The other day my son told me he wanted to make all of us breakfast the next morning.
The only problem with this very sweet gesture was that it was the end of the month and we were at the “creative” stage of the month/meal plan.
Bread? No
Milk? No
Cereal? No
Not much available for a 5 yr old to fix, so I convinced him to wait till after I went grocery shopping on Monday.
Tuesday morning we woke, and stayed in bed per his request (didn’t really take much convincing since we aren’t exactly early risers).
A little after 7 we saw him race down the hallway (like a child on Christmas morning).
I had poured milk and orange juice into glasses the night before (per his request) so that he could do it himself. He ran to the bedroom once to have me open the jelly (without looking). And then when he was almost ready, we peeked around the corner and saw this.
“toast for Daddy”
don’t forget the cereal Dad. (brimming with milk)
He made Mommy chocolate Ovaltine
He even made both girls their breakfast as well.
When I asked him what prompted this gesture of love, he told me that they talked the other day at his tutorial about how if your mom was sick, you could help her out by making breakfast for her. He said, “I thought, why wait till your sick to do it!”
Scott had a meeting he had to rush to get to at work, and we had schoolwork to get done before a well check up at the pediatrician’s office and our field trip that afternoon.
But we sat and waited while he jellied our toast, poured our cereal, and stirred our milk. 
And as I watched him serve with joy and excitement, I was reminded of the privilege it is to serve one’s family.
May we always find it a joy to serve.
I know that many think Valentine’s day is just a day created by Hallmark. Others think it’s a cheesy holiday for saps. Say what you will, I’ll jump at a chance for a date night with my hubby. And I don’t mind a sweet card and some cinnamon heart candy either.
But, after having kids, Scott and I found it rather difficult to go out for Valentine’s day. Since we don’t hire babysitters, we typically rely on friends or grandparents for babysitting and you can’t ask another couple to babysit for you on Valentine’s Day. So, for a few years we just did an in home date night after putting the little one (and then ones) to bed.
But, then one year we got an idea that we both LOVED and a tradition was born.
We decided to celebrate Valentine’s day on the 7th instead of the 14th. This way, we weren’t asking anyone to skip out on their own Valentine’s plans. And the best part is, it also frees us up to babysit for a friend so that they can go out on Valentine’s day. We love it!
This year we babysat for our very dear friends. Since we had 5 young ones at our house on Valentine’s night, we decided to throw them their own party. We had heart shaped meatballs and spaghetti for dinner.
Then we did a fun painting craft after dinner. I asked the kids their favorite craft and they told me painting. So, I found these wooden hearts at Michael’s for $1 each. Throw in some acrylic paint and some old tee shirts and we were set for fun!
We topped the evening off with a heart shaped cake. (check out the recipe here…it was so fun to make). Mental note: need 2 tubs of icing next time!
Unfortunately, we weren’t able to go out on the 7th due to one of our many snowstorms this month. But, we do have plans to go out tonight and I am greatly looking forward to a nice evening out with my man!
Celebrating Valentine’s day, not on Valentine’s day so that we can babysit for our friends is a tradition that totally works for us. Visit here or here for more fun picture posts!
We’ve been recording the Olympics and then watching portions of it the following evening with our kids. I have loved their enthusiasm for the events. They wave their American flags and pound their fists in their air chanting, “Go USA, GO USA, GO USA!” My son has had lots of questions about the countries and flags and which ones are our friends. We’ve had many teachable moments to discuss hard work, practice, and never giving up. And I couldn’t help myself, I teared up when Alexandre Bilodeau became the first Canadian to win Olympic gold on home soil and got chills when China’s Shen and Zhao won a gold after 18 years of skating together. But my favorite Olympic moment thus far this year was watching my girls imitate the figure skaters.
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?
Thought you might enjoy a little simple math to recap the week here at the circus.
Add together the following totals….
- 2 major snowstorms
- 33 inches of snow fallen
- 1 official blizzard
- 20 cups of hot chocolate drank
- 2 types of cookies baked
- 1 Daddy sized igloo built
- 0 power outages
- 1 sleepover with our cousin
- 1 awesome aunt snowed in with us
- countless icicles growing
= Memories to last a lifetime!!
This morning I woke to sounds of my daughter coughing…I stumbled into her room to comfort her and set up her nebulizer, thinking to myself that at least I had gotten 2 hours of uninterrupted sleep. Then my eyes focused a bit more and I took a second look at the clock. It was 6:15, not 1:15!
We slept through the night! I felt much like a new mom the morning after her baby makes it all night without a feeling! Instantly rejuvenated with the mere knowledge that I had a full night of sleep!
More exciting that a full night of rest was the realization that the girls had made it through the night without any major coughing episodes. My middle child, who struggles with asthma and was diagnosed with pneumonia yesterday (that’s right she tackled stitches and pneumonia in the same week) had gone 11 hrs without needing a breathing treatment! As I put the medicine in her nebulizer and set her up, I couldn’t wait to e-mail Scott and tell him our good news. Scott’s been away on a business trip for the past few days, sadly leaving me alone for the long nights of sickness.
But God is so good. I have truly felt the prayers of friends and family who prayed for healing and stamina and strength. And today, I am focusing on the many, many things I have to give thanks for this Thursday morning.
- a good night of sleep for all of us
- Scott comes home today
- good doctors
- medicine
- drive thru pharmacies
- the fact that we’ve been able to manage my daughter’s asthma this sickness without her having an asthma attack or needing to use the strong medicine reserved for when she’s really struggling
- our cell phone which allows Scott to make and e-mail little video greetings to the kids—they love these and watch them over and over, making the separation much easier
- our cell phone which allows me to e-mail and call Scott to keep him filled in on the events at home—making the separation much easier
- did I mention Daddy comes home today??
- for the first time in 4 days, both girls woke with no temperatures!
- for the first time in 4 days the girls slept through the night
- God’s strength and stamina
- the fact that I wasn’t sick this week and having to care for sick kids while feeling sick
- the baby I feel kicking around in my belly
- the fact that my son wasn’t sick this week as well
Today, I feel blessed and cared for and so thankful. Sure we still have some “cough-es” as the girls call them and my youngest is still quite drippy and a tad whiny, but, we are on the mend… rounding a corner here at the circus. And I praise God for His care for us this week. With all that is going on in the world, the fact that our creator God cares about me and my little family is overwhelming and I just have to say thanks.
Psalm 100:4
Enter his gates with thanksgiving
and his courts with praise;
give thanks to him and praise his name.
We have had a wonderful couple of days here at the circus celebrating Jesus’ birthday. We decided to spread the celebrating out over several days rather than cram it all into one day. On Christmas Eve we went to the Children’s service at our church at 4:30. Then we went to Boston Market for our now traditional Christmas Eve dinner before heading back to church for the candlelight service at 6:30. We then went home to change into our Christmas pj’s, read Luke 2, put up our advent calendar piece, and leave cookies and milk for Santa. Christmas morning we had both sets of grandparents here, Great Grandpa, Aunt Karen and baby Eli. The kids were up a little after 7 and the revelry began shortly after. We took our time opening presents and enjoying our time together. We then had a pot luck brunch followed by more playtime. On the 26th the gang all came back for a more formal Christmas dinner followed by birthday cake and ice cream for baby Jesus and some game playing with Aunt Karen’s Wii. I really appreciated getting to spread the celebration out over several days rather than try to rush it and cram it all in on one day. I am also so thankful for our extended family. It’s now Sunday night and I am looking forward to having Scott home for the entire week. We hope to enjoy some great family time as well as tackle some projects around the house.
Hope you all had a wonderful and merry Christmas!
Nothing like a good 18+ inches of snow to provide for some family fun and a few photo opps as well. 
The kids had even more fun on day two than they did on day one. I think it was warmer out, which helped the girls significantly. And even after my 3 year old turned on the outside spicket and sprayed herself with water (oh, yes, she did) she still stayed and played till the bitter end. I am now convinced those snow pants are a valuable commodity for snow play. The neighbor kids were out as well and in addition to shoveling out the driveway and cars, they also made sledding ramps and igloos. We attempted a snowman, but the snow really wasn’t packing snow, so it wasn’t quite as glamorous as we had hoped for. Still a good time was had by all.
I know I posted this picture yesterday, but Scott pointed out that it would look better cropped… man, was he right… this one is def one that I will printing off and hanging on the wall.
She did not want to leave this igloo, she just kept sitting in there and smiling from ear to ear. She LOVED it!
What is it about snowstorms that bring about this overwhelming desire to bake? We’d had cookies, cinnamon rolls, home made pizza…I am pretty sure this snowstorm will bring an added 5 lbs to us all and it well take much longer for it to melt off than the snow will!!
This weekend was a delight from start to finish and I am so grateful for the precious memories made and the time enjoyed with my family.
Let it Snow, Let it Snow, Let it Snow!!!
Growing up and living in the midAtlantic region means that snow is something we are familiar with, but we don’t encounter on a regular basis. It’s not like we’re living in Houston and a dusting of snow occurs once a decade. But, it also isn’t unreasonable that I don’t go out and purchase snow suits for my kids every winter either.
We can typically anticipate seeing snowfall at least once a year. It may be an inch or a dusting, but at least the kids all know what the white stuff is. More often than not we get ice.
Growing up Scott and I can recall watching the news and listening to forecasts hoping and praying for a snow storm, while most of the time the storm would seem to hit all around our surrounding area and leave us with rain.
But, every now and then, when everything lines up perfectly, we’ll get dumped with a good snow storm. Last time it happened was in Feb of 2003. Scott and I were flying to Ca to visit his sick Grandpa while the Baltimore Metropolitan Area was getting covered in a foot of snow. I remember being so bummed that we were missing out on all the excitement.
This time however, we are present for all the excitement.
And exciting it is!
We had planned to take the kids to Hersheypark today to enjoy the Christmas Candyland. But instead, God blessed us with a winter wonderland, right here in our own back yard.
The snow started last night around 10pm and it hasn’t stopped yet! The weather men are saying we could see 15-20 inches of snow here. It is a record breaking snowfall for December in our area. And 6 days before Christmas, it’s like a winter wonderland. I really can’t think of anything more magical. I fell asleep with the blinds open watching the flakes fall peacefully from the sky and woke to sounds of delight from my three children as they looked out their windows.
After a filling breakfast of Daddy Omelet’s, we donned our winter gear and headed out to enjoy the white stuff.
My youngest enjoyed it the least. She found it fun for awhile, but once her hands soaked through the wool gloves she was ready to come inside and bake cookies with mommy.
My middle child doesn’t enjoy being cold and typically bails out first on winter weather activities. Today however, she held in there pretty well.
My son would have gladly turned into a snow man. He was the first to get dressed, dressing in at least 5 shirts and two pants. Despite the fact that he didn’t have any snow pants, he was out playing in the backyard before the girls were even dressed and never complained once about being cold. 
He truly loved playing in the snow and I am confident is going to be enjoying himself quite a bit over the next few days.
I am so thankful for this winter wonderland God gave for us to play in. I am thankful it fell on Saturday and we had no place we had to be. I am thankful for unplanned weekend at home with which to play, bake, and enjoy time together as a family. I am also thankful for a warm place to come inside. We can go outside and play for a little bit and then come inside, put our clothes in the dryer, change into something dry and warm, sip hot chocolate and watch the rest of the storm from our windows. As we sit down at the table to enjoy yummy treats, I can’t help but think of those who have no place to go and get respite from the storm. For those who see today as a test of survival, rather than a day of play.
This weekend my thoughts are all on snow. The fun and joy it brings and the reminder of my great fortune as well.
What are you thinking about this snowy Saturday?
What are you thinking about this week? 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 “thoughtful” post below. You can write a new post or link up one you wrote earlier in the week. Please include a link back to here in your post.
What a full and festive weekend we had here at the circus! Friday night Scott and I got all dressed up for a fun and fancy Christmas party! We got to enjoy tasty appetizers, holiday drinks, and the opportunity to sit and chat with old friends. A super way to start the weekend. (Though the baby did not like the cheese dip I ate too much of and I paid for that with an upset stomach later that night).
Saturday we went to my in-laws to watch the Army/Navy game. My FIL is a Naval Academy grad and my brother in law is serving in the Army in Iraq. We route for Navy out of our devotion to Pop, but totally understand why baby Eli cheers for Army to support his Daddy. Then Pop, Aunt Karen, and baby Eli joined us in downtown Annapolis to watch the boat light parade and fireworks display. A good time was had by all, though my youngest does not like the fireworks. The noise scares her and she has found the best way to deal with this is to bury her head in our arms and not look. Somehow not looking at them makes it all better.
Sunday was a much needed low key day. We had church in the morning and a very leisurely Sunday afternoon. Naps, followed by a Christmas cartoon, followed by decorating our gingerbread house. After the kids went to bed, Scott and I topped off the relaxing day with a quiet dinner of grilled steaks and watching The Nativity story.
A perfect weekend from start to finish!
