family

Some Call it Crazy…

May 5, 2011

in baseball,family,home school,Motherhood,sidelines,soccer,sports

This spring I have 3 kids in sports. On 3 different teams. This in addition to the girls both taking gymnastics twice a week and Cub Scouts.

We are busy, busy, busy with games and practices most every night… some nights we’re even double booked.

Many people look at my schedule and call me crazy. Why do you do this to yourself?

The answer is, honestly, two fold.

1. We love it.

2. Believe it or not, it actually makes my life easier

If I had to drag my kids kicking and screaming to practice, I wouldn’t do it. It wouldn’t be worth it. But they love it. My third child wore cleats and shin guards last year to every one of her brother and sisters games and practices and all she did was sit on the sidelines. She was so eager to be out there that she dressed like them and practiced on her own off the field.

And truth be told, I love it too. I am that crazy mom with her hands in the air screaming at the top of her lungs as they dribble down the field or race to first base. I just love watching them play!

I admit it is often a challenge to shuffle four kids out the door at dinner time each day. Cleats? Water bottles? Uniform? Cup? I am constantly running through the check list as we make our way to the ~~taxi~~ minivan.

On a normal night, my husband gets home from work around 6-6:30. I don’t know what it is about the hours between 4-6, but some sort of odd transformation occurs in my kids during that time of day. It’s as if they have used up all ability to play nicely together. They turn needy and whiny and have very short leashes. I don’t know what it is about their Momma during that time of day, but she typically turns inpatient and needy and whiny during that time of day.

Being away from home during the “bewitching hours” makes our day run more smoothly. Because we are gone during dinner, I am forced to prep dinner earlier in the day. This saves me from trying to make dinner with a baby on my hip and world war III being fought in the living room.

The kids are out of the house, some what separated, and even have different people to play with. I have a chance to take a break and sit and chat with other adults. We come home, dinner is ready or mostly ready, we eat and the day is almost over.

Now, I am not going to lie… the occasional rainy day cancellation of practice is often met with a sigh of relief from me. I don’t mind the occasional lazy afternoon at home. But, in general, staying busy, oddly keeps us sane. I think the fact that we home school and we are home together all day is a huge reason why this both works for us and perhaps is more welcomed to us. If my kids were gone all day at school and I was having to cram dinner, practice, homework, and family time all into the 4 short hours between homecoming and bed, I would be a lot more bitter about our extra curricular activities.

I’ve really enjoyed getting to know other parents in the community during our years of playing baseball and soccer here. The kids have all made friends on their teams and now we are at the point where we’ve played long enough that they typically know someone on their team from previous years. Those whose turn it isn’t for practice are learning valuable “playground skills.” All this on top of all the valuable lessons they get by playing on a team and learning new skills… not to mention the exercise.

Some call me crazy, but truth be told, it just works for us.

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How Many Miles Can We Get Out of This? or Milking This One for ALL its Worth

February 1, 2011

in dinner conversations,family,family dinners,Motherhood

Some of you may remember my post last December (as in 2009) in which I shared one of Scott’s moments of sheer brilliance at the dinner table.

Well, I feel the need to tell you that 13 months later and my kids are STILL eating their vegetables to spite their Daddy. I am sure this says something of their character… for which we must spend some time rectifying, but meanwhile my mean spirited little children are eagerly gobbling up their vegetables.

I had no idea it would last this long. I thought for sure after a few weeks it would get old. My son quickly caught on to the game, even quietly telling Daddy one day he knows it’s just a game he plays to get them to eat their vegetables… and still he’ll play along. (much like Santa Claus)

The game is def best suited to my competitive second born. I have seen her literally gagging as she tries to down her vegetables just so she can show daddy “ha, ha I cleaned my plate… your not going to eat my ears!”

There are some vegetables they prefer to others and I am not saying every day they eat their veggies without complaint. But, over all this little game has been a huge hit at the circus. My 3 year old will request veggies at lunch so we can e-mail Daddy and let him know we ruined our ears and when I made pizza last time, my 4 year old came in and asked “What vegetable we were having to go with it?”

Sometimes it gets a bit old having the kids interrupting dinner multiple times to show Daddy their veggies in their mouths and sometimes Daddy will forget and say, “Good job!” when they show him their cleaned plate… and the kids will laugh and say, “Dad, remember, your supposed to say bad job b/c you don’t want us to ruin our ears!”

Just last night at dinner our friend said, “How long do you think this is going to last?” I have no idea… but I do know that it worked… my 6 yr old now genuinely likes broccoli and they are all much more willing to try out new vegetables.

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Some Presents Can’t Be Wrapped

December 29, 2010

in Christmas,cousins,family

A few moments from this weekend which I wish to savor…

1. My son presenting his gift to his extended family. (One nap time he came up excited to share that he had drawn a picture from each scene in Luke 2. On Christmas he gave one picture to each person. He then laid them all out on the floor and recited the story from memory.)

2. Prepping the Christmas Lasagnas with my daughter… it marked a milestone, in which she was truly helpful in the kitchen. She made one lasagna and I made the other!

3. Uncle Jim patiently spending time reading and playing with my kids. ( sooo good to have him here rather than skyping from Iraq like last year)

4. Cousins playing together…

5. Watching my brother play with my kids.

6. Spending the day with my nephew.

7. My sons first Christmas

I am so thankful for the memories shared this past weekend. They are worth far more to me than anything that could have been wrapped and put under our tree.

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The Hard Way

December 16, 2010

in Christmas,Christmas Tree,family,holidays,traditions

When cutting down a tree, much like when shopping for a dress, there seems to be an unwritten rule of conduct.

No matter how fabulous it looks, you simply can’t go with the first one you see.

One simply can’t drive to the farm, march down the aisle, and stop at the first decent looking spruce you see.

That would be far too easy.

Where would the fun be in that?

And what if an even better tree lies waiting around the corner and you miss out because you settled for that first tree? The easy tree. The one you could have posed for pictures in front of, cut down, took more pictures with, and paid for all while your toes and fingers were still warm.

No, the circus family is a lot of things… loud, crazy, traditional,

…but easy is not in our vocabulary.

We like to walk up and down every row. We find a good tree… even snap a few pictures in front of it, but then we second guess ourselves and send scouts back to that first tree. Is it better? The scouts never know so we leave someone at tree 2 while others go back to the easy tree. Inevitably during this back and forth, someone stumbles across a third option. What about this one?

At this point, we’re all quite ~~cold~~ frozen through and through and eagerly agree to whichever tree the majority of us are standing closest to.

We then set about the task of cutting down the tree.

(even the lil guy gets in on the action…never to young for a saw, we say)

By the time the tree is down and more pictures are snapped,

some of us are more excited than others.

Some are just cold and ready to get back in the toasty van.

“Seriously, why couldn’t Mom and Dad have just agreed to the first tree? Why do they always have to make things so difficult?”

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Aren’t They Great?

October 28, 2010

in family

I didn’t really know my great grandparents. All but one had passed away before I was born and my GG died when I was 2. I have one fleeting memory of her sitting in a chair in my grandparents dining room, but the rest I get from stories and pictures.

October could have been deemed “Great Grandparent Month” at the circus. My children are so blessed to have 4 living great grandparents in their lives today. We got to spend some special time with each of the great grandparents this month and I am so very thankful that for the memories we made.

At the beginning of the month, Scott’s Nana flew out from CA to spend the week in Annapolis. Many, many wonderful memories were made while she was in town.

Later in the month, we went to PA to spend the weekend with my family. We enjoyed an evening of playing with bubbles at my Mema and Pap’s house.

At the end of the month, we had Scott’s grandpa over to celebrate his birthday. We enjoyed cake and ice cream with him as well as time spent reading, playing Uno, and sitting on his lap.

I can’t say enough how grateful I am for each one of these grand parents. I love them dearly and am so thankful my children are blessed to have them in their lives.

{ 4 comments }

A Date with Dad

October 25, 2010

in family,football,traditions

I got my love of sports from my dad. I can remember watching Pirates games at 5 when he was out of town, just to make me feel closer to him. In high school, my dad would take me to Penn State Football games to watch my cousin play in the Blue Band. I think my dad made sure that we attended every kind of professional sporting event at least once. He took us to Orioles games, a Capitals game, a Bullets game and once we even attended a preseason Redskins/Steelers game. While most kids were learning their states and capitals, my dad was quizzing me on cities and sports team. He’d name a city and I’d name the professional football and baseball teams from that city.

I saw a baby bib this weekend that said, “I was born a Steelers fan.” Though I am bit big for a bib, this most definitely describes me.

Dad taught me lots about sports, but without a doubt, my love for the Steelers is the biggest sports heritage he passed on to me. Even though I was raised in the Baltimore area, there was no doubt, no question who our family routed for. I can remember Dad telling me about Jerome Bettis “See that guy there, number 36… they call him the Bus b/c when people try to tackle him he just keeps running, taking them with him for the ride.”

When my family moved back to PA and I transferred to Grove City College, I was finally able to watch the Steelers weekly. I’d leave the lunch hall early on Sun afternoon to go up to my room and cheer for my boys in black and gold. Then Dad and I would discuss the game on the phone afterwards.

When Scott and I married and moved to MD, my dad would tape the Steelers game for us and mail us the VHS tapes to watch… for a few seasons Wednesday nights were football nights at our house. We’d always try to schedule a few trips to my parents in the fall so we could watch the games with my folks. New traditions were formed as we started meeting them in Ligonier in August to watch the team at training camp. My parents also make sure to keep my kids dressed in Steelers apparel each season.

So, for Christmas last year Scott and I gave my dad a “gift certificate” of sorts. We gave him the promise of a father/daughter date in the 2010 season to watch a game at Grill 36 (Jerome Bettis’ bar and grill) right across from Heinz Field in Pittsburgh.

This weekend, the circus fam headed to PA to make good on that promise.

I don’t often get much one on one time with my dad. Typically the kids are vying for Grandma and Papa’s attention when we get together and if I do occasionally sneak off for some one on one time with a parents, it is usually my mom.

This Sunday dad and I left after church to head into the city. We enjoyed the pregame show and then an all to close Steelers victory (we one by one point). Grill 36 is an incredible atmosphere to watch a Steelers game. The place was packed with Steelers fans. They had 48 tvs all showing the Steelers game. They would blare music over the speakers during commercial breaks much like at a game and when the Steelers got a touch down the place would go wild! It felt a lot like being at a game.

To be honest, perhaps it wasn’t the most fair gift to give my dad. Because I enjoyed the time together, just as much, if not more than my dad. In a lot of ways, it was a gift to myself as well. Watching the Steelers play in that atmosphere was was a ton of fun; watching it with my dad, was priceless! Thanks dad for not only sharing your love of Steelers football with me, but for sharing your Christmas gift as well.

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