Life At The Circus

As I was looking over the pictures we took on Christmas Day in order to make my collage , I commented to Scott that it appears I wasn’t there for Christmas morning as I couldn’t find any shots with me in them.  Then I realized I was wrong as I spotted this picture. Whew…. good thing I was wrong… there is photographic evidence of my existence at Christmas 2009.  :-) The next day when the family gathered again for our more formal dinner, Scott rectified the situation by snapping this lovely picture of my backside. Hmmm…perhaps I was better off when there was no photographic evidence of my existence!

Who me?   Couldn’t be Then, who? Visit here or here for more fun with pictures.

One of my favorite things we did this Christmas was take the kids shopping for each other and for us.  It is heartwarming to see them get so excited about giving.  I also loved seeing what they picked out for others.  My son is an excellent gift giver.  He is very thoughtful and thinks very hard about finding a gift the person will truly like.  I just had to share the story Scott told me about taking him shopping for my gift.  It’s a memory I don’t want to forget.  Ah, the innocence of youth! ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ According to Scott, my son really wanted to get me mistletoe and flowers for Christmas.  This is truly sweet and actually quite perfect b/c I have always wanted to have some mistletoe to hang in the house.. guess you can call me a hopeless romantic.  When they were shopping for mistletoe they had a very hard time finding it.  My son was convinced it had red berries and Scott was fairly...

We have had a wonderful couple of days here at the circus celebrating Jesus’ birthday.  We decided to spread the celebrating out over several days rather than cram it all into one day.  On Christmas Eve we went to the Children’s service at our church at 4:30.  Then we went to Boston Market for our now traditional Christmas Eve dinner before heading back to church for the candlelight service at 6:30.  We then went home to change into our Christmas pj’s, read Luke 2, put up our advent calendar piece, and leave cookies and milk for Santa.  Christmas morning we had both sets of grandparents here, Great Grandpa, Aunt Karen and baby Eli.  The kids were up a little after 7 and the revelry began shortly after.  We took our time opening presents and enjoying our time together.  We then had a pot luck brunch followed by more playtime.  On the 26th the gang all came back for a more formal Christmas dinner followed by birthday cake and ice cream for ...

Only 2 days till Christmas and my to do list today looks like this. Clean bathroom- scrub toilet, scrub sink, scrub tub and tile (I write each individually so I can feel more satisfaction when I am done by crossing off 4 things instead of one) Clean guestroom-  My parents always say, don’t worry or stress about cleaning up for them.  And I appreciate the fact that I can keep things real and not stress out, but… I think I need to clear off a place for them to sleep, don’t you? Take kids to see Santa (not usually on my to do list as they see him at Scott’s Family work party but this year when they snapped the pic at the party my son wasn’t ready and after we got home he came out that night in tears asking if we could go again b/c he wasn’t ready for the picture) I of course told him I’d take him to the mall before Christmas so he could see Santa again… and here we are on the 23rd and I still need to make good on that promise. Finish shopping for extended family ...

Megan is hosting her annual Sharing Christmas carnival where bloggers can invite their readers into their homes for a sort of Christmas Open House.   I tend to use the same decorations each year in pretty much the same locations and since I posted on those here last year, I am not going to redo the same post.   Instead I thought I would post on how things are different this year at the circus. This year we did not get lights hung on the house.  We had very good intentions.  We were going to hang them up the Sunday after Thanksgiving.  And then we were going to cut our tree down on Monday afternoon.  Scott even took a vacation day from work.  But, I checked the weather report on Sunday and it was calling for rain on Monday.  And I decided if we only had one sunny day to work with, the tree was more important than the lights.  Scott attempted to go quickly up on the roof before we headed to the tree farm but the lights weren’t co...

Nothing like a good 18+ inches of snow to provide for some family fun and a few photo opps as well.   The kids had even more fun on day two than they did on day one.  I think it was warmer out, which helped the girls significantly.  And even after my 3 year old turned on the outside spicket and sprayed herself with water (oh, yes, she did) she still stayed and played till the bitter end.  I am now convinced those snow pants are a valuable commodity for snow play. The neighbor kids were out as well and in addition to shoveling out the driveway and cars, they also made sledding ramps and igloos.  We attempted a snowman, but the snow really wasn’t packing snow, so it wasn’t quite as glamorous as we had hoped for.   Still a good time was had by all.  I know I posted this picture yesterday, but Scott pointed out that it would look better cropped… man, was he right… this one is def one that I will printing off and hanging on the wall. She did ...

Let it Snow, Let it Snow, Let it Snow!!! Growing up and living in the midAtlantic region means that snow is something we are familiar with, but we don’t encounter on a regular basis.  It’s not like we’re living in Houston and a dusting of snow occurs once a decade.  But, it also isn’t unreasonable that I don’t go out and purchase snow suits for my kids every winter either.  We can typically anticipate seeing snowfall at least once a year.  It may be an inch or a dusting, but at least the kids all know what the white stuff is.  More often than not we get ice.  Growing up Scott and I can recall watching the news and listening to forecasts hoping and praying for a snow storm, while most of the time the storm would seem to hit all around our surrounding area and leave us with rain. But, every now and then, when everything lines up perfectly, we’ll get dumped with a good snow storm.  Last time it happened was in Feb of 2003.  Scott and I were f...

As many of you with more than one child know, it’s often hard to find one on one time with your children.  I’ve found you really have to be intentional, in order for it to happen.  I’ve also found that it doesn’t always have to be a big elaborate event.  Often it is just taking advantage of the few minutes of snuggle time when one child wakes up first in the morning, or after nap time.  Perhaps it’s taking one kid to the store to pick up a few things.  Sometimes it’s so easy to try and get a few things done while the other two are occupied, but really that one on one time is so valuable, so precious, and so hard to come by. Every now and then I like to do something more elaborate than shopping or baking.  I like to plan a special occasion for just one child and me.  I don’t have a set schedule or rotation.  There is no system in place.  But I try to keep my eyes and ears open for opportunities when they present themselves. Last week an o...

What a full and festive weekend we had here at the circus!  Friday night Scott and I got all dressed up for a fun and fancy Christmas party!  We got to enjoy tasty appetizers, holiday drinks, and the opportunity to sit and chat with old friends.  A super way to start the weekend.  (Though the baby did not like the cheese dip I ate too much of and I paid for that with an upset stomach later that night).  Saturday we went to my in-laws to watch the Army/Navy game.  My FIL is a Naval Academy grad and my brother in law is serving in the Army in Iraq.   We route for Navy out of our devotion to Pop, but totally understand why baby Eli cheers for Army to support his Daddy.   Then Pop, Aunt Karen, and baby Eli joined us in downtown Annapolis to watch the boat light parade and fireworks display.  A good time was had by all, though my youngest does not like the fireworks.  The noise scares her and she has found the best way to deal wi...

I am reposting this post from last year because, it’s still what it’s all about and I love reminding myself of that as often as possible.  That’s What It’s All About… December 20, 2008 in Weekend Thoughts As we were getting ready to go to the tree lighting ceremony downtown my son asked, “Mom, can I tell Santa that he is not what Christmas is all about?” I love that as we anticipate Christmas, my kids know that we are preparing to celebrate Jesus’ birth.  Yes, they know we are going to have presents under the tree, and they even sat on Santa’s lap at Scott’s work party, but when I asked my son what he likes best about Christmas, he answered, “celebrating Jesus’ birthday.”  This warms my heart, because the lights, the tree, the songs, the cookies, the presents, the pageants…all of them are meaningless traditions without Christ.    But it’s about much more than just the Christ child being born in the stable.  Because without the cross that to...

That’s right folks… a little tiny baby bump is making his or her appearance into the world.  I alluded to the fact earlier when I mentioned I was now in maternity clothes.  And I figured, why not share this bump with the rest of you?  Because for some unexplainable reason we seem to enjoy looking at others increasing waistbands and what other time in my life would I willingly post a picture of my belly for the world to see? That answer, would be, ummm, never.  So, enjoy…here I am at week 15.    And here’s the baby bump when looking at it from my perspective…complete with dog hairs on my black sweater. Yesterday, I took my oldest daughter on a mommy date.  It was delightful and I am sure I will post on that special time really soon.  But, the day began with a trip to the “baby doctor” in which she got to sit up on the table with mommy and hold the microphone over my belly to hear the heart beat of our little baby.  It was a p...

As I snapped pictures of my happy crew busy at work decorating our tree this year, I kept getting the feeling that I had snapped similar pictures not too long ago. My son still loves to help Daddy put the lights on the tree, much like he did when he was a mere toddler. And this photo of my youngest admiring the beauty of the lights reminded me of one I captured of her big sister just two Decembers ago. Isn’t it funny that my middle child hung candy canes with great intensity at the exact same spot of the tree as she did last year? I just love how some things stay the same year after year.  And I look forward to having one more memory maker in our circus crew next Christmas!

This year, I was looking for something simple and inexpensive that the kids could work together with me to make for their teachers.   Too much to ask?  I hoped not, but nothing was coming to me.  And then I remembered this brittle that someone had brought to MOPS a few years ago.  It uses saltine crackers.  And you can pick up a box of Saltines at Aldi’s for 89 cents… which is perfect since I have to make gifts for SS and Bible Study teachers (times 3) plus neighbors and the tutorial teacher and “don’t forget my gymnastic teacher Mom!” This recipe is delicious, kid friendly, and cheap inexpensive! First, line a cookie sheet or jelly roll pan with aluminum foil. Then, have the kids lay the saltines out on the sheet. Melt one cup of butter, 1 cup of brown sugar and 1 tsp of vanilla on the stove and let it boil for 5 min.  Next, you pour this mixture over top of the crackers. Make sure you smooth it out so it covers all of the crackers. ...