Life At The Circus

I once read or heard somewhere that kids need to draw in spaces bigger than 8x11 sheets of paper. I tucked that little nugget of info away and to be honest did absolutely nothing with it, till last week. During one of our 3 sick days last week, I looked down at a brown bag and got inspiration!!   I cut the bag open much like you do when making book covers and gave each kid one half of a brown bag to draw on.  They were so excited at the big space to draw in.  And they loved the fact that white crayon showed up on brown paper.  Equally exciting was the fact that it had a handle for hanging. Classy, don’t ya think?  No worries… this isn’t their permanent home. But they enjoyed the display for the day.  And they loved carrying their pictures around all afternoon. The girls had fun making loops and scribbling.  It honestly was not their best art work, but they were enjoying the experience. My son, however, became inspired.  He dre...

I saw this line on a tee shirt this weekend at the Annapolis 10 Mile and loved it.  But, it cost $27 so I decided instead of buying the tee shirt, I’d make it my blog title.  Yea, I was so excited when I signed up back in June to run this race with my high school friends.  And somehow 3 months came and went and I ummm didn’t really train adequately for it.   But, they did. So, I ran/walk/ran/walk/ran 10 miles this morning.  And I finished. But, ummm that’s really about all I can say about that.  Though I wrote two weekend thought blog posts in my head as I plodded along, one foot in front of the other, which I will share with you all the next 2 Fridays.   Because deep thoughts are born in adversity, right? Before:  (minus Jami who was peeing at the time of this picture) After: (minus Jen and Jake who left right after they finished so they could go and do nursery duty at church…amazing, huh, I went home and slept, they...

Have you ever experienced complete darkness?  I’m not talking about shutting out the lights before you crawl under the covers, but total darkness.  In our electronic world of LEDs, it’s something we don’t often experience.  During our time exploring Carlsbad earlier this week, the ranger brought us into a cavern 830 feet below the earth and shut off the lights.  No flash lights.   No matches.  No floor lights. Nothing. It was dark. As in, total darkness. As in, so dark I literally held my hand in front of my face and saw nothing. Then she lit a match and suddenly that one match lit up the entire cavern. It’s amazing how much light one match can put off.  Honestly, I don’t know which struck me more, the black of darkness or the amount of light cast by that one match. I got to thinking about this world.  We know it’s a dark place.  The Bible talks of it often.  And sometimes in this day and age, you really feel it, don’...

Well, the local public schools went back in session at the beginning of the week and even though we are homeschooling this year, we’ve already got sick germs at the circus.  Seems we’re not holding out for long sleeves and sweaters to welcome in those lovely, little germs. But, can I tell you a little secret? Part of me likes sick days. No, I don’t like to see my kids suffering, and no I am not a big fan of the whining or continual moaning.  But, I do love the extra snuggles that come with sick days. Today my youngest had a fever…followed later in the afternoon by a lovely little blister on her tongue.  Seems she has a virus of some sort which I can’t pronounce, let alone spell.  The end result is she wanted held from the time she woke up from her nap till she went to bed this evening. So, I sat on the couch with her on my lap.  For awhile she snuggled with her baby and sippie cup while I engaged in a one handed light saber battle with my three year...

Here’s a random Crystal factoid for you. I hate flying. It not the getting to the airport hrs early or the waiting in lines for security that gets me. It's the act of actually flying that I am opposed to.  Don't get me wrong. I do it and though I am no frequent flier I would say I fly with some frequency; at least once sometimes twice a year. But, I hate the feeling of queasiness I get during take off and landing.  Even worse than that, I lament the fact that unlike a 5 hr car ride, in a 5 hr plane ride there is no stopping for fresh air to stretch your legs a bit.   No quick pit stops to grab a snack or two. From the moment the cargo doors shut until you are safely taxied up to the terminal at the end, you are stuck . And this always creates a certain feeling of panic inside me. I know what your thinking… oh Crystal is a claustrophobic .  Maybe a little yea, but that’s not really the panic I’m talking about.  This is a panic of much grander scal...

During our recent visit to El Paso , we survived the desert trek to reach Carlsbad Caverns ( number 23 of the 47 U.S. National Parks we plan to visit in our life together).  It was a perfect day alone with the man of my dreams exploring and enjoying God’s creation.  We spent 5 hours exploring the caves 800 feet below the earth’s surface. Pictures truly can’t do it justice, but I’ll try. Can you guess what this rock formation was called? Look closely. After spending the afternoon in the caverns below, we came up for dinner and then sunset with the bats. Yes, you read that correctly.  At dusk 400,000 (no that isn’t a typo, I meant to put all of those zeros there) bats fly out of the caves each night to feast on insects.   It was amazing (and no I am not some crazy bat loving girl of the night).  As we waited for the bats to fly out of the cave, I was totally grossed and freaked out, yet I knew it was something I didn’t want to miss....

Our continual quest to visit each of the US National parks , prompted us to take a day trip to Carlsbad caverns while in El Paso this weekend. Oddly enough we were quite familiar with the route has we were only about 11 miles from there this April when we visited Guadeloupe . To get to Carlsbad from El Paso you travel 138 miles on a rather barren and desolate road in the desert. I am not exaggerating even slightly when I say that there is literally nothing along the way.  No gas stations. No bathrooms. No food of any kind. As we embarked on our journey we though it prudent to stop for water. I ran into a kwick mart for a gallon of water and 3 water bottles. A few moles down the road (still on the outskirts of El Paso) we thought that perhaps some food would be wise. So into another gas station quick market I went. What food would you grab for a trek into the desert? As I stared at the options,  lunch meat sandwiches, doughnuts, chips, candy, I was perplexed. I ...

Friday morning I hugged my sweet kids goodbye and with tears in my eyes I waved as we backed out of Nana and Pop’s driveway.  And even though I know they are in capable and trustworthy hands with both sets of grandparents and our best friends taking turns watching them this weekend, I still hate the thought of flying two time zones away from them for 4 days. Very, very few things (or people) could motivate me to willingly part from them for a long weekend away. This little man is one. When we found out that my sister in law was pregnant, Scott and I knew we must find a way to get to El Paso and meet our nephew.  And yet, we knew that no new mom needed to have the entire circus crew descend upon her a mere 10 days after giving birth.  So, off we went for a weekend away (sans kids) with our nephew and his parents. His arrival into the extended family makes our family complete.   He is every bit as cute (ok cuter) in person than in pictures.  I am so glad we came out here to spend this...

A few weeks ago I wrote about going through the ACTS acronym when praying with my kids.  We’ve done it a few times over the past two weeks and it has been a special time of prayer.  It takes a long time and I don’t intend to do it every night.   They need to be attentive and focused and my two year old needs to be occupied by Daddy.  I want to teach them to converse more with their heavenly father, but I don’t want to turn prayer into a long or burdensome process. I have loved hearing their hearts though as they pray about about what is important to them.  The other night we spent some serious time talking about confession.  It had been a rough day at the circus.  A day were disobedience and meanness abounded.  So, I spent time talking about sin.  We talked out what they did wrong and their need to confess that sin and ask for forgiveness.   We also talked about how the penalty for their sin had already been paid for by Jesu...

Can you tell she loves her Daddy?  You can almost hear her giggle with glee as she hugs him.  That’s love… So pure and sweet         May it only grow stronger with time.

This weekend in addition to enjoying some fishing and campfire doughnuts , we also got to par take in some Pittsburgh Steelers revelry.  While camping is always a good time, the reason for our camping trip was so we could spend the afternoon checking up on our boys in the burgh! This was Scott and my third trip to Latrobe, PA to watch the Steelers practice at training camp .   It’s always fun to see the players you watch and cheer on T.V. live and in person.  I particularly enjoy watching them interact with each other.    We met my parents in the parking lot and entered the campus proudly wearing our black and gold jerseys.  My son started chanting, “Here we go Steelers, here we go… Pittsburgh’s going to the Superbowl.”  (Steelers fight song)   As we sat and watched them play we snapped a few (hundred) pics of our favorite players.    And we sweated, A LOT. While we downed water bottles and tried to block the su...

  (though they are wearing dresses) Visit here or here for more Wednesday fun with pictures!

This recipe for warm and gooey deliciousness is courtesy of Scott’s college room mate.   It’s not as easy as popping a mallow on a stick and roasting it, but it is oh so worth the effort!  You must try camp fire donuts on your next over night camping trip... First you take a can of Pillsbury breadsticks (or a generic equivalent) Pop it open Then you begin to wrap the bread dough around a stick   Next you get some chocolate…chips work best, (but I forgot to put the chips in a cooler so we had to opt for broken bits of Hersey bars b/c my mom put her chocolate in the cooler).     As you wrap the dough around the stick you add the chocolate and wrap the dough around it. When you finish make sure you pinch and tuck the top and bottom.   Next you toast the “doughnut” over the fire   till it is golden brown. You take the golden dough nut and rub it around in butter (ours was melted due to the extreme August...

**Updated Below! Once we finally departed , the kids were ecstatic about our camping trip this weekend.  As we were preparing to leave, my son already started talking about the very, important rules of camping, as he’s discovered them over the years. And the number one,  most exciting rule is that camping is messy! This one cracked me up, because while it is true, to hear him talk you would think he grew up in a house where he was never allowed to get dirty.  You’d think his mom washed his face after every meal and dressed them in their Sunday finest before departing out the front door every morning.  Yet, this child was raised at the circus, where bare feet and messy faces are the norm. To prove my point, I submit to you the following photos and ask you to tell me which was taken while camping. Exhibit A: Exhibit B: Exhibit C:   A good, messy time was had by all this weekend and I look forward to sharing some highlights with you this wee...

Van is fully packed… literally, I don’t think we could fit another thing in there. Careful opening the back door, the sleeping bags will fall when you life it up.  Kids buckled in.  Dog ready to drop off at my friend’s. Wait, forgot the tip of the fishing rod.  Back in the house. Scott’s needs a ball cap.   Back in the house.  After packing, repacking, rearranging the car seats, returning to the house, oh 3 or 4 dozen more times, we are set. All we gotta do is drop the dog off, grab some nuggets from the drive through at Chick-Fil-A and we’re off for our 3 hour journey to the camp site. The plan was to set up camp tonight, then spend some time at the camp site in the  morning, before making a short day trip excursion to Latrobe, PA.  As we set on our way, after a very long day of work for Scott, we did some mental math and realized we’d be arriving at the camp site around 11pm. The question then became, do we carry on, arrive at 11, ...

When the summer began I had big goals and plans for myself.  I signed up for the Annapolis 10 Mile Run again this year, this time running with several of my high school friends.  I had high hopes of running 3 or 4 times a week all summer.  I had already envisioned how great my new, sleek running body would look come the end of August.  I also enrolled in a Bible Study at a nearby church that was a hosting a Beth Moore study on the book of Esther.  I was so excited to get into the word on a daily basis.   Here it is August 14th and I have run literally a handful of times and I made it to about 3 of the Esther studies.  The study is now over and I sit with a 3/4 empty workbook.  The race is in 15 days and the longest I’ve run is 6 miles, and I even took a break to walk. One thing this summer has definitely lacked is discipline.  We’ve had some great fun going fishing, swimming, cook outs, trips downtown… and I’ve loved every minute of ...

Super Girl! ! Fighting for justice for little sisters everywhere!! Bad guys (and brothers) beware!!

The kids have been into “experimenting” these days.  We even have science journals with which to record our results.  (Yes, we can thank Sid the Science Kid for that brilliant idea). It started with freezing stuff. I overheard my son tell his sister with a hushed voice of excitement, “Sis, you watch…we’ll put this cup of water into the freezer and then later when we come back it will be ice.”  Ah, the thrill… From cups of water, they then moved to other random objects, slippers, plastic toys, juice boxes… Here they are “investigating” their frozen juice box.  Do you see those eager faces of anticipation as they removed it from the freezer?  Later I opened the freezer to find this. Seems the poor little people girl was frozen into a cup of ice.  They loved watching her melt out on the deck later that afternoon.  He also tried sticking ice cubes into a cup of water and then freezing it.  We liked how the ice looked differ...