5 year plan...

5 years ago my life got busy. Charlotte was almost a year old, and I was settling into life with 2 small children. In early May, we spent several days basically homebound while we worked on potty training with almost 3 year old Mason. Soon after that, we decided to move back to Atlanta from our home in Denver. Now, as we approach birthdays 4 and 6 for the girls, we are almost 5 years into that move.

"Where do you see yourself in 5 years?" was once a standard interview question. Now, it's probably a question that the job candidate asks the potential employer. We are living in a state of constant change. When we bought this house, I had a 5 year plan in mind - it involved some very drastic renovations. My plan did not involve putting the house on the market for 2 weeks and then changing our minds about a cross-country move. I still have a plan for renovations, but they are on a smaller scale. After living here for almost 5 years, I realize that we have alot of what we need without moving walls around.

5 years ago, I was too busy chasing toddlers and changing diapers to realize that in 5 years my kids would be done with preschool. I could not have imagined that I would blink and all of a sudden we would be done with diapers, sippy cups, and episodes of Barney. I guess it's almost time to plan for the next 5 years, at the end of which my babies will be "tweens" whatever that means. I'll probably still have renovation ideas that only exist in my head at that point.

I haven't come up with my plan for the next 5 years. I know that my husband is hoping there will be fewer trips to Starbucks during that time, but I have a feeling I'll need some good lattes. As I gear up for another birthday party weekend (the girls' parties are a week away) and the end of another school year, I'll make the switch to iced lattes for the summer and I'll try to soak it all in because if I blink another 5 years will have passed and I don't want to miss a thing.