Life At The Circus

My kids love to draw and color and cut and create.  And they are always, always, always asking me for paper.  When my 4 year old doodled all over my check book, I knew I had to come up with something better.  One day I stared at our empty popcorn tin and an idea hit me.  For some reason the tin seemed perfect for storing crayons.  Wouldn’t it be great, I thought, if we could have a roll of paper on our table like at Macaroni Grill?  When I mentioned it to Scott, he was instantly on board.  So, when my grandparents sent us money for Christmas, I knew at once what I wanted to buy the family.  (remember that hilarious Amazon description I posted back in December?) This paper has worked out so so so wonderfully for the circus fam! I love it.  We don’t use it every day… I think the novelty of it is what helps it work.  But, it is perfect to pull out on those days when we’ve just kinda reached that point where we’re all going a little...

I’ve had a few shows over the past 10 years, that I’ve really loved.  You know the ones where you connect personally with the characters in a manner some might find unhealthy?   But, if I had to pick one, as my favorite ( I’d probably kick and scream begging you to not make me limit it to just one )  But, if I had to pick one, than I’d probably say it was Alias.   I remember when Scott and I first started watching, the show was already a few seasons in (which is the best way to start watching a show b/c we watched the first 2 seasons on DVD).    I don’t even want to tell you how quickly we blew through those 21 episodes, staying up way later than we should for just one more .  I loved it.  Alias nights quickly became one of my favorite nights of the week, as we’d sit curled up on the catching watching Jennifer Gardner get the bad guys.  And here’s where I offer you my secret confession.  In my head, when I watched her st...

For all those wondering if there is truly hope for the hopeless… those who’ve made their resolutions and long since broken them… for those that thought, perhaps your just destined for failure…. to those… I offer this little glimmer of hope…. Our last visit to the library— if that trip didn’t redeem us, I don’t know what will! Those who have been long time readers here at the circus… might recall I have a bit of a bad history with the library…  first, we have the whole circus family wing of the library thanks to the $18 fine visit and the $42 fine visit .  Then we have the patronizing librarian who made me feel insecure in my mothering skills… I’ll be honest, for awhile I just avoided the library at all costs.  But, they keep luring in me in with the promise, the hope of free books.  (and really great story times for the younglings).  And now that my oldest is reading a chapter book a night, I had no choice but to buck down and get a system in check fo...

Truthfully, the circus family doesn’t spend much time on bikes.  We do a lot of fun things here, don’t get me wrong, but there are only so many hours in a day, and teaching our kids to ride bikes has not been where we’ve spent ours. But, today the sun was shining, the weather was unseasonably warm here in MD again , and as the kids played in the backyard while Scott did yard work, our oldest daughter decided that today she wanted to ride her bike without training wheels.  And I just had a feeling that she was going to do it.  You know, how sometimes you just know?  They set off around 4:15pm.  At 4:20, Scott sent me this text. “Great strategy.  Let’s not ride for 6 mths then go for it.” I began to doubt that feeling I had earlier,  But… at 4:39pm he texted me a picture of her riding off into the distance. That’s right!!  She did it!!!  My girl’s on two wheels!!! My Happy 2 Wheeler!

Nothing like a surprise package of clothes in the mail to bring smiles to the girls faces and provide an impromptu photo opp.  ( the boys appreciated it too, but not to the same extent ) Thanks cousins Ben and Eli!

I think 4 is a great age for a lot of reasons… one of which is the funny little things 4 year olds say… Today we were walking to the van and she was carrying her coat, Kit, and her baby.  I said, “If you wear your coat you’ll have more hands.”  to which she said, “No, Mom, I’ll still only have 2 hands.”  Last week before she went into her gymnastics class I told her to work hard and have fun.  “Oh Mom, that won’t be a problem at all… when I’m doing my back hip circle and I swing back from the bar and flip around, it’s just like I am flying through the air.”  The look of pure joy on her face as she described flying through the air is one I want to remember forever.  A few weeks ago I served split pea soup for dinner.  While my husband and sons both enjoyed it, my girls did not.  AT ALL.   I suppose somewhere during the dinner I said something about how I worked hard to make that meal for them and I didn’t appreciate their disguste...

This afternoon my smiley, mild mannered, easy going baby suddenly channeled his inner Dennis the Menace and went all toddler boy on me for 30 minutes.  First I looked over and found him standing on his tool bench (oops look who forgot to put away the advent calendar with her Christmas decorations) I got him down and shortly after realized things had been mighty quiet for awhile and went searching for him.  Found him in the master bathroom STANDING on the toilet.  After shutting all the doors in the hallway we headed back out to the kitchen/living room.  He attempted to get water from the fridge dispenser but thankfully it was locked.   So, instead he opted for emptying my clean dishes from the dish washer into the dog bowl.  I didn’t get them out right away b/c I figured the harm had already been done, and I would go ahead and finish emptying the dishwasher before he got into more mischief.  But, that plan was thwarted when he the...

Every now and then , when I peek in on my oldest daughter before going to sleep, I’ll see something which instantly takes me back to her infancy. And even though she’ll be 6 in a few short weeks, I see her as this sweet little 8 month old in her crib, sleeping folded in half.  I’ll remember how she used to sleep like this every.single night… and suddenly all these pictures of her sleeping like this pass through my mind like a slide show.  Pack-n-play, hospital hooked up to IVs, crib, toddler bed, bottom bunk, top bunk… she’s done it ever where.  It’s her classic sleeping position.  And it makes me smile every.single.time.  Sweet dreams my little girl!

We had some trees and branches cut down in our yard yesterday.  Thus far I think it was worth every penny as I love the new look of our yard, the feeling of safety knowing those dead branches aren’t going to come down in the next storm, AND the free babysitting it provided yesterday afternoon. The tree in front of our living room window provided the most excitement.  Even my 18 mth old was so intrigued, he kept looking out the window and then he’d yell, “Hey Mama”  and a whole bunch of gibberish followed by “Hey Mama”…  I swear with that gibberish, he was telling me “there’s a man flying outside our window!” I didn’t get quite as much done as I would have liked b/c the kids kept calling me into the room, “Mom… quick, you gotta see this, Mom look, take a picture for Dad.” After cutting off all the branches, he then cut the trunk into four chunks and pushed them over.   The kids were concerned that Dad would be upset about the holes they left in ...

We were delightfully surprised with some big puffy flakes of snow on Monday afternoon which accumulated to a whopping 1/2 inch of fun for the big 3.  This was the first  “real snow” we’ve had here all winter.  The pure, unadulterated glee which this brought to my children caused me to pause and give thanks that we live in MD. Because it doesn’t snow here all the time (a fact that I am truly, truly grateful for) when it does it is cause for excitement and celebration.  Snow fall is like an unplanned holiday.  In fact most schools and businesses will close in its honor.  I love this.  Because who doesn’t need a break from the ordinary now and then?    I would hate to live up north where it snowed all the time and snowfall is no big deal.  (I’d also truthfully hate to live where it was cold enough to snow all the time… I prefer snow as a break from the ordinary… a rare treat to be enjoyed as I look out my window).  ...

Today had all the ingredients to be a very classic Monday… one of those days…  we got home at 1:30 AM after a 5 hr drive after losing in the first round of the playoffs after 1 play in overtime…seriously, who would want to wake up and start the week after a night like that?  But, it was actually a WONDERFUL Monday… a truly great start to my first real week back in reality since Christmas break.  (last week we started back to home school but we didn’t meet at the tutorial… so we had no forced early wake ups… and we only had gymnastics one evening last week)  This week we’re back to the tutorial, back to gymnastics, cub scouts, business trips, dr appointments, MOPS meeting… and I was already dreading the realness of it last week.  But it was actually a WONDERFUL MONDAY.  Thanks to…. 1.  Scott-  not only did Scott offer and willingly stay late at my parents last night so we could watch the game with them… he drove the whole way home AND THEN...

When talking to my oldest daughter about things to look forward to in 2012, I mentioned to her that the Summer Olympics were going to happen in 2012. “Oh,” she exclaimed, “I’ll be 6, can I be in the Olympics?” I told her that when she was 6 she can try out for the gymnastics team at her gym, but she has to be 16 to try out for the Olympics. “Well,” she said, “I’ll have the 6, I just need the teen!” I opted to leave it at that and omitted details about the selection committee, the Károlyi’s and the slew of other things that would stand in the way of her and London this summer.  No need to dash a young girls dreams! Even though she isn’t on the Olympic team… or any team for that matter, I am super proud of the skills she’s accomplished this past year.   A year ago she couldn’t yet do a pullover… now she can do a pullover, cast, back hip circle and is working on her dismount.   A year ago I couldn’t have told you what any of those things meant… I guess we...

Since we were blessed with yet another mild December day on the 31st, we decided to take advantage of the time off, unseasonably warm weather, and the last day of our pass for a family fun afternoon at the zoo.    Make a mental note… for a really good visit to the zoo, try going on a mild day in the off season, shortly before closing time… hardly any people were there and the animals were quite active.   Scott snapped some great shots of the animals up close and personal. The lion came right up to the window and then almost seemed to look right past us as if we weren’t there.  It was incredible! Hungry? We also took advantage of the petting zoo.  Those goats were adorable!  I had so much fun watching my youngest pal around with them.  Then he decided it was time for them to go back to their pen and he began herding them… pushing them into their pen one at a time… We were so lucky they didn’t decide to unload on him!! ...

We rung out 2011 with a date day in DC for Scott and I on the 30th and then a good ol’ family fun day on the 31st. (more pics and details on those to come in a later blog post). As we spent time reflecting on 2011, Scott and I both found ourselves commenting on how grateful we are for our life.   We don’t deserve this life of comfort and good fortune.  And we def aren’t doing everything right with what we have.  But, one thing I know for sure, we are so, very very thankful for this life we have… with each other and our children.  And so as we enter a new year, brimming with possibilities, goals, hopes and plans… I must first pause… and give thanks for the memories and moments of 2011.  In 2011, we…. lost our first tooth:        March 26th                              ...