Life At The Circus

This year it worked out in our schedule to take the kids back to our old neighborhood on the 30th for trick or treating at the shopping plaza there.  This was always a tradition for us, but last year we weren’t able to make it happen.  It was fun to get an extra night of trick or treating in…and to run into some friends.  Originally, our 3 year old said he wanted to be a choo choo train like last year .  No problem I thought to myself, saves me having to buy one more costume this year .  But, after seeing the firemen on Sunday , he’s been all things fire trucks all week.  Yesterday my oldest son dug out his old fireman costume and the three year old happily wore it all day… even napping in it with his red hat and fire truck by his side on the floor. When it was time to go trick or treating, he decided he wanted to be a fireman this year instead.  Still no problem for mom, as we were all set costume wise. This year we had Aragorn from Lord of th...

A few weeks ago Scott and I attended the wedding of a friend of ours from high school.  As we sat there watching, I had this rather startling realization.  Weddings are different for me now than they used to be.  I can remember going to wedding for friends when we were in college.  As I rejoiced with our friends over the start of their life together, I also found myself taking note of things I’d like to do in my own wedding “someday.”    Then in the years shortly after we were married, each wedding would instantly bring me back to our own.  As I watched the bride walk down the aisle, I’d also look up to see the look on the groom’s face.  I’d remember the way Scott looked at me on our wedding day.  At this wedding when we watched the bride walk down the aisle, Scott leaned over and said, “Man, I am going to be a puddle on the floor when I walk our girls down the aisle.”  When the father of the bride gave a speech at the reception...

This afternoon after church we took the kids to the county’s Public Safety Expo.  The Police and Fire Departments for the country put on an INCREDIBLE expo.  It was both fun and educational. I think going into it my oldest son was a little like, “big deal we are going to see fire trucks”  while my 3 year old was all “WAHOO We are going to see Fire Trucks”  but everyone was surprised by all we got to see and do.  Yes, even the 9 year old was impressed.   Because, we didn’t just see fire trucks.  We watched firemen cut into a car.  We watched them cut the doors and roof off of a car.  And we watched them put out a REAL fire.  We saw robots from the bomb/explosive division.  We watched a K9 sniffing demonstration.  We saw the tactical response unit. And we slapped 5 to Sparky the fire dog.  We even snacked on some popcorn and hot dogs.  We also got to see a Police Helicopter up close and personal. W...

My kids have gotten the Minecraft bug.  Started first with my oldest son.  He shared the obsession with my 6 year old daughter… and then even my child who doesn’t really like to play games, joined in the fight against zombies.   Yesterday they finally figured out how to do multi player, which means they can all play at the same time on various different wireless devices in the same world.   Giggles could be heard as they found each other walking around in their worlds.  Hooray I thought to myself.  I can get a few things done while they happily play together. hahaha… this of course was short lived.  Did you know you can hit someone in mine craft?  Suddenly I find myself refereeing real fights in an imaginary world.  As the fights escalate and tears begin to fall, I have to put a halt on my semi productive kitchen clean up and try to get to the bottom of the problem.  “She is ruining my world.  She dug a ditch an...

My dad called me last week and said he had 3 tickets to the Steelers/Ravens game if we wanted to come join him.    His boss had generously given his tickets to my Dad and my parents generously offered to share them with us.  I quickly called Scott who said, “Yes, we’ll make it work.”    And make it work we did. Our weekend was already jam packed with commitments so the only way to make it back was to drive from Annapolis to Pittsburgh and back in one day.  We spent roughly 10 hours in the car and about 6 and a half hours in Pittsburgh.  But those moments in the burgh were worth every mile. Last year when we were invited by my dad Scott toyed with giving his ticket to our oldest son.  In the end we decided he wasn’t quite old enough to fully appreciate the experience.  But, I knew this year the time was right.  Last year he played fall and spring flag football.  He can follow plays.  This year he played fantas...

This weekend was full of hayrides and pumpkins.  Friday afternoon we went with some families from our 1st graders class to a pumpkin patch.  It was beautiful.  Hay rides are so fun.  I am a sucker for them.  How can you not have fun riding around on the back of a tractor looking at sunflowers and pumpkins? My youngest child particularly enjoyed the hay ride and seeing some chickens and goats. Then of course we got to pick our pumpkins. Then this morning the girls had their fall outing with the gymnastics team.  They got to spend the morning with their big sis/lil sis on a hay ride and corn maze.  As an added treat, my 3 year old unexpectedly got to ride on the hayride as well b/c there was extra room on the second wagon.  He was thrilled and I was grateful for the unexpected treat.  It can be rough being the youngest… often getting drug around to the events of your older siblings.  As I sat with him on the hay ride an...

I love the age of 3.  I really feel like the personality of your child fully starts to emerge at 3.  And 3 year olds are funny.  I love their sense of humor and logic and cute little mispronounciations.  And they start to pretend.  3 is really fabulous in my humble opinion and I am most def going to mourn the passage of time when I no longer have a 3 year old in the house.  Maybe even more than the lack of an infant.  After all 3 year olds sleep through the night and use the potty.    This week my 3 year old said to me “Mom you have black hair and I have yellow hair.  So you are a monkey and I am not.” “What?  Why am I monkey?” “Because you have black hair.  I have yellow hair so I am not a monkey.” I know I wrote this on facebook, but I am recording this one here too. “Hey Mom, ya know what is funny?” “What?” “See ya later alligator.” That is funny.  After while crocodile. “No, Mom, ...

I love the ever changing smiles on my kiddos faces as they lose teeth and then gain new/big teeth.  Over the past month  or so my 7 year old lost 3 teeth… the latest one to come out was last night.  She’s starting to look older to me lately…

I haven’t had time to really update the blog lately.  In fact, I have found my days to be quite full now that we are in full swing with our school and extra curricular activities.  Bursting at the seams full.  But, I have whipped the camera out a few times, so I decided today to download them and at least try to preserve some memories of everyday life around here. Football is a big time favorite past time around here.  The kids love making plays and having their own games in the backyard… the tee ball stand and folding chair are their yard markers.  They take turns being defenders and wide receivers and quarter back.  Sometimes they even do a running play or two with a RB.   We’ve had a lot of “wildlife” visitors round here…  We also have a turtle that lives in our yard and makes an appearance from time to time.  Today we decided to name Percy. We have also spotted a green snake (eeww).  Check out the praying mantis on our front ...