Winter Goals + Bucket List

Wow. After I’ve written up everything on my various lists -- it seems like a lot. But, at the same time, we have a lot of the cold weather season ahead of us. It’s easy to curl up under a blanket and just feel despair when it’s dark and dreary. My idea behind coming up with this list is to bring some life and light into the coming months. If we’re feeling stuck as a family, I hope to consult it for inspiration. And maybe it will help spark your own bucket list of sorts!

Here are some general winter activities we want to do:

• (re-)Institute a Friday family movie night
• Take a hike in the snow with or without snowshoes
• Go ice skating
• Go sledding
• Decorate inside for the holidays
• Decorate outdoors for the holidays
• Go to brunch at the diner down the street
• Teach Ada the “true” meaning of Christmas
• Try no-screen time on Sundays
• Teach Ada to make pancakes/waffles
• Make colorful window stars 
• Make s’mores in the fireplace
• Make pizza in the fireplace
• Have an outdoor bonfire in the snow
• Make ice cream from freshly fallen snow
• Set family goals for 2018
• Go to a live hockey game downtown
• Go to the sensory play space
• Go to the children’s museum
• Go to the science center
• Go to the playground even if it’s cold
• Have indoor fun/climbing/etc. at the mall in SYR
• Go to open swim at the YMCA
• Wear matching pajamas (because YES)
• Look at the stars using Ada’s new telescope 
• Build a fort
• Have a sleepover
• Go XC skiing in the park nearby
• Mull cider and wine
• Take the whole family to the movies
• Brew a batch of beer with our friends
• Enjoy a stay-cation
• Go out to dinner as a family at a local restaurant
• Hire a babysitter (for the first time) to go on a date!
• Play in the snow
• Take a day trip to visit friends we don’t see often enough
• Take an overnight to visit family we don’t see often enough
• Have a board game night
• Learn 5 new recipes
• Weed through stuff each week/get rid of 1 box/week
• Write + illustrate a family Christmas book
• Use the slow cooker once a week/teach Ada how to make chili
• Bake sourdough bread + bagels
• Visit the library more often as a family
• Have a fondue party

And this year we want to actually use our advent calendar + fill it with activities -- one to do each day leading up to Christmas.

I’m thinking:

• Visit Wellsboro for Dickens of a Christmas
• Donate to the local food pantry
• Craft DIY candles out of beeswax
• Make a gingerbread farm (I saw one at Tractor Supply)
• Visit Santa 
• Go to the local museum for their huge tree + train display
• Take creative holiday photos 
• Buy toys for a family in need
• Memorize a few carols 
• Discover a new local holiday festival
• Have a PJ day + Christmas movie marathon
• Donate gently used toys and clothes
• Decorate Ada’s doll house
• Drink homemade hot cocoa with candy canes
• Make a popcorn garland for the tree
• Tour neighborhood Christmas lights
• Shop local for gifts
• Dry orange slices to hang on tree
• Make gifts for teachers/aides/bus driver/etc.
• Start a new tradition -- T.B.D.
• Bake Christmas cookies all day
• Make wrapping paper
• Go to a live holiday concert or show
• Write Christmas cards for family and friends
• Make ornaments for the tree, like these beeswax ornaments

Personal bucket list/to-do list:

• Knit hats for the girls
• Knit a scarf for me
• Read 3 books before the first day of spring
• Have a special self-care hour every week/take a bath 
• Take a cooking class
• Take a yoga class
• Start doing Barre3 again (at home)
• Run a 5K
• Run a 10K
• Take Ada on a mommy + daughter date every other week
• (FINALLY) make photo albums of the kids/family
• Get a pedicure
• Play holiday/folk tunes on my violin/piano
• Speed-clean the house 3x/week for 1hr/session
• Start a small get-together with girl friends (trivia night, coffee, etc.)
• Visit my friend and her new baby (due in December)
• Finish painting the living room, bedroom, and Eloise’s room
• Tidy up garage to make a “mudroom” space for coats, hats, etc.
• Organize the play room/basement to better suit our needs

I’ll be back soon with some holiday gift ideas for kids!

What’s on your winter bucket list this year?

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Spring Bucket List

It was like a whole new world outdoors yesterday. Yeah, there was still some stubborn snow on the ground. (And, yeah -- we’re getting more over the weekend.) But we don’t take walking outdoors without coats (and shoes -- in my case!) for granted. Even in April. Here are a few things on our spring wish list for 2015.

I think it’s going to be a good one.

#1: Finish projects. We have several projects in our home that we started and never finished. Painting is a big one, and we’ve already spent some time this week checking rooms off the list. I have a few things to complete in the kitchen, but I’ll be writing more about this stuff soon.

#2: Hike in nature. We didn’t do much of the whole hiking thing with Ada when she was a baby. But we’d like to start taking her to more local natural attractions. So, some hikes in the Finger Lakes are in order.

#3: Take a weekend getaway. We don’t have the means to travel much, but I’d like to go on a one or two night trip somewhere -- with Ada -- within close driving distance. Maybe the ADK or down in PA. Not quite sure yet. Suggestions?

#4: Go river rafting down Pine Creek. There’s an all day 17-mile trek that Stephen and I would like to check out before the waters dry up in the summer.

#5: Cook out. Time to bust out the grill for the season and start cooking up some meals al fresco. I’m thinking grilled pizza is on the top of my list. I need to perfect that method/recipe.

#6: Do some landscaping. New year, new house. We want to start looking at landscaping. We won’t be able to do it all this year, but I have pinned some ideas of flowers and plants that I like. Can’t wait to get our yard looking lush.

#7: Visit family. Along with other mini trips, we’d like to get down to visit both families at least a couple times before the summer. Ada doesn’t have cousins, so it’s nice to see her spend time with Stephen’s cousins’ children in particular.

#8: Race here and there. I don’t have a ton of races on the calendar, but I’d like to do a few in the time I have before TTC again. After a few weeks of ramping up mileage from zero to, well, anything -- I’m planning to follow this intermediate 10K plan for the Laurel Festival 10K in June.

#9: Frequent festivals. There are lots of big and small festivals that go on in our area -- and we haven’t been to most of them. I want to get out there and experience the culture (food, music, fun) our area has to offer versus always wishing I was living elsewhere.

#10: Advance the homestead. Along with making the yard look pretty with more plantings, I want to get our composting system going and plant our vegetable garden. I think I might be a bit too late to get my seeds started (I had such good plans!), but I may end up getting some plants from a local nursery this year.

What’s on your spring bucket list?

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