Let's Go to the Circus

Last weekend the circus was in town so we decided to go.  Joseph and I each went to the circus when we were children, but I don't remember much of my visit.  Joseph said he just remembered the "ball of death" from his visit.

The kids were excited about the circus.  It probably helped that they had just watched a Dora episode and a Hello Kitty episode about the circus. 

So excited to be at the circus!  We were in a covered stadium area that is used for
the annual state fair, but I was very glad I had my coat and gloves with me.
My feet were freezing by the end of the night.  

There was a lot to see and do before the show started and during the 45 minute intermission.  There were pony rides and you could have your picture taken with Minnie and Mickey or the Siberian Tiger for a large fee.   

It's about 8:30 here, passed bedtime so the smiles aren't
as bright as they were at the beginning of the night.  

 We didn't get great pictures but here are a few of the better ones.  The light was just hard to work with since we were using the iPhone camera.

The horse act.  There was a llama in there too.  I guess they are
considered horses when they are in the circus?

The large cats.  I loved watching the lion tamer and his cats.  I'm just amazed that
the animals are so well behaved.  They were probably fed pretty well ahead of time too.  

The show was much longer than we were expecting.  It wouldn't have been too bad if there wasn't a 45 minute intermission.  Rebecah held out until 9:30 and then she fell asleep on me.  She was so tired she didn't even stir when the motorcycles revved their engines for the last act...the ball of death.  That is the cage where multiple bikes are zipping around. We didn't realize the ball of death was the last act, but we decided to leave just before it ended because Rebecah was getting heavy.  I"m glad we could beat the rush out of the building and parking lot.

This is a picture from a few months ago, but Kimball looks pretty scary.
Maybe he could have an act in the circus.

Easter 2013

Joseph was on call Easter weekend so that was a little disappointing.  The good news was that he was home by 10:30 Saturday morning so we could do our egg hunt with the kids.  We originally planned to do all Easter activities when Joseph was off Monday, but the weather was too nice to wait.  It was a good thing we didn't wait because it was raining on Monday and the ground was pretty squishy.

Anyway, Joseph and I hid the eggs in our yard and then the kids went out to look for them.  There was a little snow on the ground, but I couldn't convince Rebecah to put pants on until we went to the park.

Digging an egg out of the snow.

Kimball smiling with his egg.

That's another one!

It's in there somewhere.

Doesn't she look cold?  She would have said:  "It's not cold, it's warm!"

Kimball looking across the yard for hidden color.

After our egg hunt and lunch we took the kids to a park that is about 3 miles from our house.  This is the view from the park bench.  The park was right on the beach of Oneida lake.  The day was beautiful...sunny with temperatures in the 50s.  The kids had fun playing on the playground, but sand is enough like dirt that they spend most of their time digging in the sand.

The sea gulls were pretty noisy so here Rebecah is waving
her arms and shouting to scare the sea gulls away. 

I love it when my kids play together nicely!

On Sunday, we took Joseph to work about 5:45 am and we picked up up about 4:00 in the afternoon.  We weren't sure how long he would be with us so I didn't plan a special Easter dinner for Sunday.  It is too unpredictable to try to plan hot meals when Joseph is on call.  We were lucky and even though Joseph spent a fair amount of time answering pages he didn't have to go back to the hospital.

Without Joseph, the kids and I had bunny rolls for breakfast and we watched some church video clips on the Resurrection.  We attended church and had a quiet day.

On Monday, Joseph was off after working all weekend.  We had our Easter dinner Monday and it was tasty.  We had ham, potatoes, kale and pineapple.  I also made a s'mores pie for dessert that was good too.

The best part about Easter was reflecting on the Atonement and Resurrection of our Savior, Jesus Christ.  I'm so grateful for this knowledge that I have.  Life would be so much harder if I didn't have the Atonement and knowledge of the Resurrection in my life.  

April Snow Shower

This morning we woke up to about 6 inches of snow.  I decided to shovel the driveway for Joseph before he left for work.  He tried to talk me out of it knowing it will be 50 degrees in a few days, but I didn't want him to get stuck.  Before long all of the neighbors were joining me so it wasn't as if I were the only person clearing my driveway.  I got the driveway cleared and went in to get the kids breakfast and ready for the snow.  When we went out again, less than an hour and a half later, at least 2 more inches had fallen.  The kids got to work shoveling the driveway...they had shovel paths all over the driveway with no rhyme or reason.

The beginning of the shovel paths.

Smiling for the camera.

If you look closely, you can see the snow angel I made
after I finished shoveling the first time.

Rebecah said "Take a picture of this!" so I did.

As you can see, it was still coming down.

We probably ended up with at least 8 inches of snow, but we are still below our winter average of 120 inches. This snow won't stick around long, but it was fun to enjoy the snow.  I haven't gone out in the snow much this winter because the cold makes my damaged nerve very sensitive and sometimes cramp.  Because I haven't been out much Kimball was surprised when I told him that I liked snow.  I guess I need to put my comfort aside more often and make sure I make memories with my kids.  We didn't make a snowman because it wasn't the right type of snow, but I did teach Kimball how to make a snow angel.

Parenting Genius

Every so often Joseph and I have genius ideas when it comes to parenting our kids.  We had one this week.  Kimball is very smart, but writing isn't something he has much interest in and it is like pulling teeth to get him to practice his penmanship.  Well, Kimball loves the Lego Hero Factory heroes and villains and he talks about them a LOT.   Case in point, when we were out shopping today he gave me a run down of all of the heroes with their different building sets...ie...2.0, 3.0, XL, etc.  We recently discovered that the heroes have first names so Kimball took the time to learn all of the first names for the heroes.  Here is where the genius comes in...we encouraged Kimball to write all of the names down so he would know how to spell them when he wants to look up the building instructions on the internet.  He sat and wrote all 9 hero names without complaint.  Take a look.

For those who are big Hero Factory buffs you will notice that I accidentally misspelled Jimi Stringer and Dunkan Bulk but those were MY mistakes and not Kimball's.  I hadn't seen them in writing until after the above exercise.  

We will save the villain names for another day; we don't want overkill.

Style--the Kid Way

Kimball will occasionally help Rebecah get dressed if Joseph and I are busy or not around.  Such was the case today and I just loved the outfit that the two of them put together.  When I commented on it, Kimball told me that he thought the stripes would go well together.  I just have to smile at the combinations they put together sometimes.  All Rebecah cared about was wearing the skirt so in her mind everything went with the skirt.

Rebecah all smiles in her outfit.

Mom Day

It was "Mom" day yesterday at preschool so I got to go to school with Kimball for a program for all of the mothers.  Last month it was the fathers' turn but Joseph didn't get any pictures of the event, just video.  I prefer pictures for our blog.  

The programs for both the moms and dads were similar...songs and little crafts that the kids had made for their parents.  It was so fun to see Kimball and share the time with him.  He wasn't too keen on all of the singing.  I later asked him about it and he said all of the moms made him feel shy.  The songs were fun to hear and I did watch Kimball as he shyly sang some of the songs.  

After the singing each child gave their mom a pink carnation and we had muffins and cookies.  After the program was over, Kimball and I went to the library and he enjoyed that it was just the two of us without Rebecah.

Ready to leave for "Mom Day".

Kimball walking in with smiles.

More smiles when he saw me.

I was glad I could go to this special program.  I'm so grateful for my kids and that they are in our family.  Our family wouldn't be complete without them.

St. Patrick's Day 2013

Another St. Patrick's Day has come and gone.  I made sure we celebrated the holiday with decorations even though we were still moving in.  I think the third or fourth night in our house I told Joseph I needed holiday decorations up to make our house feel more homey.  He indulged me and I quickly put up our St. Patrick's Day decor.

I did a few new decorations this year.  Nothing fancy, but it added to the green cheer.

Green tassels were a new addition this year.  I love this idea that I
got from Kristin.  I whipped 5 of them out in 5 minutes!

I also made these shamrocks to hang up.  I originally intended these to be a craft for
play group but they weren't as "kid friendly" as I wanted.  I'll just use the extra
shamrocks to make a garland of some sort for next year.

Rebecah and I hosted a St. Patrick's Day play group at our house.  It was a lot of fun and this
was the craft we made.  I love making crafts with my kids because it is fun to see what they
come up with.  Kimball always tries to make his look like mine, but I added the hair and eyebrows
a few days later when I decided the face needed something more.
Leprechaun faces were super easy for the kids to make.

 With St. Patrick's Day on a Sunday, it was a littler harder to find green for everyone to wear.  There isn't a lot of green in our Sunday wardrobes.  Kimball and Joseph managed to get green in their ties.  Rebecah had green in a flower clip and I didn't get green at all.

Kimball's festive tie.  I actually bought this tie for "dress up" at Target off the $1 aisle.
Joseph re-tied the tie so it fit Kimball in length and he was able to wear it for church.

Our green table decorations...cups, shamrocks and table cloth.

Our St. Patrick's Day feast.  Kimball wanted to take a picture.  It turned out pretty well.

Another feasting picture.  We had corned beef, Irish soda bread, kale and oranges.

We departed from our traditional green coconut cake this year.  Kimball wanted a white cake so
I dressed it up by turning it into a jello-poke cake.  I don't care for lime Jello so I discovered
that Jolly Rancher has a gelatin line so we had a subtle green apple flavor running through
the cake.  Joseph really liked it.  It was just fair in my opinion.  It was green though.

Kimball made this hat at preschool and I thought it was super cute.
Maybe a potential craft for a play group next year.