Last year I set myself a challenge to complete a bucket list for 2016. This is because I don’t like resolutions. Resolutions have an air of pressure – for me anway – and seem to concentrate on the negative. Bucket lists seem to encourage you do something different. Something new. Something positive.

Here’s what mine looked like:

• Take part in a photo challenge to document T’s growth through the year • Visit somewhere new at least once a month • Go to a blogging event • Treat ourselves to a new sofa • Complete / fill in T’s baby book • Cook something new • Have a day at the beach • Video more • Fly a kite • Do something selfless • Meet more blogging / twitter friends in person • Spend more time in the garden • Read (and complete) a book (or three) • Go on holiday • Make macaroons • Get T a passport • Get on a ferry to France • Take more photos on the camera (not the phone) • Take the grandparents out to lunch. Give blood • Learn a new skill •

And I did okay!

• Take part in a photo challenge to document T’s growth through the year • Visit somewhere new at least once a month • Go to a blogging event • Treat ourselves to a new sofa • Complete / fill in T’s baby book • Cook something new • Have a day at the beach • Video more • Fly a kite • Do something selfless • Meet more blogging / twitter friends in person • Spend more time in the garden • Read (and complete) a book (or three) • Go on holiday • Make macaroons • Get T a passport • Get on a ferry to France • Take more photos on the camera (not the phone) • Take the grandparents out to lunch • Give blood • Learn a new skill •

Photo Challenge
If you’re not already aware, we take part in a daily photo challenge over on instagram; summarising the challenge every month here. I’m not going to lie and say it’s been a breeze. Some days have been tough – especially when it’s been a quiet day, but some days, most days, have been amazing. I’ve been able to see the beauty in a lot more. I’ve been able to look back and think ‘wow’. Look at our boy.

We’re unsure whether we’re going to continue the challenge next year, but we can confidently say that we’ve really enjoyed doing it this year.

Visit somewhere new
At the tail end of last year we took out a National Trust membership. This was our way to get out more. See new places/do new things. And that we did. On top of that we made sure we got ourselves involved in a local Rainbow Families group which got us meeting families just like us. We’ve also made the most of our local area and visited zoo’s, railways, and forts!

Go to a blogging event
Something I never thought I’d do as I didn’t see it as my “scene” but as soon as I started meeting up with a few bloggers a few months previously and getting more into the writing I wanted to give it a go. So this year I went to BML16. I met lots of lovely bloggers, took away a few tips, and generally had a lovely time!

Cook something new
Like a lot of busy families we got into a rut of having 15-20 dishes that were on repeat. We got bored cooking them, we got bored eating them. So we did something about it and treated ourselves to a Simply Cook box every few months.

A photo posted by LesBeMums (@lesbemums) on Nov 10, 2016 at 9:33am PST

This means we can try something completely different and fall back in love with cooking!

Have a day at the beach
Living on the coast you’d think we’d have plenty of days at the beach, but apart from being put off by the mammoth sized pebbles we simply didn’t have time. This had to change. So one day we not only decided to go to the beach but we visited a new beach! Littlehampton. And we took Grandad with us too!

Video more
Us and cameras have always been limited to still images, however as soon as T started walking we knew we had to up our game if we wanted to show you guys what we were up against! Not exactly at vlogging level, but every now and again we enjoy sharing a video on our instagram. Who knows, we may even make it a new challenge next year.

Do something selfless
This one’s for me. I’m not a fan of blowing my own trumpet.

Meet more blogger/twitter friends

In addition to BML16 I’ve met lots of blogging friends over the past few months. Some in large quantities as part of the UK Parent Bloggers group, other times on a more one to one basis or over Facebook!

No matter what the occasion, I can honestly say I’ve enjoyed every meet up and I’m lucky to say that I can now call several online friends my real world friends.

Spend more time in the garden

Like the beach, you’d think having a garden would mean we’d spend time in it, but for some unknown reason we didn’t… until we had T.

Saving a heap of money making use of our own greenery, we’ve had so much fun playing in the paddling pool, cooking BBQ’s and enjoying the sunshine!

Read and complete a book

Probably one of the tougher challenges as I have a small thing called a toddler and a big thing called no time, I didn’t think I’d be able to start a book, let alone finish one. But! This year I’ve finished three books and I’m on my fourth.

Game of Thrones (Books 1 & 2). 

Amy and Me

Oranges Aren’t The Only Fruit.

A Casual Vacancy.

It doesn’t sound like much, but on top of trying to catch up on favourite TV series, films, and colouring in, I’m amazed I’ve been able to fit these in as well. 

Go on holiday.

We took ourselves off to Wales this year for our second family holiday.

Just like our first family holiday we had a blast and probably more fun thanks to having a toddler in tow.

Next year Sharon is taking me on a surprise holiday as part of my 30th birthday and we’re off to Camp Bestival later in the year. Not a bad start to 2017!

Give blood
I started giving blood just before I fell pregnant and then typically had to stop one donation in due to said pregnancy. 

One year on though and I’m back giving blood and I couldn’t be prouder. I wish I’d done it sooner. 

So that’s my first bucket list. Will I do it again? I don’t know. Most of the time I forgot I had the list but other times it encouraged me to think outside the box. It reminded me of all the nice things I want to do outside of the everyday. I’m glad I did it. 

Did you do a bucket list this year? Will you be doing one next year?

K