Why My Life Is A Circus

The name of this blog has been around for years.  I've been calling it "Dance of the Animal Cracker Circus" for a very long time.  Have had a few other blogs with this title, but due to time constraints and crazy mom stalkers I deleted those blogs.  However, I decided I loved my blog, I loved blogging and it's something I've been doing since I was 18 and I wasn't going to give it up. I am not going to let anyone else dictate my life or tell me how to live it.

One day I was watching my children play while snacking on animal crackers.  They were all quite young, in fact my sons were still in cloth diapers and my daughter was still just a toddler herself.  As they were chewing on their animal crackers they were making them dance.  I reflected on this as I watched my kids play and do their silly business for the afternoon.  As I directed and guided them through their play I realized I often felt like a ring master of my own circus, and having just watched my kids playing with their animal crackers, I decided that was the perfect name for a blog.  Dance of the Animal Cracker Circus. 


When my daughter was a baby things were "easy".  She kept me on my toes, but I could keep up and we only had a few slightly terrifying moments during her infancy and toddler times.  She was one of those kids that wanted to eat things she wasn't supposed to, and climb and jump off of everything she wasn't supposed to.  Turn your back for a minute, and she'd be doing some death defying stunt.  She is what I would call have called the sword swallower/acrobat of the circus had she been old enough to be IN a circus anyway! (Not that she ever tried to swallow a knife or anything, though she did attempt to eat a thumb tack once, that I didn't know had fallen out of my desk drawer).


When the twins were born...life got....a little more complicated.  Twins are just different that's for sure! Then throw in a toddler, and then add in one son being diagnosed with childhood cancer, and the other with a mild seizure disorder, life was super stressful and crazy for quite some time.  Thankfully, we made it through that wild crazy circus!


Then the kids started preschool, and life took another dynamic change.  My babies are growing up on me.


Now this fall, all three of my children will be in elementary school.  What's a mom to do?  I quickly found out this year with just my daughter in Kindergarten, that life gets WAY busier and crazier once they are in elementary.  Lots of maneuvering and changing, scheduling, listening, learning, scheduling, and craziness. Now with all three kids in school this fall, I expect to be even busier.  Part of me wouldn't want it any other way! Another part of me wonders when it will all slow down! Though I know that when it DOES slow down I'll miss the busy hectic life style!


We have always been a family that loves animals, so now our crazy little animal circus has really become an animal circus.  With three dogs, a cat, a hamster and the occasional foster animal, it seems like our home is never boring or empty or void of animals! We're still looking to replace our beta fish that died a few months ago, he lived a good life, and will be missed.


Currently we're fostering a big ol' dog.  I'm not usually one to foster the big dogs, but we ended up with her due to extreme circumstances. Hopefully her situation will be resolved soon and she will be back where she belongs. 

I also was part of a rescue yesterday evening of a young kitten out of the middle of a very busy high way intersection. Poor little kitten.  Not sure exactly HOW the kitten came to be in his situation.  My guess is he fell out of a cars engine, but I will never know for sure I guess. I watched in horror as he sat in front of a back  tire, then climbed up on top of a car tire. I was praying it would be the long red light ever to give this cat a chance to get to safety.  He thankfully ended up right in the middle of the car.  The light turned green and the car drove off.  I pulled up with my hazard lights on and stopped traffic in the intersection and another man was trying to catch the kitten.  I told him if he could grab the kitten I would take it, so I ended up with the kitten.  His name, is Oliver.  (You know from the movie 'Oliver and Company')  That movie makes me bawl my eyes out all through the beginning of the movie, and it reminded me of this kitten, so I thought it was an appropriate name!!! Poor little Oliver has some goopy eyes, and he's absolutely TERRIFIED.  But with love and patience, I think he'll be ok. As soon as he is less scared, and healthier he'll be up for adoption.


I certainly wasn't planning on bringing home a kitten yesterday.  However, what would you do if you witnessed a kitten in a busy intersection?  You don't just leave the kitten there to die, you do something, to help.


My cat Hagrid is actually very gentle with this kitten and gave him a bath immediately upon meeting him.  I think that really helped the kitten feel better.  Now if only I could get my kids and dogs to be a little quieter so the poor kitten could relax a little bit more!


I certainly have a full house around here most of the time. There is never a dull moment.  My kids, their friends, babysitting kids, cats and dogs and friends popping in for a visit...yep, it can be loud and crazy, but a home full of love and caring, creativity, and awesomeness. We may not have a big mansion or a ton of money, but we are quite rich in what we DO have.

I wouldn't trade my crazy little Animal Cracker Circus for anything in the world. Even on the days where it sort of feels more like a crazy zoo than a circus. Kind of like today! The amount of barking dogs in my home (you might be surprised to know how much barking can come from 3 medium/small dogs and one large dog).  It's a bit insane, and I might lose a bit of sanity today. I wish dogs came with a mute button sometimes.


For now I am off to the local animal shelter to photograph dogs there to help them find home or rescue. 

Later my husband and I will be taking the kids to a ball field near our home to work on a few things I'm using them as my guinea pigs to sort through drills and stuff to do with the kids during ball practice on Tuesday. I promised them playtime at the park if they did well.  So we shall see!


Mae