I remember very little from my college biology class. The one thing that sticks in my brain is the genetics unit. I can remember sitting there running through the calculations and thinking, “If Scott and I were to get married we’d have blue eyed kids.” The hopeless romantic, head over heels in love teen that I was, I enjoyed the game of “wonder if.” The other thing from the genetics unit that sticks out is that the ability to touch your tongue to your nose is genetically dictated.
Sorry bio professor, that’s all I remember from the entire semester.
But it brought great amusement to our post dinner conversation tonight.
I asked my kids if they could stick their tongue out and touch their nose.
My daughter’s response?
Hmmm…not exactly what I meant, but definitely what I said.
My son however, was able to do it correctly.
To which his sister responded, “My tongue just needs to grow more.”
These are the high-falutin’ conversations I strike up around the dinner table here at the circus.
(Tell the truth, did you just try to touch your nose with your tongue? Did it work?)
This weekend, I surprised Scott and the kids with a high seas adventure in Annapolis.
After donning their costumes
And getting their tattoos
We were ready to board the ship and set sail in search of our treasure
The kids used their loot to purchase ice cream for dinner.
A good time was had by all. Though I fear the pirate life may agree too well with them. Don’t they look quite fierce?
For more Wed fun with pictures, visit here or here.
The one piece of parenting advice I wish I had adhered to better is to “write down those cute things your kids say b/c you will forget.”
Me forget? Come on… there’s not way I could forget those cute little things my kids say… I’m super mom.
Yea, I also never thought I’d bring my kids to church with mismatched shoes and no diaper bag…but
5 years and 3 kids later and super mom has left the building.
So, when I found out about this carnival, I thought it sounded like a great way to write down those things my kids say which I swear I’d never forget and quite often by the time Scott is home from work, I’ve already forgotten…they may not be incredibly profound or hilarious, but years from now I am sure I’ll be glad to have them recorded.
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3 year old says to me at dinner on a swim class day, “Mom, I got wet when I went swimming. Every time I go that happens.”
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5 year old son, “Mom do want me to grow up?”
me: “Well I’ll probably miss the days when we could sit and snuggle together when you were little.”
son: “Don’t worry mom, when I am a grown up I will come over every day and snuggle with you.”
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23 mth old, (reaching hands to sky) “can’t reach moon… can’t reach it!”
5 year old brother says, “Don’t worry, when I grow up I’ll take you there b/c I am going to be an astronaut.”
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After watching the Orioles lose to the Red Sox my 3 year old was on the phone with her grandpa and said, “It was a bummer the Red Sox won, but I still had a good time because we brought food.”
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After going on a pirate adventure for our father’s day celebration this kids all retuned home with gold coins. The next day my 5 yr old son was carrying around his sack of coins and asked I could help him with his “tax appointment.”
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And while it isn’t exactly a quote, it cracked me up nonetheless… on Saturday morning after I made pancakes for breakfast, I sent my sweet little daughter in to wake up Daddy and tell him breakfast was ready. When I got no response, I went down the hall and found this….
Nothing says rise and shine like your little girl standing over you with a toy rifle.
Thanks for all who wrote last week with your thoughts and suggestions on my dinner time dilemma.
No worries though.
Tonight my kids sat down and ate their dinner without one complaint.
Not one.
And let me tell you there was no dilly dallying.
They sat on the curb, gobbled it up with relatively little mess and we were on our merry way, walking around downtown enjoying the boats and the harbor.
See, I had it all wrong before. Slaving over the hot stove, struggling to find new recipes, serving up balanced meals of protein, vegetables, and carbohydrates.
Tonight after a fun father’s day celebrating on the high seas we stopped for some ice cream.
And as we drove home with our bellies full of milk and sugar, my husband pointed out to me that we hadn’t bothered to feed them any d—i-n-n-e-r tonight.
oops…how did it get to be so late?
By the time we caught fireflies and went inside it was past eight o’ clock. No one was hungry, so we chocked it up to special occasion and summertime and put them to bed. Nothing like a bowl full of sugar before bed to ensure a good night of sleep for all.
Yes, please just send the mom of the year award to Crystal…aka Circus Mom… I’ll start working on my acceptance speech now… starting off with my tips for healthy, well balanced diets for preschoolers.
Last summer I took a Sunday School class in which I was introduced to a concept called solidarity and I realized I had very little of it. Before that class I was really very uneducated and honestly uncaring about events and situations going on in other parts of the world. If a plane crashed in Illinois, I’d be all over cnn.com reading the footage and following the case. “How tragic,” I’d think. But if I read of a plane crash in Mongolia, I am pretty sure I wouldn’t even click on the link. Why? Why do I care more about the fate of fellow Americans than of those in another continent? As a Christian, I should care a great deal about the suffering of any fellow human being.
While in DC last week, we saw this quote on a world war II memorial near the capital building.
As I read it, I couldn’t help but think about the fact that despite all we learned from the Holocaust, similar events are going on in the world with very little being said or done about it.
I can remember when I was in school and I read of the horrific events which took place during the Holocaust, I kept wondering why it took so long for America to get involved. “Why,” I’d ask. “Why didn’t we do more? Why didn’t we care? Why did we wait until Pearl Harbor before we stepped up and ended it? “
And I can’t help but wonder why, despite all we learned, and despite all we have as Americans, are we doing so little now for the hundreds of thousands of people in Uganda and Darfur who are suffering and dying due to extreme acts of violent genocide and complete starvation?
Why aren’t we “mobilized” on this? Why does it seem that Hollywood cares more about the hundreds of thousands of people be murdered in Africa than evangelical Christians?
Why? What will it take? Surely there is something I can do to ease their suffering.
That’s what I am pondering this weekend.
What are you thinking about this week? Heard a song lyric that touched your heart? Read something in a Bible study that got you thinking? Why not use your last post of the week to highlight something a bit "deeper" then the average Momblog fair? I’d love to read your thoughts. Please feel free to write and link up a new post below, or to link up a thoughtful post from earlier in the week.
I am done!
Whew! What a week at the circus! This was not one of those stay in your pjs all day and relax by the pool kinda weeks.
Not at all.
Rather it was one of those, get the kids up, fed, dressed, in shoes (no s
mall feat for the circus crew) and to the soccer field by 9 am every.single.morning. Hello? Even during the school year, it was only M-W-F for us. Then after two hours on the soccer field it was time to walk home, fix lunch, get the kids down for naps so that when they woke up (or I woke them this week) we could get our swim suits on and head to the pool for swim lessons. After swim lessons, we got all 4 of us dried off, changed, back in the car and home in time to make dinner and get ready for whatever evening activity was on our schedule this week. And this was one of those weeks where we had something every night, be it CPR class for Mom and Dad, watching Daddy sail in Annapolis, or going sailing on Nana and Pop’s boat.
It was jam packed. SO tight in fact, I don’t think you could have fit another thing in there. And we didn’t… laundry and grocery shopping were completely foregone and we scrounged by with whatever food I could put together from the back of the pantry. Thank goodness they got tee shirts at soccer camp… that bought us one day’s outfit!
While I would not want to keep up at this pace all summer, the effort this week was worth it. The kids had a blast. They ran hard, laughed lots, made great success in the pool and formed new friendships. I left the week with 2 new e-mail addresses from mom’s I found close by to meet up with at the park.
No longer sitting on the sidelines, my middle child got to participate in a soccer camp of her own this week.
This picture right here is a huge deal… HUGE!!
Before
After
Yup, my son went under water. Last year he sat on the side and cried about putting his feet in. Now he can go under all by himself. Worth mooning the entire pool for 6 weeks.
Not to be outdone, here’s my middle child putting her face in while swimming!
So, I’d say the stressful mornings and pathetic dinners were worth it. But I am glad we have a unscheduled week next week to recuperate before Vacation Bible School the following week!
“How are you?” This simple phrase is uttered countless times a day. Though typically without the asker really wanting or waiting for a reply.
“Hi How are you?”
You say it the grocery store clerk, the man on the sidewalk, the telemarketer…and yet, honestly, how often do you wait or listen to the response?
The expected response is “Good, How are you?”
My kids could have been screaming at the top of their lungs , the dog just pooped on the rug again, and my sink is clogged and over flowing, and yet I smile and answer “Good, how are you?” to the stranger on the other end of the phone whose calling to get me to donate money.
Almost every single time I’m asked that question, my answer is fine or good.
My kids on the other hand are a different story.
To that sweet old lady behind us at the grocery store who smiles at my daughter as she sits in the grocery cart, my daughter will respond.
“Bad”
To the mom at the pool as we get ready for swim lessons, my son will say, “Bad.”
To the waiter at the restaurant whose serving my daughter her drink of choice…
“Bad,” my 3 year old will say as she looks up and smiles with delight.
Someday, somewhere, for some reason, one of my circus crew got a reaction from some sweet, unsuspecting person when we were out and about. And as is the case with most habits, particularly those less than desirable ones, all three children follow along.
So…really, honestly, how are you today?
We keep our digital “point and shoot” camera on the counter. My 5 year old calls it “his camera.” He has permission to run and grab it to snap photos when something catches his fancy. Every now and then I’ll download them and enjoy a glimpse of life around the circus through the eyes of my eldest.
He was so excited about this puddle that he found on the deck a few weeks ago. He had Daddy stand and guard it so his sister’s didn’t destroy it until he snapped a picture. Can you guess what animal he saw?
I love the fact that when you look at this picture you can tell it was taken from a photographer who was under 4 ft tall. I also love that we are off centered… it makes me smile.
His beloved birds and the nest he built for them last week.
Here his little hobby came in handy in getting Mom’s attention when his little sister was getting into trouble. I hadn’t noticed her mischief until I saw him grab his camera. After grabbing mine, I got her off the table!
Isn’t that the coolest strawberry you’ve ever seen? I thought it looked like a star, he sees a butterfly. What do you see?
Our little photographer himself. Gosh, how I love that smile of his!
Visit here or here for more Wednesday fun with pics or check out his other photography here.
Dinner time….the family all gathered around the table, enjoying a delicious meal, talking about the day, laughing and enjoying one another…statistics say that families that consistently eat dinner together tend to raise healthier, more well behaved children, then families that don’t. So, what are we doing wrong?
More often than not the Circus Family eats breakfast and dinner together as a family. More often than not our dinner “hour” is more like a dinner hour and a half. I wish I could say it as because of our scintillating conversations. However, my kids are what I fear the slooooowest eaters on the eastern seaboard. (unless it’s dessert or some other food they particularly enjoy). But give them chicken and you can pretty much forget about doing anything other than getting ready for bed after dinner that night.
This causes great frustration to my husband and I. The kids and I typically wait for Scott to get home so we can eat together. This means we usually sit down around 6:00 for dinner. If the kids stretch things out the average 1.5 hrs than we aren’t getting up till around 7:30. Leaving us no time for that walk around the neighborhood, or trip to the park after dinner. It’s usually just time for a little playing on the floor and then teeth brushing, fluoride, and bedtime stories. Scott would love to have more time to spend playing with the kids rather than watching them stare at their plates.
We have tried various tactics to shorten the time around the table. They have worked to various degrees. My question for you all, is “how long?”
How long does dinner typically take your family? Am I alone on this or is it merely par for the course at this stage of our family life?
While most of America celebrated Father’s Day yesterday, the circus family did not. Shh…Please don’t tell the circus children. They think Father’s Day is next week, because that’s when we are celebrating it. We paint pumpkins in Nov and build gingerbread houses in Jan, so why can’t we celebrate dear old dad one week late? Yes, we are shamelessly pulling the wool over our innocent children’s eyes.
Scott and I wanted to get away for a weekend alone, just the two of us, as our gift to each other for our 30th birthdays this year. While Scott’s birthday was at the end of May and mine is in mid July, the only weekend between the two that would work for us happened to fall on Father’s Day weekend. Scott said he didn’t mind celebrating a week late and we figured the kids were young enough to not notice the difference, so away we went.
We dropped the kids off Friday afternoon at my in laws and headed for a short drive to our nation’s capital. First stop…Chick-Fil-A of course! (in my rush to pack the kids, the dog, Scott and me, and get myself primped and prettied, I ran out of time to fix lunch for the two of us).
We stayed at the Gaylord National right across the Potomac River from historic old down Alexandria, Va. The newly built hotel was luxurious! We enjoyed an evening on the waterfront on Friday and a day in D.C. on Saturday. We had so much fun!
We’ve both been fortunate enough to grow up close to the nation’s capital. We’ve seen the monuments and museums on numerous occasions. But we’ve found over the years that we appreciate them all the more as adults. We enjoy taking advantage of our proximity to the district. Saturday we spent some time walking around the capital, enjoying lunch at a local microbrewery, and then the afternoon at the art museum. Scott and I visited the National Gallery of Art for a field trip in High School, but haven’t returned since. We’ve been wanting to get back there, but it isn’t quite circus children proof! Can you just picture my little “artists” loose in there? No, thank you. This was a perfect date activity (and it’s even free)! We enjoyed talking about the paintings, picking which ones we’d want on our walls if we could.
It might surprise you to learn that Scott has a deep appreciation for modern art. He was particularly taken with this one.
This however, was the one we both liked the best of all we saw that day. Notice the painting within the painting? Anyone want to buy it for our living room?
I was taken with the Small French Paintings. I was particularly struck by the fact that I was standing right in front of a piece of art that the real Monet, or Matisse, or Degas painted many years ago. These weren’t prints. These were the real deal! The same artists I read about in school, some of the same prints I had studied, were there, right in front of my face! I am not an art connoisseur by any stretch. But I did have an appreciation for the beauty and history before my eyes.
After an afternoon with the art, we took a walk to the WW II Memorial. We’ve been wanting to visit it since it was built a few years ago, but hadn’t made it over that way. My favorite part was seeing a real WW II veteran walk through the memorial. Scott ran over to thank him. I wanted the whole place to give him a standing ovation. While I noticed he did get greeted a few times, sadly he went unnoticed by most of the visitors.
It was one of the most perfect days I’ve had with Scott in a long time. I am thankful to be married to my best friend and for the time we got to spend away together. However, I was very eager to see my children this morning! I missed them a lot!
I look forward this week to preparing some special things for Father’s Day next Sunday and the day we’ll spend as a family honoring Scott for the terrific Daddy he is! Some people march to the beat of their own drums, here at the circus we celebrate at the whim of our own calendar!
Just a heads up that we’ll be saving those weekend thoughts for next weekend. My husband and I are heading out the door for a weekend away and I’ve got no deep thoughts for you….other than thoughts of me and my hubby being whisked away for a weekend alone. But,I’ll be keeping those thoughts to myself, thankyouverymuch!
