It's that time.....New Year's Resolution

Ok so the new year is almost here and I thought to start the year off right I would at least start my New Year's Resolution list early. This year has been pretty hectic and I am looking for 2008 to be a lot slower, but I doubt it will be. With 6 kids to keep track of (well 7 if you count my husband), life is always hectic. Some of you may be wondering "wait 6 kids, what did I miss" nothing major that is for sure. Ok so I have my 4 kids (Jake, Jared, Jordan and Jessica...hence the name of the blog) and we have 2 older brothers that live with us (Seth and Ethan). Well, one lives with us, one is on his mission in Idaho, but calls our house home as that is where he lived before he left.

To catch everyone up I'll start with the 2 older boys:

Seth: He is 20, turning 21 in May and serving a mission for the church in the Pocatello Idaho Mission. He came to live with us when he turned 18 and could no longer deal with his parents. He worked for Dane for a year to pay for his mission. He just past his 1 year mark being in the filed and is looking forward to coming home in December of next year.

Ethan: He is 18, is Seth's younger brother. He is currently working for Dane and trying to figure out life. He too is having a hard time getting along with his parents so now he just calls me mom. Good kid just needs to fine something to do in life.

Ok so my own kids:

Jake: He just turned 13, and needs to have an attitude adjustment badly. He has got that teenager attitude and it is bad. I don't remember it being that bad when I was growing up. He really is a good kid when he wants to be. He is doing well in school and is on the wrestling team. For the Fall season the team took the County Championships and he took 2nd in his weight class. They are currently in the Winter season, which is really conditioning for the Spring Season. He is looking forward to Spring so he can go back out and beat the kids that he lost to in the Fall.

Jared: Just turned 12. He has not gotten the pre-teen attitude yet, but I expect it soon. He is doing okay in school, he is reading at a freshman level already but it like pulling teeth to get him to even open a book up. He is a whiz at most video games and usually beats them within a day or two. Really, I am not sure why we spend $50+ on a video game that he is done with in 2 days. It is a fairly expensive hobby.

Jordan: Just turned 7. He is in the 2nd grade and is doing well. He is very social I swear he knows everyone in school and in the neighborhood. Trying to explain to this child that we don't talk to strangers is extremely difficult, to him no one is a stranger if they talk to him. He gets himself in trouble quite a bit. But I guess that goes along with growing up.

Jessica: Will be 2 in February. I can't believe how fast the time has gone by. She practically talks in complete sentences, and runs the house. The boys come running if they even think that she has gotten herself in trouble, which is all the time. They cater to her pretty much, and she uses that to her advantage. You should see her when she wants to sit on the couch where one of the boys is currently sitting, she will find something that belongs to them stand in the hallway and wave it at them, go running down the hall, throw it and then run back to the couch and sit in the spot they were just sitting in. Remember I said she is not even 2 yet, I am in big trouble. We have also created a shoe monster. She loves shoes and wants everything she see, as of Christmas she will have 7 pairs of shoes.

Okay so on to the New Year's Resolutions:

1: Continue journaling (which will partly be done on the blog). I can't seem to find any of my pens in the house anyway, and I rarely have time to myself to sit down and write. Maybe I should make that part of the daily routine of the kids.

2: Spend more time with the kids. This is always on my list of things to do, but they always have something going on. I am forcing them to spend 2 weeks with me at Christmas time when I take them to Disney World for x-mas.

3: Spend more time with my husband. You would think after 15 years of marriage that we could actually take a vacation by ourselves, or even better, have an actual honeymoon. I think I am going to force this issue this year and make it a priority to get it done.

4: Catch up with my friends and family that we have lost contact with. With work and all of us having our own lives we rarely talk to anymore, and we really should.

Short, simple and easy to accomplish.