So maybe it is time to bring this blog back to life with phase two of life. It seems like our kids grew up overnight. The stories told of fighting over pacifiers and plumbing the car and moving on to Kindergarden sadly seem long gone. Replacing those musings with stories of social dramas and bad test grades and how the heck do we schedule everything into our lives doesn't appeal to me, and as the kids get older, I feel that their privacy becomes a bit more important. Not every story needs to be told in a grand way. We seem to be in an in-between phase; many of the big moments - potty training, learning to ride a bike, entering kindergarten, learning to read - are behind us now. My parenting goals are broader and perhaps more lofty: try to make it to the teenage years with happy kids that are willing to talk to us and still want to be around us, confident kids that know right from wrong, strong kids that won't buckle to peer pressure, kind and empathetic kids that help others, hard-working kids that...well, you get the picture. Yes, lofty. And then once we get to the teenage years, whew...can't even go there yet.
So here we are...still trying to enjoy the moments, but the moments are different and full of new challenges and all kinds of ups and downs. We are navigating a tricky world with elementary school aged kids and though sometimes the days are so very long, the years are going by so fast.
So partly because we've always said, "Some day..." (and when, exactly, does that day ever come?) and partly because we are ready for some new adventures, some new memories, some new stories, we are starting the next phase in a big way.
We've got a lot to learn and figure out, but we've also got a lot to see and do. So here goes nothing...
