Life At The Circus

Nothing like a back seat driver.  Especially a 3 year old back seat driver. At 1 am.  On a Snow covered back country road. As we slip slided around the roads approaching my parents the other night, I seriously thought we might end up in a ditch and all the while my 3 year old was WIDE awake and chattering non stop about all the snow.  He kept saying, “Dad, don’t get in an accident.  We wouldn’t want to get in an accident and die dad.”  Over and over.  Truthfully, it provided a little comic relief to Scott and I as the conditions were less than ideal. Thankfully, we made it safely.  And my dad greeted us with his plow and tractor.  At 2 am.  He was out plowing the driveway.  My three old thought he was out to give him a tractor ride.  We figured, “Why not.  It wasn’t like he was asleep.”  Besides, how often do you get the opportunity for a 2 am tractor ride in the snow.  The snow was gorgeous and we h...

The thing that we most fell in love with when we first saw our new house was the back yard.  We loved, LOVED the big, private back yard. Clearly, it was not the fall when we had our love at first sight experience. We spent the entire day tackling that beloved backyard. Thankfully, we also made time for a little fun in the leaves. Leaves can provide a great back drop for some smiley pictures. Believe it or not, we actually did put the camera away and got to work. Done and Done. Hooray!

As a mom, there are several roles I play in the lives of my children.  One of my favorite roles is that of cheer leader.  I truly enjoy watching them compete/perform in whatever activity they are involved in and cheering them on as they do so.  Yes, that’s right.  I am that Mom you hear above the crowd cheering and squealing.  This fall my son began a new sport.  After years of wanting to try martial arts, he started Brazilian Jiu Jitsu.   This past weekend, he competed in his first tournament.   There is a steep learning curve for mommas when their children begin new sports. Especially sports in which they have little to no experience.  I have learned to rely heavily on Mom’s who have gone before me for key pieces of information like “What is that move my kid just did out there?” Jiu Jitsu is a lot like wrestling, with several key differences.  At least there are enough similarities, that could help this former wrestlers...

This wasn’t the first time my oldest daughter played the part of Super Girl for Halloween.  4 years ago she had the same role. 2009 2013 She tells me that when she’s 11 she plans to be Super Girl again… guess we are on an every 4 year rotation with this role. 

She’s been wiggling that tooth for weeks now… hoping and hoping it was ready to pull.  I could see the tip of the new one peeking through behind it so I figured it was time for it to come out. Daddy always does the honors round here, so she sweetly begged Daddy to pull it this morning before leaving for work.  Part way in Scott realized that maybe that tooth wasn’t as ready to come out as we thought.  But, she was determined and truly didn’t flinch once.  I was crazy impressed as it took a lot of pulling and wiggling.  She never wavered in her resolve and we realized something about our third born child this morning. When she sets her mind to something, she goes after it.  She has much more mental strength and toughness than we realized… truly more than I saw from her older two siblings when their teeth had to come out. Our baby girl is growing up!