prolonged absence

This year being the first that I have had to haul kids to school I am finding little time to do much else, other than the essentials. 2 hours of my daily life is now spent in the car driving them up to school and picking them up. Tim does more than his share by going into work at 5:30 so he can pick up Mary after basketball practice and games after his long commute. This frees me to stay at home in the late afternoon to make dinner and get everyone else working on practicing the piano and doing homework. Piano lessons themselves take up another 4 hours every week and Boy Scouts and Cub Scouts require another huge time commitment between the meeting themselves and the hour driving. Squeezing in time to run and quilt are both higher priorities than blogging (especially since I wouldn't have much to write about if I didn't do other stuff). 

If I had time to think about it for more than a minute, I would likely berate myself for not having my almost 4 year old fully potty trained. I would chastize myself for my 6 year old not being further ahead in reading. I would get angry at myself for my 8 year old still not knowing how to tie his shoe and having to say "no" to my 10 year when she asked if she could take dance lessons. I would be anxious that my 12 year old is disrespectful to me and my 14 year old won't stay off the computer for more than 2hours without having panic attacks. But I don't have the time to stress, I only can keep my head down, put one foot in front of the other, and keep going forward each day. 

One thing that the last 15 years of parenting has shown me is that little steps over time do lead to major progress. In the next 6 months I know that Julia Ellen will be using the potty, Timmy will be finished 100 Easy Lessons and onto real books, Charlie will learn to tie his shoes, Maggie will be involved in theater camp and riding lessons and will have forgotten about dance, Mary will mature with the right guidance, and Will will turn in his school Mac and be spending the summer as a CIT at camp with no access to anything electronic. In the meantime, I need to maintain momentum, a positive attitude, and a full pantry to survive.