Life At The Circus

**Updated with new picture from today below** Today I get to celebrate two of my favorite things... Chick-Fil-A and Football .  :-) Today, Chick-Fil-A is giving away their new chicken strips (which, by the way, are delicious, and my hubby and my new fav menu item) to anyone who visits their store wearing a football logo.  Check it out here for more details.  You better believe that all 5 of us will be sporting our Steelers pride at Chick-Fil-A today when we stop for lunch on our way back from our annual Labor Day get together.    Any other Chick-Fil-A lovin' football fans out there??

I hurt my toe this week.  Really Badly. As in, it's not a pretty picture, all black and blue and bleeding.  Gonna lose the nail.  See I told you it wasn't a pretty picture! I realized this week how much I take that little toe for granted.  Until it started hurting, I didn't realize the impact one little phalange could have on the entire body.  (I also didn't realize how many times a day my feet are stepped on by my kids). One little toe can inflict pain on my entire body.  It can make me limp.  It can send throbbing pain throughout my body.  It can make me cry.  One teeny little toe As I reflect on all the harm and discomfort one teeny little toe can cause to an entire body, I do not want to be like that toe.  One teeny little action, or word, or broken promise, can inflict deep and lasting pain in the life of another.  It can leave them limping along, throbbing in pain.  I must be careful of the words I say and the attitu...

Here are the top 10 reasons why my family loves to go camping. 10. It's cheaper than a hotel ($20 a night versus $150 a night) 9. Smores! 8.  It ensures that the ground will get the water its been deprived of all summer long. 7. Beautiful views 6. Togetherness (look how cozy our beds look in there...we almost always wake with at least one kiddo snuggled up next to us) 5. Dining al fresco (some people pay big bucks to eat in the great outdoors) 4.  Everything tastes better when it's cooked over a fire   (note the distance between my daughter's hot dog and the actual fire...not exactly cooked) 3.  Daddy does most of the cooking   2.  The kids can play freely and without worry of breaking things. (lest you think we are horrid parents, this was NOT the fire pit we used for the campfire) 1.  You don't have to be clean   ( anytime one of us went to take a shower or clean up while camping, my son would say, "But Mom, when...

  Jessica has a fun carnival where she helps keep us bloggers real.  The deal is you gotta take pictures of the assignment as is, no tweaking for the cameras.  This week she wanted to see "how we roll"  as in what our vehicle looks like. The funny thing about this is that when I saw the assignment I thought to myself, "how lucky for me I just cleaned the van out last week when we got back from camping."  Ha-ha funny thing is I forgot how much junk a van can accumulate in a week and a half!  So, take a look inside my minivan.  I took these pictures today as we were heading out for some errands.  Meant to take them earlier this week so I could post this early today, but that's real life for ya... We've got a 12 pack of diet coke for my hubby that I failed to bring in yesterday when I went shopping...also have baby doll, diaper bag and assorted books and toys to entertain the little ones. You can see we put the oldest two in the back seats (h...

Remember back in high school when you were positive that you were going to stay BFF with your group of girl friends?  You were positive you were going to marry your high school sweetheart... When I was in high school my friends and I dreamed of growing up, getting married, and living in the same neighborhood. While that dream didn't exactly pan out, our friendship has remained strong.  And 5 of the 6 of us actually went on and married our high school boyfriends.  Still working on the neighborhood though. In the mean time we've set aside Labor Day Weekend as a time when we get together with our families for a weekend of fun.  It started in 2002 as the 6 of us and our husbands.  We all had such a great time that we thought we should do it again, and thus a tradition was born.  Labor Day weekend seemed perfect b/c  it is a guaranteed 3 day weekend for all of us and it isn't a holiday filled with family obligations.  6 years and 13 (thirteen!!!) c...

Yesterday my son called for me to, "Come quick Mom and look, she's so cute!" ... I think he's got a good eye, don't you? For More Wordless Wednesdays, check out 5 Minutes for Mom.

Despite the fact that I lack a green thumb and raise suicidal plants , I still attempted a garden this summer with my kids.  Some may call me a hopeless optimist, to others I am just naive.  But, my oldest two children were particularly excited about this new venture and I didn't want to let them down. This April we planted a row of peas, a row of green beans, a row of pumpkins, two tomato plants, and two pepper plants.   At first we had several pea plants sprout up.  I didn't know you had to stake them though, so they eventually withered away.  I had two green bean plants pop up, and I got a whopping total of 2 green beans (and a whole lot of weeds).   Later we had pumpkin plants pop up and even produce nice yellow blooms.  I really held them out as the promised plant, the ones destined to bring forth great produce.  I imagined the golden pumpkins sitting on my stoop all in a row this fall. They failed to germinate and the blooms...

Sorry for not posting a post race synopsis yesterday, in the words of my dear sister in law , I was "too tired." The race was a blast!  The weather was gorgeous and the views were beautiful.  My favorite was running down Main Street in Annapolis looking down at the harbor.  It was incredible!   The first 5 miles I felt great.  I kept up a steady conversation with Karen and at each mile marker would scream out with glee.  I was really impressed with the support from the people of Annapolis.  People would stand at their driveways with hoses to mist you, music blaring to inspire you, and some even offered drinks, and high fives.  Our favorite was the people that handed out orange slices.  These people were so gracious and kind to offer such encouragement to 5000 strangers, it blew me away.    Of course the best sight I saw on the run was my dear family cheering us on!  They were there at the start, shortly after mile...

We had a big "carbolicious" dinner tonight to get ready for the Annapolis 10 Mile Run tomorrow morning.... my sis in law, my father in law, my two good friends, and I are all running 10 miles tomorrow at 7:45am.    Wish us luck!!!

I've sung along to these lyrics dozens of times as I drove along in my minivan.  But when I was running last week and this song came through my headphones, they hit me unlike any other time.  God loves me, Crystal, more than the sun and the stars.   As I listened to the words, I just imagined my Creator singing them to me and I was overwhelmed that He would chose to love me , wretched sinner that I am.  I encourage you to read these lyrics, and listen to the words and imagine your Creator singing them just to you.  He loves you that much, you know and more. Take a look at the mountain Stretching a mile high Take a look at the ocean Far as your eye can see And think of Me Take a look at the desert Do you feel like a grain of sand? I am with you wherever Where you go is where I am And I’m always thinking of you Take a look around you I’m spelling it out one by one Chorus: I love you more than the sun And the stars that I taught how to shine You are Mine and...

  My son was so excited about the favor we brought home from my friend's wedding a few weeks ago.  They gave out old fashioned root beer in bottles with a home made label.  It was his first soda and he was so excited to drink "kid beer" as he called it.        I think he liked the idea of it more than the actual taste.  He actually drank most of it the next day when it was flat.  My favorite part was watching his facial expressions as he drank it. 

**Warning, those of you that did not appreciate my poop post last week, may not enjoy this one either.  Sorry for the graphic footage.  My past week has truly illustrated the less glamorous side of motherhood. **   Our trip to Steelers training camp last week was one of the most eventful family car trips we've had in a long while.  It was supposed to take 4 hrs to get to Latrobe, instead 6 hrs after we left we finally pulled into our camping space.  We hit stop and go traffic about an hour and a half into our trip.  Turns out our 13 month old gets car sick.  Yes, she literally lost her lunch all over herself as we sat in traffic.  Thankfully, the paper towels happened to be within reach and I was able to sop her up.  An hour later, we hit construction and thus more stop and go traffic.  I thought she had lost her lunch the first time, but it appeared she saved quite a bit for her next round of retching.  Poor thing was a smell...

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My hubby and I are huge Pittsburgh Steelers fans.  I was born a Steelers fan .  My husband's allegiance was born in college when he began faithfully watching the home team in Western, PA.  There's no way to distinguish who is more devoted now, we are both hard core.   Living in Ravens territory is tough.  We watch every game televised here, head to Glory Days for big games that aren't televised, make a few treks to my parents house in PA, read the play by plays online, listen on the radio.... whatever we can to follow our team.  We've even had my parents record games and mail them to us to watch mid week.  This year we went camping with my parents in Latrobe, Pa so we could attend Steelers Training Camp at St Vincents College.   While I am sure the kids would have been just as excited to watch a high school game, Scott and I were both completely star struck.    "Look, right there, that's Ben" "He just threw it to Santoni...

I don't like heights.  Never have, but my trip to Mexico definitely didn't help. When I was pregnant with my son I developed an irrational fear of driving.  I was driving over a bridge one day and felt light headed, which triggered a complete panic attack.  After that I had trouble driving the 5 miles to work each day.  My dear husband and sympathetic friends taxied me around for a few months.  Eventually I got over it, with the exception of that bridge.  Took several months before I'd drive over it again.  Eventually I got to the point where I could drive over the bridge, but 5 years later if there is any sign of traffic I'll drive 20 minutes out of my way to avoid sitting on the bridge.  Seems my fear of heights is couple with a bit of claustrophobia.  What I fear is being stuck on the bridge with no where to go. The fear hasn't inhibited me too much.   I drive over the bridge several times a week.  I've even driven over the Bay Bridge (4.5 miles long) a few ...