Life At The Circus

What do you get when you combine 1 founding father 2 princesses and one super hero? Enough candy to last you till Easter! One last question:  How many licks does it take to get to the center of Tootsie Pop?

When you get married, you marry more than just your spouse, you marry the whole family.  And in the case of Scott’s grandpa, I sure lucked out.  I think I was smitten with him the first time I met him at our high school graduation.  I told Scott, “You have a Werther’s Original” grandpa.  I loved that he had a elbow patched sweater.  He just seemed like the classic picture of a grandpa.  Probably because he is the classic picture of a gentleman. When we were engaged and heading back to college, he told Scott he was sure we’d be using the “armstrong heater” on our way back.  When I asked him what that was he demonstrated by putting his arm around me.  On our wedding day he greeted us after the ceremony with a hug and then he said, “In case you want to know, I looked at my watch when the preacher pronounced you man and wife… you were official at 4:15.”   I would have never thought to seek out that information and yet I’ve truly appre...

My oldest son seems to jump from obsession to another… You can almost mark each year of his life with a theme…when he was 4 it was Spiderman… he was Spiderman for Halloween had a Spiderman birthday party when he turned 5 and everything we played/talked about… was Spiderman…. until the next year when he was Bumblebee for Halloween had a Transformers birthday party that spring… then came Star Wars and hat was an EPIC obsession… I swear for a good solid year all and I mean ALL we talked about was Star Wars… I learned so much about the characters and movie plots during that year.  Literally every question and almost everything out of his mouth during our Florida vacation was Star Wars related.  I kinda thought we’d never leave that Star Wars obsession, what with the Clone Wars on the Cartoon Network, Lego Star Wars on the Wii…and the many life long Star Wars geeks fans I’ve seen out and around. While he still does really enjoy Star Wars,  his obsession for year 7 of his ...

As my 4 yr old sat coloring in the waiting room this afternoon the mom beside me commented on her neat job of staying in the lines.  Then we both did a double take and looked over at each other.  Don’t mind the fact that the dress is green and should “really” be yellow… I love the fact that my girl goes against the flow and colors it how she wants… sure give Belle purple hair and a green dress.  Why not? But, what is up with that neck line?  Seems a bit low cut don’t ya think?  I am hoping that somehow the coloring book missed a line or something.  But it sure looks to me like she was coloring it in correctly… Never expected that from Belle… Ariel maybe, but Belle… with her nose stuck in a book… ya gotta watch those good girls I suppose!

On the wall in my bedroom, tucked away in the corner on my side of the bed is a shadow box in which I pressed some dried flowers from my wedding bouquet.   I’ll confess I don’t look at it often, but when I do I smile and remember that special day. My children, however, don’t share my sentimentality. The other day my 5 yr old and I were sitting on my bed and she said, “Mom, why do you have those old dead flowers hanging on your wall?”  I told her that Daddy had given me those flowers on our wedding day.   I of course thought this obviously answered her question.   But she looked up at me like I was crazy and said very matter of factly, “But now they’re dead.”    (as in so why do you have them hanging there now Mom?) It was then obvious to me that she thought her mom was crazy for hanging dead flowers on her wall.  I then remembered the conversation I had with her brother a few years ago when he asked me why I had poop hanging o...

The other day I was driving my oldest two children home when they suggested I text their Nana to see if the younger two were asleep so we’d know if we needed to enter in the backdoor. I told them I couldn’t text while driving, but maybe if I got a red light I could send her a quick txt.  (I know, I know….) Well the light was green and as we got rather close to our street my 5 yr old daughter says, “Mom, you gotta send the text!”  “I can’t,” I replied, the light was green.  “Well Mom, I’ll watch the road for you and tell you if your going to hit something.” “Thanks, but it doesn’t work like that, I need to be watching the road myself.” “Why Mom?  Don’t you know this road pretty well, you drive on it all the time?” I then went on to tell her while I know the road, I don’t know what the other cars are going to do on the road.   And even though she promised to keep an eye for me, I think it would be better for me to watch. Can you just imagine?...

September 27th—He’s officially walking.. No longer just two or three steps then fall down, but plodding on his own across a room before he stumbles. October 7th- 10 days later -   Watch out world! This boy is ready to play.

Scott and I got away last week, just the 2 of us, for 3 nights in the Windy City.  It was a belated 10 year anniversary gift to ourselves. And it was WON-DER-FUL!! The city of Chicago is beautiful.  The buildings are unique and interesting… truly works of art in and of themselves.  We had so much fun walking around the city and taking in its beauty.  The weather was overcast and it rained off and on while we were there.  But, thankfully, we were able to enjoy a gorgeous evening observing the skyline at the Navy Pier our first night.  We had a great time at the Art Institute of Chicago.   One of my favorite dates with Scott is going to the art museum.  We have fun looking at different paintings… picking our favorite in each room, or picking the one we’d hang in our house if we had our choice.   It might surprise you to know that Scott’s favorite is always modern art.  Before we were married, I’d never have pegged him a...

I learned this weekend that a friend and former MOPS mentor mom of mine passed away suddenly in her sleep.  The suddenness and surprise of her passing took me quite off guard.  My heart has been so heavy since I heard the news.  Aside from my grandparents who both suffered long illnesses before their death,  this is really the first person close to me that I’ve known whose died.  She wasn’t just a person that I recognized or said Hi to on Sunday morning.   She was a friend.  This women hosted our steering meetings month after month in her home.  She even hosted our entire steering retreat in her home (when she was out of town).  She always said, “this is God’s house, use it, please use it!”   Honestly, that was how she lived her life.  She was a true servant.  For as long as I knew her she was always actively and joyfully serving and leading in our church.  She loved her husband and was a true example to us a...