Christmas 2011

What a joy has been this Christmas! This year, the boys focused on making gifts for each other, and they weathered spectacularly. Of course, when we initially proposed the idea, they immediately began packaging up things they had already made, like snowflakes and drawings, wrapping and labeling them for giving under the tree. Those gifts were truly delightful to open up this morning. Once we finally caught up with them, however, we helped guide their enthusiasm, and they ended up with these things:

Jacob decorated aprons, Joshua made neck warmers, and Michael made hats. It's more fun to watch these boys give presents than it is to see them open them. I love to see that joy in their faces as they anticipate the great opening of their treasured offerings of time, energy, and love.

We did pajamas, of course. Here they are before bed:

And after waking up this morning:

Michael tried to get the morning rolling at 4 a.m., but we shot him down, mean parents that we are. He figured he wasn't going to be able to get back to sleep, so he might as well try. Needless to say, he did get back to sleep.

For Christmas, this year, we decided to give the boys a bedroom makeover, so they opened up hard hats, Lowe's gift cards,  and some very enthusiastic wall art (Thank you, Jodi!) to get that party started.

We missed having family here, but it's been a lovely, simple, service-oriented holiday season for us, and we can't trade that for anything.

If you are in the area, however, we won't turn you away.

Library Day

The library is an essential part of our homeschool and as such we make a weekly trip to return and checkout new books. One of our goals as parents/teachers was to help our children to become life long learners. The boys showed me this last trip that we are being successful. Michael had a book on hold that he had requested from a different library because our library did not have the book. I was pretty impressed. Then, Joshua asked me to help him find some books that he had looked up using the computer. He was having such a difficult time because the books he wanted were in the adult section. What really impressed me was that he wanted to do some Christmas crafts, so he used the computer to find some books that would help him do so. What more can I ask for?

After we come home from the library the sight is usually the same, everyone is reading. Jacob is so excited to read that it is a challenge to get him all the way up the stairs with his books before he settles in to read. (This week he discovered comic books. I'm not sure that is a good thing. Hmmm. . . )

Yesterday was a special treat because we talked Michael into staying out in the living room with the rest of us to read instead of bunkering down in our room. It was really fun to see them all sitting together reading and I just had to share.

This week was also special because the library got the new edition of the World Book and were going to get rid of the old 2008 edition. I, of course, inquired and landed us a new(er) set of World Books for $20 (because the 5th book was missing). Score!! I don't have pictures of the books but thought the boys were pretty cute and just had to share! Happy reading to everyone over the break!

Christmas is in the Air

We have had a pretty laid back holiday break so far and have slowly found time to put up our tree and decorate it. We did get a fake pre-lit tree this year but filled it with tons of ornaments. The boys are pretty excited that there isn't much room left.

We have been so relaxed that we set up the tree one night and then decorated it the next day. It is great to have plenty of time and not feel pressure to hurry and get things done.

Next, we focused on Christmas candy. We tried a few different things and some turned out better than others. We're not quite done but as I said before we're just taking our time and enjoying the journey. I think we'll be done tonight!

Then, we have to focus on presents. But we'll discuss that later. :)

The Secret Garden

James is doing the college musical this year and selected The Secret Garden. As most of you know there are a couple of children in the musical, so I had been helping James advertise among the home schoolers. Later we wondered if Joshua would enjoy auditioning for the part of Collin. So, we talked to him and in his usual manner he said yes. Since Joshua tends to be a little more excited about things than most people we were very careful to talk to him about auditioning and what it would be like and that it didn't mean that he would get the role. He needed to prepare a song, so we worked with him on one of the songs from the musical, Round Shouldered Man, and he learned it quickly and easily. It always amazes me by how quickly he memorizes things!

Well, the auditions were this week and Joshua went on Monday (the picture above was from the audition). He sang his song and ran through some readings with the other girls who came to audition. He had a great time and was just beaming when he came home. Whether he was going to get the part or not it was a great experience for him and a success in my book.

Well, on Wednesday after the rest of auditions he was offered the role. He is, of course, beyond himself with joy and will play opposite a young lady with whom he is good friends. He has already planned to have her over to play and practice running lines. This will be a new and fun adventure in our lives and one we are looking forward to! So, Congrats Joshua and Good Luck!

Joshua's Baptism

This would have been blogged earlier, but Liz let me get around to it instead of doing it herself. It was definitely kind of her, and I'm grateful for the opportunity to do it. It was lovely, and small and wonderful. We just had a few friends and our home teachers there, and the Bishop even remembered, eventually, after someone called him to remind him. He's a busy man, and we're so glad he helped us get it done on Thanksgiving weekend.

Michael gave an excellent talk that he researched, wrote, and delivered all by himself. It was fun to watch him use his scripture tools to find scriptures that taught about baptism and talk with him about what they said and meant and taught. He then compiled and wrote that thing like a beast. Here it is, for your belated enjoyment:

Baptism is a commandment given to us by our Heavenly Father. If we follow the commandment of baptism we will be able to live with our Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ again.

Jesus sets a good example of baptism. He was baptized even though he was perfect. The reason he did that is because it was a commandment given by Heavenly Father.

Because he did that he received the Holy Ghost. If we get baptized we too will get the Holy Ghost, like Joshua.

When I was baptized, I received the Holy Ghost too. After it was given to me I felt it telling me that what I was doing was the right thing. Since then I have had lots of experiences with the Holy Ghost. There are lots of feelings that can represent the Holy Ghost. My most common representation of the Holy Ghost is a warm feeling in my heart. Sometimes it’s tears.

When I was baptized I promised to do lots of things. I’m just going to name a couple of them. One of them is to take the Sacrament on Sunday. Another one is to keep his commandments.

Baptism is a covenant between each of us and our Heavenly Father. Baptism is not the only commandment, there are lots of others, we have to follow all of those other commandments to live with Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ again.

I say these things in the name of Jesus Christ. Amen.

I had the honor of Baptizing Joshua, one I had not had previously, since Michael asked Grandpa to baptize him. It was a wonderful and humbling feeling to baptize my son and feel not only the workings of the Holy Ghost during the ceremony, but also the bond formed between us as a result of our participation together.

We sure missed having family there, but there was a sense of being enveloped and loved by our Ward family that we have hoped to feel for a long time. Our home teachers (YES! we have home teachers for the first time in almost 3 years!) came and our friends made the morning journey, even though we had kept them up late the night before. It was such a blessing for Joshua and for our family as a whole.

It's hard to think that anyone could have been more excited about being baptized that Joshua was. Fire in that one.

Thanksgiving and Leftovers!!!

This year we got to enjoy Thanksgiving as just the five of us again ,and I must admit that it was quiet, calm, peaceful and practically perfect in every way. The boys each got to choose a favorite vegetable, so we had turkey, sweet potato/cranberry salad (the same as last year) and then lots of vegetables including carrots, peas, and cauliflower. It was nice to have the meal be mostly vegetables. While we ate we talked about what we were thankful for including the usual topics. This year as we have been studying the Book of Mormon I was particularly thankful for being raised in a home where the Gospel was both taught and lived and want to make sure my children can say the same.

After the meal we decided to have quiet/nap time before we tackled the cleanup. Both James and I crashed pretty hard and the boys read or played quietly. It was perfect! Then, we put the desert in the oven to cook while we cleaned up. The goal was to beat the timer and we easily won. I love how quickly cleanup goes with 5 people working together. Then, we played games and ate the pear and cranberry crisp that James already blogged. It was amazing! It was indeed a great day!

After a nice calm day we decided we wanted to do something fun with others. So, we planned what we called a 'Leftover Party.' This is the easiest party to plan because you just invite people over and ask them to bring some leftovers! It was fun to see random leftover turn into a fun meal. We did have fun making broth and soup out of turkey to go with the other leftovers. Now because James couldn't help himself he put together an amazing cheese plate to go with everything and make it into a real party!

Doesn't it look amazing! Well, it was! We invited a couple of families over from church and just had a great time eating and talking and well, eating some more! And in the end we all still had leftovers to get us through the rest of the weekend! This is definitely a party we will have to throw again! So, all in all our Thanksgiving weekend has been wonderful and full of gratitude because we have so many things to be grateful for!

Hand-Me-Downs

Having been the oldest I was never the recipient of hand-me-downs. As a mother I love hand-me-downs but have been saddened lately by the fact that Michael wears through everything he wears. Also, he grows so quickly that sometimes we miss sizes. I am learning to teach Michael to tell us when his shoes are too small. He will literally wear his shoes until his toes poke out the front because they have nowhere else to go. So, we have no shoes in sizes 4 or 6 because we didn't know that he needed a bigger size. Oops! So, Joshua has been lucky enough to get some 'new clothes' because Michael left him nothing to wear.

Interestingly Michael has now been the recipient of a hand-me-down. Actually, he is pretty excited because the hand-me-down is from ME! Now I wish that I am small enough that he could use my clothes, but alas that will never happen (though he does borrow my sweat shirt sometimes). But I was able to give him my old running shoes. Surprisingly he wore his shoes out, AGAIN and I can't find any I like for him, so I pulled out my old running shoes and passed them along to him. Yes, he wears the same size shoes as myself. But because I still am attached to my old shoes I asked him very nicely to let me know when they start to feel tight, so we can get him new shoes without him ruining my old shoes, so I can still have them as backup shoes. We'll have to see how that goes! So, welcome to our new strange world of parent to child hand-me-downs. So, this is our fun new adventure that we are excited to traverse!

Tigers!

The tigers were in town again, and with three big cat lovers it was a must see for us. We met some friends there and had a great time watching and playing with the tigers. They were pretty sleepy by the time we got to them, so we got to pet and play with them as much as we wanted and they just laid there and let us. It was great fun! But mostly I have some fun pictures, so enjoy! The cubs were about 8 or 9 weeks old and super cute!

Halloween Party!

Joshua really wanted a birthday party this year but I hadn't thrown a party for anyone else, so instead we threw a Halloween party! They were each able to invite a few friends and then help me plan the party. Joshua read a Geronimo Stilton book about Halloween parties that had lots of ideas, so we had fun researching and finding fun things to do.

Decorating was first, so we made bats and balloon ghosts to hang.

We started by letting our guests decorate their own goodie bags. It is amazing what kids will come up with (some glued candy corn to their bags)!

Then, we had a mummy making competition. It was really interesting to see how to two teams worked. One was speedy and creative while the other was slow and methodic. Fascinating!

Then, came lunch. Normally I wouldn't do lunch at a party but Joshua had many food ideas that I didn't mind, so we went for it. First, they made scary mouths out of apple slices and almost slivers. They were indeed scary. Then, they enjoyed carrot fingers! When you use real carrots and put them standing up in a bowl they really do look like scary fingers. And hey, who can pass up a scary carrot finger! YES, I served vegetables at a party and am unashamed! Then, they enjoyed the main course of pumpkin cut out peanut butter sandwiches and mummy English muffin pizzas (these were my favorite). By the way, using cheep white bread made spreading the peanut butter and honey very difficult--now I am ashamed for using white bread, but I thought it would be easier to use. Now I know that to be a falsehood.

After eating I set out a variety of craft supplies and asked them to make a spider. They could be scary, funny, creative, or just whatever they wanted. It was great! I was impressed by their creativity! At the end there were a few minutes left, so I let them go outside to play. Fortunately, we are stilling 50 and 60 degree weather here, so it was a lovely afternoon and they gladly went out to play.

We ended with these great cookies that James made. Yes, they look amazing and of course, they taste amazing. The ones with brown filling are Nutella! Mmmmmm. . . . He always amazes me with what he can do!

Now for the goodie bag! We made bats straws (bats taped on straws-but they were pretty impressive), orange play-do (yes, I made this too and let me tell you, if you cook your play-do it doesn't get hard when the kids leave it out. I'm not too sure if I like this or not), little halloween notebooks, and of course, a little candy.

This was probably one of my finest creative moments, so hopefully the boys enjoyed it, well, I know they had a blast, so it was a success.

We were pretty wimpy with costumes this year, so if you are trying to figure out how they are dressed, they are wearing brown and camo, so they are army men. Yes, they were clearance clothes at Old Navy, but the boys love them and now they have new clothes for the colder months ahead!

Oh, and I am sorry for the horrible pictures, but the camera hadn't made it home from James' concert, so you got ipod photos. But hey, they are better than nothing!

Canning, Canning and More Canning!

This year I learned to can. I know that James has canned jam in the past but I didn't realize you could can more than jam. So, this year I have learned to can peaches, tomatoes, salsa, chicken, chicken stock and am getting ready to learn to can pears (hopefully on Thursday).

Some may say that I have been a little out of control. I have a new canning buddy and we have gotten together on several occasions to can tomatoes, salsa, and dehydrate peaches. We borrowed a pressure canner, she had one and we bought one, so at times we have had three pressure canners going at the same time. It was AWESOME! At home I still have the borrowed pressure canner and have been known to run both canners all day. I have officially canned 100 quarts of tomatoes! The boys learned to blanch the tomatoes for me and did all of the blanching for the last 24 quarts. They are AMAZING! I also fell in love with canning chicken breast. Chicken has been on sale lately and I found that my freezer can only hold so much chicken. So, instead of buying another freezer I learned to can that chicken! It might be said that I canned about 100 lbs of chicken. Hmmm. . . maybe I am out of control!

I am now done with all of those item and am ready to do pears! I have my first 20 lbs and just need to figure out where to find more. We have run into some cold weather here, so gardening is quickly coming to an end. A local farm now has all of its produce on sale for $25 per bushel. I of course ran over and bought lots of apples, sweet potatoes and squash. Now I need to find uses for each of those things. Any great acorn squash recipes out there?

I think I have come to love canning so much because I feel like I am preserving food we will actually use. As much fun as it is to store wheat, oats and beans, one needs more variety in their life. So, now the goal is to go through the winter with a very low food budget. We'll see how it goes! Soup season here we come!

Happy Birthday, Joshua!

We didn't end up with a ton of photos from his birthday, but Joshua did say it was "probably the best day of his entire life, so far."

So there you have it.

We had waffles for breakfast, and Joshua opened a new [to him] suit that he wore to church so proudly. He got to practice the primary program, which he loves, and eat peanut butter sandwiches for lunch. He helped me make ice cream and decorate his soccer ball cake, and we enjoyed garden pizza for dinner. The "garden" part was a specific facet of his request, so he walked through our fading garden with me looking for suitable vegetables. We ended up with garden tomatoes, broccoli, brussels sprouts, and some store bought mushrooms, onions, and red peppers. Here he is with his ultimate creation.

After dinner he opened his presents: nano bug, robe, slippers (he is so his father's son) and probably his favourite, The Game of Life. We played a round as a family and had a grand evening. What a blessing Joshua is in our lives.

So Much Soccer!

On Saturday, we had what we consider to be a singular event in the history of community soccer. OK, it's probably not, but we were a bit overwhelmed.

You see, we have three boys playing this year, and they are all three in different age brackets. To add to the impact of this season, LIz and I are coaching Michael's team, which has been a wonderful learning experience for us. On Saturday, however, we felt a little stretched.

We had FIVE games on Saturday.

Five.

F I V E.

Yeah, we only have three children. Jacob started his game at 9 am, the same time as our double header with Michael's team. When he and Joshua didn't show up at our field after that game, we figured they were just playing soccer with some of their friends around the fields, and let it go. They've proven that they make good choices when they're together. As Jacob dragged himself over at the end of our second game, however, we learned that he had just finished his second game as well. Yes, they had a double header that overlapped our double header, and we didn't even know it. It was crazy, but we acknowledged the crazy, and packed up our stuff and headed over to watch Joshua.

Of the five games, we won four, and tied one. The tie, however, was against a team from a different area, who get to practice more than we do and have been playing together for five years. They've never lost in Galesburg. Saturday, however, these green coaches helped their team tie. We play them again next week. Maybe, just maybe we can pull off a win.

Pinewood Derby

These things are so fun, except the wild children, the lack of order, and the noise. Other than that, though, pinewood derbies are, um, the bomb.

The boys had a great time, they raced that track at least a dozen times each, and as a group, we managed to make a 7-person bracket as complex and endless as possible.

All in all, though, it was a great time, especially for this Dad and his two, yes, TWO cub scouts. I'm getting old, and it's a delight to experience all the things that are slowly moving me from young to aged. The boys drew out plans of their cars, and I did my best to help them realize them, right down to their chosen numbers and the paint jobs. I think they both felt like they were able to plan, execute, and adjust in ways that made them both very happy.

Plus, I got to play with molten lead.

The boys made great cars, had a great time, and Michael brought home a 2nd place ribbon, Joshua was in 3rd. Having two kids in the derby is quite the change, I'll tell you that. They'll never win best of show, unfortunately, because we'll have to split our votes between them every time. I don't think they care much, though, because I'm pretty sure they each voted for someone else.

I can't lie—I'm a little proud that I had to do twice as much work with twice the sons as the others, and my boys still had cars that placed. I only did the things they really shouldn't, like unsafely operate a jigsaw and pour molten lead, so the glory definitely goes to them.

I'm a little proud of [glory in?] all of us.

Idleness vs Productivity

I am sure that no one would think we are idle but this week we took that to a whole new level. With the anything goes garbage week we had set a goal to finish cleaning out the garage, so we began our week with a great work day for Family Home Evening. We were very productive and the garage looked so much better! On Wednesday we spent the afternoon helping a new friend unpack. We then went back on Thursday to preserve peaches and tomatoes with the same friend. James was even able to take a few hours to come and help us. We dehydrated peaches and roasted tomatoes. We had never done either of these and had a great time learning and getting to know our new friends better.

By Friday we were very excited to work on preserving more food but knew that we needed to finish getting shelves in our storage room, set up our shed and clean out the garage. So, we started on Friday by getting our shed set up. We were a little overwhelmed by the idea of setting up the shed but after we got started things went pretty smoothly and in about 4 hours we had a shed!

It was date night, so the boys came in and made their own dinner and we headed out for a nice evening out together. They are becoming very good cooks which is great for both us and them!

On Saturday we spent the morning at soccer-I'm sure this is a real surprise. We had a great time and all of the boys played well.

We then came home and worked on putting up some new shelves in the storage room. The first shelf is always the hardest, but once we got into a groove things went well. We didn't get all of the shelves filled but at least they are up and ready to go. Then, we found a great deal on some tomatoes which we couldn't pass up, so James spent the evening roasting tomatoes and making salsa. And now our kitchen smells yummy and we have some great salsa and roasted tomatoes. I am afraid they won't last very long because they are so good, but we will enjoy them while they last!

It is amazing how much you can get done in a week! It has been a lot of fun and it is great to see the product of our labors! Now to figure out what to accomplish this week!

GAME DAY 1

Well, Liz is off having a weekend of fun, and we're here batchin' it the way guys do when their pretty lady is out of town. I'd love to say we sat around watching television and eating pizza and chips and belching, but we didn't. We did, however, run three soccer practices in the rain at the same time last night, and ran ourselves through three soccer games today. Lucky for us, we lived. Sometimes you can't ask for more than that. We even won all three games, 6-1, 6-2, and 8-2.

It was my first time coaching, and I probably won't do it again. It reminded me why I don't teach public school . . .

THE PARENTS.

They actually sent an ambassador to advise me on proper technique. Apparently we were winning by too much, and they wanted me to pull back. Seriously, I can't win, even when I win. We were the 8-2, just in case you were wondering. I'm glad I stick religiously to my sports parent motto: let the coach do his job and cheer loud, no matter what, because I sure can't do it any better. I think next year I'll go back to just being a parent.

We made some jam, pear butter, and broke in my new dutch oven with one fine chili. The boys also enjoyed some time at the park, and watching the old biplanes do tricks over the city. It was a great day, but we'll be glad when our pretty lady is back.

Mommy and the Boys

James was gone this weekend visiting family, so the boys and I partied all weekend! On Friday we met friends at the park and enjoyed soccer practice. Then, finished the day with ice cream and a movie.

Saturday was predicted to be the last hot day of the summer, so we spent the afternoon at the pool. The boys get free passes with the summer reading program, so I thought it best to give them an opportunity to use. Joshua loved going down the big slide over and over and even talked me into going down once. Michael sat and chatted with me a bit and we watched Jacob eying the smaller slide. I asked him whether or not he thought Jacob would go down and he pondered it for awhile. I told him that I didn't think that he would, so what did he do? He walked over and played with Jacob and talked him into going down. He even met him at the bottom! What a great brother! After going down a couple of times he was a pro and enjoyed going down the slide many more times. He even got faster which was super cute! Afterwards we enjoyed going to a baptism of one of Joshua's friends at church. It was a great baptism and I am glad we were able to go. Of course we ended the day with ice cream and finished Friday nights movie.

Sunday was calm and relaxing and we enjoyed a great day at church. In the afternoon we made cookies and took them to a new family from church. We ended up staying for quite awhile playing and talking! It is nice having a new family whose children play so well with mine!

Monday was Labor Day, of course, so we went to a pancake breakfast that our church puts on and the boys stuffed their faces-literally. Jacob sat and ate for over an hour. It was no surprise that they were not hungry at lunch time. After the breakfast we headed over to the parade, which we had never been to. Look at us moving out of our comfort zone . . . ok, well, my comfort zone. But we went with friends and that makes everything better. Now I must tell you that a friend told me that they don't hand out very much candy but I beg to differ. Here are the pictures of the boys sorting their candy. They were adamant that I not take any of their candy away (they have figured me out). So, I had to come up with the new plan . . . they each made small bags of candy and we labeled them with a date; one small bag for each day. It was a win-win because they don't eat too much candy in one day AND the candy lasts longer which they love!

The rest of the afternoon was just relaxing which is always nice. For Family Home Evening I had the boys work together to act out scripture stories and see if I could guess them. It was a blast!

So, we had a great weekend without James but missed him and are glad he is home!!! Next weekend is his turn to have boys weekend! I know they will have some great adventures!

Growing every day

I thought we were past due on an update, so here we go! First, this summer has been super hot in case you haven't gathered that from previous blogs or by walking outside (if you live in the midwest). So, by the end of July we were getting stir crazy, so we chose August first as our first day back to school. I know it was early but why wait until the weather is nice to start school? And I just have to say that it made all of our lives much happier! We are trying a few new things this year. The first is school checklists. I don't know if it is because I am their mother but they are working fabulously! First, it helps me to not forget things and second, they have a sense of accomplishment when they get to mark something off. Second, we start school with scripture packet. A great friend of mine recommended this program which is great! For some reason when you start school by studying the scriptures things go so much better! Who knew? :)

As usual we choose a lot of our topics based on the boys' interests. So, what have they been interested in? Michael has been pretty interested in WWII. We talked about President Uchtdorf in Family Home Evening and ever since he has wanted to learn about Germany and WWII. So, we have studied WWI and WWII, and let me just say that I have learned a ton. It is amazing/sad how history really does repeat itself.

Michael has also been reading books on different countries. He has been doing this for quite some time, but has now just decided to start at the beginning of the alphabet and go from there. He is writing down recipes he finds in these books, so it is time for me to start making them. It is really fun to see the boys get excited about things, dive in and learn about them and then get to use the things they are learning!

Joshua has been having great fun reading a book that we found at Borders called "Earth". So, while I am sad that Borders is closing I am loving their great sales! This book is super huge and I'm pretty sure that I will take a picture of it before I post this blog, so you can see it. He was studying volcanoes the other day, so I asked him to teach a lesson on it for school. He was so excited that he jumped up, found a pen and paper and started taking notes on what he wanted to share. Then, for art we got to paint different volcanoes which was super fun. And Joshua was just thrilled that he got to teach us. I have to remember to watch for moments like these because they are always amazing!

Joshua is also in love with playing the piano. I don't know what happened but something has clicked and he is now playing the piano all day long. It was actually funny this morning when it came to almost 11 AM and he noticed that he hadn't played the piano yet. He couldn't believe it. Super cute. I also believe that his enthusiasm is rubbing off on the other boys. Michael was stuck in a rut because he didn't know his notes, so we played an online game and then in just three days he was back on track and loving the piano again. It is amazing that when we find the real problem and fix it that everything works again. Trying to fix the symptoms never seems to help.

The boys have also been having a blast learning German. I will admit that I am not very good at learning German but James is great at it and the boys love it when he talks to them in German.

Jacob, who would never allow himself to be left out, has been really excited about math. He was still finishing up his kindergarten math books when we began but then decided he wanted to get into a new book, so we had some super math days and he worked really hard and is now in his 1st grade math books which he is quite proud of. He also had a lot of fun today looking at pictures of tanks and airplanes used in WWII. Yes, he is a true boy who loves blowing things up!

So, school has been awesome! James is now back in school as well which is always bitter sweet. It is always nice to get back into the routine but sad to have him gone all day. And sad that I have to make dinner again which really I don't mind, but the meals just aren't as fun. :)

Then, today we had a super treat. It is always difficult for me to adjust my schedule but it paid off this morning. The circus was in town for the day and invited the public to come and watch them set up the tent. The elephants were supposed to help which is really why I wanted to go but apparently animal activists have protested this, so we got to watch a bunch of men do what one elephant could have done. Very sad. But also we got to see them bring out all of the animals including a couple of camels, llamas, 3 elephants, goats and much more! The kids got to pet them and feed them grass. They also got to see a trainer play with an elephant (I didn't get a picture of this because Jacob was on my shoulders trying to see. :(

And then they got to see a man walk across a wire above the tent. That was one of my favorite parts. It was a great morning! (And we got all of our school work done by lunch which made me even happier!)

This evening we even went back and were able to take a ride on some of the animals. We let the boys choose and Michael and Joshua chose the elephant and Jacob the pony. So, yes we are having parties with pony rides at our house and now you are all jealous. ;) I have to tell you that I decided to ride with Michael and Joshua and well, I don't regret it. It was pretty awesome! Epic, if you will.

Michael was a little nervous at first and it took a bit to get him on which is why I look like I am squeezing his arm off. But in the end I think he was glad he did it.

So, that is what we are up to and we are having a blast doing it!