A Night at the Circus

Some friends of ours from church own the local Dairy Queens in town and received some free tickets to the Ringling Brothers and Barnum & Bailey Circus - They ever so kindly asked us if we would like them, and trying to never pass up quality family time, we accepted. 

Plus there are a few in my family that actually like clowns. 

(Maybe because they are clowns themselves)  

The kids had a great time.  

Here's a picture of them before they shot a man out of the cannon.  

I thought it was funny that they all covered their ears at the same time.  

And there is one of Lydia about half-way through, she had seen enough, 

so she made herself comfortable (laying upside down in the chair).  

The kids brought their paper route money and bought their own souvenirs. 

(They actually picked the three least expensive ones.)

We had a wonderful time.  Thank you 

Fran and Linda, we appreciate you thinking of us.

Tooth #2

Evan lost two teeth in one week!

The Boys first day of school...

Jaron - 3rd grade, Evan - 1st grade, Ethan - Kindergarten

Evan's First lost tooth

SMILE!

Had to post this too...

My friend Emily post this on her blog and I had to share it with my other friends as well.  In my tagged blog I wrote that I love almost everything about the 80s.  The music had to be one of my favorites.  It was just so much fun.  It's bizarre how many songs I know and love because generally my parents only let me listen to christian music when I was young.  Mercy Me (a christian band) has this thing called cover tune grab bag that they recreate songs from the 80s.  They are all hysterical but my favorites are Eye of the Tiger and Never gonna give you up.  I loved it!  It made me laugh.  Hope you enjoy it as well.

I've been tagged...

I've been tagged to clue you in on six things you may not know about me...

6.  In my alter-life, I would be a size 6 (don't want to be too greedy), drive a lime-green GTO and would have won Amazing Race twice.  I'd also be a beautiful contemporary dancer.  

5.  I love almost everything about the 80s.

4.  I hate touching feet.

3.  I dream in color and my dreams have detailed dialogues.

2.  I'd like to be a super-hero fighting for the injustice of children.

1.  The older I get the more I realize there is little I know about myself. (I still can't figure out what I want to be when my children grow up.)

Out of Town

If you have read past blogs, you would know that we planned a trip to Chicago this weekend for Jaron's Birthday.  We set out on Wednesday to go to district assembly (our church denomination annual meeting) at Manville Church Camp.  Glen went up Tuesday for Missions and then we all headed up Wednesday for Youth and Thursday for general assembly.  

I had high expectations for the three days we would be away from home just before school starts next week.  I had imagined getting away from it all and enjoying my family time.  We had a nice time, but my expectations got shot out of the water and the first indication of this was when my children were horse playing around in the hotel room and Lydia hit her mouth on a chair and busted the inside and outside of her lip.  At first we thought that maybe her tooth had gone all the way through her lip, but just couldn't tell.  She acted like nothing happened within a couple of minutes and enjoyed looking at her big fat lip in the mirror more than letting Glen and I tend to her or cuddle her.

Then on Thursday on our way to the hotel to stay near Chicago we got a flat tire on a new tire and ended up having to replace it.  Bummer.  The delay put a kink in my evening alone shopping plans.  

We ended up having a nice time visiting Chicago on Friday even though we had a bumpy start.

  

We went to the Chicago Cultural Center and did a treasure hunt around the beautiful building.  We also took in a couple of photography exhibits.  We found the photography exhibit of Ellis Island (with tag lines and stories) very interesting.  Then we took a water taxi to Navy Pier where we went to the Children's Museum.  Glen, Evan and Jaron went to the Chicago Shakespearean Theater in the evening to see the stage production of Willy Wonka and had a great time.  My camera battery went dead at the beginning of the day so I didn't get any pictures.  On the way home I turned it on and snapped the last picture and then the camera died again.  This is us on the METRA train at 10pm.  The kids were sound a sleep.  We eventually got home at 2:30 am.  What a trip!

I had a hard time shifting gears out of my expectations into just having fun.  But all in all in was a nice visit.  The kids and Glen had a great time and that makes me happy.

The Imagination of Children

Even though the volume of noise in my home is at an all time high, I still feel blessed to hear the sounds of pitter-patter on hardwood floors and little voices using their expansive imaginations.  It amazes me that my 2 1/2 year old is right in the middle of the creativity, putting in her two cents worth of ideas (and they are actually listening to her).  In these moments, there is harmony and unity among them and their camaraderie is something the world could learn from.  They are weaving their ideas together and having fun.  The only two downsides to it all is the mess that they ensue and loudness they impose.  But I try to remember that they are getting along for the moment and that I should savor the moment.  

"You're a good man, Charlie Brown"

Did you ever orchestrate home theater performances with your siblings when you were young.  I remember we would make my parents come out to the backyard for our circus acts on the swing set.  Crystal and I would lip sync into hairbrushes and she would choreograph the dance moves.  I never understood why my parents didn't seem as excited as us to watch our hard work pay off.  I mean we would spend all day practicing (now I realize that was my parents favorite part of it all - it kept us very busy).  Well today I got my own private performance of "You're a good man, Charlie Brown) - special effects and all.  The boys made Snoopy's Dog house, Snoopy's Ears (out of one of Lydia's headbands) and Charlie Brown's shirt.  Just in case your wondering the cast included: Jaron as Schroeder,  Ethan as Snoopy and Evan as Charlie Brown.  They were very excited once they persuaded me up into the Attic (their bedroom) to see their rendition, and reminded me that I needed to clap and laugh between acts (there were several).  They also announced at the beginning of the show that I should silence cellphones and dismiss myself if any young children were crying.  I was a terrible theater patron though, because I answered my phone during the performance.   I apologized and I think they added a number to make up for it.  Anyway at the end I gave a standing ovation, but didn't yell encore, instead I did the next best thing, I told them they had to do the show for Daddy when he got home from work.  Why let me be the only one to enjoy it, right?

Pump it Up

We went to Pump it up with some friends at church today.  We all had a lot of fun.

Charlotte's Web Weekend

Evan's Debut

Charlotte's Web (The Musical)

Jaron and Evan will make their premiere performance tonight in 

Charlotte's Web the Musical.

Here are their bios.

Jaron Weatherly (Photographer, Concessionair)

Jaron will begin the third grade this year at Galesburg Christian School.  Last year he made his acting debut as Rerun in "Charlie Brown" for Nazarene Community Theater.  Although that was his first official role, Jaron has cast himself in several at-home productions over the years, but most recently his roles have included Ben Gates from "National Treasure", the Prince from "Enchanted" and Willy Wonka from "Charlie and the Chocolate Factory".  During the school year you will find him singing with Kidstuf.  He will begin at the Performing Arts Academy in the Fall.  His favorite thing so far this summer has been a trip to New York City and Cape Cod with his family and grandparents and he also loved church camp.

Evan Weatherly (Baby Spider, Townsperson)

Evan will start the first grade this year at Galesburg Christian School.  He was recently seen as Little Boy Blue and The Big Bad Wolf in his school's K5 graduation ceremony.  He also sings with Kidstuf.  Even though Evan enjoys acting (mostly doing what his big brother is doing), his true passion is Art.  You can catch Evan creating a masterpiece almost everyday.  He has been enjoying "Arting" (what he likes to call it) school over the last few months.  He also enjoys swimming at Pastor Ron's pool where he has just perfected a hand stand.  Evan's favorite things this summer have been family vacation to New York City and Cape Cod and Mommy Camp.