Backyard Circus and a Compliment

We had a new tent delivered to our home today and I brought Jacob and the babies home from soccer to find that Jeff and Rebecca had set up the tent in the backyard. I walked back there to take a look and a little girl in a lion costume popped up in the window. I asked Rebecca why she had on the lion costume and she was so excited to tell me it was because there was going to be a circus after dinner.  She worked hard writing out tickets for all of us (with our last name and our house number on them) and Jacob practiced his clown act. Our neighbor Ellie brought over a hula hoop and she was the lion tamer so Rebecca jumped through the hoop. I picked Hannah up to bring her under the big top with me and she had a blowout but was quite happy and excited along with everyone else. Sarah twirled in circles with me while I sang circusy kind of music and kept clapping for everyone. There was a little trapeze act on our swing set as well. Jeff was announcing all the acts while he was mulching and planting hostas in the backyard, and attempting to swallow a wooden sword: "And now we have a the amazing clown doing tricks with the white and black ball! And the Lion will jump through the hoop! And we have a blowout!  We even have monkeys riding on dogs!"

The kids went to bed pretty late, we skipped baths tonight (well, I had planned on bathing the kids, no one else seemed to notice) and I realized I didn't care one bit. I had a lot of fun tonight being with the people I love the most and the memory of that matters more to me than if they have stinky feet tomorrow or are a little grouchy at breakfast.

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On the way home from soccer tonight, Jacob told me he was excited to try what I had made for dinner. It was a recipe I got from a friend's blog (recipe here) and I told him we always like any recipe that we get from her so I was sure it would be yummy. "If it is enchilada casserole then does it have enchilada sauce, Mommy?" he asked. I told him it did but that it wouldn't be as spicy as it sometimes is because it had milk and honey also. We chatted a bit more and then he said, "All the dinners you have ever made in the whole world are better than anyone else's."  Now, I don't know that that was necessarily true, but I will tell you that it made my mother heart soar. Six year-olds are all about being competitive, and at least in that moment, I was his #1, and you can bet I told him how much that meant to me.

P.S. dinner was, in fact, quite good. Thanks to Brooke for the recipe and thanks to Jeff for always having enchilada sauce in the fridge ready to go  :)