Life At The Circus

Countless “winter” afternoons were spent sporting flip flops, eating picnic lunches outside, soaking in the warmth of the sun’s rays.   And I loved every minute of it, while also inwardly fearing a return of cold weather.  I so hate that time of year when you have to keep both warm and cold weather clothes in your drawers because you never know what the weather will do.  I love it when you can confidently box up last seasons clothes and fully embrace the new season.  Which is why, I found it somewhat frustrating, and quite a bit comical that on the second Saturday of SPRING… the day of the annual community Easter Egg Hunt… the kids were bundled up in coats, with red noses and cold hands as they gathered their eggs.  But, the cold wind blowing didn’t dampen the fun too much.  When we got to the van, she had to run back into the house for her Daisy Hop because “Mom, I promised Daisy Hop I’d bring her to the Easter Egg Hunt!” This was his first ...

Christmas is my favorite time of year.  I love the music, the food, the decorations, the smells, the lights… I love it all.  But without a doubt, my favorite part is that it is truly a month long celebration of our Lord’s birth.  And I love that as I am grocery shopping or at the mall, or in the inner harbor of Baltimore, I can hear music which praises His name.  But, as wonderful as Christmas is, and as very near to my heart it is, it means nothing, NOTHING without Easter.  For Easter is when we remember Christ’s sacrifice on the cross for our sins, and His conquering of death and sin when he rose from the dead on Easter morning.   Easter is where it’s at, folks.  And yet, I don’t know why.  It seems Easter gets much less celebration.  Last year a friend sent me this link with some great ideas of activities to do with your kids Easter week.  I was super excited and bookmarked the site.  Next thing I know it was Easter S...

She pretty much whips me at this every Monday and Wednesday… and I wouldn’t trade the sweet memories we’re making for anything in the world.

I really wanted to take the kids in to DC this spring to see the Cherry Blossoms.  It’s not something we do every year, in fact, I think I’ve been only a handful of times in the 27 years I’ve lived in Maryland.   But, this year, I thought it’d be fun to go and was thinking we might even have a free weekend during their peak blooms.  But, thanks to the warm winter we had, they peaked early and there was NO chance of going during their peak week as it just didn’t fit with our schedules.  We hoped to try this weekend, but the cold and rain didn’t make it seem worthwhile. So, today Scott called me at 11:30 and said, “What are we doing tonight?  Wanna go to DC?”   I had an hour and a half to pack up some dinner, gather stuff together, (shower) and pick him up at work and the oldest 2 from tutorial.  I was so excited, b/c I had given up on seeing the blossoms this year and while we knew it wouldn’t be peak, we figured we could hopefully still s...

Despite wet ground and a rainy forecast all systems were go for the Cub Scout rocket launch this morning.  And, I gotta come clean on this one… it was WAY cooler than I thought it would be.  They built the rockets at home and then went to the field to stuff them and other technical stuff which I didn’t really follow all to closely. Then they set the rockets up on their “launch pads” And the count down began… 3-2-1… Blast Off!! He was able to launch his rocket 3 times.  Unfortunately, the last time it was lost in space…. such a fun way to spend our Saturday morning.  Thanks again Cub Scouts for providing us with a educational and fun family experience.

Since it was the first day of spring this week, I decided it might be time to take down the Valentine’s wreath from my door and switch it for my Easter one.  Today I thought I’d take it a step further and even pull out my spring/Easter/”leave up till I pull out the red/white/blue decorations for summer around Memorial day” decorations…as I did the girls were ooing and aahing over the little eggs, flowers, chicks and lambs…Then my 6 year old daughter saw the bunny my mother in law had given me a few years ago and said, “Awh look at the bunny and it’s even holding a football.” Yes, that’s right… a football, not an Easter egg was the first thing to come to her mind when she saw this bunny.  Because at our house, football knows no season…it’s a year round obsession and truly, nothing says Easter like a bunny holding a football.

Our tutorial had its Science/History night on Monday.  As with any special event, it’s taken a few days to come up for air following all the pre event preparations….  As I watched tired mother’s dragging ginormous projects into the gym on Monday morning, I realized this is one of the major reasons we’re at our tutorial.   Science/History night gives them an opportunity to get up in front of a group of people and perform something.  It gives them an opportunity to work on a project, complete it by a set deadline and display it for others.  It’s helpful for me too because often I have good intentions of doing fun hands on projects with them, but then Friday rolls around and even though we tend to have less work to accomplish that day, I don’t often utilize it for extra hands on projects.   And these projects give me a great opportunity to watch their creativity and work habits come out.  I won’t lie it was a HUGE exercise in patience on m...

While he wore the jersey for 14 years, she proudly wore hers for 3.  (more than half of her life).  It was her first jersey and I always thought it suited her personality well.    As we listened live to Hines bid his tearful goodbye to football this afternoon, we were sad to see him go but as my 7 year old pointed out, “thankful he’s not going to play for the Ravens.”  We’re going to miss seeing his smiling face on the practice fields at training camp this summer.  As he retires, his jersey, it seems time to retire hers as well.  As she pointed out after the announcement, “I’m going to need a new shirt so I have a new guy to cheer for and it has to be a Steelers guy because I won’t cheer for a Raven.”     From our part of Steelers nation where we proudly wear our black and gold in a land of purple, thank you, Hines Ward.  Thank you for all you brought to the game.  Thank you for your leadership both on and off the fiel...

When you start the day with a bowl of our traditional St Patty’s day breakfast of Lucky Charms, you know it’s going to be a good day. And today was just that. I was so excited to have St Patrick’s Day fall on a Saturday this year.  After our magically delicious breakfast, Scott took the big 3 to my son’s baseball practice.  I stayed home to make our lunch (shamrock shaped soft pretzels) while our youngest took a morning cat nap.  Then, Scott texted me this picture. Can you believe it?  I’ve never found a four leaf clover and Scott helped the girls find one on St Patrick’s Day no less!! Luck of the Irish, perhaps? When they got home from practice, lunch was ready.  And, I gotta tell you, I was pretty excited with how it turned out.  I’ve tried my hand at shamrock shaped soft pretzels more than once.  I’ve used pillsbury bread sticks, I’ve used the Auntie Anne home kit… and to be honest I can sometimes get one to kinda sort resemble a shamro...

I had high hopes for Feb with plans in the works for Mardi Gras and Leap Year celebrations, but the stomach bug and a business trip and well the busyness of life, put those on the back burner… perhaps another next time… March is full of celebrations of its own, so no time to mourn the missed holidays of February… We started off with Dr Seuss’ Birthday on March 2.  We had green eggs and ham bacon for dinner, and Cat in the Hat treats for dessert.  Simple and fun, perfect for a Friday after a long week.  Always trying to follow in the steps of his siblings… March 14th was Pi Day (3/14)        We celebrated with taco pie for dinner and toll house pie for dessert.       I can’t wait for St Patrick’s Day tomorrow.  I am so excited that it falls on a Sat this year and Scott can participate in all the fun with us. 

I baby him. A lot. I know I never, ever babied any of my others like I do him.  It’s mostly because I know he’s my last, but also because he lets me.  He weighs 27 lbs and will be 2 in three months, and yet most days you’ll find me carrying him on my hip.  I joked the other day that you’ll probably find me carrying him in to kindergarten.  By far his most favorite toy is a ball.  He still thinks all balls are footballs and before he throws you a ball he will hold it down to the ground and say, “hike-hike-hike”  Which when he does it with his Steelers football, it fills this Momma with pride, but when he does it to say a soccer or baseball, it brings a giggle.  Today the kids and I went in the back yard to play and as I watched him, I realized how much of a little boy he is. Try as I  might to keep him my baby, he really is growing up.  I guess it’s a good thing he has older siblings, because they keep me in line.  They do...