Open tIRAs for both of you and max those out. You have 22k in IRA space between 2015 and 2016 contributions.
What does your spending look like?
Maxing out your other tax-deferred space early in the year, and living off the remainder of the nest egg is one option. If you have an employer match, check to see how they do it. If you hit 18k before the end of the year, do you give up matching contributions? If so, you'll want to only contribute $1500/month.
If you don't have an emergency fund, and want one, put some of the money in an emergency fund.
Don't worry about year-to-year fund performance, but do check to see what funds you're in. Make sure they're the ones you really want to be in. Generally, MMM advice is to go for low cost, broad based index funds.