A Three-ringed surprise

Several weeks ago Nick emailed me and asked if Jon, Emma and I could leave Oct 23rd open on our calendar. He said that he and Rachel had a "fun day" planned for us and that it was a surprise. i LOVE these kinds of surprises and after making Jon take an oath that he would leave the books behind for the afternoon and evening we marked our calendar.

We got to Nick and Rach's about 1:30 yesterday and piled into Rach's Civic (go Hondas!) and we were off!

Literally!

Nick practiced his racecar driving all the way there.

When we approached the Cleveland-ish area Jon asked where we were going and Nick said "We're going to the circus!!!" Jon thought Nick was playing around but once convinced that Nick was serious he, like Emma and I were very excited! I haven't been to the circus since I was a little smunchkin. I remember it fondly and was so pumped at the idea of having new memories with Emma.

Emma loved it! She was a little chatterbox with her "ooo's" and "here they come!" and lots of clapping. There was some confusion about why there weren't any pigs. Once I explained that pigs are at the fair and we were at the circus she was golden. And she immediately moved on to being excited to see elephants.

We saw these men on stilts during the pre-show. We went down to the floor and got close enough for Emma to see just how tall they really were. She looked at them and then looked at me as if to say "what kind of freak-show did you bring me to mommy?" Uncle Nick bought hot pretzels, pop and lemonade and shared his pop with Emma. I think she probably had more there than she has the rest of her life all added together. (Which, by the way, helped keep her awake on the way home so I could get her bath and get her ready for bed. So thanks Uncle Nick! You think of everything... I mean, that IS why you let her have so much pop right? Not because she worked her toddler charm?)

They had all the wonderful acts that you think of when you think of the circus.
My favorite act was the "bending beauties". They were incredible! It was three ladies, one in blue, one in red and one in yellow. They contorted their bodies in so many impossible ways.
One formation they did Jon, Nick and I all looked at each other and asked where the blue girl's head went! Seriously! We couldn't find it. Fortunately, the blue girl found it just in time to suddenly stretch back into a human form. I was so enthrolled that I forgot to take pictures of them. I did remember to take pictures of (or at least hand my camera to Rach or Nick to get pictures of) most other acts.
They had a whole cowboy themed act which was so fun. Emma enjoyed the animal acts the most.

The tigers were really neat to watch too. There were five HUGE tigers in that ring with a guy with lots of pieces of meat and only a little stick to defend himself. The tigers obeyed and did several tricks, all for treats of ribeye that is, and I kept thinking how beautiful and powerful the tigers were. All it would take is one tiger having a bad day to make that trainer his next snack!

Speaking of tigers...

After a little while Emma needed down to stretch her legs and Rachel said she would take Emma for a walk in the hallway so she and Aunt Ray-Ray were gone about 10 minutes.

When they came back Emma was holding a stuffed tiger in a little stuffed pink purse and had a huge smile on her face.
She said "look mommy!" and showed me. I asked her what she had and she said "Tiger. Ray-Ray." Apparently that is all I needed to know because she was immediately absorbed by the current act in the show.

Rach sat down by me smiling and told me the story. She said:
"We were walking by the souvenir table and Emma saw a stuffed elephant. The lady at the table showed Emma the tiger and how it fit into the purse. Emma looked at the tiger and purse, turned to me and said:
'I want to take it home with me". So I said OK!"

Thank you Aunt Ray-Ray! Emma loves her tiger and named it "Roar". I practically had to pry it out of her hand for her bath and of course she slept with it.

We enjoyed the rest of the show, as did the families both directly in front of us and behind us. The family in front of us made it until intermission. They had two kids. The little girl was about 3 and the little boy was about 2 years old. They had their share of circus food and souvenirs and then the little girl said the words every parent hopes to hear from their child when they have just shelled out $12 for cotton candy: "Daddy, I want to go home". As I said, they left at intermission.

The family behind us had a couple of small kids too. But this must not have been their first trip to the circus, either that or they just knew it would be a touch and go situation with keeping their kids happy. They moved into their seats and got situated all the while drinking their beer.
Beer? At the circus? Really?? COME ON!

Anyway, the elephant show was awesome! They look so gentle and obliging. They did all kinds of tricks and they even had a baby elephant there!
After the elephant show they cleaned up (BTW, we didn't see any elephants poop the whole time! It must be a record) and set up for the grand finale. While they did that there was a motorcyclist riding on a highwire with a girl hanging below on a trapeze. The picture didn't turn out well enough to post but it was really breath-taking!

The finale was everything you could think it would be, complete with shooting confetti into the air!

We had such a wonderful time. We can't thank Nick and Rachel enough for treating us to a very special family memory. We love you both!

End of story

There isn't anything new going on at our house...I clipped my finger nails. I didn't think I could have near the drama as Jarrah so I just clipped them and moved on. End of story.

Jon studies all the time. End of story.

So if I am going to blog about anything today it will have to be about Emma. I figure not everyone wants to hear the details of Emma's life. But this is my blog so deal with it!

She loves to dress up and reminded me of the "Unsinkable Molly Brown" in this getup.

We go to the park ALL THE TIME. Emma loves to be outside and the walk, sunshine and fresh air are good for all three of us (Jarrah goes along too). We do the same things while we are there. Emma plays in the sandbox. She stops every few inches to pick up leaves, sticks, rocks and some bugs. However she won't touch catepillars. She thinks they are "ucky" and won't even look at them.

Then she moves on to the "big slide" area and loves to walk across the bridge on the play set. Of course she had to make a few stops to pick up a leaves, (the other two are in her coat pocket.)

Then we walk over to the swings and she swings on her belly. I swing the traditional way, on my bum and I love to hang my head back and look at the sky.

Then we go past a large step that she hops off of and then we stop at an orange construction cone that she likes to go over and touch and the orange cone reminds her of the ice cream cones we got at the park this summer. So she asks me where the ice cream cones went. I explain that they are closed in the winter. "Why" you ask? Good question. I know the answer to that because Emma asks me that all the time! Most people aren't like Emma and I and they think it's too cold to have ice cream in the winter.

Then we walk across the little bridge and Emma throws all the leaves, sticks and rocks she has collected into the little creek. We watch them float down the stream and then we go home.

She's my kid. I adore her. End of story

Poor Jarrah!

Jarrah had to have her toe nails clipped WWAAYYY back. The new vet we went to (I really like them!!) knocked her out and cut them back to the appropriate length. Of course they bled a lot so the vet put bandage/soft casts on her paws for a couple days so they could heal. They also took care of the dry skin-ish callouses on Jarrah's nose (it's sort of red now while it heals).

I'm guessing poor Jarrah doesn't know what she did to deserve this but wants to never do it again!

She is hobbling around pretty well and the vet said in a few days she should be back to good.

I think I might need a vacation

Our household is busy. It's not the "on a dead run" type of busy, just constant activity and always more to do than I have time in which to do it.

I think that's why I am starting to feel like I need a vacation. Here are a couple examples:

I packed Jon's lunch the other day which included a half-eaten yogurt, only a few bites of left-overs (which I thought the container was full) and no drink.

I put laundry soap in the washing machine and started it- but I forgot to put in the clothes.

We got to church today and dropped Emma off in her Sunday school room sans her diaper bag. (It was sitting safely on the counter at home, packed and ready to go.)

I put my underwear on inside out - on accident, not because I forgot to put the clothes in the washing machine.

So if you see me out and about on my normal work day and especially if I don't have Emma in tow, please stop me and ask me if I am forgetting anything!

The picture to follow

Here's the new haircut. This picture doesn't exactly show the whole style but here's a glimpse.

My little punkin

I love dressing Emma up in costumes. We never actually go trick or treating but she is so darn cute all dressed up!

In other "Vore news" Jon is still studying like it's his job... oh wait.. it IS his job! Emma is in a growing spurt right now. She is saying several word sentences, she notices EVERYTHING, and is getting taller (which for a Vore is a great thing! )

I have started making and selling greeting cards. I call my "company" Loolaba, which of course, comes from Emma's favorite word, Noodlebug. It is really just a hobby that I am making a little money while doing. I am having a card and dessert party at my house on Oct 9th from 6:30-8:30pm. If you are reading this, you are welcome to come join us! I make all different kinds and can customize any of them.

We are working on potty training, slowly and not so surely.

I am off to get a hair cut! Pictures to follow...

Highlights

Highlights of our last week:
1. Emma got a black eye... twice! I was standing rightthere beside her and she had her leg over the rung of a stool and she fell backwards and the stool fell on her.

2. The second one came from running into the edge of Jen's kitchen table.

3. Emma and I left Jon at home to study and drove to Jen's house in Cedarville. We had a blast and loved getting to spend time with Jen, meet some of her co-workers and be spoiled with uber yummy chicken dishes that Jen made for us.

4. Turns out, Oliver is a fan of a Dora "pack-pack". Who knew!?

5. Jen and I took the time to do our hair and make-up for this picture. Be impressed, it was a Saturday am, why else would we look this polished and stunning??