I’ve been hosting this little carnival of mine for a few months now and was hoping for some feedback. I am wondering how often you think we should run weekend thoughts? Is once a week too much? Would you prefer once a month? Or every other week? Any other suggestions for improving the carnival? Anything I can do to make it easier? For those that have linked up in the past, thank you.

I love birthdays. No really, I mean, I LOVE THEM. And I’ll be honest, I particularly love MY birthday. As I kid I would start counting down the days till my birthday starting in January (right around my brother’s birthday). I can remember when Scott and I had been married about a year we were on vacation at the end of June. My birthday, as you now know is in mid July.

If crystal doesn’t want me commandeering her blog then she really needs to get a better password ;-). Yea, this post is actually being written by Scott. I guess you may know me as the circus dad. Anyway, as a family we have chosen today to celebrate her 30th birthday. Yep, the big 3.0. I’m off all day and we are going to have big fun. Because she loves you all so much I though her day would be all the more fun if she received birthday greetings from some of the faithful readers she spends so much time sharing her life with.

As much as I like to think I am not, I am a city girl. My “garden” consists of 6 plants in a square patch on the side of my house. We get our eggs in a carton at the grocery store and our milk in gallon jugs just down the aisle from the milk. So, I try to give my kids farm fresh experiences as much as possible. It takes a bit of driving, but seems like a small price to pay in my book to give my kids prior knowledge experiences.

I think my girls make good farm gals, don’t you? Visit here or here for more Wednesday fun with pictures!

My family’s love for Chick-Fil-A goes deep and wide. [ ](https://latc.s3.amazonaws.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/07/IMG_0105.jpg) The first symbol my son recognized was for Chick-Fil-A. He could “read” it at age 2. And anytime he saw a cursive C he thought it stood for Chick-Fil-A. At that same age, I showed him a symbol for the golden arches and he had no idea what it was. My daughter’s one year scrapbooks both have pages dedicated to their “first Chick-Fil-A” kids meal experience.

Nothing like a week of Vacation Bible School to leave this circus mom with more “not me” moments than I care to admit. Because I love to keep it real, here’s a few highlights from our week.  Meet my dear friend. When it comes to friends, she’s one of the bestest. For many reasons. An example of which is the fact that she willingly cuts my girls hair for me.

Sometimes you hear about something so big and so awful and while you know you just can’t ignore it and do nothing, you have no idea what to do. And sometimes not knowing what to do leads to inaction. How can I make a difference to such a big problem? What can I do to help someone hurting half a world away? That’s kinda how I felt after writing this weekend thought about Sudan two weeks ago.

The relationship between siblings is a funny thing. I once read a Times magazine article about siblings that really struck me. It’s funny, 3 years later and I still remember this one line “Our spouses arrive comparatively late in our lives; our parents eventually leave us. Our siblings may be the only people we’ll ever know who truly qualify as partners for life.” Being the mother of three children, I think a lot about the bonds of siblings.

It’s funny how a simple thing like dinner on a Wednesday night can have an dramatic impact on your life. 7 years ago we went out to dinner with another couple in downtown Annapolis on a Wednesday night. If you know anything about summer in Annapolis then you know that Wednesday nights mean sailing races. (Truth is I grew up around here and just learned that fact 7 years ago).