Life At The Circus

If summer could have a theme song, well then I think this would be  mine for the summer of 2010. Slow down, you move too fast. You got to make the morning last. Just kicking down the cobble stones. Looking for fun and feelin' groovy. Ba da, Ba da, Ba da, Ba da...Feelin' Groovy. Hello lamp-post, What cha knowin'? I've come to watch your flowers growin'. Ain't cha got no rhymes for me? Doot-in' doo-doo, Feelin' groovy. I've got no deeds to do, No promises to keep. I'm dappled and drowsy and ready to sleep. Let the morning time drop all its petals on me. Life, I love you, All is groovy. Last year was a busy one here at the circus… it was my first year as a home schooling mom and I was pregnant on top of that.   I struggled with how to balance it all… the house work, the school work, friends… and the place that gave was friends (not that the other 2 were handled per...

    Our third born has literally been on the fast track since birth.  I swear she was born holding her head up and eagerly chasing after her older 2 siblings, not wanting to be left out for even a second.  She was clearly not meant to be the “baby” of the family. Most of the time when my kids celebrate a birthday, I find myself reflecting on how quickly time passes and marveling at how could they be so old so fast.  Not so with her. Scott and I joke that maybe we got her birth date wrong b/c it just feels like she’s been three for months already.   Finally the big day arrived.  And what better way to celebrate then by having her friends and family join her at the park for a picnic and swimming on the hottest day of the year.   We had a heat index of 110!  But it didn’t spoil her fun in the least! Happy Birthday sweet girl!  Thank you for bringing so much joy and laughter into our lives.

Math has never been my strong suit (except in 3rd grade, I did awesome with the multiplication tables and was the class champ at around the world, but that was b/c all I had to do was memorize facts and not understand the process) Anyway, as I was saying… math has never been my gifting… and math at 3 am is certainly not my gifting.  So, I calculated the hours again. Could it really be true? 7 hrs Yup, I’ve done the math multiple times. I fed my little guy at 8:15pm and I went to bed at around 10pm.  He didn’t cry to be fed until a little after 3am.   8-12 is 4 hrs and 12-3 is 3 hrs…add them together and you get … 7 hrs Now I can’t yet bank on this happening every night, but I’ve got a feeling that things are going to get a bit easier around here.

While capturing this “precious” Father/Son moment the other day… my mind instantly flashed back to a similar “bonding” moment between father and son which I captured 6  years ago… Seems both my boys enjoy sticking their tongues out at dear old Dad!!

This picture cracks me up every time it pops onto our screen saver.  Not only do I look incredibly tired and less than thrilled to have my picture taken, but in the background you see Potty= Privacy.  What gives, you ask?  Why was this dry erase board in your living room for 3 weeks? Allow me to shed a little light to the back drop of this picture… Scott took a week off from work after our son was born.   After about 2 days at being home, he noticed I got a bit edgy during nursing time.  I found myself almost claustrophobic and just begging for space…meanwhile the kids saw nothing wrong with coming over and kissing their baby brother while I was feeding him . So, one afternoon he brought the dry eraser board up from the school room and sat the kids down.  The kids were quite curious and sat down in a row completely quiet waiting to see what he was up to.  He then made a rule list with 3 rules for the kids to follow to help Mommy and the n...

Dear Son, When you grow up and notice that every time you talk people kinda take a step back from you… its not your fault. You will have come by these socially awkward close talking tendencies quite naturally. Blame your older sisters for your lack of personal space.  Because they can’t seem to talk to you without their face literally centimeters from yours.  Waking or sleeping, car seat, or bassinet or bouncy seat or swing.  It doesn’t matter.  Your poor little eyes can barely focus as you see their face come into yours as they tell you hello and how much they love you. I try to protect you.  Honest I do.  “But Mom,”  they tell me, “we’re just saying Hi…”  They can’t help themselves. And I am afraid after years of experiencing life like this, you won’t know any better.  And you, dear son, will grow up to be a bit of a close talker.  I’m sorry, Mom

Divide and Conquer That would be the name of the game lately at the circus. I’ll take the youngest two to the grocery store while Scott takes the older ones with him to build the new to us play set.  Or Scott takes the big 3 to the year end baseball ceremony while I stay home with the babe. At this stage of the game, tag teaming has seemed crucial for surviving and for attempting to keep the household running somewhat smoothly.   Last week we seemed to take the whole divide and conquer strategy to a new level, though. Maggie, our patient and honestly quite often overlooked dog, was overdue for a vet appointment.  I don’t care how over due she was, I was not bringing her and the 4 kids to the vet by myself (remember last years visit with just 3 kids? ).  So, I scheduled an evening appt for her so Scott could take her.  Unfortunately the night that worked best also happened to be the night of a deacon meeting for Scott.  He didn’t have time to ...

This would be why more than one of my children thought chicken came from cows…   Cow Appreciation Day at Chick-Fil-A is a tradition here at the circus. We start them young with our indoctrination!

Because I am used to the chaotic and crazy lifestyle I live, I sometimes forget how it can look to the outsider.   It feels normal to me to walk down the street with a gaggle of kids surrounding me, fighting or singing or playing (or all of the above).  And when I combine my circus life with that of my close friend (whose blog could also easily be called Life At The Circus as she has 4 boys ages 5, 4, 3 and 3 months) well the chaos only multiplies.  We’re accustomed to it though and unless one of us takes a step back and observes, we often forget how crazy we look are.  I can recall a trip to Einstein Bagels a few years ago.  We sat at the table enjoying some adult conversation while the kids chewed on bagels.  Only when I got up to refill my drink and stepped away from our table, did I realize how incredibly loud our table was compared to the rest of the restaurant.  Embarrassed, I quickly went back to the table to quiet our troops.  La...

What were my kids doing on the quilt in that picture yesterday?   Were they tracking an escaped ant from their ant farm? Were they studying the quilt pattern in preparation for making one of their own?  Were they praying over their baby brother? Not quite Believe it or not, underneath that pile of circus cast members was our youngest child… You kinda get a little glimpse of him here… We were attempting some tummy time, but I don’t think the poor guy had any room to lift his little head with all the smothering encouragement from his older siblings.  So instead he laid his precious little head down on the quilt and fell asleep.   Sweet dreams little man

Anyone care to wager a guess as to what is going on in this picture?? Winner gets bragging rights