Life At The Circus

People often ask me what the girls do while I am doing homeschooling with my oldest child. On Tuesday the answer was “take all the cushions off the couch and every single blanket and pillow they owned and build a fort”   If I am distracted enough they even smoke a stogie or two in their fort.  (just kidding those would be pretzel rods…I promise, but doesn’t this bottom picture look sketchy?)     If only, tearing down forts and putting them away was as much fun as building them….

In the interest of keeping it real, and hopefully finding out I am not alone… thought I’d share a few “Not Me Monday” moments on this Tuesday afternoon…. * It was not me that showed up with the girls at gymnastics last Wednesday with their feet and legs covered in mud from our morning play date at the park.  And as I wiped their legs down with wet paper towels it wasn’t me who was saying out loud so the other moms could over hear how “I gave them baths that morning but then took them to the park to play”  Silly me should have known they’d find a pond and sea weed and a muddy field…. *It also wasn’t me that let my girls pick out their outfits for the week.  I wasn’t so relieved that for once they chose matching outfits that I didn’t care that their choices weren’t necessary appropriate for the days activities… hence showing up for church in jeans and a tinker bell shirt on Sunday and then showing up for her brothers baseball game on Tuesday dressed in her Sunday b...

The past week has been spring break at the circus and while it is technically true, we did break from our studies, other than that, it was a jam packed, super busy week. It is now Monday… school resumes tomorrow, and today I am trying to catch up on laundry and dishes and cleaning… right now, we’re back from gymnastics and the kids are down for quiet time.  I am thankful for an iced coffee and the fact that it is warm enough for a skirt and flip flops…oh how I love warm sunny days!! Since I failed to post anything all week, thought I’d try a Project Life post and do my best to sum up our week in one post using pictures and memories… Tuesday- my son got  to play catcher in his game… he was so excited! Wednesday- We had cupcakes at the park with our friends to celebrate  April birthdays (only 7 days apart from each other)  Like how my son looks like Tarzan king of the playground?  Thursday- a Cub Scout tour of the Maryland Public Television station ...

Before having kids I watched/read excerpts from Shepherding a Child’s Heart by   Ted Tripp.    The premise that you need to do more than just manage behavior, but get to the heart of what is causing our child’s behavior, made a lot of sense to both Scott and I.  And through the years I think we have tried to apply this approach to our parenting.  But, there is something very different about reading a book before having kids and reading one with both feet in the trenches.  And I think having a 7, 5, 3 and 10 mth old qualifies us as fully entrenched .  This quarter I have been attending a Sunday School class on parenting. Every single week I walk out of there inspired and encouraged and remarking, “What an excellent class!” We are watching the videos from Paul Tripp’s conference “Getting to the Heart of Parenting.”   I guess the Tripp family has the market on parenting from the heart, as these two brothers have written some great stuff! I hav...

  I think there is something about the age of 3 that makes kids say some of the cutest things.  Lately, our 3 year old has been cracking me up and I have to write them down lest I forget… ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Last week Scott was playing catch with our oldest son.  She of course wanted a turn as well.  Scott said sure and then she said, “Dad, can I get closer to you when I throw the ball, since I am a girl?” (Scott told her she could get closer, but not b/c she was a girl, but b/c she was younger). ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ I went to a baby shower for a friend of mine.  She is pregnant for her 3rd child, but it is her first girl.  My son asked why she was having a baby shower since she had already had babies.  I told him that it was b/c this baby was a girl.  “Oh, he said, so when you had ******** did you have a baby shower too?”  I told him I did after she was born, w...

One of my very first blog posts ever was on my children’s love of kidney beans.    It is now 3 years later and my girls have moved on to baked beans.  Seriously, the love my daughter has for baked beans can NOT be overstated.  Last week I figured it was time to try the kidney beans out on number 4.  (let the playgroup  mocking begin). What do you mean I shouldn’t eat too many at once?  and the verdict is? Looks like we have another bean lover here at the circus.  Though truth be told, I have YET to find a food this guy doesn’t like to eat.  He will gladly eat anything I put in front of him.

There is a whole lot of hype round these parts about the Orioles… with a 4-1 record to start the season, some new acquisitions over the off season and a new manager last season, for the first time in a LONG time, things are looking up for the Baltimore Orioles.  And I feel the need to 1. explain the weird circus family sports allegiance when it comes to Baltimore and Pittsburgh and 2.  let the record show that my son is not jumping on the bandwagon. 1.  How is it that we are nuts about the Steelers and then route for the Orioles?   My family came from Pittsburgh and we lived in MD for 13 years before my parents moved back to PA.  My dad is a huge sports fan and one way we bonded through the years was by watching sports together.  He raised me a Steelers fan true and true.  My dad is also a Pirates fan but while living in MD he did take me to several O games.  I recall watching Cal Ripken and Rafael Palmeiro at Camden Yards.  I even r...

Anyone who knows me, knows that I love Chick-Fil-A.  So, when I found out that they were opening a new one in Pasadena AND they had a “Raving-Fan” contest on face book in which the winner would win a year of free Chick-Fil-A, I had to enter. The contest:  submit a photo of your favorite memory at Chick-Fil-A and explain it in 100 words or less. My favorite memory at Chick-fil-A??  How ever will I choose?   The time I requested Chick-Fil-A after giving birth to my daughter and my brother did a CFA run for me to deliver it to me at the hospital.     Or her birthday party four years later? How about our anniversary dinner while in labor with baby number 4?      (as in, for real laboring - went to the hospital right from there) Or when given the choices of any restaurant at Disney World, the circus family happily chooses Chick-Fil-A for the last 2 meals of their vacation? Or any number of times that I dres...