Life At The Circus

I can’t explain it, but there is some innate, motherly, compulsion,need, desire to force my kids to pose nicely in their Easter clothes.  More often than not, this event results in a very patient dad who kindly obliges his wife and tortures his kids, 3 restless and bored children and ultimately a disappointed mom who is stuck with 30 pictures of her kids in their clothes, and yet not one where they are all smiling.  To top it off, we are then late for church… This year I decided to try something different. I asked Scott if he would mind setting aside some time earlier in the week so we could dress the kids in their outfits and take pictures at the park… I was hoping that by doing it earlier in the week we could remove some of the stress from Easter morning and also perhaps in a relaxed and fun setting, we just might capture a few good pictures in the process. I couldn’t be happier with the results.  We got a shot of all three of my children smiling!  Bu...

It’s been 2 years since I began writing “Life At The Circus.” 2 years and 654 posts 2 years, can you believe it?   I can’t. When I look back at my first posts, I laugh at how much my life has changed… and how much it hasn’t.  It’s the end of the month and I gotta tell you, my fridge looks pretty much exactly the same as it did here two years ago.  And sorry to say, my gardening habits haven’t improved much either.  My plants are better off taking a dive off the back deck then testing their luck with me as their care taker.  What has changed? Well, my kids have grown.  Goodness, sometimes you don’t realize it when you look at them day in and day out, but wow… have they grown over the past 2 years, or what?  This picture was taken 2 yrs ago this week…I think the girls demonstrate the most dramatic change of the 3.   And now we’re eagerly awaiting the arrival of the newest circus cast.  Folks, today m...

On Friday night we took advantage of the aquarium’s last discount priced Friday night of the season and enjoyed some family fun. We took 293 pictures during our 3 hours at the aquarium.  From those we narrowed down 42 keepers.  And from those, I have the difficult task of dwindling down some for the blog. The kids favorite part of the evening was the dolphin show. Scott and I were mesmerized by the new Jellyfish exhibit.  I easily could have spent more time watching them.  According to my son, there were 2 types of fish we saw that night. Keepers   and      Not Keepers Every time we saw a little fish he’d say, “That’s not a keeper!”  And anytime we saw a big fish, he’d get so excited and say, “There’s a keeper for sure!” Good thing there was a thick wall of glass between us and the python. Big brother provides a help up for a better view! I think the sharks were everyone’s second favorite ...

Ever since my son dawned his shin guards and cleats for the first time , his little sister has been eagerly awaiting her opportunity.  She’s watched longingly from the sidelines , eagerly taking the field during half time, yearning for her chance to tear up the field.  Last fall during his practices, she would call me coach and ask me to assign her drills.  I’d have her dribble the ball up and down the field, shooting under a bench as her imaginary goal.  Unlike her mother, athletics come natural to her, and she seems to have been born with an innate competitive spirit.  During her gymnastics class, she would race through the circuit, literally passing kids on the balance beam always assuming her job was to beat the person in front of her.  I had to explain to her about waiting and taking her turn.  I knew that she would tear it up on the soccer field when she had her chance.  She was destined for greatness.  Today at 12:30 was her firs...

There is a huge pile of bamboo in our backyard waiting for a run to the dump on Saturday.  Until then, it provided the perfect landscape for my son to build a fort and play war.  He stayed out there for hours and was so proud of his camouflage.  Unfortunatly, his gun kinda gives him away. When I showed this picture to my husband I said it should be called, “Be be vewy vewy qwiet , I’m Huntin’ Wabbits! But my son piped up, I was not hunting rabbits Mom, I was warring.  (who knew war could be a verb)? This just might be my fav of the afternoon spent in the bamboo pile.  Every soldier needs a good buddy. 

My daughter keeps asking me almost every day, “When are we going camping again?”  Our family loves to camp .  We enjoy it for many reasons… the dirt , the food, the family time away from home, and a cheap place to sleep while visiting our beloved National Parks … Scott and I have gone camping every year since we’ve been married, with the exception of one… the year 2004…when our first child was born.  We thought the idea of camping with a baby was insane.   Then in 2005 we went to Acadia, but were still nervous about the thought of tent camping with a toddler, so we got a cabin.  By 2006, when we welcomed baby number 2, we realized that we didn’t want to wait till all of our children were older to enjoy one of our favorite past times. So, off we went on a camping adventure with our 2 year old and 6 mth old. The next year we went with our 3yr old, 20 mth old, and 3 mth old.  We’ve discovered, camping can be done with small children and believe it or not, we actually enjoy it. Here’s a fe...

Ever tried to pack cupcakes in a lunch box?  It creates a gooey mess all over the sandwich baggie and takes all the fun out of eating it when your hands are covered in icing.  I saw this handy little trick in one of my student’s lunches back in my teaching days.  Take your plain cupcake. Slice it in half. Take a glob of icing.   Spread it in the middle of the cupcake.   Push it back together. And now you can stick it in the baggie without worrying about smearing icing all over the place. I typically set aside a few cupcakes each time I make them so my husband can enjoy one in his lunch.  Icing the middle of the cupcakes totally works for me when packing cupcakes in his lunch.