In Science we’ve been talking about what God created on each of the 6 days of creation. Currently we’re on day 6 and discussing the creatures that walked on the land. While the kids were playing on Friday, they got the idea to group their stuffed animals according to classification. Of course they didn’t use these exact words. But, they made a pile of non mammals and another of mammals and then called me in to take a look.
One thing my husband and I try to stress to our kids is that life is not all about them. We love them dearly, and pour much of our time, love, energy and attention out onto them. But, because we love them, we also try to teach them that life does not revolve around them.
We are a family of 5 soon to be 6. So, in a lot of ways this is a lesson that is taught early on out of practicality.
One of my favorite things we did this Christmas was take the kids shopping for each other and for us. It is heartwarming to see them get so excited about giving. I also loved seeing what they picked out for others. My son is an excellent gift giver. He is very thoughtful and thinks very hard about finding a gift the person will truly like. I just had to share the story Scott told me about taking him shopping for my gift.
Last week we were at my parents house and my son came into the kitchen quite exasperated from going to the bathroom.
“Mom,” he complained, “can you puh-leeze tell the girls to put the seat up when they are done going potty? They keep leaving it down!”
I had to laugh. Women have complained for years about men leaving the seat up, but never, never have I heard a complaint about us leaving it down.
I was feeling pretty good about myself this week. Got a little boost of energy with week 12 and began to tame this household which I had slacked off on over the first trimester. Finally, I can leave the guest bedroom door open as well as the master bed room. I even cleaned out the van which had reached its height of total messiness, threw away all that trash crammed in around the car seats and brought in the plethora of coats and shoes which were strewn all over the floor.
It appears my oldest daughter is trying to prepare me for life with 4 kids. She has taken on the job of mothering her baby doll “baby Eli” literally 24-7. When we sit down to eat, she makes sure Eli has his bib on and a special seat at the table. We now set our table for 7 (b/c our youngest has to include her baby Eli too).
When she’s getting ready for bed, baby Eli also gets tucked into his bed, with his own baby and she is always certain to read him his special Bible story as well.
At dinner last night I was telling Scott how cute it is to watch our 3 yr old in gymnastics. Every now and then she’ll look at the observation window, get a big grin and wave to me. Sometimes she’ll even give me a thumbs up sign. At which point she chimed in and said,
“Yea, this means good.”
“And this means Ravens”
What can I say? That’s my girl!
Our son is a huge baseball fan. His team of choice is the Baltimore Orioles. As much as he likes the Orioles, he also recognizes that they don’t exactly have a winning record…
Last week we were getting ready for soccer practice when he informed me that he didn’t feel like going to practice. Me:  “Well you need to practice, it helps you to get better.”
Son: “ But Mom, I’m already really good.
One Sunday I picked my 2 year old son up from Sunday School and found goldfish in his bin. He had saved some of his snack to share with Mommy and Daddy. My jaw hit the floor. His thoughtfulness both touched and humbled me.
Our church has a fellowship time between services in which you can have some cookies, popcorn, coffee, and lemonade. Once my son was old enough to attend church with us after Sunday School, he got to come join us for the fellowship time as well.
**** Updated with new quote from this very afternoon****
One of my favorite parts of motherhood, is watching my children grow and develop. As they get older it is so much fun to see their individuality and personality emerge. This week marked some big milestones in the circus family life. On Sunday, for the first time in 5 years, I didn’t drop any of my children off in the nursery for church.