Circus!

Tonight we went to the Arab Shrine Circus.  

We have never been before, so this was a big deal for us.

 I'm pretty sure Rob and I enjoyed it as much as the kids did!  

It was WONDERFUL!  

We are BIG into spending money on experiences, so we did go all out for this one!  Elephant and camel rides were a MUST, and well worth it too, it was so great to see the kid's faces having such a good time! 

Faith's new found love of horses made it impossible to leave without a pony ride!  The Shetland Pony in the show captured her attention from the moment it came trotting out.

We went an hour early, actually, that was when the doors opened, it was great to get there early, there wasn't quite the crowd yet, and we visited pretty much everything going on before the circus even started.  I HIGHLY recommend that!  Lines can be such a hard thing to understand for little ones!

Air brush tattoos!  Grace and Ethan thought this was coolest thing that they had ever seen!

Grace got a lion's head.

Ethan got a viper.












Faith got a lion's head like her big sister.

Face painting!  I have to admit that it took some restraint on my part to not have my face painted too!

Zachary, the leopard!

Faith, the beautiful butterfly!

One of my favorite moments of the evening was when, in the dark, while changing acts, the acrobats were swinging, getting warmed up, and Zach said, "Look, Mommy, chimps!".  The family behind us and in front of us laughed out loud! 

Faith and Zach LOVED "Mater" from Cars!  The motorcycle way above the ring was the boy's favorite of the night.  We were all in awe of the elephant that could stand on a ball!  There is so much to see at the circus, we could have gone two or three times, just to take it all in!  I'm so glad we could do this with the kids!  It was such a wonderful time of smiles, laughing and memory-making experiences last a long time!

Washing faces before bed was such a sad time, but like the good kids they are, all of them sugar crashed into their beds, and not 10 minutes after, all were fast asleep!  

Daddy's Home

Rob is working a lot of overtime, A LOT, tonight, after working a 13 hour day, Zach and Faith, tackled him!  One on the front, one on the back.  He's going back in at 3 AM for another 13 hour day now, but Daddy made the most of his hour with them, total quality time, and they went to bed happy campers.

Beautiful Day

Today, the weather was so absolutely beautiful!  This morning, before I took the kids to school, we opened the front door to leave and heard a robin's song!  It felt and sounded like spring!  How could your day not be great after that? 

This afternoon, after we got the kids from school, we all went to the park across the street, have I mentioned just HOW great that is, living across from the park here?  FANTASTIC!  Anyway, just seeing the kids run into the park was great, sun in their hair, ponytail bouncing away!

Ethan brought the soccer ball, which was really fun, I haven't played soccer in a LONG time!  It was really fun!  I am already sore!  In a rare event we even got Daddy to come over and play with us!  The kids had such a good time, I made the mistake of letting him spin the merry-go-round, and almost got sick, the kids thought it was a hoot though!

After enjoying the park, we all came home with fresh air in our hair and Ethan helped me cook dinner, followed by a fun trip to Cold Stone Creamery, everyone had their own special creations, I had the cake batter, I've never had it before, it felt very naughty, since I get yelled at for licking the spoon when I make a cake (raw eggs and all that).  We got home in time that I could read four books, instead of the normal two, to the kids before bed, so they thought that was pretty great.  I really couldn't have asked for a better afternoon and evening! 

Cousins

Valentines

I sent Grace off to school with chocolate coated popcorn with M&Ms sprinkled over it to share with her friends and Ethan with his Bouncy Ball Valentines, and then I spent Valentines Day morning by running from store to store, we went to four grocery stores by 8am!  This is a rare thing that I visit four in one week, but this week I did, I felt so productive!  The little ones and I then had a great morning of making chocolate dipped strawberries for daddy.  We also picked up fun balloons for each of the kids.  It is days like these that I am so happy that I get to stay home with them, they were such joys! 

When we picked up the big kids from school we heard all about their fantastic Valentine's Days, they talked my ears off the whole way home!  Then after we got home everyone got to open up their valentine gifts from Nana and Papa and from me.  Nana and Papa sent the boys a "real life" Angry Birds game, that was a HUGE hit with them!   Grace enjoyed her glove socks, and Faith adored her new frog to add to her growing collection!  After a Pizza Hut delivery dinner we played Doodle Dice, a definite favorite that was a gift from my mom to Ethan for Christmas.  It is the perfect game for all the kids ages and we grown ups really do enjoy it too!  After getting all ready for bed, we then got a surprise visit from Aunt Andrea, Uncle Josiah, along with Bailey and Joy!

The kids danced, laughed (A LOT), and wrestled with Uncle Josiah!  My sister brought me my first valentine this year (fitting, she was my first Valentine!), made from a picture we took while we were working on her house last year!  I LOVE it!  I also got a super cute valentine from Bailey and another great one from Joy, including a recipe that I can't wait to try! 

Then, right before bed, I got a really sweet valentine from Ethan that thanked me for hand making his valentines for his class this year.  It was so precious.  Oh, how could I forget!  I also did get a valentine from Faith and one from Zach with their pictures on it that they made at MOPPETS last week!  I felt very blessed by the sweet kiddos in my life.  Each one of them adds so much to my life, I can't imagine not having such blessings in my life!

Super Bowl Family Style

I didn't actually take any pictures tonight, but what a fun night.  Not being a huge fan of football on TV, though I LOVE to go and watch live games in person, I was definitely more in it for the commercials.  I made chili con queso, smokies, and even tried something new, crescent rolls with half a cheese stick, and pepperonis!  The consensus was split, half liked them, half didn't.  And the finale, a wonderful cherry dump cake! 

Commercials that were a hit for us, definitely The Voice had a hit, Betty White is a hoot!  Faith was walking around saying "My eyes are up here!"  Hahaha!  The half time show was so great, Rob and I obviously are children of the 80's!  Madonna was soooooo great!  The kids were even enjoying it!

Really the best part of tonight was everyone relaxing in their pjs, all together, I got a little bit of snuggle time with everyone, so it was a good night!

Easter 2010

 

This was the second annual Easter Egg Hunt that Journey Church had held at the Crestview Park Community Center, and the first egg hunt Faith had ever participated in, it was so much fun for all the kids!  There was 5,000 eggs for all the kids to find, and as you can see there was no lack for each child to search for and find!

 Ethan obviously made out like a bandit!  They all had such a great time and we had a great time watching, I kept forgetting to take pictures, I was enjoying myself so much!

Skating

This is another thing we have found as a family that we really like to do together. Skating, well, so far, Zach rides, but he loves it! My Mom and Dad took some pictures for us when we went last time while they were in town, we couldn't get them on the floor though! Maybe next time!


Ethan is a pro at the Limbo!

How low can you go? How low can you go?

How low can you go?