Circus Dad

Looking Out My Back Window

May 21, 2012

in Circus Dad,deja vu,lawn

I glanced out my back window on Saturday and saw this

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Only,  I didn’t just see this precious moment in time, but simultaneously, my mind flashed back to several other similar moments over the past 5 years….

September 2009

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August 2008

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And, April 2007

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One can’t help but notice a few things when observing these father/child bonding moments in the back yard.

1.  Believe it or not Scott, we’ve been VERY successful in growing grass in our backyard these past 5 years!  Look at the dirt our son is mowing back in 2007!

2.  While the girls seem to prefer following close in step to Dad while mowing, both sons take a “I’ll take this section, you take that one Dad” approach to the lawn mowing duties. 

Love those sweet moments of repetition… passages of time that remind you that while so many things change, some things stay the same. 

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An Unexpected Treat

April 4, 2012

in Circus Dad,family

March was a rough month at the circus.  Scott had some deadlines at work which meant he worked a lot of overtime.  This happens with his work and we’ve all learned to roll with it, but that doesn’t mean that the long days don’t eventually start to take their toll. 

On all of us

Which is why it’s been so great the last 2 weeks having Scott around more often.  Last Monday he left work at 2 to go to DC with us, on Friday he got home at 5:30 (to which my oldest son asked, “Dad did you take vacation time to get home this early?”), Monday he was home by 5 and Tuesday he took the whole day off! 

He had to use vacation time to do this, but after the many, many late nights in March, we all felt it a good use of vacation time to have him home.  Especially since we’re on spring break this week. 

parkYesterday after the kids woke up and were snuggling on the couch, he made a few phone calls and announced that he wasn’t going to work that day.  He just hung out with us all day… it was so fun and random… he watched the NCAA play off game which we had recorded for our son Monday night, with the kids.  Then he helped tackle a project that I’ve really been wanting done around the house.  Smile  We took the kids to the park for a picnic lunch.  He got to watch the girls gymnastics class- always a treat and we topped the day off with dinner at one of our favorite pizza places. 

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I am not a girl who typically enjoys surprises.  I am a planner and greatly enjoy the anticipation of an event.  But, I gotta tell you, having my hubby home on a random, unexpected Tuesday, was PURE BLISS! 

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DATE DAY

February 22, 2012

in Aunt Karen,Circus Dad,dates,family,Motherhood

While we didn’t plan it like this at first, Sunday ended up being date day for each of our 4 kids.   Each child ended up with some one on one time with either mom, dad, or Aunt Karen.  Good times had by all!

One of the duties of our church deacons is to unlock the church on Sunday mornings.  When Scott became a deacon 3 years ago, he started taking one child with him on his deacon duty mornings.  This served a dual or maybe even triple purpose.  1.  it got him some one on one time with one of the kids  2.daddy deacon date  it allowed the kids to participate in serving the church alongside him  (rather than serving at church being something that took Daddy away from the fam) and 3.  it left me with one left kid to get ready for church Sunday morning.    The kids LOVE when it is their turn for deacon duty with Daddy.  They love unlocking their SS classrooms, turning on the lights, and turning on the heat in each room.  They also enjoy watching the worship team practice and probably most of all, they love having Daddy to themselves for a few hours on Sunday morning.    This Sunday it was our 4 year olds turn and her face lit up when Daddy asked her on her date.  (they also LOVE getting to ride in Daddy’s car and put the windows down!)

This Sunday after church Aunt Karen took our 6 year old out for a belated birthdayaunt karen date date at the mall.   They went to lunch, went shopping for a new pair of earrings, and even got some dessert afterwards.  She was so excited the night before when Aunt Karen told her to wear something nice and they would go to the mall to pick out her birthday gift.  I was so excited that they were able to have some one on one time together.  I love that Aunt Karen wants to take an active role in my kids lives. 

Meanwhile…since we already had 2 cars at church, I took our oldest son out tstarbucks cub scout dateo Starbucks for a Mother/Son Cub Scout date.  He only had a few more requirements left to complete in order to earn his Wolf Badge.  These involved discussing a few hypothetical situations and how he would and should respond in each scenario.  I thought it might be more fun to complete the questions on a Starbucks date…things didn’t work out the evening I planned to go out with him and the banquet is next weekend, so Sunday afternoon was a must!   After our trip to Starbucks, we visited the library to pick out some more books for him to read.  A perfect afternoon date if you ask me!

Every Sunday evening is Daddy date time for our youIMG_2098ngest.  I take the older three to evening church for catechism class.  Since I teach one of the classes, I stay there with them.  This affords Scott some rare one on one time with the lil guy.  Scott has always appreciated this time on Sunday evenings…. when I first started 4 years ago it was his Daddy/girl time while the oldest and I went to class.  He really does treasure a few hours on Sunday evening to play with the youngest of the crew while everyone else is away. 

We don’t have a set schedule for who gets one on one time with whom when.  It doesn’t happen on a set rotation each month.  (other than keeping track of who is up next for deacon duty) But, when we can we try to seize the opportunity for a little one on one time with each kid… to see their personalities apart from the rest, to listen to just them, and to foster our relationships with them as individuals.  This Sunday was a rare opportunity for each child to enjoy some time in the lime light. 

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A Daddy/Daughter Date…

December 17, 2011

in american girl doll,Circus Dad,dates,field trip

photo (7)Scott took a vacation day on Thursday so he could spend the day with our oldest daughter.  First they went with the other kids in her Kindergarten class to see a performance of The Night Before Christmas.   Apparently the sets were gorgeous and the play was very well done.  Such a treat to go to a live theatre AND to get to see it with her school friends and Dad.  I think it was also a treat for Dad to get to see her with her school friends, it’s an aspect of her life that he doesn’t get to see very often. 

Then it was out to lunch at the American Girl doll store (or the Molly store as she called it to me when she was describing later that day).  

(OK so we don’t have American Girl dolls here yet… but we did work things out so that she she could borrow one for lunch that day, since she didn’t have one of her own.)

She was quite excited to discover they both had brown hair and glasses.

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and they both were wearing the same shoes…

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Filling up Molly’s cup so she could offer her a sip

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From what I gathered, Scott was the best Daddy ever… totally engaging Molly and hamming up the whole event for our daughter.  In fact, later that day, he even called Molly on his cell phone b/c she had one more question for her. 

IMG_9328I don’t know all that they discussed in their lunch together.  But, I do know that they enjoyed each other and that’s what’s important.  In a family with 4 kids, one on one time between a parent and child, is a rare and treasured gift. 

 

 

 

My heart kept smiling all day as he’d send me little text messages with pictures of their time together. 

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I think they both truly enjoyed their time together and made some memories which they’ll both cherish for a long time coming. 

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The Tooth Fairy Is Working Overtime at the Circus

December 12, 2011

in Circus Dad,losing teeth,tooth fairy

Since my oldest lost his first tooth, last spring, the tooth fairy has made 4 more visits to the circus.  And judging by the giant front tooth dangling from my oldest sons top row, I think she’ll be back again this week!

IMG_7955As you may recall, we pulled my son’s first tooth in a very unconventional manner.  His second tooth was pulled the normal way by dad.  For his third tooth, he was very eager to pull it himself when his grandparents were here, so they could see.  Though he tried, it became painfully obvious that it wasn’t quite ready.  So Grandpa and Grandma had to head home before the fanfare.

Which is probably a good thing, b/c it ended up falling out that night when his 5 yr old sister smacked him in the face.  This was meant with tears not over the pain but the fact that during this altercation the tooth was either launched into the disaster zone that is our van or it was swallowed… in either case, it was never to be seen again.

A few weeks later our 5 year old started proclaiming that her tooth was wiggly.  I must confess at first I didn’t give it much thought… thinking she was exaggerating… but upon further investigation, I realized not only was it loose, but the new adult tooth was coming in already behind it (Yes… I see a very large orthodontic bill looming in our future).

Well, the only question left to ask, was how was Daddy going to pull this one?  Would it be another light saber dual?

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Nope… she decided she wanted to tie it to the bathroom door and then slam the door open to pull it.

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This method proved quite effective… but she wasn’t prepared for it to hurt or bleed, so there was a little shell shock at first.  (which she got over rather quickly)

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Here are my two sweet gap toothed grins.  Oh how I could just eat them up!

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For her second tooth, Daddy suggested tying it to the ceiling fan and then jumping off of a chair.

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At first she was on board with this plan, but then came up with an idea of her own…

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She wanted Daddy to tie her tooth to the spring of her umbrella and when she opened up her umbrella her tooth would fly out.   IMG_8979

However, she dropped the umbrella before popping it open and the tooth popped out early!

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She didn’t mind though… now she’s missing 2 front teeth!!  And I propose she sings the classic song for us this Christmas!  (How do you pull teeth at your house?)

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Role Play

November 1, 2011

in Circus Dad,Circus Shots,Disney,growing up,Halloween,holidays

Our oldest daughter had a little fun getting into her character for Halloween.  When posing for pictures in their costumes, she decided to  fully act out the part of Snow White.

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I think my favorite part of the reenactment was when she asked us to take her picture sleeping with the apple. "Skip the ol posing by the door with the trick or treat basket, we’ll go for playing dead on the floor with an apple.”

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Then she was awakened with a kiss from her prince.

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“Thanks Dad for being my prince,” she exclaimed.

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Oh sweet girl, there’s nothing he’d like more than to be your prince forever.

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Excuse me while I go blubber in the corner as I think about this picture one day popping up on the screen during a video montage at her rehearsal dinner… can’t you just stay our little girl forever? 

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