The Circus!

Last week when I was flipping through the ginormous stack of artwork that the boys had brought home from Traci's house, I noticed that she had slipped in two free kids tickets to the Carson & Barnes Circus. I'd never heard of Carson & Barnes before, but I thought that it might be fun to check out, especially because it was free for the kids. The boys have no previous circus experience, and it has been years since Mitch and I have gone, so I figured that a circus adventure would be something different to do on a Sunday afternoon. There was also a buy-one-get-one-free coupon on adult admissions, so it only cost $18 to take the whole family. Sure, why not?



The show started at 4:30, but doors opened at 3:30, and it was non-assigned seating, so we got there early and grabbed some good seats - 4th row up in the bleachers, just off to the side of the ring.



The boys got to check out an elephant up close before we headed into the big tent.



They both waited paitently for the show to get started.

They got a souvenier to pass the time during all that paitent waiting. These light sabers were awesomely fun, but they turned out to be a pretty bad idea once all the seats around us started getting really packed and cramped.

Alex the clown kept everyone entertained with some juggling and the usual clown antics. Sawyer thought he was hysterical.

The first act was a dog act, and the boys both liked watching the dog ride a skateboard down the ramp.

There was a motorcycle high wire act. I thought Sawyer would love this one since he likes motorcycles so much, but he just whispered nervously in my ear, "Oh Mom, that's SO dangerous!"

Some daring young men on the flying trapeeze

The elephants were definitely the stars of the show for the boys!

Everyone had a really great time, and the boys were completely exhausted since they didn't nap today. After the busy weekend we've had, I'm looking forward to spending a quiet day at home tomorrow catching up on laundry and some paperwork for work. Hope you all had a great weekend too!

Happy 3rd Birthday Hattie!

Yesterday Hattie came to spend the day with us while her mom was working. All the kids were on their best behavior, and we had a great time hanging out and playing outside. We rode bikes, made birthday crowns, danced, sang, made and ate a double batch of pancakes, and had our own backyard bike washing service. I don't like to toot my own horn or anything, but...*toot, toot!* I think I'm getting pretty good at this watching three kids thing! Of course, I was so exhausted that I wanted to crawl into bed at 7:30 myself, but that's another story lol.

Today was Hattie's actual birthday and party, and it was awesome! We've been to quite a few birthday parties in the past couple of months, but this one was by far my most favorite (of course, it was for our most favorite people too, so that might have had a little something to do with it!). I love parties where the parents can hang out, relax and chit chat while the kids run around enjoying themselves. Low stress, no time constraints, and beautiful outdoor weather = an awesome and enjoyable birthday party. We had the best time, and the kids were worn out from such a long and super fun day. Hopefully they get a good night sleep tonight, because tomorrow afternoon we're going to the circus!

We started the morning at Build-A-Bear in Arden Fair Mall

The boys both chose to build a puppy - here they're patiently waiting for their turn at the stuffing machine.

Sawyer stuffing his puppy. Sutton was a little scared of the stuffing machine noise, so he stayed back and let Mommy push the button to fill up his puppy.

Their favorite part of the build-a-bear process - "washing" their animals in the air blower sink.

The whole party with their new pals - Sutton, Luella, Hattie, Sawyer, Evan & Delaney.

Our new friends Surf Doggy Dog (Sawyer's) and Hoodie (Sutton's)

After Build-A-Bear we headed over to Arden Park for a teddy bear picnic. Holly and I decorated these cute tins last night for everyone's lunch, and she filled them with teddy bear shaped sandwiches, grapes, carrots and ranch, a juice box and goldfish crackers. The boys especially loved their teddy bear cream cheese and jelly sandwiches, and they devoured their whole lunches! I guess that all that puppy building works up an appetite!

Arden Park has some really fun toys to play in/on. Sutton is hanging out inside a bouncy rocket ship.

Sawyer called these things the "Wibble Wobbles" since they move around

They both really loved playing on the see saw, and it's sturdy enough that even the parents could get in on the fun too.

Sutton hanging out on the big angled spinning wheel. The boys also had fun hanging from the zip line that was right next to the wheel.

Nothing beats a piggy ride on Daddy though!

Taking a break in the shade with his new buddy

Present time!

We got Hat a sparkly tiara and bracelets that Sawyer picked out, a personalized Melissa & Doug opposite matching card game, and a Groovy Girl doll that you get to stuff and make, because it kind of went along with the build-it-yourself theme.

Sawyer spent most of his time inching closer and closer to Hattie and her presents, but he didn't actually try to open any of her presents for her, thank goodness! Once or twice he had to "help" her open her cards though ;)

Holly and I made these super cute cupcakes last night too. They're supposed to be teddy bears hanging out in the grass. They got a little melty while waiting to be eaten at the park, but they were still gooey deliciousness.

Sawyer was having SO much fun going as high as he possibly could on the swings. He kept telling Chris "I'm going higher than you! I'm beating you!" Big thanks to Lauren for putting all that muscle into keeping him flying high!

Mitch & Sutton hanging out in the little clubhouse. Sutton was pretending that all the bark on the table was french fries and that they were having another picnic.

After we finished up at the park we decided to stop and say hi to Gigi and Granddad for a little while. They're going on vacation next week, so we ended up staying at their house until dinner time since we won't see them for a little while, and because the boys were having such a good time playing that they didn't want to leave. My mom and I discussed all of the things we're going to do to get ready for Kari's wedding in October (sooo much work, but so much fun too! I'm excited!), and Jessi came over for awhile and we discussed bachelorette party plans too. The boys raided Granddad's Hot Wheels car stash, and they both came home with a new special car that they picked out. My parents' neighbors recently moved out, and they left a bunch of stuff in their garage up for grabs to all the neighbors, so my dad snagged a couple of really cool things for us - a copy paper box full of colored paper, labels, iron-on transfer paper, receipt books, blank cards, etc. for the boys to craft with, and the biggest prize of all....an electric guitar for the kids to jam on! Aunt Krista even let the boys borrow her amp so they can really get loud. Now they can rock out with Daddy without us worrying that they're going to destroy Mitch's nice guitar!

"I'm playing rock band!"

Mitch hooked up the amps and showed the boys how to use all of the pedals. They played their guitars for awhile, and I think the boys are hooked!

More This & That...

Just a few of the many, many, many things we've been doing this week!



Digging and sifting through the sandbox for our "dinosaur fossils" that we made last week. The boys loved this!



Sutton feeding goldfish crackers to Crocky the Turtle. After he fed him, he set up another little scene where it looked like Crocky was swimming in the ocean with all the goldfish lol. Goofy kid.



We stopped by the library to pick up some new books, and the boys sat in their favorite big comfy chair and watched some video books for awhile. It was "Things That Go" week at the library, so we pretty much wiped out the display of car, train and truck books that the librarian had so thoughtfully set out for us lol.



Mitch's Father's Day present arrived in it's original packaging, despite the fact that I checked the "This Item is a Gift" box, and it was supposed to arrive in a plain unmarked box. Mitch came home and walked right on to the front porch to discover the huge hammock box waiting for him - boooo, Kohl's! So, happy early Father's Day, I guess! He set it up in the house to test it out and spent the rest of the evening relaxing and watching the NBA finals from his new hammock. It actually has a nice striped cushion that goes on top of the ropes, but he just hadn't put it on yet when I snapped this pic.



The boys and I baked homemade soft pretzels from scratch on Friday. They looked great, but they were pretty bland for my taste. The boys ate 'em right up though!

Our snow peas are ready for their first harvest!

Sawyer especially loved helping me pick the snow peas...in fact, he loved picking things so much that he also picked one of our teeny green peppers that was no where near done growing as well as my ONLY itty bitty green tomato that was growing on one of my plants. Sadly, aside from the snow peas, our garden isn't doing so well. I think that it really just needs more morning sun than it's getting.

Happy Birthday Stelly Berry!

Saturday evening we went to Jessi and Erik's house to celebrate Stella's first birthday - yay!

The sleepy birthday girl

Self-portrait of FOUR of us (ooh, top that!) - Me, Sawyer, Kari & Sutton

Stella sampling her cake before blowing out the candle

Time to dig in!

A blue-frosting-filled good time was had by all!

We took three self-portraits, and this was probably the best one of me and the worst one of Mitch...I warned him that this would be the one that I posted lol.

Sawyer telling Granddad a secret. He's big on telling secrets these days. Be careful if he wants to tell you a secret though - he hasn't quite gotten the hang of the part where it's supposed to be told quietly!

Sawyer & Maddux wrestling with Granddad

Sutton getting a piggy back ride from Granddad as they chased Sawyer & Maddux across the lawn. I'm sure that my dad must have been exhausted by the time the evening was over (thanks, Dad! XOXO)!

Sutton & Maddux gave Mitch a workout too!

Stella with the new baby doll that we got her. She got a ton of presents and lots of clothes, but she really seemed to like the doll and stroller that we got her, so I was a happy auntie!

Sawyer passed out almost immediately on the drive home, but this kiddo stayed awake with a goofy grin all the way home :)