The kids and I haven't developed any traditions regarding New Year's Eve or New Year's Day. Sometimes we are with my side of the family around that time. If not, they are usually pretty ordinary days for us. I'm not a night owl so I am not one that has any desire to stay up until midnight on December 31. This week the kids attended a New Year's Eve party for the first time in their lives as we went to the free party at the ice skating rink last night. They gave out free hotdogs, chips, cookies, donuts, cupcakes, and bottles of water. The only downsides to the event were the DJ had the music a bit loud and the rink was rather crowded, but considering the whole thing was free, we won't complain! We planned to get together with Paul's family today because Paul's birthday is on Friday, but we rescheduled because #1 Oliver threw up at the ice skating rink last night from coughing and #2 Paul is not a fan of pork. The tradition in this area is to eat pork and sauerkraut on January 1, and that's what Paul's mom is making for dinner tonight. She'll make lasagna or something Paul likes on Saturday. Because Oliver has been sick, I put him to bed at 8:30 (his usual bed time). I let Ian and Nadia stay up until 10:00 last night, which is also when I went to bed. Paul was the only one who was awake at midnight in our house. Because our plans to go to Paul's parents' house changed, I decided to take the kids to see a movie instead. We often go many months before we see a movie in the theater, and we saw two over Christmas break! We saw a movie on the first and last day of our Christmas break (December 21 and January 1). Oliver and Ian are going to watch Spies in Disguise while Nadia and I watch Little Women. Tomorrow we will ease back into our regular routine.
Some people have an aversion to making New Year's resolutions because of the fact that so many people fall off the bandwagon after a very short period of time. Since I was a teenager I have been setting New Year's resolutions regarding things like reading through the Bible in a year, exercising more, losing weight, etc. Naturally I have goals for myself and for the kids. None of us have arrived that is for certain, but I've decided not to write down goals at the start of 2020. The past few summers I've written a "bucket list" for the summer. We've never accomplished everything that was on the list, but we've generally accomplished the majority of the items. I decided to make a sort of bucket list for the year instead of writing a list of goals. I don't want to be discouraged, so I am purposefully not including things like "the master bathroom repairs completed" on the list as I have no idea how many more years that project will end up taking. I'm sure there will be other "firsts" along the way, but here are some that I'm aware of at the moment.
2. All three take group ice skating lessons. Oliver has never taken a group ice skating class. Nadia and Ian took group ice skating lessons when he was too young to participate. None of them took any ice skating lessons in 2018, and they all took private lessons in 2019 because the class was at the same time as their basketball practices. I have signed all three of them up for ten weeks of group ice skating lessons this year.
3. Nadia is going to try out to be in Tuck Everlasting. She has never auditioned to be in any production at our church before.
4. In 2019 the kids earned about 20 Junior Ranger badges. This year I'd like to see if they could earn at least 45 more badges; this is only possible because some national parks let you earn the badge from
home.
5. I'd like to add five more states/Provinces to the kids' list of states they've visited - Vermont, Delaware, Wisconsin, Michigan, and Quebec.
6. Nadia is going to participate in our church's Bible Bowl team for the first time starting next week. She hopes to compete in Oklahoma in July! Since this is her first year in the youth group, there are other opportunities for "firsts" such as attending the NSAYN youth conference on February 29 and attending Winter Jam at PSU on March 28. She's never memorized an entire book of the Bible before so if she succeeds in memorizing Hebrews, 1 Peter, or 2 Peter this year, that would be a first! I'm also planning to take Nadia to a Secret Girl program on May 5, and neither of us have attended one of those before.
7. We'll hopefully continue to take many field trips. Here are some places the kids have never been before that I hope to take them to in 2020: Electric City Aquarium, First Ladies National Historic Site, Kipona at City Island, and Rehoboth Beach.
Rutherford B. Hayes' home, Shedd Aquarium, Art Institute, Navy Pier, Chicago Children's Museum, Betty Brinn Children's Museum, Discovery World, Henry Ford Museum, Ford Rouge Factory, Wheatland, Arlington Cemetery, Washington Monument, Jefferson Memorial, Lincoln Memorial, Ford's Theater, National Museum of the Navy, Spy Museum, WWII event at the Reading Airport, Sagamore Hill, Fire Island, Thomas Edison, Museum of Indian Culture, Milton J Rubenstein Museum of Science and Technology, Fort Stanwix, Parliament Hill, Canada Science and Technology Museum, Basilique Notre-Dame de Montreal, Montreal Science Centre, La Citadelle, Plains of Abraham, Montmorency Falls, ECHO Leahy Center, Lake Champlain Chocolates, Ben and Jerry's factory, Springfield Armory, Martin van Buren, Longwood Gardens, Air Command Center, Milton Rock Gym, James Garfield, River Raisin Battlefield, Underground Railroad Living Museum, Marsh Billings Rockefeller, Saint Gaudens, Allegheny Portage, Johnstown Flood, Flight 93, Fallingwater, Fort Necessity, Friendship Hill, and Old Bedford Village.
8. We're also hoping to continue to attend a variety of shows and concerts. A few that we hope to attend for the first time this year include: Queen Esther at Sight and Sound, Blue Angels in Annapolis, Matilda at CTL, and Tuck Everlasting at CWC.
9. I am planning to attend an event featuring Priscilla Shirer on April 25. I'd like to join the Mr. and Mrs. Sunday School class at church for three months in the spring, if Paul agrees to do that with me.
10. Paul and I might go on a getaway for a few days the last week of July to celebrate our 19th anniversary. If this doesn't happen, hopefully we can at least go on one date in 2020 as that didn't happen in 2019.
11. I believe the kids will attend fewer camps in 2020 than they did in 2019, but I am hoping that Nadia and Ian (and possibly Oliver) will attend a Christian theatre camp for the first time hosted by the Family Life Network at the Greenview Alliance Church in Montoursville.
12. The kids are signed up to take a computer hardware class on Friday afternoons starting next week. They've never taken anything like this before. I hope they learn a lot!
6. Nadia is going to participate in our church's Bible Bowl team for the first time starting next week. She hopes to compete in Oklahoma in July! Since this is her first year in the youth group, there are other opportunities for "firsts" such as attending the NSAYN youth conference on February 29 and attending Winter Jam at PSU on March 28. She's never memorized an entire book of the Bible before so if she succeeds in memorizing Hebrews, 1 Peter, or 2 Peter this year, that would be a first! I'm also planning to take Nadia to a Secret Girl program on May 5, and neither of us have attended one of those before.
7. We'll hopefully continue to take many field trips. Here are some places the kids have never been before that I hope to take them to in 2020: Electric City Aquarium, First Ladies National Historic Site, Kipona at City Island, and Rehoboth Beach.
8. We're also hoping to continue to attend a variety of shows and concerts. A few that we hope to attend for the first time this year include: Queen Esther at Sight and Sound, Blue Angels in Annapolis, Matilda at CTL, and Tuck Everlasting at CWC.
9. I am planning to attend an event featuring Priscilla Shirer on April 25. I'd like to join the Mr. and Mrs. Sunday School class at church for three months in the spring, if Paul agrees to do that with me.
10. Paul and I might go on a getaway for a few days the last week of July to celebrate our 19th anniversary. If this doesn't happen, hopefully we can at least go on one date in 2020 as that didn't happen in 2019.
11. I believe the kids will attend fewer camps in 2020 than they did in 2019, but I am hoping that Nadia and Ian (and possibly Oliver) will attend a Christian theatre camp for the first time hosted by the Family Life Network at the Greenview Alliance Church in Montoursville.
12. The kids are signed up to take a computer hardware class on Friday afternoons starting next week. They've never taken anything like this before. I hope they learn a lot!
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