A new year is almost upon us! 

My wheels are turning about our family goals. I made my family brainstorm some ideas with me when we were held hostage in our car for a 20-hour trip back from Florida for Thanksgiving. 

Our template holds 9 goals, so that’s my target (#lazygirl).

Here’s what we have on the list so far:

Henry and I had such a fun experience preparing for and participating in the Magnolia Makers Market!

I’m conscious of helicopter-parenting and over-parenting, so I tried to let him lead the process as much as possible (which is hard for me because I am naturally controlling and perfectionistic!). 

The main thing I did was collect kids craft ideas in Pinterest. Then I let him browse that page to pick out what he wanted to do. He selected painted wooden keychains. 

He then made a list of everything we would need to get for the project (including all the math associated with doubling things and figuring out how many we would

Shhh…please don’t tell my children that a lot of people get a lot of presents for Christmas. We’re trying the pick-your-very-favorite-thing-and-you-can-have-it strategy. 

For months leading up the Christmas, when the boys ask for things, we say, “Let’s add it to your Christmas list!” As it gets closer, we ask them to settle on their very top gift. And then we get it for them. 

I’d like to think it’s really cool to be able to name your favorite thing and guarantee that you could have it? I honestly have no idea. We’re just trying our best as parents! 

This year, Henry wants a pocket knife so he can whittle. We