Life At The Circus

6 Flags Amusement park offered a free ticket to any K-6 grade student that registered for their Read to Succeed program and completed 6 hrs of non school required reading.  As a bonus, the teacher who enrolled the student also got a free ticket.  So, that meant this home schooling momma got a ticket for herself and her son to 6 Flags. I kept track of his reading in the spring and when he completed 6 hrs of recreational reading, unannounced to him, I registered him for the free ticket.  The tickets arrived at the beginning of the summer.  I then offered him the ticket if he read 10 books this summer.  Sneaky, I know! He worked hard and achieved the goal though.  And thanks to a dear friend who watched my other 3 children, we were off for a day together at 6 Flags as his reward! He was particularly looking forward to riding his first real, roller coaster.  When we first arrived the 2 wooden coasters that he was tall enough for, were not running th...

Scott and I have a few sayings  that we use often with the kids. Life is not Fair Life isn’t Always About You You Can’t Cry to Get What You Want and…. Never Trust a Bad Guy 1 -3 are pretty self explanatory… in a family of 6, you learn quickly that your not going to get what you want when you want it, you gotta wait, and that’s just the way it goes.   I try hard to remember who had the blue plate yesterday and who got to use the dog towel last after the bath, but you know… I can’t always keep track of it.  And while we do our best to keep things balanced, it’s just going to happen that someone is going to spend the night at a friends house and your not necessarily going to get to that same night.  It’s a hard pill to swallow and it often stinks… but you know, it is life.  And I’ll confess quite often, I need to remind myself of these same things… b/c sometimes I too want it to be all about me… sometimes I too get irritated when life doesn’t seem ...

My lil man reached a major milestone today as he played in the sand.  We’ve been going to the beach, splashing in the water and playing in the sand all summer long.  And all summer long he has wanted to put fist full upon fist full of sand into his mouth.  You’d think eventually cause and effect would come in to play, but he never seemed to mind the mouth full of grit.  Even when all I had to wash it out with was a mouth full of salty bay water.  It was the single most frustrating aspect of our afternoons at the bay.  I can’t just hold him the entire time and yet if I set him down he’s eating dirt.  Well, today I held him till he grew wiggly and set him down.  Fully expecting him to begin his typical sandy snack.  But, he didn’t… He sat and dug and picked up sand and dug and then splashed water in his bucket for a good 45 minutes… he crawled around in the hot sand, happily playing, and not ONCE putting any sand in his mouth!  I cou...

My daughter is a fierce competitor.  Everything, and I mean everything can be turned to a competition with her.  Last weekend when we were driving back to the camp site from training camp, Scott and I drove my parents van and let my parents follow us with the kids in our van. We pulled in to Dairy Queen as a fun surprise and she says to my dad, “Now’s your chance to beat them… keep driving Papa!” Not only does she thrive on competition, but the girl cares a lot and I mean A LOT about winning.  This of course means that she also hates to lose.  At anything… getting to the van, tic tac toe, Uno….  We’ve worked a lot this past year on her temper and I have seen her  mature and grow a lot.  Lately, her way to ensure that she always wins, is by refusing to play any game that is as she calls it “a winner/loser game.”  If there is a chance she can lose, she doesn’t want to play… Tic-tac-toe, Wii, Uno, Hi Ho Cherrio, you name it… her response is alway...

Of the 32 years I’ve been a Steelers fan, I only had the joy of being a hometown fan for only 8 of those years (5 of which I was 5 and under so it doesn’t really count in my book) .  My sophomore year of college, I moved to PA for 3 years.  I was thrilled to get to watch the Steelers on a weekly basis.  Unfortunately, this was during the Kordell Stewart, Tommy Maddox era, which wasn’t exactly the Steelers golden era of football.  I truly enjoyed watching The Bus in action each and every week.  Those were his glory days for sure! Now, thanks to Direct TV’s NFL season ticket we get to watch our boys in black and gold every.single. week!! But, we still don’t really get that hometown feel.. especially living in the Baltimore area …When I step onto my back deck I am greeted with the icky colors of purple and black ALL OVER my neighbors yard.   So,  we’ve begun making the trek to Latrobe, PA in August to watch the Steelers training camp at St Vince...

Time and time again our fourth child has blown us away with his easy going, flexible, happy-go-lucky approach to life.  It has made the transition to a family of 6, for this family on-the-go, SO MUCH easier—a fact I am truly, truly grateful for. This weekend, he really went above and beyond our expectations though. Not only did he fall asleep in the tent both nights, while the rest of us were out at the camp fire, but he even napped in the tent Saturday morning.  And as if that wasn’t wonderful enough… today we put his pack and play up behind the tent, on the off chance that he’d fall asleep and Scott could tear down the tent and pack up our gear while the rest of us went swimming… fat chance of that actually working we thought, but we figured it was worth a try… He laid down, outside, in the daylight, and took a 2 hr nap while Scott tore down the tent and packed up the van.  He truly spoils us!

Years ago my Mom and I attended a Women of Faith Conference…I believe our first was when I was in college.  We drove to Cleveland, OH to attend the conference.  We left refreshed and inspired and vowing to make it a tradition to attend some sort of spiritual conference together as often as we could.   Since then, we’ve attend Women of Faith, Beth Moore, and a few women’s retreats together.  I appreciate the opportunity to worship, and grow alongside my mom.   Our faith and our ability to encourage each other in our spiritual walks, is one of my favorite aspects of my relationship with my mom.  It is something I have treasured since middle school when we first did a mother/daughter Bible study together.  When BookSneeze offered the opportunity to attend a local Women of Faith conference and blog about it, I jumped at the opportunity.  When they offered me 2 tickets to the conference in DC, I knew instantly who I wanted to go with....

The kids and I had a unique opportunity this morning to feed some orphaned baby piglets.  The Momma Pig died at childbirth and the farmers were looking for extra hands to give bottles to the piglets.  I literally leaped at the opportunity.  And I am so glad that I did!  What a delightful way to spend our morning! Even my youngest had fun with the piglets… We drove a little over an hour to get there and the feeding didn’t last long, so we extended our stay a bit by sampling some of the creamery’s delicious ice cream.  The family was super kind to allow us to purchase ice cream before they were opened.  Ice Cream at 10am?!  Sure thing! 

My youngest daughter turns 4 this week. I often joke that she was born trying to keep up with her sister and brother.  It’s true though.  She is always ahead of where she should be b/c she has never wanted to be left behind.  As such, whenever her birthday rolls around I don’t have that typical, “How can it have been 4 yrs already?”   feeling, more often we’re like, “Really, your just now 4… seems like you’ve been 4 for awhile now.”   One thing is true… she’s growing up too fast for my liking.  I have one more year left before she goes to school… and since we homeschool, going to school is thankfully only 2 days a week at the tutorial, but even still it marks a new stage of life.  I want to be intentional with this last year… with our 2 mornings a week of time together when she is the big kid setting the pace for the household.  I learned so much about my older daughter when her brother went off to school.  I got to see new traits come ou...

Growing up, part of me wished for a sister… one to share a room with, share clothes and secrets with…. maybe if I’d have had one, I would know better how to braid my girls hair …  I had a great brother, and I would never have traded him for a sister, yet part of me at times felt like I was missing out a little… When I married Scott I instantly gained in my sister-in-law the sister I had always wanted.  And she is all that and more.  And to sweeten the deal even more, Karen and I share a birthday.  We joke that it’s perfect because it makes it so much easier for him to remember my birthday (that would work IF he could remember his sisters birthday). I truly couldn’t love Karen more if she was my blood.  I’ve known Karen for more than half my life… in HS I was her secret sister in lacrosse.  While Scott and I were dating in college, she let me crash in her dorm room (often even sharing her top bunk) so I could come and visit Scott at Grove City.  We...