Where Did My Babies Go?

Okay, so I am having a bit of drama over my children growing up. Eeeesh. I don't know why, but somewhere in the last month my children went from being babies to adults, or at least they think so!:) Tyler will start Kindergarten next year and then what will I do with myself. Next year will be Kayla's last year of elementary school. I think I would just like to freeze time right now and let my kids stay this age for the next several years. I took Kayla shopping tonight b/c she had lots of birthday money to spend. Oh my --- have ya'll seen what kind of clothes they have for 9 year old girls? They look just like the clothes that they have for 29 year old girls. What is the deal? I'm so thankful that Kayla is mostly a blue jeans and T-shirts kind of girl, but still... We finally settled on a new dress for church that was right at the minimum length requirement for Churchill girls. Then let's see, after that we entered Hannah Montana world. Can I tell you that I'm extremely sick of HM and Zack and Cody. Hello? What kind of parents raise their kids in a hotel? Don't even get me started on the Cheetah Girls. Last night was our first experience with them and it will be our last for a looonnnnnggggg time. If you let your kids watch CG please continue on - I'm not saying that your wrong, just saying that for us, they are a no. Okay, I'm getting off track. Anyway, we came home with, among other things, a Hannah Montana purse, a Hannah/Miley CD, and a Miley book, oh, and the Princess Diaries. I tried so hard to get her to buy the adventures of Tom and Jerry, but, no, Princess Diaries won out. Where did my baby go?

You know, I know that my kids are going to grow up and while that makes me horribly sad, I expect them to grow up and leave my little nest one day. My thing is - am I doing a good job? Am I leaving them with baggage and scars that will have to be dealt with later in life? Are they well rounded? Am I going to feel guilty for doing too much of this and not enough of that? I guess I just what to do the best that I can by them. I want them to walk away with happy memories of home. Oh, I know there are always hard times and they will have bad memories to, but I just want so much for them. Ugh, parenting is hard, there is no doubt about it. Oh,oh, I forgot to tell you the other thing about tonight - Kayla wanted to go to Starbucks!!!!!!! I offered her ice cream from Chick-Fil-A and she wanted Starbucks instead and you know what else? She drank the whole thing. Her drink of choice tonight was a tall vanilla creamer with a decaf shot of expresso. I'm going now - I think I'm going to cry!:)