Life At The Circus

I am def in count down mode for summer.  Break couldn’t get here fast enough. This time of year, I find we are all weary and the days seem to be oh so long.   With the end in sight, I thought I’d post some real life pictures of our homeschooling day.  Because soon I’ll have the happy end of the year we did it pictures up… and I want to be real.  We don’t look like that every day. Those are the “we just crossed the finish line” shots… Here are the “right smack in the middle of the race” shots. We look like this. Yes, this is what our school table, floor and living room look like all day on Tues, Thursday, and Friday. And this is what our kitchen looks like on those same days.  EVERY WEEK. We start school right after breakfast and go till right before we have to head out the door for gymnastics or piano (depending on the day of the week).  We try to have the book bags packed before we leave for the evening, but it really depends on if we...

The kids were outside playing and I took a few minutes to prep lunch and wash a few dishes.  As I walked by the back door, I saw my youngest sitting in a box on the deck. How cute I thought and went to grab the camera. My little man spotted me. I went back to my chores and then noticed he had moved. This time he was on the other side of the door and had set up a barricade with another box. Having the wool pulled over my eyes by him before, I decided to stop and watch. Clearly he did not want me to do this. I realize these pictures look a little blurry.  This is not because of a fault in the camera.  It’s because my windows are quite filthy.  But, if you can get past the grime, what do you see? A ring pop. Now, I have to tell you that I had no problem with him eating a ring pop.  It was his and he had gotten it in his goody bag last weekend.  He had even asked if he could take his goody bag outside.  (He didn’t ask if he co...

My 5 year old decided she wanted to write a book yesterday.  She wanted it to be a collection of stories about animals.  So, she asked if I would write what she said up on our dry erase board so that she could copy them into her book.  Here is what she said: I have to wonder how many different ways a cat licks.  They all look the same to me. And I always thought dogs had better hearing than cats.  It appears in her book dogs are only good at eating.

When you have a baby people offer you all sorts of odd, unsolicited, terrifying, and often contradictory pieces of advice.  One that I have heard over and over the past 9 years is “Don’t blink.” And I have tried really hard not to. I have tried really hard to savor the chaos.   It’s a large part of the reason why I blog.  I want to record the every day.  The funny things they say, the crazy outfits they pick out, the battles we engage in, the toys they love… and yes, even the unending laundry pile,  and the sink overflowing with dishes… Because I know what those who have gone before me have told me is true… the days are long, but the years are quick.  Before you know it, those chubby little hands turn into bony fingers and knees… While I will always be their Momma, and they will always be my babies, I won’t always have the luxury of time with them every day.  And so, I try, I TRY to remember it is a luxury… and a short lived one and I try to e...

We celebrated our son’s 9th birthday this weekend at the Shire.  Our son has been quite taken by The Hobbit and Lord of the Rings this year.  His attention was sparked by the Lego LOTR game, then Scott and him read the Hobbit and he is now reading The Fellowship of the Ring.  For his cake, he requested a volcano to look like Mt. Doom. The kids pulled together some costumes… We have from left to right, Gimli, Frodo, Samwise Gamgee, and Aragorn.  And Scott pulled off a Gandalf costume thanks to a moving van blanket and an old tee shirt.  I love the Gimli costume my oldest son put together for his little brother.  I love it because it illustrates two of the things I love about my 9 year old… his creativity (shaping a costume out of oversized shirts) and his love for his little brother.  He shaped the hair and beard out of his poloshirt.  And I was so thankful that my 2 year old was willing to cooperate with his big brother’s costume sel...

Since birth she’s always been trying to keep up with the older two.  And most of the time,  because she can hold her own with them, I think of her and treat her like she’s older than she really is.  One night last week as we went in to peek on her before going to bed we saw her sleeping in her bed with her stuffed animals and dolls lying all around her… it was a little nest of sorts with her in the middle of her beloved toys.  “This is the stuff we’ll forget,”  Scott whispered to me.  When she gets older, we’ll forget these little cute things like her sleeping in a pool of baby dolls and fuzzy friends. I forget sometimes that she’s still just 5.  And then she does stuff like this and I chuckle and remember she’s still just 5.   Scott found this bowl of water on her bed Monday morning.  What in the world was she doing with a bowl full of water on her bed he started to ask.  “It’s for my whale Daddy.  It’s his home.” Of ...

When I walked outside today and felt warmth, my heart was instantly happy.  It’s a balmy 75 degrees today and I.LOVE.IT!!  This is my ideal temp.  I love being able to walk around in flip flops and head out the door without thought of a jacket.  I love not being at all chilly.  So of course when I picked the kids up from tutorial today, I brought my trusty ball cap because I knew we’d be staying after for football, and flower picking, chatting with friends, and the latest development in after school play time….dancing in the parking lot. They were blasting dance music from the van and doing a little cha-cha slide. Then it was off to Sonic for Happy Hour… 60 cents for a slushie?   Yes, please. And just when we thought  it couldn’t get any better… our friends from tutorial pulled up beside us… seems like everyone thought it was a good day for Sonic. Hooray for Spring!!!

I remember when my son was in kindergarten he came home and told me he asked a girl in his class to marry him.  “What did she say?”  I responded. “No. So I told her,why don’t we wait till we are older to decide.”   I cautioned him that should he ever want to propose again, he should talk to us first and then talk to the girls parents first. I remember this so vividly b/c I knew, I knew there would come a day when he would balk at such a discussion. And apparently that day fell somewhere in the third grade.  I don’t remember when, but sometime this year, kissing and girls and love and marriage all became totally disgusting to him.  Watching Mom or Dad give each other a quick peck is one of the most horrible, grossest sights known to man…. or at least this 8 year old man.   And I know, just like I knew back in kindergarten that it won’t be like this forever.  However, his little sister doesn’t know this.  One night as she was ge...