to do during the year. He got very serious and said "I am going to exercise more." That cracked us up! He is going to spend the year getting ready for school!! I can't believe that this time next year we will be preparing to go to kindergarten. He is also going to continue to work on his speech.

We have some AMAZING adventures planned for the year!!!! The Eckley family passports are going to get a workout this year. Matt is going on a medical mission trip to Rwanda (yes Rwanda in Africa) in the spring! I am so excited for him. We are going on a big family vacation to Alaska in June. My parents are taking the whole family and we are so excited!!!! It is going to be amazing!! Who knows where else we will end up.

It is going to be an awesome year. Can't wait!!!!!