Life At The Circus

I went to a wedding the other night. The bride looked dashing in her floor length ball gown, with her shoulder length hair worn down.  The groom was handsome in his navy blue jacket with a red and gray tie, and a simple black eyed susan taped to his jacket lapel.   The bride carried matching black eyes susan’s picked fresh from her mother’s yard.     As the ceremony began the bride’s cell phone rang.  Her groom was most disturbed b/c, “brides don’t carry cell phones to weddings.”  This bride was hearing none of that and took the call.  She wanted to ask her mom over for casserole that night following the nuptials and had been waiting for her to call her back.  After the phone call the groom planted a big wet one on his bride b/c, “they always kiss, dance, and eat cake in weddings… oh and the rings.”  The bride was not so keen on the kiss, but did enjoy the dancing turned wwf wrestling on the living room   ball room flo...

A strange thing has happened to me in my ripe, “old” age .  Since turning thirty I have discovered my taste buds are changing quite a bit.  For years I have loved the smell of coffee.  And while I do enjoy a cappuccino or especially a good frappuchino, an actual cup of coffee was too strong for my liking.  However, I enjoyed the smell so much, I once begged my husband to drink it in the morning, just so we could fill our home with its rich aroma.  He denied my request to become addicted to caffeine for no reason other than to please his wife’s olfactory nerves. But recently, I have noticed that I have acquired a newfound liking to the cup of joe (with cream and sugar mind you).  I bought a bag of coffee beans this week and hope to figure out how to use our coffee maker so I can start my day with the sweet smell of hazelnut coffee brewing in our kitchen.  Funny, how I made it through 4 years of college, 3 years of teaching, and 3 newborn babies...

    Yea… the older two never would have been allowed to lick the cake batter on their second birthday cakes… “The babies of the family always get away with more.” Click here for wordless or here for wordful wednesday photos!

While walking to the car after church on Sunday, my son proudly showed me his Sunday School papers.    Upon seeing this picture, I assumed what his lesson was about that morning and decided to play a little game with him.  “I bet I can guess who this picture is of,” I say jokingly.  Being confident in who it is, I decide to joke around with him and intentionally say wrong answers such as “Andrew, James, or Paul.”  Of course he giggles and says, “no, no, and no.” Finally, I finish teasing him and say, “I know… it’s Joseph!” “No,” he answers. “What?”  “You didn’t learn about Joseph and his coat of many colors?” Pause “Nope.” “Really?”  “Who is it?” Turns out the joke was on me. “Jesus,” he answers me. Totally thrown off, I look at his take home papers and discover he learned about Dorcas who according to his paper, “loved Jesus very much and served him by helping others.  She did kind things for people in the church.  Sh...

About 7 months ago we received a phone call that we’d been hoping for, for several years now.  My sister in law (Scott’s sister) was pregnant!  And there was much rejoicing and squealing at the circus house.  Later that same week, we learned that my other sister in law (my brother’s wife) was also expecting a baby!  Their due dates were within 2 weeks of each other.  And a few months later we found out that they were both expecting boys. There was much rejoicing and dreaming of blue at the circus house as we anticipated our new nephews and cousins! Well, 2 weeks ago we got the call from my brother that his wife’s water had broken and they were on the way to the hospital.  The next morning the circus crew took a day trip to meet our new little nephew.  The kids were so excited to see their little cousin, only hours old.   After watching everyone take turns holding him, my youngest went over to the sink to wash her hands.  She then pr...

You know your family is a techno family when your 5 year old requests that you add a song to your ipod so he can listen to it.  Today, my son did just that and I was more than happy to oblige him with this choice.  The “theme song” for our Vacation Bible School this year was “Today is the Day” by Lincoln Brewster.  They sang it every morning at the start of VBS.  It had the kids jumping and praising.  Can’t think of a better start to the day.  2 weeks later and it is still in my son’s head and he wanted me to download it so we could sing along at home with frequency.  I have many playlists on my ipod.  One for running, one for kids songs, one for worship music, one with love songs,  and one I entitled “upbeat fun” specifically designed to get us moving and grooving during those difficult 4-6pm hours of the day.  In addition to my ipod, I have a little gadget called the nike+ipod.  I plug one part into my nano and one part slips ...

The other day the kids and I were hanging around the house cleaning the house like crazy and listening to music.  “The Sharing Song” by Jack Johnson came on and he sang, “It’s always more fun to share with everyone.”  My three year old got a funny look on her face and exclaimed, “Hey, he said it’s more fun to share!  It is NOT more fun to share!”  The way she said it and the look on her face was if she was saying, W hat is this propaganda your spewing at me mom? We all know it is no fun sharing. While I would contest that is definitely good to share and something we strive to teach here at the circus, I guess I can concede that is isn’t always more fun to share.    But then again, we don’t share b/c it’s more fun, we share because it is kind and being kind towards others is one way we can glorify our Lord.  Sometimes the fun is a great byproduct, sometimes it isn’t fun at all.  How about you?  Do you agree with Jack that it ...

Something strange must be in the air here at the circus,b/c this week I’ve been cleaning like I haven’t cleaned since I was nesting.  Seriously, last night at 9:00 Scott came home from sailing to find me scrubbing the baseboards of our bathroom with a toothbrush.  If he hadn’t heard the kids screaming for him from their bedroom, I am sure he’d have thought he went into the wrong house! I know I have been negligent on the blog front, but let me tell you on the home front I have scrubbed the walls and baseboards, cleaned the bathroom top to bottom (including the itty bitty corner behind the potty), washed the dog, stayed on top of laundry, cleaned and organized the toy room, cleaned (and dusted) my bedroom,  gone grocery shopping, grated a zucchini, and baked some zucchini bread and muffins.   Still on today’s to do list is to mop the entry way and kitchen floors, finish my dad’s father’s day gift (ya know since it’ll be August next week and all), order some pic...

Last week we took the kids to the local zoo.  We have tried to go once a year for the past several years.  We go in part b/c we want to give the kids a chance to see the exotic animals up close.  It’s so fun to watch their reactions.  But, I’ll be honest, we also go b/c I love to see the animals up close!  It is amazing and awe inspiring and I don’t think I could ever tire of it!  (And I am not even an animal person).  Three preschool kids at the zoo in Maryland in the heat of summer.  Why, you might ask?  Well, that I’ve already answered that, it’s fun.  How?  We have a strategy that has worked really well for for us .  We don’t attempt to see it all.  We don’t make it a day long affair.  We pick the few select animals we want to see, we take our time and enjoy them, and we leave happy.  I don’t try to “get my money’s worth” and see every single animal in the zoo.  I feel I get more than my money’s worth ...

My son is quite the little entrepreneur.   The other night after dinner my husband was reading the girls a book and I sat on the couch to read a little myself.  I looked over to see what my son was up to and discovered he had put all the dishes in the sink, and was scrubbing the dining room table.   He even asked where the sandwich bags where so he could bag up the leftovers and put them in the fridge.  Needless to say, I praised him for his hard work and the big help he was to me.  As I sat down reading my book, I thought to myself how I could really get used to this.  Then my son piped up, “Mom, I’m doing this b/c I want to make some money.” So much for being motivated to serve out of his love and devotion to dear old mom.  I promised him that this week Dad and I would talk about allowances and chores.    Of course the next day when I asked him to clean the table up after breakfast, he complained that he wished he had never t...

Those of you that have been part of the circus for awhile, know that I seriously lack a green thumb .  I guess you could call me naive, but this spring I decided to try again .  Much like peach picking , my goal in gardening is to teach my kids.  So, I didn’t go for  huge garden with hopes of providing a summer’s worth of produce.  Instead, I opted for a few plants that we could watch grow and hopefully taste the fruits of our labor.  Last night I took a look at the garden.  Now I know a seasoned gardener would have been checking up on her plants all along.  But you all know I am not a seasoned gardener.  We’ve got some tomatoes and peppers that should be ripe soon!  But we don’t have to wait any longer to enjoy one of our sweet successes! Check this bad boy out! I was delightfully surprised when I uncovered this zucchini! The kids and I will be baking some home made zucchini bread tomorrow using my mom’...

I’ve been hosting this little carnival of mine for a few months now and was hoping for some feedback.   I am wondering how often you think we should run weekend thoughts?  Is once a week too much?  Would you prefer once a month?  Or every other week?  Any other suggestions for improving the carnival? Anything I can do to make it easier?  For those that have linked up in the past, thank you.  I have loved reading your thoughts and getting to know you better.    Please link up below with your thoughtful post. For those that haven’t linked up, I still greatly appreciate your comments for improving the carnival. 

I love birthdays.  No really, I mean, I LOVE THEM.  And I’ll be honest, I particularly love MY birthday.  As I kid I would start counting down the days till my birthday starting in January (right around my brother’s birthday).  I can remember when Scott and I had been married about a year we were on vacation at the end of June.  My birthday, as you now know is in mid July.  One sunny afternoon I said to Scott, “Ya know, I really don’t think your excited enough about my birthday.”  It was a mere 10 days a way and I didn’t think he was focusing on it enough.   Yea…I wish I was kidding, but I am not.  I really am that child like.  This year, my dear hubby went all out.  Truly, he out did himself and I couldn’t have asked for a better day.  He def was more than excited enough about my special day.  The day started with my getting to sleep in.   A luxury I don’t get to enjoy all that often these days....

If crystal doesn't want me commandeering her blog then she really needs to get a better password ;-).  Yea, this post is actually being written by Scott.  I guess you may know me as the circus dad.   Anyway, as a family we have chosen today to celebrate her 30th birthday.  Yep, the big 3.0.  I’m off all day and we are going to have big fun.  Because she loves you all so much I though her day would be all the more fun if she received birthday greetings from some of the faithful readers she spends so much time sharing her life with.  So, if you feel so inclined, send her a note and wish her a happy birthday!!! Crystal, thanks for being the greatest wife and mother any man could hope to be teamed up with.  You really are the greatest.  I am so glad God brought you into the world 30 years ago and I fell a bit spoiled that he brought you to me. Happy Birthday Crystal!!!!! (P.S.  Not knowing I was going to do this, Crystal did ac...

As much as I like to think I am not, I am a city girl.  My “garden” consists of 6 plants in a square patch on the side of my house.  We get our eggs in a carton at the grocery store and our milk in gallon jugs just down the aisle from the milk. So, I try to give my kids farm fresh experiences as much as possible.  It takes a bit of driving, but seems like a small price to pay in my book to give my kids prior knowledge experiences. Sunday we packed up the kids and caravanned with our friends to western MD with plans for some peach picking at an orchard.   We were skipping nap time, but it was worth it b/c our kids were going to get to pick peaches. We arrived at the orchard eager to pick our peaches.  It was the opening weekend of peach picking at the orchard.  Apparently we weren’t the only ones enthusiastic to provide an authentic orchard experience for our family.  They were picked out.  All they had left was green peaches....

I think my girls make good farm gals, don’t you? Visit here or here for more Wednesday fun with pictures!

My family’s love for Chick-Fil-A goes deep and wide.  The first symbol my son recognized was for Chick-Fil-A.  He could “read” it at age 2.  And anytime he saw a cursive C he thought it stood for Chick-Fil-A.  At that same age, I showed him a symbol for the golden arches and he had no idea what it was.  My daughter’s one year scrapbooks both have pages dedicated to their “first Chick-Fil-A” kids meal experience.  It’s this deep love for Chick-Fil-A which prompts me to dress my crew like cows and herd them to the local Chick-Fil-A for cow appreciation day every year.  I don’t don cow costumes simply for my desire to get free food.  I do it because I love Chick-Fil-A.  I can tell you right now that if McDonald’s offered me a free meal for dressing like a farm animal, you would not find me showing up dressed head to toe as a cow or chicken or any other mammal.  I save this public humiliation for one fast food franchise alone. ...

Nothing like a week of Vacation Bible School to leave this circus mom with more “not me” moments than I care to admit.  Because I love to keep it real, here’s a few highlights from our week.   Meet my dear friend.  When it comes to friends, she’s one of the bestest.  For many reasons.   An example of which is the fact that she willingly cuts my girls hair for me.  A fact they will thank her for profusely over the years as their Mommy isn’t so good at cutting straight lines.   It wasn’t my daughter sitting on our minivan porta potty getting her hair cut in the church parking lot after VBS.  Surely I would have been on top of things and not let her bangs get soo long and her ends so split  making her so desperately in need of  a haircut that we would do it in the parking lot!     And it wasn’t me who sent my potty training tyke to the nursery in a swimmy diaper b/c we were out of diapers and pull ups and running late ...

Sometimes you hear about something so big and so awful and while you know you just can’t ignore it and do nothing, you have no idea what to do. And sometimes not knowing what to do leads to inaction.  How can I make a difference to such a big problem?  What can I do to help someone hurting half a world away? That’s kinda how I felt after writing this weekend thought about Sudan two weeks ago.  Then Scott and I got to talking and we came up with something. It doesn’t have to start big.  Why don’t we start small?  Why don’t we stop thinking about what we can’t do and start doing something with what we can do? Like shopping Yes, you read that correctly. How many of you shop online?  Here at the circus we do it with great frequency.  I love the fact that I can make my purchases from the peace and quiet of naptime without providing a three ring circus act for the people at Target.  Any of you shop at Amazon?  Amazon.com has a ...