The Greatest Show on Earth

We went to the circus on saturday. It was fun, I wasn't sure how much the kids got out of it though. They seemed like they liked it, but they weren't on the edge of their seats or anything.

However, Olivia and her new toy elephant daddy bought her are inseperable. First his name was Biggle, then it changed to Biggie, now I believe it's Watery. She said his mommy named him Watery, so that's his real name; but the other names are only his circus names. She went to sleep right after Strawberry Shortcake did a impressive performance of tricks flipping on and off various body part of Watery.



Travis and I agreed that we thought the most impressive part of the circus was when all the little motorcycles road around inside this steal ball. It was amazing how they could do that without any of them running into each other. I still think it might have been on some kind of control, but Travis thinks the people were really driving them.

I was a bit disappointed with some of the other parts, the trapezee artist wasn't all that. There were some great acrobatics, but no real trapezee stuff that you expect out of the circus.

And the only real circus animals were the elephants. Otherwise there were just some everyday bird, cat, and dogs doing tricks. I guess PETA has really had it's influence. They were protesting outside. I'm not sure how I feel about that. One part of me thinks it's great, I completely support the right to free protest, and it probably does keep the circus way more humane than it would be otherwise. On the other hand, I felt it was a bit inappopriate they were handing out fliers, holding signs, and approaching me to tell me about elephant beatings and other such abuse while walking into the circus with my young children. That turned me off a little bit. Also, I feel there are so many people in the world who are being abused, or starving to death, or not receiving medical care in third world countries, it's just a little hard for me to get worked up about animal rights.

So there you go, what was supposed to be a fun, family outing has me debating whether the circus is just good natured fun or animal abuse. I gotta get out of California! :->

I love craigslist

I've been going crazy hunting down bargins lately. I don't know what it is, but for some reason the smell of great deals on used goods are in the air. Just in the last few weeks I've gotten clothing, shoes, kitchen devices, and home decor. Bragging about all of them would bore everyone to death, so I'll just choose one.

Tonight I got two framed Ansel Adams prints for a total of $20. Here is one of them for sale new on the internet for $33 just for the print, framed it cost $110. Technically I saved over $200 tonight.

When I first saw these, I could not believe the guy was selling them so cheap, they are in perfect condition, with nice heavy glass and a simple black frame. The best part is that we already had one Ansel Adam print (I had gotten from Goodwill for less than $10) the exact same size, so now we have three, each 24"x36" hanging on our wall in our main room. I think it distracts from our old, run-down, I mean well-loved, house.

It brings back nice memories too, because several years ago we took an RV trip to Yosemite when Olivia was just 1-year-old with Travis, his mom, his dad, and his sister. I don't think there are many places on earth that are more inpressive.

Do you have the time?

I was going through my jewelry today and found some old beaded necklaces so Olivia and I were trying them on her. Of course Noah wanted something too, so daddy gave him an old, plastic, digital watch. Olivia immediately wanted the watch and convinced Noah to trade with her. (She's getting to be a pro at manipulation, but that's another post.)

Ever since she's been obsessed with what time it is, and even more so, telling us the time. Here is a sample conversation we had tonight.

Olivia: Do you know what time it is?

Me: No, what time is it?

Olivia: Eight-two-one.

Me: That's eight-twenty-one.

Olivia: Do you know what time it is now?

Me: I'm guessing it's eight-twenty-one, or possibley eight-twenty-two.

At this point Olivia gets distracted by another toy extremely briefly.

Olivia: Do you know what time it is?

Me: No, what time is it?

Olivia: It's eight-two-three.

Me: Do you know how to say that?

Olivia: (Getting sad.) No...

Me: Well, when you said it was eight-two-one, that meant it was eight-twenty-one, so now it's eight-two-three, so what would that be?

Olivia: (Getting irritated) I don't know!

Me: (Giving up) It's eight-twenty-three.

Olivia: Ask me what time it is in a little bit, ok?

This continued until I finally said good-night for the very last time at one-zero-four-two, I mean ten-fourty-two.

Get to work

Noah wearing daddy's work boots, Olivia wearing daddy's Doc Martins. They are all ready to be hauling some concrete. Well, except for the jammies.

Picnics: Not Just for Lunch Anymore

This morning we had a breakfast picnic on the family room floor. Olivia saw someone having a picnic during her morning cartoons and wanted to have one too. Yep, for breakfast. So we packed up an emptied toy basket with some bananas, apple juice, and cinnamon toast and ate it on a blanket on the floor. Fun stuff!

Olivia the Dancer

Olivia just finished her first ever class. It was a combination ballet/tap/jazz dance class. It was the summer session, so only 5 weeks, and I choose it because there were two of her friends in the class. However, they were more experienced and it wasn't a beginner class. I thought, so what, they are 4, right? Nope. These little girls can dance! Olivia did great anyway, except for one time she came out early and complained it was too hard. BUT she wants to take it again in the fall, a more beginner one. I think it's for the best, with her parent's genes, she's not bound to have much coordination. Hopefully she won't mind she won't be in with her little friends any more. I'm sure she'll meet new friends though.

On having a boy

Oh, the sights I see when walking into Olivia's room...

Noah, by Olivia

This is Olivia's portrait of Noah. She drew the picture and when I asked who it was, she said it was Noah. I think it is the first person she's drawn with a torso. Usually when she draws people the legs and arms emerge directly from the head. (Ok, Noah's arms still emerge from the head, but isn't the torso still impressive?) I'm not exactly sure what it means that it was Noah that motivated her to attempt torsos.

I like to write little notes and dates on her pictures for future reference, but she wanted to write on this one all by herself. I was telling her the letters in Noah's name and she told me that she didn't need me to tell her, she remembered all by herself. I suggested the word "by" so we'd remember that she drew the picture and it was of Noah, but all I told her were the letters "b" and "y" and she remembered how to write them. And, of course, she's been a pro at her own name for awhile now. My big girl!

Baking machine

In the past week I've baked, from scratch...

- Banana pudding

- Pecan Pie, with pecans grown on Travis' pa-pa's farm.

- Peach Cobbler, with peaches from the trees in our yard.

What is wrong with me? We had frozen pizza for dinner last night and cereal tonight. Something is a little mixed up here.

More conversations with Olivia

Olivia: (pointing at a small, flat, brown spot on my arm) What's that?

Me: A mole. Or a birthmark. I'm not sure what it's called.

Olivia: It's not a mole. Moles are longer.

Me: You mean the stick out more?

Olivia: Yeah. It's a bookmark.

Me: You mean a birthmark?

Olivia: Yeah.

Whew. I'm glad I don't have a bookmark on my arm.

Conversations with Olivia

In the tub tonight...

Olivia: Mommy what should I catch with my net?

Me: (thinking "your bad attitude." It had been a long day. The closest nice thing I could think of was) A happy heart

Olivia: What's a happy heart?

Me: It just means I want you to be happy deep inside.

Olivia: (cracking up laughing) To do that I'd have to put a net in my tummy, and I could never do that!

Nothing gets by my girl!

Our houseguest

This is Murphy, my friend's Golden Doodle. (Half golden retreiver, half standard poodle.) He's staying with us for 9 days, and I think we are all enjoying it. He's a great dog and he must like us because he slept in our room last night, except when I went to Noah's room to nurse him, he slept in the hallway outside Noah's door. Travis said if my friend ever didn't want him any more we'd keep him. I think he has dog fever now as he's been looking in the classified for Doodles. :)

Daddy's Game of the Day

Daddy thought of a new game today, pulling the kids around the house on Olivia's comforter. The kids loved it, but the hallway corners gave me a heart attack. I know, because I even took a ride on it!

Noah!

This is why Travis says that "Noah" is a 4-letter-word...

Noah playing with Costco sized cinnamon and chilli powder on the kitchen floor:


Noah cleaning up the mess with the DustBuster:



Well, this should get the pepper smell out of the DustBuster.

Short again

You can kinda tell in the picture below that I cut Olivia's hair short again in the past week. Combing out the tangles was just getting too much for both of us to handle. She's really growing up, her hair is getting thick and loosing that fine baby hair quality. Which makes it really hard to get even and straight! I think we'll have to pay for haircuts from now on. Or at least when she starts caring about how it looks.

The best playground in the world

We still have a small pile of dirt in our driveway that we ordered to replace some concrete. Olivia and Noah have a ball in it. What is better place to play than a pile of dirt?