Life At The Circus

I LOVE hosting Christmas.  And I am so thankful that my extended family allows me that privilege.  I am thankful that they all have been willing and able to come year after year so we could share the day together. I don’t take it for granted.  I know my parents won’t always be able to travel.  I know my BIL and SIL can get stationed so far away that it just doesn’t make a trip to MD possible.  I know life situations can change in the blink of an eye. And so I am thankful for what we have.  I am thankful that my SIL, BIL, and two nephews came and spent 4 days and 3 nights with us.  I am thankful for the sounds of cousins chasing each other round the house, for cookie decorating, for legos and video games and trampoline time, for Apples to Apples and a giant puzzle.  I am thankful for the mess and the giggles and the time together.       I am thankful for our Christmas Eve candlelight service and the reminder that even though t...

About a month ago my youngest asked when we would see the Statue of Liberty again.  We visited it a few years ago on our way to our Boston Vacation, and it has been a highlight memory of our youngest child ever since.  He loves when we spot it on tv or in a picture somewhere.  I replied, “Probably the next time we go to New York City.”  To which he of course replied, “When can we go to New York City again?”  followed by, “Can we go tomorrow?”    The other kids all laughed and said no way, besides Daddy is away on business travel, we can’t go without him.   He then wanted to know if we could go the day after Daddy got back.  I said, “Let’s ask Dad.”    So, we did on our next phone call with Scott.  Scott paused a minute and said, “ Welll…. maybe let me check my schedule.”  He was getting back the week before Thanksgiving and already planning to take a light week of work, maybe we could pull of his request and...

A quick search through old posts and you will discover that I am a complete sap about gap toothed smiles.  In my humble opinion, they are beyond precious and absolutely adorable.  So, when our youngest lost his first tooth this week, I was completely smitten.  It’s been loose for awhile, but unlike my other children he wasn’t eager to pull it.  No light saber pulling, or tying the tooth the the door knob.  He just waited patiently for it to fall out.   And it did.     During worship at our church last Sunday evening, he whispered over to me with an excited smile, “I Lost my tooth!”  Thankfully I had some napkins in my purse.   It was so cute to hear him tell people about it.  He’d exclaim, “It’s my first tooth I lost in my entire life!”   The next day when he was telling his tutor about it at our tutorial, I realized he had somehow gotten the idea that the tooth fairy works for the dentist.  As he was telli...

We’ve been home two and a half weeks and I am finally taking time to record the moments of our last day of vacation…. this is proof positive that I am glad I took the time to record our memories while on vacation b/c there is no way I could have gone back and done it once home.  We woke up QUITE cold on our last full day of vacation at Great Basin National Park.  Since the elevation of our campsite was 9000+ feet we found ourselves snuggling in our sleeping bags with our sweats on.  We even took time to build one last fire in the fire ring to stand around during breakfast.   Before departing for our hike, we were treated by a visitor at our campsite… This mule deer didn’t seem at all bothered by our presence as he strolled along the stream bed right outside our tent.     We set off for the alpine lake trail.  It covered similar ground to the hike we did the day before but instead of going up towards the glacier and ancient trees, it veered to the...