20 Family Reflection Questions for the New Year

Happy New YEAR!!! We just finished watching Pixar’s Soul on Disney+. Bring on the water works!!

I think most would agree we are all a little relieved to see 2020 leave and to start a new year. Even if it technically is just a date. It’s always good to take a step back and reflect to see where you can make improvements and identify moments that made you happy!!

In what feels like endless scrolling of Pinterest, I came across 20 Family Reflection Questions to discuss for the New Year, from Kiddie Matters. I have a hard time with reflecting on my own. I can’t think of it out of my head in that way but they list ways on how to use this list, so I would check it out https://www.kiddiematters.com/20-family-reflection-questions-discuss-new-year/.

Here is the list of 20 questions and my answers.

1. What was an important lesson you learned from your family this year? I think because we all had to spend more time away from families this year, I realized how each moment you did get was that much more important. I’m going to try and cherish each moment I have with family whether that is FaceTime or getting a card.
2. What did your family accomplish this year that you are most proud of? We started a YouTube Channel. I really struggle putting myself out there. It can be scary and sometimes it is easy to get caught being overly critical of yourself. This coming year I decided to vlog every day. I’m hoping it will allow me to be more self accepting.
3. What was the biggest disappointment for your family this year? Learning a complete new routine for myself and for my daughter. Although she actually preferred distance learning, having to be available for all her school needs and still trying to work was not easy. I had to put myself on timeouts a few times during the day just to get my breath.
4. What do you wish you had done more of as a family this past year? I wish I had taken the time I was stressed and actually done something with it. Maybe baked more (even though I burn most of my stuff) or played more board games with her. She loves board games so I will try to be more present.
5. What are you most grateful for this past year? There are a handful of people that were a constant in my life during this year. My cousin and her husband really took care of me and Vanessa. They made sure we had good food and was always checking in on us. I love them dearly.
6. Pick three words to describe this past year with your family. Tough, Faith, Learning
7. What was your favorite family vacation? Went to LegoLand Southern California the week before everything shut down. We got really lucky but we had so much fun. We had an amazing lego room and had a really fun experience.
8. What do you want your family to do differently next year? I want to focus more on goal setting and making sure we follow through with our plans to make those goals happen.
9. What are some things your family did right that you want to continue in the New Year? We reached out more to friends and family when things got hard. I usually kind of shut myself in and hide from the world when I’m upset.
10. What obstacles did your family face this year? This is a no brainer
11. What is your favorite memory from this past yer of spending time with your family? I really got a chance to get closer to my cousin. She’s really become more like a sister.
12. What did your family do this year that they have never done before? Starting the YouTube channel was sort of a big deal for us.
13. How was your family supportive this past year? I think we all learned how supportive our families are. My aunt made sure I had toilet paper, my grandma called often.
14. Howe can your family be more supportive in the New Year? Sometimes I forget not everyone operates the way I do, so I need to learn to handle Vanessa in a way she understands.
15. What does your family need to do more of in the New Year? Not be distracted. If we have goals set, we need to everything we can to accomplish those.
16. What does your family need to do less of in the New Year? Be inside the house. Vanessa got rollerblades this year so I hope we can try and be more active outside.
17. How did you treat family members this last year? I’m not proud how I have treated my SO and my daughter. My anxiety got the best of me and I reacted in ways I didn’t like. I will work to remove myself during this time and work through my anxiety rather than react.
18. How can you improve your relationships with family members in the New Year? To have more faith and believe in each other more. I could be more encouraging, too.
19. What did you do this year with your family that you will remember for the rest of your life? The year feels like a blur, but LegoLand was pretty great.
20. What did you love most about being in your family this past year? When things get hard you learn who really is important and the family that loves and cares for you.

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5 Things We’re Doing at Home

We now have reached two months staying home under the order in California. At first, it was really hard on us and I found myself having moments where I would cry, times I would need to sit and read my bible, and other days where I didn’t want to get out of bed. Fortunately, we slowly moved into what now is our new routine and have adjusted. And we have more time now to try new things.  So, here is the top 5 things we are doing together and may now be addicted to while staying at home. 

 

 

Number 5.  Creating a YouTube Channel   

Vanessa has been watching a lot of YouTube videos and she kept asking to start her own channel. It was something I had to think about for awhile, and I decided maybe we could do a channel together. We have been planning on how we want it to look, and there is a plethora of information available online on how to customize your channel. We decided to focus on what we know best – DISNEY! We just finished designing our banner and intro video, so I’m excited to keep applying new tricks we are learning.  

 

 

Number 4. Diamond Art 

My aunt has been doing diamond art for awhile, and Vanessa always asked if she could do one too.  It looked tedious and I kept putting this off, but now was the perfect time to try it out. We bought a few from Amazon and found them easy to do. It is like a paint by number but with colorful diamonds, and the mats are sticky so no glue required. The kit comes with everything you need to complete one.  We typically will sit in the later afternoon and work on our individual mats and chat about things. I still love hearing her opinion on everything that’s important to her right now. The pictures we picked have a lot of detail so it is taking a little longer than I expected, but Vanessa was able to complete a more simpler one in a night.  Looking to make your own diamond art to hang on the wall? Check out all the different ones at Amazon. You can find different kinds for the holidays and some really cool Disney ones. 

 

 

 

Number 3. American Girl Dolls 

Vanessa now owns three American Girl dolls and quite a bit of furniture and accessories. I have to give her credit for saving her money to buy a new doll she wanted. I had all the books, but never my own American Girl dolls as a young girl. I did want one though! But now I get to play with them as an adult. Vanessa sorta takes the lead on whether we are having a “pizza party” or “Mars mission”. Either way I’m grateful for this time to use my imagination again and make believe. We can all use a little bit more of that lately.  Need a doll? Check out American Girl Doll here. For more affordable options, Target has a lot of unique dolls as well. 

 

 

Number 2. Marvel Digital Comics

My brother got me tuned on to the Marvel movies. It didn’t take long for me to watch all the movies and some  of them I rewatch over and over again – Hello Thor!!!  At some point I wanted to really know more about the characters and was interested in reading Marvel comics. I live right next to a comic book store, but since everything is closed I needed to find a different way to reading them. Marvel does offer a large amount of their comics digitally, and they all seem to be about $3.99 per issue. My favorite comic book characters – Captain America, Guardians of the Galaxy, Black Widow. Check out their digital comics here! 

 

 

 

Number 1. Animal Crossing – Pocket Camp 

And the top thing we are doing with our extra time right now is……Animal Crossing – Pocket Camp. Before we invested $60 in Animal Crossing – New Horizons, I wanted to make sure it would be a game we would enjoy and keep playing. Fortunately, there is Animal Crossing – Pocket Camp, which a free version was available for the iOS. And I will say we are addicted. We love catching fish in the river and ocean, planting and harvesting flowers, and designing and rearranging our campsite. Pocket Camp is less interactive than New Horizons and it does come with limitations, but it definitely won’t stop you from checking in with Tommy Nook in the morning for the latest fortune cookie or nighttime fishing at Saltwater Shores. The coolest part is the setting changes depending on the time of day and year. So, in the winter your campsite will be full of snow or the trees will look golden brown in the fall. In the evening time you will have a colorful purple and pink skies and rivers, and at night all the stars come out and the lights at the camp site turn on. We definitely are Animal Crossing fans now. 

4th of July – Virtual Race

Happy 4th of July. This is one of my favorite holidays to celebrate. Sweet berry pies, kids waving the flag during parades, hot dog competitions (Congrats Joey Chestnut on win #12), pool parties and bright, crackling fireworks. But the most special part of 4th of July is honoring the military that allows Americans to live in freedom and celebrate holidays like this with so much patriotism. I am extremely proud to be an American!!!

There was no better way to show my love for this country than with a 10k virtual race. As I have said in other posts, the Virtual Run Events powered by Moon Joggers allows runner enthusiasts to do self-motivated races and earn medals, and 15% of all registrations goes towards a worthy charity.

The 4th of July medal I received was the most beautiful I have seen. My alarm beeped extremely early this morning but I jumped right out of bed to get dressed and head out for my run. I kind of got sluggish mid-run (stayed up way too late watching Stranger Things) but I pushed harder and faster when I thought about what our veterans have sacrificed for America’s freedom.

The charity that this medal helped support was the Homes For Our Troops, an organization that builds homes for severely injured veterans. What an amazing cause and a charity that is doing God’s work.