Blogging is no longer about your family...

 So I've taken a couple free siminars about how to monetize your blog and make it pay you. And over and over again, it says "blogging isn't about your family, it's about the articles!" and I just want to go on record saying, no, for me it's still about my family. It's still about parenting as a queer father. It's still about parenting in this anti LGBTQ+ timeline. It's still about the adventures of baby girl. It's still all about my family and will remain that way. 

Even if that means we can never monetize. 

Because to me, there are so many blogs who represent mothers in heterosexual relationship raising a kid or 10. But there aren't any blogs from queer fathers just living life, raising their family, and writing about it! So here we are! 

So if you aren't here to learn about our family, to enjoy silly family stories, and family adventures, then you are likely not in the right place! 

Come along as we continue telling stories of our family and our journey as parents! 

School cancellation day traditions

 As we have children in a more modern style of brick and mortar schooling, we are finding ourselves looking at new school cancellation day traditions we can implement. I think we've found at least one we can enjoy time and time again!

Ice cream bar!

Once we learned school was cancelled, we got thinking. I immediately knew what *I* wanted, ice cream. And thankfully all our kiddos love ice cream as well! So that was a solid. 

Five people in the house, five different wants! 

It was a huge hit and the kids are eagerly awaiting another school cancellation in order to do it again!

Navigating Schooling and beyond

Okay, so hear me out. WTF is happening out there in the school world? I know as a homeschooler, we were insulated from a lot, but damn if I can understand how schools function any longer!

Big girl has chosen to go to brick and mortar school this year, which is absolutely within her rights to want. But as we navigated out local school district and began looking outside of that, we got lost in a sea of WTF and holy hell. 

We ended up going with a charter school, which where we live are public schools but are done by the lottery system and have a different school board. Exactly what we needed considering we live in a county that banned Old MacDonald had a Baby from a school because the very last page you learn the farmer is gay. Nothing mentioned about being gay, nope, just a pic of him and his husband. Obviously we can't put our kid in schools that think like that... hello, we are gay. 

But now I find myself navigating teachers and electives and attendance requirements and lack of freedom to do anything and gifts and school dances and so much more! And it's overwhelming to say the least. I never thought we'd be here and now that I'm trying to figure it all out, I am so lost. 

I have decided what I need is a school buddy, whose kids are also in a public school, so I can ask them all my questions. I have a few friends who have kids in the schools, but their schools seem to work differently than ours? I am thinking it's because we are at a charter? Anyway, I am trying to find a school buddy who won't think I'm a complete idiot when I ask the most basic questions! 

But also, hats off to parents who do this year after year. You all are navigating a system that is very confusing and makes not a lot of sense. All because that's what you do! 

I am still holding out hope big girl chooses to come back home after this school year. It'll make my life so much easier if she does! However, she is enjoying her time there and I am so thankful for that. 

Technical Difficulties

 Please forgive my absence. We are experiencing some technical difficulties over here. I hope to be back to blogging ASAP! 

Happy New Year

 Happy new year to you and yours! May your year be full of delight and wishes come true!

See you again in the new year!

photo: Depositphotos

Why a parenting blog?

I'm not sure if I've ever answered this before, but now I'm thinking about my why a lot more and wanted to put it out there!

Why a parenting blog? Why take the time to write a blog that is going into a market very saturated with all types of opinions? 

Representation. 

I follow a ton of parenting blogs. Follow along on different social media platforms as well. And even follow a ton of their podcasts! I love to hear people chat about parenting and raising a family and existing in the world as a parent. Parenting is so unique to each family on how they do it and our family is no different. I just love hearing about how others do it too! 

But they are all writing for moms. I don't ever see or hear of a parenting blog for all parents. It's all "For moms by moms", which is valuable! And so much needed. Moms absolutely need community and to hear others describe their experience. 

I also think there needs to be a parenting blog that represents parents other than moms. Not seeing this anywhere, I decided to create it. And years ago, this wasn't exactly why I started blogging. And it's not totally my reason today. It's part of my reasoning. 

I also really like writing. And talking about my kid. And all the kids who come through our household. And the experiences we have as gay parents. And so much more. 

So why a parenting blog? That's a hard question to answer specifically. Why not a parenting blog? Why not write about what I love writing, so that I'm writing again? That's the goal, just write! 

I don't expect this to be anything more than my ramblings about my existence with my children. And that's exactly what I want it to be, and for that I'm excited to get back to writing. I'm excited to start putting my thoughts on paper again and enjoying doing it all. 

I hope you all enjoy the blog. If you do, great! If you don't, that's also great! I'm not for everyone and everyone is not for me. Overall, I am happy to be doing what I'm doing, how I'm doing it and existing in this space. I look forward to writing more and in the end, that's what matters to me! 

Baby girl update

Since the last time we wrote, baby girl has turned into big girl. At 8 years old, she is growing up extremely fast and it has me all in my feelings. I am so grateful she gets the chance to grow up and I am loving watching her so much. So what has this big girl been up to? Sooooo much!

Big girl is rocking out at this big sister routine. She understands the assignment heavily and is mostly enjoying the experience. That's not to say she doesn't have her moments, that would be dishonest to state. However, she continues to want to be the best big sister to whomever is in our household. 

Another big change for her this year is the fact that she's chosen to attend a brick school vs continuing to homeschool. We've been a homeschooling family for the last 3 years of her education, and while it's been amazing, she wanted to try something else this year. She is adjusting and we are learning a whole new side to the school world! 

She is also still rocking out the gymnastics life! She continues to excel here in ways we both knew she would and that are completely unexpected. We cannot believe how amazing she is doing. She's continuing to move up every year and as long as she's happy, we are happy to see her continue! 

What other interests does she have? She's taken to reading graphic novels as her choice of entertainment. This has been fun to explore with her and she continues to read everything she can! We are so excited seeing her jump into reading after a bit of a rocky start. 

She also loves Pokemon. It is very interesting seeing my kiddos get into something that I remember from my childhood. Of course she doesn't believe that I knew what Pokemon was at her age! She can't think that her beloved card game is THAT old. 

She is also reminding us daily that she is full of sugar, spice, and sass. It's a challenge at times, but we absolutely wouldn't have it any other way! Each one of those traits is a leadership requirement and we absolutely want her to be a leader! 

What else is there to talk about with the kiddo! A lot of our parenting is learning with each new stage she's in! We are exhausted and fulfilled at the same time.