Happy New Year

It's a few days into 2010 and life feels life it is back to normal. I just saw the girls off on the bus, just changed another poopy diaper (there goes new years resolution #1 out the window...), and I am back online blogging and blog-hopping (oh, yah, and cleaning those toilets and doing laundry...).

A few things:

1. Project 365

I've officially completed (although it isn't quite completed yet...) my first year's worth of photos, and I have got to say that now that I am through the first year, I have loved this project. Looking back on the everyday details is such a treat for me and for the family, I am definitely going to do it again this year. In 2009, I bought a kit that had the page protectors and the embellishments and the binder and the journalling blocks, so I could print off the pictures and write on the journalling blocks and plunk it into the binder.

This year, I am planning on going completely digital. I have designed a few templates that fit 7 pictures on one 12X12 layout that includes a photo and a place to journal for each day. I am actually a hybrid scrapbooker, but this will hopefully get the project a bit more streamlined. (I will post the first page when it is complete so you can have a look-see) So, if you are thinking about it - DO IT!!!! This project is awesome!!

2. One Little Word - 2010

Ali Edwards (who happens to be a very inspirational woman) has been choosing a word as a theme for each year for the past few years - check out her blog about her choice this year here. I've decided to try this out as well - a word that shapes my decisions, that gives me guidance, that helps me focus on something throughout the year.

My word with year is HOME. After working in December, I realized that although it feels as if my time at home with my kids will never end (and in reality, my life will never be the same as "before"), at this moment in time, my job is to be home with my kids. I have resented that fact - sometimes more, sometimes less - and have longed for the chance to go back to work, to feel like I am contributing, to see myself as something other than a 'stay-at-home-mom'.

There has been a shift in me as of late. Maybe it is because my kids are off to school and I have a bit more time to breathe. Maybe it is because I understand that my kids are growing up really fast. Maybe it is because I have accepted where I am. Maybe it is because I have been given the gift of contentment as of late. I don't know why the shift has happened (probably all of the above and then some), but I am accepting it and loving it and taking it as my own.

So, my word for this year - HOME - reflects that. This year, my goal is to make my priority all those things that have to do with home. Baking at home, sharing our home, loving our home, being at home, cooking at home, making our home a safe place to be, de-cluttering our home.

I am very excited about 2010 - there is something so wonderful about a fresh start at the beginning of a new year (even if that includes changing poopy diapers...).