Life At The Circus

Every year the majority of the girls at our gym attend gymnastics camp together in Pa.  In fact, even some of our coaches go.  Our oldest daughter has been wanting to go for years.  Last year anytime I would say, “Guess what?”  or “I have a surprise for you,”  she would always respond with, “I get to go to camp?”  Seriously, every little guess what and surprise suddenly seemed like a let down.  Finally I had to sit her down and say, “Sweetie, I know you want to go to camp, and I’d love to send you, but it is a lot of money and it isn’t going to happen.”  She took it very well.  And then she started saving her own money for camp.  This was well before the girls went to camp in 2014.  She knew when she was saving in the spring of 2014 that she wouldn’t be going to camp that June.  She never whined or complained when the girls all went to camp last June and she didn’t. She saved all spring, all summer, all fall.  Every toot...

The reoccurring anthem playing in my head lately seems to be, “Oh my!  How did that happen already? They are growing up before my eyes!” Whether it’s taking my oldest to a middle school youth group event, packing my oldest two for their first week away from home at camp , or watching my youngest learn to ride a bike with no training wheels , over and over I find myself asking, WHERE DID MY BABY GO? But, here he is… my big 5 year old…. riding without training wheels! After 3 lessons with his dad, he is now completely independent on his biking!  And he is off, pedaling fast doing his best to hold his own with the big kids. Meanwhile I am left marveling…. wondering what happened to this?? I snapped this picture pretty much 3 years ago this week….

Truth be told I don’t homeschool b/c I love teaching.  I am not that mom who stays up late looking up cool lesson plans to do with her kids.  I don’t spend my summer reading books for the next school year.  I wish I was that mom.  I often feel guilty that I am not that homeschooling mom. Truthfully, the homeschool days are tough.  I mean we have our good moments each day, and those precious moments are what carry me through the L.I.T.E.R.A.L weeping and gnashing of teeth (both theirs and mine) as we fight through the lessons we don’t enjoy.  And as we work on heart issues and character and respect… all which truly add on to an already full day of work.  Latin with a side of Respect is often a huge pill to swallow. But, we fight through, we persevere and I THINK we are ALL growing and learning through it all and despite our many, many flaws.  And the reason why is right here…. June 11 We have long, long days from Sept-May…. but then we get ou...

We celebrated my youngest son’s 5th birthday with a Panda Party.  When I was prepping goody bags earlier in the week, my 9 year old came up with a suggestion for the party.  She suggested I make bamboo sticks by dipping pretzel sticks in green chocolate.  I loved the fact that she wanted to contribute to the party and was eager to celebrate her creativity.  So, I went to the store and got the supplies for her bamboo sticks.  She asked if I saw that idea anywhere on Pinterest and I told her I hadn’t.  So, she said, “Great, Mom you have to Pin my idea then!”  hahaha… soooo the #1 purpose of this blog post is getting her idea on the internet so it can be pinned on Pinterest.    While talking about the Panda Party on Sat, my 8 year nice suggested we hang green streamers in the hallway so it looked like we were walking through bamboo trees.  I loved her idea too!!  And even though I had already bought black and white streamers to hang...

This week my baby turned 5.  He was so excited.  He literally started counting down the days about 5 days out.  “Then it became after this day after that day is my birthday.”  The day before his birthday he told me he wanted to fall asleep early so his birthday would come sooner.  We kissed him goodnight for the last time as a 4 year old and sent him up to bed.  When I came up a little while later to peek in on them, he was sobbing in his bed.  He decided maybe he didn’t want to turn 5 after all.  He said, “4 is the best age I ever was, I think I should stay 4.”  It was so precious and cute and heart breaking all at the same time. And I could totally relate to his desire to grow up and yet at the same time  hold on to life right where it is. I brought him in to bed with me where we snuggled and talked about all the wonderful things he did when he was four.  Then I got out his baby book and we looked at pictures of him in my belly ...