Juggling my roles as wife, homemaker, and mother of four
I’ve seen various posts every now and then linked up to I Heart faces weekly photo contests. And I’ve thought about entering, but then never did. When I heard the theme this week was “I Wanna Dance” I knew I had to link up a picture from our impromptu New Years Eve dance party in our living room. The hardest part for me, was picking which picture. Hope I made the right choice.
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We knew this day was coming for awhile now. In fact, it got pushed back at least twice. But, sadly, the inevitable could not be avoided…after spending 10 weeks on the east coast, aunt Karen and baby Eli headed back to Texas this morning.
We have had a blast having them close for so long. It’s been so fun to “pretend” they were local and see them casually for dinners, or at church, or for an overnight every now and then. We’ve truly lived it up during our time together. We attended the parade of lights in downtown Annapolis, we took a road trip to visit our mutual blogging friend, Happy, (4 kids and 2 moms on a 5 hr road trip…that was a slew of memories in and of itself), we had a girls night out, Scott and Karen relived their children and played numerous games of Dr Mario on her Wii, had an impromptu dance party, and played in the snow. She taught my son to play solitaire and she downloaded kid friendly apps to her smart phone for all of them to play. She cut the girls hair and sewed me a chair cover and just lived life with us for the past few months. She even shared some of her precious Skype time so the kids could talk to Uncle Jim in Iraq. We had fun going to events together and fun just shopping at Target together. It confirmed to me all the more what I have known for years. Karen is more to me than just a sister in law. She is one of my best friends and I think of her truly as a sister. She is also one fantabulous aunt and I hope I can have the same kind of relationship that she has with my kids, with hers. 
Then of course there is Eli. Eli is adored in our house. And for very good reason. He is such a cute, animated, happy, and content little baby. And we can’t get enough of him! When he enters the room there are always three very eager and attentive kids in his face, wanting to share toys, hugs, and love. And he puts up with it so well. They even made up a song for him during our 5 hr car ride. “Eli, Eli, don’t you know your Eli. Eli, Eli, God Loves you.” I’m sure it will be hit single shortly. It already is at the circus.
I have truly enjoyed watching him grow and change over the past few months and am so sad I will miss out on the subtle changes of his growing up, now that he is back home.
Last night when I told the kids it was time to say good bye,
“like a long goodbye” to aunt Karen and Eli, no one wanted to. My youngest in all of her 2 yr old logic decided that if she just didn’t say goodbye than they wouldn’t leave. Sadly, that plan wasn’t all that sound and she finally gave them a sorrowful parting hug.
Thank you Aunt Karen and Eli for sharing life with us over the past few months. We have treasured our times together and are already eager for your return! Why does Texas have to be so far apart from MD?
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Thought you might enjoy a little simple math to recap the week here at the circus.
Add together the following totals….
= Memories to last a lifetime!!
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Took the kids for a walk to the park. Nothing exceptional about that, except I realized when looking through pictures that exactly 2 years before I had done the same thing.
We were compelled to go because of the exceptional weather.
Funny how life repeats itself.
Only it doesn’t.
2 years ago, we didn’t wear jackets.
In fact, if you look close… some of us weren’t even wearing shoes.
This time, however, we were all able to walk on our own. And we thought jackets were a good idea.
2 years ago I was a little more lax about letting them get near the water.
The difference between then and now is kind of funny.
Same date, same month, same state, same park…very different extremes. 
(Click to make me bigger)
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If your from the midatlantic region (as most of my readers are, b/c I think most of my readers stalk me from facebook) then you have probably seen and read and heard all you want about snow this past week.
Seriously, I have scrolled through and looked at gazillions of pictures of face book friends back decks overflowing with snow and seen kids waste high in it, which is kind of funny since I can look out my own windows and see the very same images.
And if you aren’t from around here, then you may not have a clue what’s going on. Because I’ll be honest… I don’t know what the weather in FL or Idaho or CA is doing right now.
As I mentioned before, we’ve had a crazy winter. 2 MAJOR snowstorms in one winter… a true anomaly here with another blizzard warning issued for tomorrow.
For real? Another 6-20 (depending on which site you go to) on top of the almost 2 feet I have sitting out in my yard!!!! 
And I thought rather than share with you more pictures of my kids trudging through mounds and mounds of snow (as I am sure I will have for you tomorrow) I thought I’d come clean and share my real thoughts on this upcoming snowstorm.
eh
Care to stroll with me down memory lane and track my attitude regarding this historic winter wonderland we’re experiencing?
When the first storm came in December… I was all, “this is so magical, right before Christmas” play the Christmas music, bake cookies, make cinnamon rolls, lament we don’t have a fireplace… I am LOVING LIFE!!! This is great! I love being snowed in with my family. This is romantic and old fashioned and right out of a book. Remember my posts and my pictures just oozing with holiday joy and exuberance?
2 months later, forecasters are saying we’re going to get hit with another storm. This time on the day we had planned to have my daughter’s 4th birthday party. Insert slight stress. Do we postpone the party? Is it really going to hit? What do I do? Why this weekend? Why not last weekend or next weekend? Ugh… what do I do? Check accuweather….. 2 hrs later… check accuweather again… finally decide to post pone her party 1 week. Second guess if we made the right call. Check accuweather again… YUP, snow is coming… def made the right call. My attitude then became, “Well, since we already cancelled and there is no turning back, this better be a good storm… I am ready to embrace it!” Stock up on food, bake cookies… this is going to be fun!!! Wait…. what if we lose power? That is not fun… so I fill tubs with water for flushing toilets, make sure we have gallons of drinking water and a pot of water on the stove for cooking, make sure the dishes are all caught up and we have paper plates…. Scott tries to get our generator working. Still about 80% excited with 20% fearful that we’ll lose power… losing power in my mind takes all the fun and joy out of a blizzard.
We don’t lose power. Hooray!! Go outside, take lots of pics…. talk to neighbors, drink lots of hot chocolate…. life is good.
Then Monday comes and Scott goes back to work and we go back to school. (advantage/disadvantage of homeschooling…. depending on how you look at it) There is still snow outside but honestly, it is now much less romantic. With Scott at work, I have no desire to bundle up three kids and take them outside. So, in my D- momness… we stay inside. Because they didn’t ask, so I figured, eh why push them? I know, I know… I am a bad mom. But they were happy inside. For some reason beyond my comprehension they have been wearing their bathing suits every day this week and pretending to swim in the living room. Yesterday they were burying each other under pillows and rescuing one another and then doctoring each other up. They played nicely for HOURS…. why would I interrupt that so we could get cold and wet, if I didn’t have to? Really, why? Won’t the snow still be there tomorrow?
Yup…. snow still here….. and guess what? Now they are calling for anywhere between 6-12 and 10-20 more inches of snow between tonight and tomorrow.
And now…now, I am much less excited.
Because Scott still doesn’t think his work will be closed. (times like these I wish he was a gov’t employee) and now I am afraid again of losing power…something about high winds and blizzard like conditions…. and it’s not a weekend…. and well, we’ve had fun in the snow. But, really, I enjoy snow the most from my kitchen window while baking chocolate chip cookies and sipping hot cocoa.
There it is, the cold, harsh truth.
I am not a snow bunny. Nor am I a super mom.
And while I have no desire to be a snow bunny, I do aspire to make wonderful memories with my family.
So……. even though I am much less excited about this forecast, and even though I am faking it a little, I am still going to do my best to embrace this next round of winter weather. Aunt Karen and Eli have not gone back to Texas yet, so we invited them over tonight to get snowed in with us. I am going to make home made pizza for dinner tonight and after nap time today we’re going out in the front yard to play for a bit in the snow. I plan to have cinnamon rolls ready for breakfast tomorrow and I think we’re going to bake snowman/snowflake sugar cookies tomorrow (since we just had a batch of chocolate chip cookies this weekend and decorating sugar cookies is one of my kids favorite things to do). Before I go to sleep tonight I will fill the tubs with water and make sure the dishes are clean. I am sure we’ll take more pics tomorrow of the crazy amounts of snow in our yard and Scott will once again shovel out a spot for our cars in the driveway either before he goes to work or after he gets home.
But, I thought that before I post that next batch of winter fun pictures, I should come clean and tell you that while we are enjoying this winter wonderland…. there is still part of me that, well, isn’t as giddy as I once was. And I strive to keep it real here folks.
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Mary has created a carnival to help us record those funny and precious things our kids say, so we’ll remember them in years to come. Some weeks I’ve got nothing…this week, however, my kids gave me a few gems I don’t want to forget.
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Last week my five year old and I were working on handwriting. Handwriting is often a battlefield for us. This particular day I knew he wasn’t giving it his all and I wasn’t seeing his best work. I told him he needed to do his best and reminded him that his tutor would be looking at it the next time he goes his class. His response, “What? I thought this was just a scrimmage!”
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I have a thing for those red hot candies at Valentine’s day. Seriously, could eat em by the handful for hours. And I was having a hard time waiting till nap time to sneak them so my kids caught me and thus, I had to share. When my son had his first taste of a red hot he described it as tasting “like Michael’s smells at Christmas time!” I just loved his description and his simile.
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And don’t forget my post on Friday when my 4 yr old told me she doesn’t believe there is a baby in my belly.
I love my life at the circus and the endless source of smiles and laughs my children give to me.
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My roles as wife, homemaker and mother of 4 feel much like a circus with 3 rings constantly vying for my attention. Life is often chaotic but I'm loving every minute and wouldn't want it any other way. Sit back, relax and enjoy the show. I won't let you miss a thing.
Visits Since April 2008
