It's time to say goodbye...until next week at least.

The thought still enters my mind.  "This would make a good blog post."  I would think about taking pictures not for the sake of capturing the memory, but to make sure that I had a picture to upload with my story.

When the boys were babies it was easy.  Put them down for a nap, write a little, give them a little tummy time, write a little more, start a blog, write a column, write a book, get published.

But now my days are more like this:

• 5:30am--Alarm goes off.
• 5:39am--Hit snooze.
• 5:47am--Hit snooze again.
• 5:55am--Hit snooze...again.
• 6:04am--Go get the picture.
• 6:17am--Finally get out of bed.
• 6:54am--Get the boys up.
• 7:00-7:45am--Fix breakfast, make lunches, make sure teeth and hair are brushed, tell them to put their socks on, finish putting on makeup, empty the dishwasher, tell them to put their socks on again, head out the door.
• 8:30--1:30--Monday through Wednesday work at the church, staff meetings, team meetings, executive board meetings, PTA meetings.  Thursday and Friday clean house, run errands, and do all of the things I don't have time for Monday through Wednesday.
• 2:00--Pick up the Monkey from school.
• 3:30--Pick up the Cheese from school.
• 3:30-5:30--Help with homework, serve snacks, empty backpacks, worry about what to make for dinner, return phone calls, emails, etc., etc., etc.
• 6:00pm--Dinner, tennis on Wednesdays, drums on Thursdays, Life Group on Tuesdays.  Fridays usually a sleep over or movie night.  Saturdays watch football all day.  Sundays go to church and take the boys to Jr. Golf at the club.
• And don't forget to throw in the random birthday party, volunteer opportunity, trip to the vet, trip to the pediatrician, and if I'm lucky a walk around the block for a little exercise.

Yes, like all mothers, my life is busy and I hate it.  My time is precious and when I actually have a little extra time I have recently learned that the only way I actually get anything done is to avoid the computer all together.  Why?  Because it is a BLACK HOLE.  Facebook, Twitter, favorite blogs, and now (Lord help me!) Pinterest, eat up my extra time like it's a plate full of warm brownies.   When I'm on the computer I avoid my kids and although that's not always a bad thing, my kids need me.  They need me to be present.  They need me to spend actual time with them instead of blogging about the time I spend with them.

All of this to say...I'm taking a break.  At first, I was going to delete my blog and be done with it.  Put it to bed.  Say goodnight and not worry about it anymore.  But I know myself well enough to know that there is a distinct possibility that I might want to return to writing in the future and it would be a total pain to start from the beginning all over again.  And clearly I don't have time for that.

Sure I'll be back.  It probably won't be on any kind of regular basis.  I'm sure something will hit me and I'll feel the need to blog.  We'll see...

So those of you who are used to keeping up with my life via my blog, we'll, you're just going to have to do it the old-fashioned way--through Facebook.

See you later...

Stephenie