I asked my youngest four children what their goals for 2013 would be. I had to explain that goals were things they wanted to achieve or learn during the year.
"I want to be a hairdresser and a writer." (I asked her how she planned on doing that. She answered.)
-"practicing cutting hair" (getting old wigs from second-hand shops, old Barbies, or, when allowed,
practicing on Cameron)
- "writing more stories"
(Bella's series of fairy stories can be found on her Tangle Fairies blog.)
Connor (6 years old)
"I want to get better at my video games." (I told him I am not accepting that as a proper goal, so I talked him into agreeing to this variation on it:)
"I try not to throw tantrums when I can't reach levels in my games"
Cameron (4 years old)
"I want to learn how to jump over houses." (Not very practical, so I asked him for one more. He answered:)
"I want to learn how to read all by myself." (Now this one I can help him with!)
We spent New Year's Eve as a family playing board games and snacking on party food, and then moved into the living room to watch the New Year arrive on the TV with a fireworks display in London.
This was taken with my mobile phone right after we cheered the new year. Robert was beside me so he didn't make it into the photo, and you can just see Kayla in the bottom left corner.
This is the tail end of our "Happy New Year's cheer:
And just after:
Some New year's wishes for you from the youngest four Fyfes.
From Cameron (age 3):
And because he wanted to be on video again:
From Connor (age 5):
From Isabella (age 6):
From Gabriella (age 9):
It's a sort of tradition in my family on New Year's Eve for everyone to say at least three things that they want to achieve in the new year.
Here's the list my children gave me, from youngest to oldest.
Cameron (age 3):
- to see fireworks (His siblings told him there would be fireworks last night, so that is what he had on his mind.)
- to get more hugs and cuddles
- to go to school
Connor (age 5):
- to see fireworks (see above explanation)
- to go shopping more often
- to see Nana and Grandad more often
Isabella (age 6):
- to learn more at school, especially in science, reading and numbers
- to see Nana and Grandad more often
- to get a new pet kitten
Gabriella (age 9):
- to learn to maintain her bike (cleaning it, oiling the gears, etc.)
- to start walking places on her own
- to go to a special art school
- to learn to shade better in her drawings
Kayla (age 17):
- to learn at least 7 different languages
- to learn Judo
- to learn ballroom and Latin-American dancing
- to get her driver's license and a car for the family
- to become a firefighter when 18
Angelica (age 18):
- to join Parkour (a kind of running and fast-movement group)
- to learn martial arts
- to increase her muscle tone and increase her flexibility through exercise
- to pass all of her University courses
- to start the cat army invasion (inside joke with her flatmates)
Victoria (age 20):
- to finish writing her novel "Bark Lord"
- to learn to play the ukelele
- to start a writing YouTube channel
Josh (my son-in-law, age 22):
- to start on a bookkeeping course
- to learn martial arts
- to start a tree climbing YouTube channel
And here's the list from Robert and me:
Robert:
- maintain job security
Becky:
- to achieve specific writing goals
- to get the ten pounds I gained in the middle of 2011 back off
- to do more crafts with my children
It's good to make goals for yourself, whether they are goals for the year or goals that you hope to achieve in a more long-term sense. And the new year is always a popular time to set those goals.
We went out to dinner at the Harvester, instead of cooking up a full-course Thanksgiving meal tonight. Here's a photo we had the waitress take with my phone.
While at the restaurant, we asked the children what they were thankful for right now. Here are there answers.
Today we went to Santa's Grotto and the kids got to talk to Santa and tell him what they wanted for Christmas.
Connor told Santa that he wanted chocolate coins. Santa asked him what else he wanted, and he said he wanted a racing car. (Later at home, he added chocolate syrup to his list.) Gabby told Santa that she wanted books that have to do with animals or animal toys. Santa asked her if she wants to be a veterinarian when she grows up, but she told him that she wants to be an artist who draws animals when she grows up. Santa told her that he would bring her paints and paint brushes for Christmas too. Isabella told Santa she wanted a Barbie for Christmas and some chocolate.
Then we did some shopping. One of the stores we went into was the Early Learning Centre. The kids love going there and playing with the toys. Gabby and Connor had me take their picture posing as the Early Learning Center elf.
Cameron and Connor really liked the train set.
When we left to go home, we passed by a merry-go-round fair ride and the kids really wanted to ride on it, so we let them.
It was a fun day and the kids were happy with how we had spent it.
The kids loved dressing up today. Cameron started out the day wearing a jack-o-lantern costume, and then changed into a cheeky devil costume for trick-or-treating. Gabriella wore a batgirl costume and she seemed to think that batgirl was supposed ot be evil, so she made her "evil face." Isabella dressed up as Tinkerbell, and Connor dressed up as a vampire.
Robert even wore his mask and costume tonight for answering the door.
Kayla dressed up as Wednesday from The Adams Family. Angelica, who has a bit of sewing skills, made her own fairy costume. Her friend Kerri came over and dressed up as a vampiress.
Cameron got to trick-or-treat with his brothers and sisters at five houses. then he came home and Kayla, angelica and Kerri took Gabby, Bella and Connor to some more houses.
I made some ghost meringues.
I also made a jack-o-lantern candle holder and a ghost candle holder.
Pagan followed the children around while they trick-or-treated, so I took his photo when he came home.
Angelica decided that she and Kerri wanted a photo with Pagan in it.
