The Hubs and I aren’t big on New Years resolutions, but we both agreed that 2011 was going to be our year of simplification. Back in January, the Hubs and I were both working 40+ hour a week jobs and balancing 2 small businesses on top of trying to be hands on, involved parents.  The Hubs job at the time was  crazy one where his life was frequently not his own.  When you’re 22 and don’t have any kids,  being given 18 hours notice before having to leave on a 3 week business trip was annoying. Trying to do the same thing at 34 with 2 kids and 2 businesses to run was next to impossible.  Our primary small business was a labor of love, but as the kids got older the sacrifices being made didn’t seem worth it.

So over the course of this summer and early fall we started making the changes needed to streamline our lives to ensure that our family was our primary focus.

Best. Decision. Ever.

The Hubs is now home every night for dinner. He no longer has to work a second job that is an hour away 3 nights a week and all day Saturday. We have true family time.  Before, we’d try to squeeze in a full weekend worth of activities and task in on a Sunday after Church.  It wasn’t restful or fun and more often then not we ended up more stressed then ever.  Now we have time for family hikes, time at the park, lazy Sunday’s watching football and so much more.

The decisions we made to get us here weren’t easy, but I’m so thankful we made them. I’m thankful to have my husband around every night after 5 years of pure craziness. I’m thankful our kids aren’t surprised any more when Daddy is home for dinner.  Can’t wait to see what 2012 brings!