As much as I love the holiday season, I always find myself a tiny bit relieved when the New Year’s Eve countdown has concluded, and the ball has dropped on another year. I welcome the return to schedules, as my kids tend to go a bit nuts when their typical routine is shattered come late December. While I am not a big believer in unrealistic resolutions, I do believe in setting intentions each year, and goals for myself and for our family.
With these intentions in mind, here are some ideas for translating ideas into action.
Intention: Spend healthy time together as a family
After indulging in food and drink over the season, we are all ready for some healthy fun come January 1. Fortunately, we are blessed to call one of the most enviable winter destinations in the country home. Our family loves hiking together, and there are so many great spots in Scottsdale to try. We love Doc Cavalliere Park. Sometimes, we split up, and I stay at the playground with our youngest son, and my husband will take the older two exploring on the easy trail system. The Gateway Trailhead is another gem with a very manageable and informative nature trail loop, perfect for all ages. Pinnacle Peak Park is another winner as the reward is less than one mile up the hike, and offers a scenic lookout great for the littles to catch their breath.
Intention: Be present.
As mentioned in previous posts, this tends to be my struggle. Recently, I visited the Changing Hands Bookstore in Phoenix (off Camelback) and stumbled upon “Prayer Boxes” and a wide variety of gorgeous journals. The premise of the Prayer Box is simple; you write down something every day that you are grateful for. For crafty mamas, there is slew of Pinterest posts on making your own Prayer Box that might be worth a shot. I also am bringing back the humble journal to try to be more present and capture some of those fleeting moments that make up a life.
Intention: Be more organized.
Every year, this one makes my list. I hate clutter, but I have three kids. Every birthday party, they come home with a bag full of junk (I mean lovely party favors) with which I now have to contend. Add to that the never ending stream of artwork gathering dust in a corner of my office. For the art, a friend recommending taking pictures of all the projects, and creating a book. I also downloaded ArtKive, the premise of which is the same. Bottom line? You can throw some things away. My kids are adorable, but these are not Picassos. And with a picture to remind me, I do not need to feed the stack any longer. For their drawers, another source of consternation, I found great dividers at Ikea to try to put some sense to the clutter. And I purchased two inexpensive wardrobes, also at Ikea, for their closets to help store things like mittens, hats and swimsuits.
Intention: Try something new.
For a while, we had pretty much the same circuit for our leisure time. Park, PV Mall, sometimes the Children’s Museum (we are members) and riding bikes. For 2016, I would like to expand our horizons and try some new things. The last two years, we have been in survival mode, but I have high hopes that our little man turning two will mean a new chapter for the family. For adventures, I love the activity section of Raising Arizona Kids magazine. It’s a great resource of things to do each month. The City of Scottsdale operates an amazing leisure education program, with a wide variety of things to do, all at a very reasonable price point. I also would like to explore more of our amazing state. The Arizona Office of Tourism has great resources on their website about planning visits to destinations statewide, as well as a calendar of events online.
All the best to you and your families in 2016, and hopefully some of these ideas will help you put your own intentions into action. Cheers!
