The whole Friend thing is new to me. We had virtually no little kids in the neighborhood in Duvall for the boys to play with so they always played on their own in our backyard or we had to set up a play date. Now there are children on all sides of us and the boys want to play all the time at the neighbors homes! In fact I just had to turn down a little boy who came to play because the boys were already gone at another neighbor’s house! I felt so sad for him!
This is all very new to me! And part of me is thrilled. But part of me is sad. They come home from school in the afternoon and I want to spend time with them, read to them, play games with them or just cuddle like we used to and there’s no time! Between school and friends and homework where is my time with my children? As many of you know this was one of my reasons for wanting to home school the kids. I want the best part of their day to be with me, not the leftovers. So I’m torn. They so badly need to learn to play with others and gain those skills and be free to run around and be wild and yet I am struggling to find time with them! We haven’t even started any sports or other activities yet! It’s just a hard adjustment to go from having them all the time to having them hardly at all. Some people would be thrilled at the prospect. But I’m not there yet. They will only be this little for a short time after all. 
As they all sat around the little table eating snack together I had a “Please don’t ever grow up” moment.
And as if my pain weren’t enough as the older boys run off to play…. 
Really it just breaks your heart! Growing up is hard. For mom especially.
Short n Sweet 
I agree 100%! I feel just as you do that all we get are the leftovers. I wish there were a few more magical hours in the day for just mommy-children time with no homework, school, or anything else to get in the way!
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Luckily we are the house that the neighbor kids come to play at. I like it that way since the parents of some of the other kids aren't… um, as engaged in their children's activities (is that nice enough? I was really trying). But then I have to try to explain while I'm not okay with them going to certain houses to play.
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Kami-I saw your blog on Facebook and have enjoyed reading through some of your posts and getting caught up on your life. What a great family you have! My idea regarding the growing pains you might want to consider is perhaps you could have a little schedule like certain hours your kids are available to play with friends or certain days of the week they can play with friends and others they need to stay at home for family time. Perhaps that would help a little.
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You should read a trixie belden.
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We had that same problem when we lived in Cedar City. It took me a while to know what to do but you just have to schedule and then enforce it unless something unusual pops up. I regularly had to send kids home at mealtime.Then it was not too hard to make that mealtime break last long enough for some family time without other kids.
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