Trike-a-thon: Big Wheel Edition

His toe is trying so hard to reach the pedal!

Anyone who's ever talked to Aron about his youth will come out of that conversation with the knowledge of 2 major events.

1.) When Aron was around 6 years old, he was on his Uncle's t-ball team. His Uncle didn't think that Aron was quite as "skilled" in the beginning of the season so he traded him to another team. Aron then went on to be an alternate for the all-star game at the end of the season (eat that, Uncle Bruno!)

2.) Aron had the sweetest, most bad boy item a kid could own: The Knight Rider big wheel. Well, it was the sweetest, most bad boy Knight Rider big wheel until his much larger cousin came over one day to use it and smashed it because he was too big to ride it. Bye, bye Knight Rider big wheel!

On trike-a-thon day, Luke chose a Big Wheel as one of his modes of transport. I think it was his own little salute to his Dad. This one's for you, Aron!

Trike-a-thon!!

Such a big bike for such a delicate little flower...
Go, Speed Racer.

Everyone got a racing number. Here's Luke.

Pretty sweet bike, huh? We borrowed a bigger trike than the one we own from our buddy, Sam (Thanks, Sam!).

The kids had a trike-a-thon at their pre-school a couple weeks ago. They had a blast and raised money to buy playground equipment for their school. There were 15 teams of 5 kids each (for those of you playing the home game, that would be 75 riders). Helmets and tennis shoes/socks were required, otherwise, you could grab any bike and ride like the wind (Bullseye). It was crazy. There were a couple incidents of a scraped knee or elbow (except for those poor kids whose Moms made them wear full elbow and knee pads because they were riding on a paved surface) but all went very well.

I didn't realize how big of an event this trike-a-thon was going to be. There were quite a few people there including parents, grandparents, and friends. Thankfully, we live close enough that I could run back home to grab a chair and water bottle for myself.

Let's put the circus to rest

I think I've recapped about as much as I can about our circus experience... are you happy now, Sarah?

Oh, I almost forgot...Luke fell asleep for the last 15 minutes of the show.

Too much celebrity-ness makes a little boy sleepy, I guess.

Circus Celebrities! AKA Tram-tastic (Let the stalking of the paparazzi commence)

We had to wear passes around our necks...

Our group took a vote. We voted Luke most likely to run away and join the circus.

Here's the view from the tram into the audience (Are you in there somewhere, Connie?)

Don't try this at home, viewers! An up close view of motorcyclists in a tiny little sphere.

This is what it feels like to be paraded about...I haven't felt this paraded about since the last time I was in a parade. Sigh, I thought my parading days were over.

I photoshopped the random girl out of the pic but you can still see her arm. Have you ever wondered if you're in someone's family pictures? That somewhere, someone is showing pictures around to their friends of their great trip to the circus and you happen to be in the pictures that are being passed around? Yeah, me neither.

As mentioned in earlier posts, we were Circus Celebrities. We had front row seats (awesome! I've never been in the front row for anything....ANYTHING!). Being a celebrity, ehem, excuse me, Celebrity, comes with certain responsibilities. Responsibilities like being called out of the audience, loaded on a tram-type vehicle and being driven around the arena. It was crazy fun. There was some random little girl that got stuck in our car with us so you'll see her bouncing in and out of the video.

Keeper of the Corn

I love the intensity in his eyes while he's watching the performers.

The kids eat popcorn at least 3 times a week. It's hands-down one of their favorite foods. Aron grabbed some popcorn while we were at the circus. There was a bit of a struggle with regards to who was the holder of the popcorn. Luke, being the foodie that he is, won hands down. Myles settled for being lemonade holder and Ella settled for being the girl between the two with the littles distance between both.

For some reason this really bothered me

Recently, someone small said something to me and I think it's important to share. This child was trying to get the hang of doing something. Something new to her. Something that was difficult. She turned to me with sweet little eyes and said "I'm very stupid, I can't get this." Now, we've all said things like this to ourselves in frustration but this child was dead serious and didn't blink an eye when she said it.

I asked her if she would ever say that to a friend; if it was a nice thing to say to a friend. The answer was no. I then asked her why in the world was it acceptable to say it to herself. Your Self is the first friend you ever made.

I hope it made an impression on her--it sure made an impression on me.

Say kind words to yourself as well as to others.

An amusing story

I need a break from circus blogging so I'll tell you all a little story. After that, I'm going nighty night cause Annie's tired.

Aron took the kids plus Myles on a walk the other day. They walked to the fountain in our town square and gave each of the kids a coin to throw in. I'll tell you what their wishes were but lets have a little fun guessing who was the wisher. Answers will appear in the comment section so look there after you're done trying to match up the wisher and their wishes.

1.)"I wish I could have a skateboard."
2.)"I wish everything was pink and purple."
3.)"I wish I was a grown up."

Great pre-show festivities!

Before the circus started, everyone went in the arena for pre-show festivities. Check out all the people below...

View from the top (The floor of the arena where all the action was.)

Can I have this next Christmas, Uncle Kevin?
Don't I look great on this...it'll help me score with the ladies.

Not sure what this guy was saying...whatever he's telling them, Myles is not buying it.

Freaky guy on stilts

You've got no future at clown school if you can't even get your nose to stick on your face, son.

Apparently, he was quite skilled at nose application.

You can pick your friends and you can pick your nose but you can't pick your friend's nose...that obviously does not hold true on circus day.

Ack! Seriously, will this ever end??

Walking with Aunt Robbie and Uncle Jeffy over to the arena for the show...
but who can resist a little of this...

or this...

Every darn time they see these thingies they gotta do this...will it ever stop (Disclaimer: Yes, I complain about this all the time but I'll totally miss their ability to find fun in the simple things some day)

Pre-circus animals

A little known fact...elephants are Ella's favorite animal.
Something about getting right on the fence makes it so you can see the elephants better.

Aw...look at the pretty, little ponies.

Hey! What's in there? Is that where the tigers are?

With your paid admission, circus goers got to go and see the animals while they were resting between shows. The kids thought it was pretty awesome to see the animals up close and personal. It was way closer than how you see them at the zoo so they were stoked.

Pre-circus grub

We decided to go to a restaurant right across from the arena before the circus. Ella and Luke love it whenever we go out to eat with their buddy, Myles.

E loves anything dipped in ranch--if she were able to dip ranch in more ranch she would be so happy

Who wants some Mommy lovin'?

" I tink dis toof right ere might be loof."

Clearly, Aron's been drinking. He doesn't typically smile that way. (Disclaimer: No, Aron had not been drinking...not even one little beer...although, that would've probably helped him handle the children).

Waiting for food is so hard...

View from our table to the arena across the street.

CIRCUS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

At Christmas time, Aunt Robbie decided that she wanted to get the kids tickets to the circus for Christmas. She waited patiently....and patiently....and patiently under our kind friends at Ticketmaster made those available to her. There was some splurging that went on and she got super-ultra awesome front row tickets including "Circus Celebrity" status for us. What's a "Circus Celebrity"? Stay tuned and I'll let you know.

When you get tickets to the circus, you not only get to enjoy the show but you can see the animals an hour before and they have the arena floor set up with performers. The kids had a BLAST going to look at the animals and doing all the fun activities inside the arena before the show. We even saw our buddy, Sam, and his Mom, Connie (forgot to get their picture--sorry!).

Enjoy the great photos and even a video or two...

Oh, Adam and Eve...why'd you have to partake of that tasty apple?

Seem like you all enjoyed the poll the last time so let's try again with another one.

I've been thinking lately about nudity. Luke's a "shake what your Mama gave you, let's get nakey kinda guy" and would run around nude continuously if allowed. Ella's not too far behind that but is a little more modest when others are around. We haven't really thought too much about it but at what point does it become an issue?

What do you guys think? Please vote.

It's all the Pomp and Circumstance. It gets me a little misty.

Yes, they did play Pomp and Circumstance (for those non-music people, that would be the song that goes "Daa Da Da Da Daaaaa Daa. Daaaa Da Da Da Daaaaaaaaaaa" or you could also click on the link if you are not fluent in Da).

The Super Serious Graduate The Ultra Goofy Graduate Here they are singing the songs that they've been learning all year. As a side note, the boy to the right of Ella in the striped shirt was born just a day after Ella.


Notice Ella's complete lack of participation in the hug she received evidenced by her arms at her side and stiff upper body posture. This is ok in Ella's world. It means she likes you well enough to receive a hug but because it is happening in front of a large crowd of people, she will not be returning it any time soon.

The Happy Grad complete with Graduation Medallion/paper with a ribbon thru it.

Ella and Myles graduated from Monday school a few weeks ago. If you don't remember what Monday school is, click here.

They had such a great time participating in the program. If anyone is in my local area and wants more information about it, let me know.

Mommys and Muffins Day

That's her teacher in the background in the pink shirt at the desk.
Mommy's little Picasso
Me+my hand-crafted tiara+this girl=happy!
**This event was actually held back in March but I have neglected to put the pix on the blog for some reason. Whoopsie

I have a hobby that I haven't told you all about. It's part hobby, part personal interest, part missed my calling in life all rolled into one. I really enjoy observing people and their interactions with one another. A stellar opportunity for this occurred at Ella's pre-school when she had her Mommy and Muffins Day. The gist of the day went something like this. You have a bunch of pre-kindergarten kids who invite their Mommies to visit their pre-school and participate in some pre-school activities with them. Hanging around with a large group of pre-K'ers wouldn't usually be my idea of a fun time but I looked forward to this event because I would have an opportunity to meet Ella's friends and their Moms. I don't often go to the pre-school because of scheduling issues with my work so sometimes I feel out of the loop in that area of the kids' lives.

All of the Mom's and their kids gathered in their rooms for a little makeup lesson (read into that that the Moms brought in their bags of makeup, a nude (or semi-nude) canvas aka their face, and let their 5 year old have a go at putting on their makeup.). Some of the kids did better than others. The kids had a BLAST doing this. Who knew that something so simple could bring such joy to the little cuties?

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Anyhoos, this is where the observation of interaction comes in.

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Some Mommies and their kids had such fun. It was a great experience getting some quality one-on-on time with their kid. There were no distractions, no other kids pulling at you wanting attention, just a great opportunity to be together. I would say this was the majority of the Moms.

I felt bad for the one little girl because her Mommy continually sent text messages and used her Blackberry the entire time they were there. Seriously, THE ENTIRE TIME. I kept thinking that she would feel bad at some point that she was completely not paying attention to her child. This Mom talked to the other Mommies, some of the other little girls, but very rarely actually interacted with her own kid. One of the little boys in class had a sub-optimal experience with his Mommy, also, in that I never saw them spontaneously interact with one another. They would talk to each other long enough to do whatever the teacher told them to do. Otherwise, they looked like they were on a blind date. A bad blind date where were lots of awkward silences and talk of the weather and how the Tribe was doing this year.

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I guess I'll stop complaining about the other Mommys seeing as I'm so, ehem, perfect.

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We did other things that day, too, including eating some of the aforementioned muffins. We also got to go on a stage one-by-one with our kids while the teacher read nice things that our children said about us. What did Ella have to say about me?

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"My Mom is great. I love it when she crafts with me."

KiKi the Killer

Awwww...isn't she cute?
Believe it or not...this cute, little kitty is a KILLER! So far this spring, I've seen her chasing squirrels, rabbits, and mice outside our house. She's brought no less then 3 dead mice to my door. She may look like your average kitty but when it comes to other animals hanging around my house, it is game on. I don't want to say anything but I think I saw her giving Luke the eye the other day.

Circus pre-view

yeah, yeah, I know. I'm spending a lot of time "previewing" things and not actually blogging about them. What can I say...it must be sweeps month here on the blog. Enjoy it anyway!

Trike-a-thon preview

This is what Luke *chose* to look like for the trike-a-thon today.

As an aside

make sure you scroll past the post about Ella bedazzling our cats (thanks Alice) to see us with a Martian Maker. I had started that post a while ago and hadn't gotten around to finishing it until today. Because I started it before the Ella bedazzling post, it put it before it.

I find their insight interesting

What goes on in the noggin of yours, little guy?

Recently, my Grandma was moved to an extended care facility. She had stayed at the hospital for about 6 weeks after her surgery in March. Right before she left the hospital, we took the kids for their first visit to see GG (as they call her) since her surgery. We had waited because we were not sure how the kids would respond. She looked very different than the last time they had seen her because she had swelling and bruising of the head for quite a while and part of her head was shaved where they did the surgery. She has not recovered like we would have liked. She's mostly in bed and cannot talk but she'll hold your hand if you put yours by hers.

The kids did pretty well in that first visit (and have continued to do well in the subsequent ones). After the first visit, I sat down with the kids and we talked a bit about how GG looked and acted different than she did before. They didn't really have much to say but mostly wanted to know when GG would be going home and when she would get better. We kept our answers vague and didn't answer much other than that she was sick and needed to stay there to get better. At the end of the conversation, Luke looked at me and said "She's still the same GG...she's just lying down. And she doesn't give us chocolate"

Where does a 3 year old get insight like that?

Who's up for a little nappy?

(yeah, I actually found him sleeping like this the other night).

Recently, somehow I was talking to a friend of mine about how we sleep at night. I told her that I have always kept my bedroom door open while sleeping and didn't realize that anyone else slept differently until I went to college. She said she slept with her door open, too (except more recently she started closing the door because her 2 year old tends to sleep in bed with her and she doesn't want her escaping).

What do my blog readers do? You an open or a closed kinda person?

Ella World Beautification/World Dominance: Part 27

Long time blog readers know that Ella has an extended history of trying to make the world a prettier place (seriously...whose child is she?). She has ribboned up my house on numerous occasions trying to make it presentable. She has now taken it to a new level.

This

plus these

equals this Happy Girl

working...

working...

The end result #1

(Ain't she purdy?)

The end result #2

(KiKi is so furry you can only see just a little bit of one bead).