Life At The Circus

There are lots of things that I truly appreciate about our new house.  Among the top is the location.  This came as a surprise to many of our friends, because at first glance the location seems less than ideal.   A large majority of our life is centered 20-25 minutes away from our house… our church, our tutorial, gymnastics, and many of our friends.  However, one of the most important and integral parts of our family life is located a mere 2 miles away. Daddy Before you raise your eyebrows in confusion, No, Scott doesn’t live 2 miles away.  He lives here with us.  However, his work is a a mere 2 miles away.  And the effect this has on our family life can not be overstated.  Scott is able to eat breakfast with us every single morning.  In fact, this week for our “school at home days” we began our school day with Daddy praying and holding the flag for the Pledge of Allegiance.  Then he went out the door to work and we sat at t...

The morning was going well… kids on time for tutorial, load of laundry in the washer and dryer, even took the van to the garage for some repairs. And then, because things can’t go THAT smoothly…..   Yea… turns out even the otterbox can’t protect your phone when it’s  been thrown off the side of a van and run over on the side of a highway.  And, no, this had NOTHING to do with the new iphone 5 coming out today.  After Scott dropped me off to pick up the van, I brought the car seat, the 2 yr old, and my 3 other bags over to the van.  Scott helped me strap in the car seat and we were all set.  As he started to pull away, I realized I didn’t know where my phone was so I stopped him to check and see if it was in his car.  It wasn’t.  He called my phone and I could hear it faintly in the van… though it sounded muffled, but since I heard it, I figured the volume had been turned down and it was in one of the bags.  Away I drove.  ...

Scott commented the other day that he feels the passage of time more noticeably at the beginning of the school year, rather than on the kids birthdays.  I think he’s right. Especially this year, when I packed up three backpacks and three lunch boxes and lined up 3 kids for pictures at the front door.  We have our Kindergartener, on her very first day of school ever.  Followed by our first grader. And, then our third grader. They were all eager to go to “school at the building” today at their tutorial.  I wonder if they’ll be as excited tomorrow for “school at the kitchen table.” I think, by far, the most excited was my 5 year old… she’s been eagerly waiting for her turn for several years now.  I hope and pray that it is a good school year for all of us. 

Just one day over 2 weeks from shipping her off to the doll hospital, Kit arrived on our door step during lunch today. Her arm has been reattached and they even sent her home in a pretty hospital gown, with new socks, and her hair pulled up in a bow.  It just so happened that Daddy popped home for lunch today and she eagerly greeting him on the steps to tell him the good news.   She was so happy to have her back, fully healed, and in time for her to come to Kindergarten with her on Monday. 

When I started home schooling 4 years ago, I stepped back from most of my other responsibilities.  I wanted time to figure out the ropes of homeschooling in addition to taking care of my family.   But last spring, I started to feel a tug.  I was ready to serve again.  I wasn’t sure where or how, but I knew I wanted to serve in some capacity.  (Keep in mind this is not because after 3 years of homeschooling I suddenly had the homeschool thing mastered… truthfully this year more than ever I feel more nervous about our school year…. it’s because I think I realized that I didn’t want to wait till I had mastered it b/c truthfully I never will…) So anyway, last spring I started to talking to Scott about my desire to get involved and serve the Lord.  He supported it.  Still I wondered where, how? And then I got a letter from our youth pastor seeking helpers for the youth group. This is not the first time such a letter has arrived in our mailbox....

This weekend marked an anniversary of a life changing event in my life.  In fact, one could say that my life is very, very different as a result of it. 2 years ago while on our annual Labor Day cabin trip I did something I had never done before.  I finished a cup of coffee. Sure, I had had a sip once or twice, hoping to like it like my friends… but I never really cared for it. And so I gave up, b/c ignorance is bliss.  But I found myself begging my husband to become a coffee drinker just so our house could have that wonderful aroma of coffee brewing each morning. He wasn’t interested in “becoming addicted to a drug,” as he put it. I don’t know what changed 2 years ago… maybe it was the hormones from child number 4, maybe it was that I finally tasted good coffee (the bolder and stronger the better in my book), but I fell in love 2 years ago and there is no going back. I drink a good 4-6 cups a day.  I love the smell, I love the taste, I love the warmth, ...

Take 2 missing teeth, plus a few inches chopped off at the salon, and throw in a brand new pair of glasses, and you get yourself a brand new look for first grade!

Not sure which I like best about this snapshot, the smiles on the girls faces, my daughters hand in the peanut butter jar or my son sneaking yet another lick out of the bowl….

I have friends that are super awesome yard salers.  They get up at the butt crack of dawn on Saturday morning and drive all over the county finding great deals.   They truly impress me and sometimes I think I want to be them, b/c I too like getting good deals. But, I don’t like getting up at the butt crack of dawn any day of the week, much less Saturday.  And I especially don’t like dragging 4 kids around with me all over the county at the butt crack of dawn, worse yet having the kids see stuff that other people are clearing out of their house and begging me if they can then bring it in mine and then me coming home without the outdoor patio table and chairs I’d been wanting but with a bag full of happy meal toys that are now going to clutter up our family room floor. B/C I know that is exactly what would happen to me.  I wouldn’t come home with the cute rug for my master bedroom, I’d come home with 4 grumpy kids and nothing to show for my early bird gets the...

We’ve had stitches, numerous trips to Right Time Care and even an over night hospital stay, but so far we haven’t had any broken limbs. Until this week. I was upstairs when I heard the blood curdling screams and sobs of my 5 year old.  I raced downstairs to see her sobbing and holding her beloved Kit in one hand and Kit’s arm in the other.   ( I had noticed the day before, that her arm seemed wobbly and something wasn’t right, so it wasn’t a total shock to me) .   My 5 year old was devastated… “I just picked her up Mom and it fell off… Kit, Kit…”  I held her while she cried and then quickly googled “replacing doll off of American girl doll”  when it brought me to a form to fill out and send Kit in for a “hospital stay” I then went on face book hoping there was a quicker and cheaper answer. But, there wasn’t.  I am told Kit will come back with her arm attached, wearing a hospital gown and even an ID bracelet.  ( I didn’t tell my 5 year t...