Life At The Circus

Kids make good accountability partners.  Whether you ask them to be or not. As a SAHM mom, I am with my kids pretty much all day and evening.  With the exception of an evening out here or there.   And my kids are watching me.  They are taking in what I listen to on the radio, how I respond when I am tired, stressed.  They are there for it all. I have been impressed and sometimes surprised with how carefully they are listening to the words of the lyrics we listen to.  It’s not just background music for them.  For the most part, in our home, we listen to Christian music.  There are some exceptions, but I make sure to screen the music I put on my ipod. Not just for them, but for myself as well.  I want to fill my mind with things that are pleasing to God, not that which will distract me from Him.  With my careful screening, I was surprised one day when my son asked me to turn that song off.  When I asked him why he said he d...

It’s been a few years since we’ve had a good snow fall here in MD.  And by good I mean accumulating enough so that you don’t see the grass poking through the snow.  This is the only snowman we were able to scrape together this winter at the circus.  Don’t the kids look kind of forlorn?  Seriously, take a closer look at our “snowman.”  I am sure my friends up north are rolling on the floor with laughter at our patheticness. Since Old Man Winter, didn’t provide us with much of the white stuff here, we decided to have our own snowman day.  I’d been planning to do it in Jan and then suddenly I found myself a week from March and panicking b/c a snowman day in March with the St Patty’s decor up, just wouldn’t have the right feel.  Originally, I had planned to invite a bunch of the kids friends over and have a big party with snacks and crafts and the like.  But, I was running out of time and out of social energy , so we settled on a low key...

“A sister shares childhood memories and grown-up dreams.”   Check out 5MFM for more Wordless Wednesdays.

Scott and I enjoy watching those “thrill drama series” such as 24 , Alias , Heroes …  I can remember when we would watch Alias, I would often have dreams where I would save the day with my mean back side kick and my “kickn” purple air.  Ya, if only… Well this morning I woke up and told Scott I had the strangest dream.  In part of it we were going away for our honeymoon only it wasn’t really because we already had the kids and we were staying in this hotel like room underground in my parents yard.  A safe house perhaps?  Things are a bit foggy as dreams usual are, but I vividly really being at a school and figuring out that there was a terror plot underway for bombs to go off in every school across America when they said the pledge.  Apparently, all the schools in America pledge of allegiance at exactly the same time every day.  I was trapped but somehow was able to secretly text a message which said, “no pldge” and somehow whoever received this mes...

Today a dental hygienist visited my son’s class at preschool.  In the car he told me we needed to get him some dental cloth.  “Floss?” I asked.  “Yes,” he told me, “We gotta get rid of Mr. Black.” pause My son then commented, “I have no idea who Mr. Black is but we gotta get rid of him.” I suggested maybe he was a cavity. “Yea or dead food.” he replied. So, this week at the circus we are tackling dental hygiene.  He even told my husband before bed tonight that when he wakes up he’s gotta brush his teeth.  “Of course I’ll come into your room first, b/c I always come into your room when I wake up, but then I gotta brush my teeth because we need to brush in the morning and night.” I am so glad we have him to keep us all in line.   Check out 5MFM for more tackles.

I have been going non stop the past several days.  Friends over for dinner, going to other friends homes for dinner, attending a party, hosting a surprise party…it has been social function after social function for 5 days straight.  I have enjoyed each experience greatly, but I am an introvert and after spending time with people I need time alone to recharge.   I have one more event tonight (a MOPS Family Fun Night at our church…being as I am the coordinator, I need to be there and be fun).  Tomorrow I have big plans of staying home all day to recharge my batteries.  The kids and I are going to make snowman foods, watch Frosty and do some crafts.  Just us.  I am looking forward to it greatly.  Somewhere in there I also need to do some laundry b/c if you knew what my poor husband went through to find a presentable outfit this morning to wear to his presentation, well, if you knew than you would know that I will not be nominated for woman of th...

Sometimes it takes very little to turn the ordinary into something memorable.  If your willing to change things up a bit, you can have fun with really, very little effort. The other day the kids and I baked some cookies for a care package, but we saved some to enjoy with Daddy after dinner.   While we don’t have dessert everyday, a chocolate chip cookie after dinner is not all that memorable. The kids had the idea of eating our cookies under the table.  This simple action turned the ordinary into extraordinary. They were delighted to have all 5 of us crammed under the table enjoying our treat. We started with a girls side and a boy side. This didn’t last for long as the girls soon enjoyed climbing over the “gate” in the middle to be with the boys. I love this picture because of my youngest.  You can totally tell she is saying cheese as she shows off her mouth full of chocolate!     “Life brings simple pleasures to us every day....

Have you ever been singing along to a song in front of your friends when you learn that the lyrics you thought you knew weren’t quite right? I can remember in high school singing along to Amy Grant’s “ Baby Baby ” and when she says, “ Baby Baby, I’m taken with the notion to love you with the sweetest of devotion ”  I instead belted out “ love you with the  sweetest talk of ocean. ”  My friend looked at me and laughed and asked what I just sang.  “ Sweetest talk of ocean ” I replied, “Why?”  It never occurred to me that it didn’t make any sense.  To this day when I hear the song it is hard for me to hear anything but “ Sweetest talk of ocean ”   Another high school lyric gone bad was Better Than Ezra’s “ Good ”  I can remember belting out “ It was good livin’ with you warthog ” in front of some of my youth group friends instead of “ It was good livin’ with you (wahow ).”  I even remember asking why they are singing about living with w...

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You ever ever start playing a game without even realizing it until it’s well underway?  Two years ago the kids and I were shopping in the candy aisle at Rite Aid looking for cheap V-day candy after the 14th, when we stumbled across this guy selling on clearance for a little over a dollar.   My son was big into motorcycles and Snoopy, so it was fun gift for him.  What we didn’t tell him was that there was candy hidden underneath the chair.  He liked it as a toy bike and there didn’t seem any reason to tell him about the treasure inside. My husband and I have gotten quite a chuckle out of this as we’ve seen him playing with it.  We would joke with each other about the day he would finally dawn on him that there is actually candy inside.  It became a game for us. Today, two years after we bought the toy, my son brought it to me very excited and said, “Hey Mom, did you know there is candy inside this?”  Turns out he was showing the motorcycle...

Welcome to Not Me! Monday! This blog carnival was created by MckMama . You can head over to her blog to read what she and everyone else have not been doing this week. While I was posting about my true love story each day last week, a whole circus load of activity was going on around here. I did not … put my kids to bed without having them brush their teeth because we got home late from a church meeting and I was trying to rush the bedtime routine. I certainly didn’t forget to bring their fluoride in like I had promised resulting in my son waking up the next morning and saying, “Mom, you never brought us our fluoride, do you want us to get cavities?” take a picture of my son’s nose after he ran smack into the baby gate/wall on his way to bed (please note I only took the picture so I could compare it later to see if it looked better or worse in the morning)  (it looked worse…got a nice shade of black and blue a few days later too) Back to my not me list....

Scott asked the kids their thoughts on the new stimulus bill that’s been passed.  Let’s just say they are a little less than enthused.  We had no idea this conversation would end in tears. Have no fear.  Scott consoled him right after we fade to black.  He really does "get it" but there is no reason to let him continue to worry about something he can't yet control.

Thanks for sticking around this week for the last installment in my week long saga of how the circus began . It was spring break of our junior year.  The plan (or so I thought) was to spend the first part of break at my parents house and the last part in MD at his parents house. Wednesday we drove to MD and Thursday we had plans for a fun date in DC.  We were going to see what was left over from the Cherry Blossoms and have a picnic lunch in the city.  The sun was shining and it looked like it was going to be a beautiful day. As we walked around our nation’s capital, hand in hand, Scott kept remarking how neat it was that everyone had a story.  He say things like  “Look at that lady, I wonder what her story is.”  He even said something at some point about how it would be great to meet up in DC years from now and share our stories.  Yea, I just loved that comment.  “Meet up?” I thought to myself.  I let it go though, no use starting a fight. Other than those annoying life story comments...

I have been having a ton of fun on my walk down memory lane this week.  ( click here to read the beginning of the story).The other day I opened up a hat box which I have filled with Every.Single.Card and note Scott wrote me from our pre-marriage days and our first 2 years of married life.   I told you my love language was words of affirmation and if you needed the proof, it is in the box. I knew I loved Scott long before he felt that way about me.  And being a words person, I told him.  Because I couldn’t help but tell him.  I felt that way and I felt he should know. My sweet man was taken a back and replied very honestly that he appreciated that but in his mind those words meant something very special, as in forever kind of love, and he wasn’t ready to tell me that yet. So, he didn’t. For years. He told me very specifically that he wouldn’t tell me he loved me with the forever kind of love until he was ready to put a ring on my finger. So, I waited. For years. We had our ups and do...

I am sucker for holidays and tend to go all out for them.  Valentine’s is no exception.  We’ve got the heart shaped clings on the windows, our wedding picture on our entry table and big plans for strawberry milk and heart shaped pancakes for breakfast on Saturday morning. This isn’t anything new.  Back in high school I looked forward to the day even when I didn’t have a boyfriend to celebrate with.  I’d have fun girls nights with my friends, watching sappy movies and going out for ice cream, all the while dreaming of a day when I’d have a boy to celebrate the day with. So, as Valentine’s Day approached in 1997 I was really looking forward to my first real date on the big day.  And I made no secret of this anticipation. Scott, however is a wise man.  I am sure he felt the pressure and was afraid of disappointing his overly enthusiastic girl friend.  So, he went with the approach of, “make her expectations low, so you can’t disappoint her.”  Much to my dismay, he kept making sarcastic co...

I left off on my love story yesterday with the note my husband wrote me on the back of his senior picture.  A few weeks later we did in fact “spend time together after school.”  It was the day before Thanksgiving and we had a half day of school.  The plan was for him to come to my house that afternoon to watch Toy Story . I was both nervous and excited.  I spent the ride home from school figuring out what I would wear, how to do my hair and other such pressing matters.  Then my dad told me he needed me to drive him to the car dealership to pick up his new car.  The dealership was about 30 minutes from our house.  Being the self absorbed teenager that I was I replied in utter despair, “Dad, why on the one day I have a date, do you have to buy a car?”  I was so upset, convinced this would ruin everything.  Woe is me.  I was certain that if Scott got to my house and I wasn’t there he would leave and that would be the end of everything.  I am pretty sure I whined the whole way to drop him...

In honor of Valentine’s Day I thought I’d share my love story with you all this week. I mentioned before that prior to being voted “Most Congenial” Scott and I had only had 2 conversations with each other throughout high school.  After the 4th  photo shoot, we got one acceptable enough to put in the yearbook, and I started to notice what a genuinely nice guy he was.  Sadly though, we had no classes together.  Then we went on the high school leadership retreat at Harvey Cedars Camp in NJ.  We ended up riding in the same van (something we both take credit for) and talking quite a bit on the way there.  I say I noticed he was in that van when I willingly got in it over the one with all my friends.  He takes credit for moving to the front of the van so we could talk.  It is safe to say that we both took notice of each other and spent most of our free time together during that retreat.  On the way home we sat next to each other in the van and talked the entire time. I was love sick when I ...

We celebrated my daughter’s third birthday last weekend and in honor of that milestone, I thought I’d write her a letter.  Perhaps I will take Wilma’s idea and pen it out to give to her at a later date.  Until then, at least I will have the thoughts preserved. Dear Daughter, I can’t believe it’s been three years since you entered the world.  You are a tiny girl with a lot of spunk and you’ve always had a connection with your daddy that only daughter’s can have.  Just last week you told me, “Mom when I was a baby and I cried, I was crying because I missed Daddy at work.” You have grown up a lot this past year.  Somehow in the blink of an eye you transformed from a baby tot to a little girl.  You go potty and get dressed all by yourself.  And I love your sense of style !  I have seen you grow to become more compassionate and sensitive this past year.  You seem to look out for those who are hurting or who need a friend.  Many moms at church have come up to me to tell me their child talk...

As we finished up dinner tonight a song came on the ipod that made Scott want to dance and he invited me to join him.  So we did a little swing dancing in the living room with the kids watching from the table. Then my son got up and grabbed the “point and shoot” we sometimes let him use to take pictures with and took some pictures of us “to put on my wall” he said. After Mommy and Daddy’s dance was finished the kids wanted in on the action.  So we taught them how to properly “cut in” and they so cutely tapped us on the shoulders to “ask for this dance.” Who could deny such a request? Then they suggested we all go put our “dancing clothes on” and so we quickly changed clothes, pushed the toy box out of the way and enjoyed a truly priceless evening of dance.   I couldn’t help but think of these lyrics as I recall our evening of spontaneous fun.  It’s definitely one of those moments I’ll store up in my heart and treasure. “And these are the mom...

My oldest daughter has been demonstrating her growing independence and her new sense of style these days.   Her new favorite pants are these orange leggings with candy corn on them that she got at Halloween.  I don’t know what made her take such a liking to them this January but she wants to wear them EVERY. SINGLE. DAY.  When she wanted to wear them to the park a few weeks ago with her purple sweater, I started to try and persuade her to change.  Then I recalled a comment I had made recently on a friend’s blog about how I just love the outfits preschoolers put together and how great it is to let them just be themselves.  She insisted she wanted to show Nana her “candy pants” and I couldn’t be a hypocrite, so I complied.     She’s  also begun to take a liking to layering her shirts. At first I was pretty impressed.  She came out one day with a green long sleeve shirt with a cute orange shirt on top that had green in the pri...

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Home made chocolate chip cookies are my favorite!  I am partial to the recipe my mom got years ago.  Perhaps you’ve seen the recipe as well.  The story goes someone asked for Mrs. Fields cookie recipe and was told it cost two fifty.  Upon receiving the recipe, she learned it cost two hundred and fifty dollars rather than two dollars and fifty cents.  Outraged, she went on to share this recipe with the world to get back at them for charging so much.  I gotta confess until a month ago, I believed this little story.  Thought I was going around with Mrs Fields very own cookie recipe.  I’d see her store at the mall and think, “Why bother paying for the cookies when I could go home and make the exact same ones and even get to eat the dough?”  Yes, I am that gullible. (I was the girl in high school who believed the line that gullible wasn’t in the dictionary too). Last month I was craving me some cookies and couldn’t find my “secret” reci...

Well, January came and went and I exercised one day in 2009.  This is why I have to set goals for myself .  Without a race in my future, I lack the discipline to get off my butt. So, I’ve set my sights on a Half Marathon in May in one of my favorite cities…Pittsburgh.  I am really excited.  I checked out the route online and it looks great…we cross two bridges, run downtown a bit, run along the river overlooking the city and my highlight, we run by Heinz Field (home of the Superbowl Champs )!  I went here and found a training routine.  It’s the same one I used last summer to prep for the Annapolis 10 Mile .  Although last summer I pretty much skipped the cross training, stretching, and strength training days and just ran 3 days a week.  I did ok, but I’d really like to try to follow the schedule this time and see if I can improve my race. Monday was day one and it called for strength and stretch.  So, I got out a DVD and did some yoga ...

Since you’ve seen the decor at the circus for the big game, I thought I’d give you a glimpse of the cast members as well. We had some fun last night, that is FOR SURE!!! My daughter and her Papa wore their Steelers jackets to church Sunday morning. The kids had their faces painted for the game to show some Steelers pride! Great Grandpa snapped a picture of the hang celebrating during half time! We also took a new family photo. At the end of the game we woke the two oldest kids up to share in a celebratory sparkling cider toast!  Some were a bit harder to wake than others. I got my love of football from my Dad.  I have many fond memories of cheering on the Steelers with him over the years.  It only seemed appropriate to take a pic together on the big day. And here I am with the love of my life.   We have had many, many fun times this year cheering on our team.  We went to training camp in Latrobe this ...