The Greatest Show On Earth!

Jacob brought home fliers for the circus coming to the fairgrounds a few weeks ago.  We really wanted to experience that with our boys, but we waffled on whether or not to try it because, let’s be honest, how good can a circus at the Alachua County Fairgrounds be?  Well, I mentioned it to Jesse and he was immediately interested and wanted to bring Savannah, so we were committed.

Well…when we walked in I considered turning back due to the totally unimpressive bleachers and equipment.  I assumed it would be a huge waste of our money, but figured the boys would at least enjoy some overpriced popcorn and cotton candy.  Surely the lions, tigers, and camels we could already see couldn’t be that boring.  It actually turned out to be a pretty good one-ring circus!  Not only did the boys and Savannah thoroughly enjoy popcorn and cotton candy, but a sno cone, pony rides (Savannah and Josiah), elephant ride (Savannah), coloring book, blinking clown noses, and a fun show.  My boys were spoiled WAY beyond their normal limits especially since just one of those those things is usually a good spoiling.

This was Josiah’s first pony ride.  I never dreamed he’d be willing to do it, but Savannah was doing it and Jacob ignored Josiah’s mild protests.  He was glad he did it!

First cotton candy experience.  I love it too!

Only Savannah listened to my pleas to look at the camera.

They had 6 (I think) big cats, including white lions and tigers.  I thought the tamer could have worn more clothes, but one of the captions in the coloring book we bought said that “pretty girls and elephants are important in the circus.”  There’s nothing like sending the right message!

Jumping through a hula hoop with a dog!

He climbed up to that top ledge then jumped into the trainer’s arms.  Animals are so cool!

Intermission: everyone was sweaty, including Elijah, so we caught some fresh air outside.  See his dripping wet hair?

First, two teenagers got in this “Globe Of Death”… …then two men and the same lion tamer got in.  She stood in the middle while they rode their dirt bikes around her…  …then sparks flew… …then there were three.  They went upside down, too, but I didn’t catch that.

  The lion tamer was multitalented :)  The show would be in trouble if she got hurt, I think.

The one on the right is a little girl.  Her mom is on the left.  It is a family run circus.  (Dad was the announcer and dog trainer.  Son was a juggler and dirt bike rider.)

There were many more events I didn’t get good pictures of.  We were all highly entertained!

They sold toys all throughout the show.  I was certain Josiah would want an expensive light up gun or sword, but all he asked for was this light up clown nose at the end of the show.  Sometimes he’s hard to resist.

Sentiments

I’ve been trying to catch up on some blogging that I’ve had in the back of my mind lately.  I find that I have so much more to document with two older boys.  While going through some old posts I wrote I came across this one from nearly a year ago that I never posted.  I don’t know why.  Maybe because it is just my thoughts and, therefore, on the boring side, but I decided to include it anyway.

I’ve been sorting through the many pictures I’ve taken over the last six months since Elijah was born and I just can’t believe how much they have each changed, particularly Josiah.  I had felt like he has matured so much and the pictures prove it.  It makes me feel bittersweet that my baby’s baby years are over.  Forever.  As for Elijah, his newborn days are over.  Forever.  I can’t really explain why this is on my mind in such a way lately.  I guess because when we had anticipated having children, while we knew they would grow into kids, we first pictured babies.  Now that baby is a moving out of toddlerhood and on to his preschool years.  Not only that, we have another one who can no longer be considered brand new.  How is this possible?

It has just been hitting me how precious these times have been and how I should appreciate each hectic moment.  I also have regret for not seizing every moment and enjoying it, yet how is that really possible?  I love these boys with all that I am and I’m learning to let go of the frustration and just enjoy fun, sweet moments (with a bit of discipline mixed in!).  I feel like my life has been transformed since making this shift.  Hopefully I can continue this trend and even improve on it.  I’m learning to approach each endeavor with the boys with a positive twist which usually results in a better outcome overall.  Josiah has responded wonderfully.  Of course every day there is some sort of silly or serious trial that challenges this effort, whether it is poor naps or poor nights of sleep resulting in grumpiness (mine or theirs), sickness, or who knows what.  But overall I have been trying to move forward with positivity in mind.

How did I get off on that tangent?  I guess because it is that attitude that has caused me to look back on how sweet and short this thing called parenthood is.

Back to the point…who will my little babies grow up to be?  Will these precious boys grow into Godly, fun-loving men?  I can only hope that they will not be weighed down by the negatives this life can bring.  And what will our journey to their adulthood look like?  I would love to protect them from anything that will hurt them, but how do I protect them from me?  I know I won’t be the perfect parent.  I will make mistakes and the things I do will affect and shape them.  Is my best good enough?

My heart almost hurts to look back at those lost times, but it also bursts with pride when I look at them in the present.  God, help me to savor each moment and approach everything with your goodness.

Sometimes We’re A Little Redneck…

…and this is one of those times.  We have had so much rain this summer and it had been two days since Josiah had spent any time outside.  The rain broke about the time Jacob came home and I was about to take the boys on a wagon ride, so Jacob came along and pulled them for me.  He’s much more fun than I am and he pulled them through EVERY puddle along our dirt road after making a deal with Josiah requiring him to count the puddles.  He even went off road and pulled them through the ditch in the woods.  Josiah LOVED it!  I didn’t get pictures of this, but I did pull out the camera for what was to follow.

When we got back to the house, Josiah asked if Jacob would drive him through the puddles on his lawn mower.  Jacob couldn’t resist the fun request.  To fully understand this, you have to know that this lawn mower is fast and turns on a dime.  I admit to being nervous, but Jacob promised to hold them tight.

 

I love Elijah’s sweet face here.  This is pretty much how his face stayed the whole time and I wasn’t sure if he was enjoying it, but each time Jacob stopped he signed “more”.  You can kind of see him doing it here behind the handle bar.

I love these crazy boys and Jacob is a great Daddy!

My Favorite (And Least Favorite) Things

I’ve been wanting to make note of a few random things that make up our lives right now.  Here are the good ones in no particular order.  I will limit it to six of them:

1.  I love (except for the fact that it is borderline disobedience) when Josiah says “but I have SO MUCH work to do, Mommy” when I say it is time to XYZ.  If Elijah is awake then he’ll include him in it saying “Me and Elijah have SO MUCH work to do”.  By “work” he means play.  He usually proceeds to list off his to do list.  It is pretty cute that his play is so planned out.  I’m afraid he’s heard us give the excuse of having work to do WAY to many times when he asks us to play.

2.  I love Elijah’s new game of chasing Josiah around with open arms trying to hug him.  He’s usually only successful the first time until Josiah realizes the game has commenced.  After that he lets him catch him only to run off again.  If Elijah’s lucky he doesn’t get trampled in the process.  Sometimes it ends in tears, but overall there is lots of giggling.

3.  I love that we dance and sing in such silly ways everytime Josiah announces that “Oh-oh-oh-oh-oh is on the radio!”.  In other words “Good Morning” by Mandisa is on.  It’s not exactly my style of music, but it certainly is a fun song warranting a little silliness.  It came on the car radio right as we got home the other night after dark and once we were parked, we let the boys out of their car seats.  Josiah danced between the seats while Jacob, Elijah, and I danced in our seats with Jacob manning the “strobe” (dome) lights.  It’s always fun to get Daddy to participate!

4.  I love how Elijah chooses the difficult way to climb on things.  For instance, instead of getting into Josiah’s toddler bed at the low end, he goes around to the headboard where some books are lined up between the horses, climbs on the books and propels himself up and over the headboard, giggling all the way.  Or, to get on our couch, he’ll either climb up on the footstool or on his ride on toy on either end of the couch and flip over the armrest which is a good foot or more higher than the seat of the couch.

Here he goes!

And he’s up!

I love the face plant followed by feet in the air!

5.  I love how I can be a kid again when I swim with the boys in their kiddie pool.  I love/hate that Elijah likes to stick his whole face in the water repetitively.  I need to get them to a real pool.  I still struggle with the best method to get all three of us inside the house and dressed with the least mess and the fewest shivers and fussing.

6.  I love how Elijah quickly wraps his arms and legs around me in a fierce hug when he realizes he’s about to be put on the changing table.  He’s generous with loving hugs anyway and it’s pretty funny trying to pry him from me, but only because it doesn’t involve crying.

Those are some of the things that I experience repetitively during any given day. So mundane, but priceless!

Here are the things I hate right now.  I can only come up with 3:

1.  I hate the way dirt stubbornly sticks to super sweaty boys and they sure do sweat!

2.  I hate mosquito bites on my sweeties.  They leave welts!

3.  I hate (but would kinda miss) the repetitive question of “why?” posed by a certain 3 year old. 

Sorry this post is short on pictures, but there is no need to see me in a bathing suit or dancing, sayings can’t be captured by pictures, and no doubt you have seen my sweaty boys’ pictures before :)

Elijah’s First Haircut

Elijah still had some of the hair he was born with on the very top of his head and it was a good four to five inches long.  He’d also begun to have some hanging over his ears and starting to curl in the back.  Since I’m already am responsible for 3 heads of hair, 3 sets of teeth, and 100 nails (including cats!), I like low maintenance hair that behaves itself without too much effort, so it was time for his first trim. 

I did it July 28th on a whim after dinner while he kept himself entertained by feeding himself veggies in applesauce and a homemade fruit popsicle.  He still tried to stop me a few times by rubbing his food covered hands through his hair and shaking his head when I trimmed the front.  He’s a funny boy!

Yum! Peas with a little applesauce…the distraction.

You can’t really tell, but he has a major comb over and a little hanging down on his ears.

What’s goin’ on up there?

Almost done… The top.

 

The back.

 

One side.

 

And the front. 

Pretty good if I do say so myself!  I love his richly colored hair.

Spiderman On Training Wheels

I am very late in posting this update since it occurred in early July, but it is not one to be missed altogether because it is not everyday that your little boy learns to ride a bike!

Josiah has a very nice Radio Flyer tricycle, complete with a bell, that he has shown great interest in learning to ride since he got it for his birthday in March.  However, at first he couldn’t reach the pedals.  Then, once he grew into it, something about the positioning, or maybe the fact that we don’t have a hard surface to ride on, made it too difficult for him to pedal.  Well, when Josiah was born, Jacob came across two little bikes that he saved for Josiah.  They were used, but after just a little cleaning up and the addition of training wheels to one of them, it was ready to go.  We bought him a Spider Man helmet so now he calls it his Spiderman bike, even though the bike itself isn’t Spiderman.  Too cute! 

This is my and Josiah’s introductory training session at our house.  He got the hang of balance and pedaling, but it was hard to get going on the dirt and he kept hitting the brakes. Showing off his bike to Elijah.

He caught on pretty quickly and once he got the knack for pedaling forwards and remembered that pedaling backwards results in a stop, he was a biking machine!  Now if we can just get him to keep his eye on the road…as it turns out you can still flip a bike with training wheels if you turn around to look behind you and jackknife the handlebars in the process!

Next, we took the bike to Grandma’s road, along with Daddy and Elijah, for a family walk/ride.  He did a great job and after a little assistance early on, he was a pro and Jacob had to run to keep up (to keep him from looking back and falling!).   This is a look of self pride, but he’s not going to really smile to let you know it!

We already knew Josiah has a large head, but believe it or not, this helmet is made for a 5 year old and it is too small!

Elijah has outgrown his convertible stroller/tricycle, too!  His feet drag the ground.  I guess it is time to take the stroller part off and teach him to ride as soon as he can reach the pedals.

Our next endeavor is to buy bikes for Jacob and I complete with a seat for Elijah.  We are thinking that taking up biking may be easier on the boys than our usual hiking.