"Mommy, do you believe in aliens?"

He gave her that alarming smile, extended his hand said...

"Mommy, do you believe in aliens?"

"What? Go back to bed!" I said, slightly exasperated. Why must we go through this every night? Pondering the existence of aliens, remembering that one thing he meant to do earlier, inquiring about detailed plans for he next day; this boy does not like settling down and going to sleep!

Some day I know that I will miss these late night visits. I regret that he doesn't come into my room to ask inane questions. His questions are always accompanied by one last hug and snuggle. That's the part I'll really miss.

Watching your kids grow up is hard! There are moments that you can't wait to get through, and there are moments when you see glimpses of the adults they will be when they leave you. One day you're tearing your hair out over things; and the next you're fondly remembering combing hair and wiping faces.

We're at a good stage with the kids right now. They've been getting along and playing well together. It's a welcome change from the difficulties we had the past two years. I"m enjoying parenting right now. It's not all sunshine and flowers. I don't think it's ever all sunshine and flowers, but we are definitely breathing easier right now.

In this stage, the kids are all reading interesting books that I can read along with them and discuss. They are learning fun stuff in school and able to explain it in complex ways. They are going out with friends and participating in interesting activities. It's a fun stage!

We are also dealing with the entrance to middle school and the entrance to high school. That obviously causes some strife because those are all new things to get used to, but the kids seem to be mostly handling it well. Miraculously, so am I!

There's lots of change at our house with new schools, new activities, and new maturity. There's also lots of settling down. That's how life seems to be: a bit of both all the time.


Welcome to a Secret Subject Swap. This week 9 brave bloggers picked a secret subject for someone else and were assigned a secret subject to interpret in their own style. Today we are all simultaneously divulging our topics and submitting our posts.

Here are links to all the sites now featuring Secret Subject Swap posts. Sit back, grab a cup, and check them all out. See you there:

Baking In A Tornado 
The Bergham Chronicles
The Blogging 911
Cognitive Script
Never Ever Give Up Hope
Part Time Working Hockey Mom
Sparkly Poetic Weirdo
Climaxed

My subject is “He gave her that alarming smile, extended his hand said... ”. It was submitted by https://cognitivescript.blogspot.com/.