Its Thursday again and time for me to go into that box in the closet under the stairs and find another picture that didn’t make it into a photo album. I found a classic that is truly timely. This is a picture of me opening gifts on my 13th birthday (I think, might be 12). Can’t tell what I am unwrapping, but my brother behind me is definitely interested. Like my dangling shell earrings?

I just couldn’t resist sharing these pics from our recent trip to the beach. For more Wordless Wednesday’s, visit 5 Minutes for Mom.

When my oldest daughter was born my son wanted to get her this musical turtle he saw at Target for her crib. Every time we went to Target he would push the buttons to make it play music and he would ask if he could get it for his sister. We didn’t think it was necessary. He was still insistent about it when our third child was born so we decided to let him get it for his sister for Christmas.

Kids like buttons. At least ours do. Our son was the first addict. We could keep him happy quiet for long periods of time by giving him the TV remote (with the TV off) and letting him just pound away. Him being the first, we were always careful when he got the phone. Wouldn’t want him to call someone unintentionally and have someone listening to uncensored Life at the Circus. He never really called anyone though, because life with one isn’t quite a circus, he just hit buttons.

Isn’t this a great picture? It’s just a down to earth action shot of us all eating dinner. It’s me and my one, two, three, four?, five?…. wait a minute, that’s too many. Your right, I only have three kids but we gained two new members to our circus cast this weekend as we watched the children of our very good friends while they went away for their anniversary. I got to experience life with 5 under 4 for a day and overnight!

You know I’ve complained before about having nothing to eat. I posted a picture of my fridge and said it was “the end of the world as we know it." But the truth is, I know nothing about going hungry. When I look at my fridge and complain about making dinner, there are millions of mothers who would look at the contents and shout with joy. I can’t even begin to imagine the heartache of watching my baby go hungry.

My son really took an interest in golfing this weekend while watching my husband follow the U.S. Open. My husband rarely golfs but does have a set of clubs and after very persistent requests, my husband let my son use his clubs in the back yard. He taught him the different types of clubs (drivers, putters, irons) and when they are used. My son had a blast hitting the ball with the putter (which was almost as long as him) in the back yard and then running over to putt it into the pretend hole (between my husband’s legs).

Our pastor has been talking a lot lately about being transparent. As a Christian I too often present the world with a false squeaky clean image that gives the appearance that I think am perfect. Of course, everyone knows that no one is perfect so, when they see me ACTING perfect they know it is a false charade. What kind of credibility does that bring? No, I am far from perfect.

My Sincerely Fro Me to You post this week doesn’t go back quite as far as my others… it’s actually not even a month old. We went on multi family camping trip. There were 8 kids 4 and under between the 3 families. Friday night we had a blast. The kids enjoyed playing with tent poles in the dirt while we set up camp. Then they went looking for sticks to roast their marshmallows.

I was cooking dinner last week, when the kids called out from the toy box, “Mom, don’t you want to get us out and play with us?” For More Wordless Wednesdays, check out 5 Minutes for Mom. To learn more about me, check out [my 100th post!] (http://lifeatthecircus.com/2008/06/17/my-100th-post/)