my kids all go to school…

none of us were ready for back to school this year. we all wanted more summer vacation, more family time, more laziness. but regardless off how we felt, it happened. school started.

this year is a serious milestone. all of my kids are in school! not just preschool and up {considering preschool is a voluntary option.} but, they are all enrolled in kindergarten through high school, and i have reached this point of motherhood all too quickly, soon I’ll be looking for workplace furniture from somewhere like office monster so they can have a place to concentrate and do school work.

when you have your first baby, and your next, and depending on who you are – possibly another and another {like me.} you have days where you feel like you are going to have a toddler f-o-r-e-v-e-r…

let me tell you: i love toddlers. in fact, three year olds are my favorite. they are exactly what inspired husband and i to have four kids. those darn cute three year olds! after kiana, we were convinced one kid was enough – then after myla, we were finished having kids with two because there was perfectly one child for each of us to care for when disaster would hit. then after KJ we thought we had our boy so we were complete… then sela! each time one of our kids would be two-and-a-half to three-and-a-half, we’d start dwelling on the fact that this was our last three year old and we’d plan another. no joke. {and with four kids, we were done.}

however, as much as we love toddlers… life without a baby and toddler definitely has its perks. a bit more time in the day for oneself. time that allows me to prepare for when everyone re-gathers, time to funnel energy towards other categories in my life, and not strictly family or motherhood.

with all four of my kids going to school, i now have a guaranteed 21 hours/week sans children. it’s a new phase of my life. sela stays at school all-day for two days a week here in mass., and gets out at noon on the other three days. so, i do still have one more year till my kids are all at school – all day.

i am starting to create a plan for when that all-day, everyday comes next year. if i don’t have something planned – a goal, something to accomplish, things to learn, a bigger purpose — i could easily fill my time with motherhood duties. cleaning, shopping, organizing, etc etc. but i know that if i set bigger goals, i will get all those family tasks completed plus more. i want the more.

*with this spare time approaching, i’ve been thinking a lot lately that the world of blogging/parenting in general focuses a lot on motherhood with babies and younger children yet lacks in the area of parents with teenagers.

to all my blog readers with teenagers and older — where are your voices? what are your successes with raising teenagers? your struggles? your concerns? your advice? i would love to connect with you.

since we moved, we now live right next door to our new elementary school. kj and sela walk to school each day via a secret gate in our fence to the school – i never realized till school started how much i LOVE this! at recess time i can peek out a window and see them, i can open the windows, and hear the happy sounds of kids playing. it’s been a dream.

cheers to school, getting more out of life, and the endless love of learning! xo.

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*this post is scattered, my brain is running in a hundred directions today. would love to hear your thoughts… realizing my readers are a mix of all ages – are you a student? are you a mother – what did you do when your kids were all in school vs. the years they were home? thoughts on life with teenagers?

{photos by me, Jane Beckner Rhodes.}