What brings me back.....

I am back to the blog, the keyboard, my family's journal......why?

Because Ben now dances to Flock of Seagulls tunes in his big-boy underwear and Lily is producing her own fashion shows, complete with a fancy British accent! How did I let so much time slip by?

I love that friends and family stop by this blog to check in on us (Hi everyone!). But the true intention of Happy Stones is to record the miraculous and mundane of this little life of ours. Down the road when I want to remember, I won't easily recall the time when Ben the magician would wave his wand, say "abba kadaba" and roll down the car's automatic windows. I will probably forget when Lily read her first words from the book "Chores, chores, chores."

So I had to come back, find time, sit still. And type.

It's been eight months, so here is the speed round:
- Ben had his second birthday and is now the proud owner of a red ryder tricycle
- We enjoyed our first snow in Blowing Rock, with hot coffee and krispy kreme donuts in hand
- Lily graduated from Pre-K and was the shining star of the school program
- We moved into our new home and got our mattress of the ground, ahhhhhh a king size bed!
- Summer brought Lily's first dive off a diving board, sparklers in the back yard and slip-and-slide races
- Lily turned 5 and we celebrated all week long
- The Zipfels visited and we sold cupcakes to cute boys in the front yard (and donated .60 to the church)
- We took a tour through Florida to visit our grandparents, eating ice cream and taking in the views
- Grandma introduced Lily to Barbie movies (and we will not elaborate on "glittergate")
- Ben has a sizable dino collection, and loves "tisses" "tookies" and "tars" - no speech therapist need yet, grandma!
- and we have 5 days left before Lily starts Kindergarten and Ben begins his new school.......

That brings us to tonight. Buck just returned from a run (he golfs now too). I am ignoring the laundry pile - and the never-ending work emails. And the kids are sharing a blanket, parked just beneath the TV watching old-school Scooby Doo.

How could I not return to the blog?