Life is a Circus. No Tickets Required.

Saturday morning, I called my sister. When she asked what we were up to, I told her we bought tickets to see the circus. Her response? "The circus? Why would you pay to go to the circus? Aren't you already there?" Point taken, JoBeth. Point....clearly.....taken...........

Yes, our household is a circus...or maybe it's more like Soul Train. Tough call. :)

"Circus" became the official weekend theme, albeit, purely unintentional. On Friday, we had an inaugural family movie night, which began with pizza (our usual Friday night meal) and ended with popcorn, M&Ms and a movie. I thought it might be fun to have a movie night, but I had no idea which movie we should watch. Jacob rode with me to pick up the pizza and on the way home, we discussed our options.

Jacob: Mommy, what movie are we going to watch tonight?

Me: I don't know. I haven't decided yet.

Jacob: Let's choose one now.

Me: Ok. (long pause) I don't know.

Jacob: Oh! I know! Let's watch...Taken.

Me: (laughing) Hmmm. I'm not sure if that's such a good choice.

If you aren't familiar with Taken, Liam Neeson stars in the film. His daughter is kidnapped in Europe and he has to rescue her -- not exactly the movie I would choose for family movie night. Someone let us borrow it and it's been sitting on the shelf above the TV for a while. Jacob obviously noticed it at some point. That's also another testament to his newfound reading skills.

We opted for the waaaaaaay more family friendly Disney classic, Dumbo (here's where the circus theme begins). It was one of Heath's favorites when he was a kid. Jacob and Annabelle couldn't wait to hop up on the couch with their "snuggies."

Jacob watched most of the movie. Annabelle had better things to do. After the popcorn and M&Ms were gone, she jumped down off the couch (literally) and bounced around the room, showing us a few of her dance moves whenever she heard the circus calliope music. All in all, I think movie night was a hit. We'll definitely do it again. Any movie suggestions? Besides Taken, of course.

We knew the circus was in town, but didn't really talk much about it until Saturday morning. We bought tickets on a whim and put the kids down for an early nap so they would be well-rested for an afternoon adventure. Only one of them cooperated. Annabelle fell asleep and didn't wake up until we walked into her room to get her ready to go. Jacob would NOT take a nap. He doesn't always take a nap these days, but that doesn't mean he doesn't NEED one. True to form, he was just about to fall asleep as we pulled into the parking garage. Uh-oh. We were headed to crankytown and there was nothing we could do about it. We gritted our teeth and prayed for the best.

As I unbuckled Annabelle from her carseat, I realized I had left one very important item at home -- Annabelle's backpack. No backpack meant no diapers. Uh-oh again.

When we walked inside, I scoped out the families in search of a child who looked to be around Annabelle's age. I spotted one and very nicely, in my most desperate voice, begged to borrow a diaper. The mom graciously handed me a diaper and offered wipes as well. Whew. Crisis averted.

While I was taking care of the diaper situation with Annabelle, Mr. Crankypants himself was gearing up for the show. Annabelle and I walked out of the restroom to find Heath buying one of those $10 sno-cone drinks -- the really obnoxious kind with the strobe light in the cup. Uh-oh....a third time. Apparently, Jacob had thrown such an embarrassingly awful fit over the drink, Heath gave in and stepped in line. This was definitely a circus, alright. And the show hadn't even begun!

Once we sat down in our seats, things calmed down a little. Jacob was focused on his blinking drink and Annabelle seemed excited about seeing the animals. Although, this photo doesn't accurately depict her enthusiasm, it does give you an idea of Jacob's mood.

My favorite part of the circus was seeing the elephants perform. Annabelle really enjoyed them too. They were so cute! However, I felt sorry for the guys who had to clean up after these very large animals during the performance. Yuck.

Soon after intermission, Jacob started whining. "I'm ready to LEAVE!!! Let's GO!!" He held to those sentiments throughout the second half of the show. Annabelle was a little antsy, but surprisingly, the circus seemed to hold her attention.

This picture very accurately depicts our day at the circus. Annabelle -- all giggles and grins. Jacob -- not so much.

The funny thing is, as cranky as Jacob was, he actually did have a good time. I heard him talking about the circus to his friends at church yesterday, telling them how cool it was. He told them all about things I didn't even think he had seen. I'm so glad he had fun. Meanwhile, Annabelle keeps talking about the "ack-o-bats" (acrobats). Of course, she liked the acrobats. She could probably get a job with the circus as an acrobat right now...........what? You want me to bounce up into the air, touch the ceiling and flip over that guy's shoulders onto the trapeze bar, dangling three stories above the ground? Sure! Sign me up!! Not yet, Annabelle. Let's try toddler gymnastics first, ok? :)

Yeah, JoBeth, you were absolutely right. Our life is indeed...a circus.

A New Year

It's day eighteen of 2011. How are YOUR resolutions going? I'm sticking to mine so far, but I guess I should mention, it's pretty easy not to break a resolution when you don't make any in the first place. :) While I can think of about a million things I should do or attempt to do this year, I decided not to make any actual resolutions. However, I did decide to make this year a great one and that's already happening.

Jacob is doing so well with school. His reading is getting better and better and he's learning at such a fast pace, I can hardly keep up. We're in the middle of the first grade curriculum books, which have presented him with a few more challenges, but he's moving right along. His love of learning hasn't dwindled, not even the slightest bit. He enjoys school and couldn't wait to get back to his CC class after the holidays. He can now recite Ephesians 6:1-15 and tell you the main events in history beginning with creation all the way up to Yorktown and the Treaty of Paris. It is truly unbelievable how much he has memorized since August. Heath and I are very proud of him and we pray that Jacob's eagerness to learn will continue.

Just before January, Jacob and I talked about resolutions -- what they are and why people make them at the beginning of the new year. On New Year's Eve, he came up with this one all on his own.

Jacob loves the toys he received for Christmas and I was a little worried I wouldn't be able to pry him away from his space shuttle to have school. Well, he has certainly kept his new year's resolution. If you didn't catch it in the video, he said he wasn't going to play with his toys during school. So far, so good. He knows that after school, comes playtime and the new toys haven't been a distraction at all. Whew.

She wouldn't say it on camera, but when Annabelle wished anyone a happy new year, she said, "Ha-birday new year! (Happy birthday new year!" I guess she was telling everyone to have a happy birthday in the new year. Will do, Annabelle. :)

Annabelle started off the new year with a bang. About a week and a half ago, she learned to climb out of her crib. Honestly, I'm surprised it took her this long, considering how much she loves to jump and climb. Early one morning, I was preparing Jacob's breakfast, for which he was very impatiently waiting. Annabelle was still asleep, or so I thought. All of a sudden, I heard the sound of little footsteps and the rustle of a diaper. Annabelle ran into the kitchen with the biggest smile on her face I've ever seen. "Pimb out pib!!!!" (Climb out crib!!!!!) I pretended to be excited with her, but really, I wasn't. This huge milestone for her made me realize, my baby is growing up. Not to mention, it scared me to death to think of what she might get into if she crawled out of bed in the middle of the night while the rest of us were asleep. Annabelle is crazy, you know. :)

We did what we had to do -- convert the crib to a toddler bed, or as we like to call it, a big girl bed. She absolutely loves it. At night, she climbs into bed all by herself.....and stays there. Can you believe it? Naptime has been a little more difficult to enforce, but I'm happy to report there are no major issues. After a few (or several) times of picking her up and taking her back to bed, she eventually gets the point, grabs Minnie Mouse, pops her thumb in her mouth and falls asleep.

Papa Larry built Annabelle a dollhouse bookcase for Christmas. She loves it. Can you tell? I love it too!!!

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We also have another reason to believe this is going to be a great year. My sister is GETTING MARRIED!!!!!!! I am beyond happy for her and I (and the rest of the family) just love her fiance, David. Jacob and Annabelle are super excited to officially call him Uncle David. :)

The wedding planning has begun. Oh, the joy! Oh, the fun! Congratulations you two!!

Christmas Day, Part Deux

After the kiddos were sufficiently worn out from playing with their new toys all morning, it was definitely time for a nap. We loaded them up in the car, along with everything else we owned, and headed to Papa's and Nana's house. Ok, so we didn't really take all our belongings, but it sure looked that way when we were stuffing our bags into the car. I'm a serious overpacker. Hey, better to be prepared than unprepared, right?

Jacob and Annabelle were both sound asleep before we even pulled out of the driveway. Seriously. They were that tired. When we reached our destination, Christmas was waiting for us...and so was dinner. Apparently, dinner had been ready for a while and everyone was **patiently** awaiting our arrival. So, before we headed to the Christmas tree to see what surpises might be in store, we stuffed our faces...and it was delicious. Mmmmmmm...I do love the holidays.

By the time we all gathered around the tree, Jacob was more than ready to tear into the gifts. JoBeth played Santa Claus, handing out the presents. Apparently, she wasn't doing a very good job, according to Jacob. "Where's miiiiine???" he asked. Just then, David chimed in. "Jacob, you've got like two dozen presents!" I had to laugh. I guess it was just the way he said it that made it so funny. :)

Just as they did that morning, Jacob and Annabelle helped each other open their presents. I love it when they "play nice."

Annabelle loves blankets.

Another Leapster game? What am I going to do with this?

A couple weeks before Christmas, Annabelle had a doctor's appointment. I let Jacob take his Leapster Explorer to keep him busy while we were there. It worked. He played it the entire time -- in the waiting room, walking down the hall, waiting on the doctor to come in, etc... Well, when we got to the check-out counter, he was offered a sucker. That was an offer he couldn't refuse. He put his Leapster on the floor to unwrap the sucker. Annabelle already had red drool all over her brand new coat, as the lady had unwrapped the candy before handing it to her. I was not happy about this. They don't usually open the candy before they give it to the kids, but they did this time. It was freezing outside and now I was going to have to wipe her down before putting her in her carseat so she wouldn't get everything all sticky. We walked to the car, wiped hands, faces, legs, arms, feet, and were on our way. We got about halfway home when Jacob began to cry. "Oh no! I left my Leapster at the doctor's office!" " WHAT?" I said. "I left it....I left it by the counter on the floor," he said through tears. I immediately called the doctor's office to see if anyone had found it. Nope. And it wasn't on the floor by the counter anymore. I turned around and drove back to the doctor's office. Even though they told me the Leapster wasn't there, I had to look for myself. I searched the car first, just to be certain we had indeed left it at the checkout counter. No sign of it anywhere. It became quite obvious that Jacob's Leapster had been stolen. Someone took it home and acquired themselves a nice little Christmas present. Whoever it was, I sure hope he/she likes it. I checked in with the doctor's office the next day to see if it had turned up. No such luck.

Soooooooooooo...Jacob sure was excited to unwrap a new Leapster Exporer. Santa came to the rescue! Or maybe it was Papa and Nana. In any case, Jacob is thrilled to be playing Mr. Pencil again. :)

By the time we finished opening gifts, we were all exhausted, especially Jacob and Annabelle. They both went to bed happily and fell asleep quickly, no doubt, dreaming about the wonderful day they had. Jacob did stay up for a little while. According to the weather report, we were supposed to get snow around 3:00 AM. He kept looking at the clock, waiting for "snow time." He fell asleep before 3:00 AM, as did the rest of us. I dont know if it snowed much overnight, but it did snow all day the next day. How fun!! We had an almost white Christmas!!

Another wonderful Christmas, now in the books. Merry Christmas to all and to all a good night! Happy New Year!!!

Dinner at the Duncans'

It's just another typical dinner at our house: Heath, Jacob and Annabelle are sitting around the table. I'm standing at the sink filling the dishwasher and washing a pile of dishes the size of Mt. Kilimanjaro. The menu? Baked fish, baby carrots and mashed potatoes. But.....the fish didn't quite turn out how I'd hoped (new recipe), so...tonight, we're going vegan. Annabelle has already climbed down from her chair and run into the living room at least twice. Heath grabs her, again, and straps her in good this time. Jacob is singing a song he has, no doubt, made up himself: "There arrrrrrrre sooooooo many chiiiiiildren around the world......children aaaaaalllllllll oooooover the wooooooorld..." Heath ignores the singing and tries to talk to me about something going on in the news. I can't hear a word he's saying. The faucet is running, Jacob is singing and Annabelle is now yelling, "Mooooooh cawots, peeeaaaase (More carrots, please)!!!!! About that time, Jacob stops singing and looks down at the untouched plate of food that's been on the table in front of him for at least seven minutes. "Hey, this looks like Christmas tree food!" he says. Heath asks, "What? Christmas tree food?" "Yeah, it looks like it came from the Christmas tree," Jacob replies very matter-of-factly. He was referring to the dill weed on the carrots. (Nothing fancy, believe me. I just used the recipe on the back of the carrot bag.) "Yes, Jacob," I say, laughing. "I guess dill does resemble Christmas tree needles." A few bites later, Jacob picks up Annabelle's fork, trying to feed her like a baby. He makes airplane sounds and zooms a Mickey Mouse fork full of mashed potatoes through the air in front of her. This does not make Annabelle happy. She yells and screams like she is being tortured: "Noooooooooooooo!!!!!!" I tell Jacob, "Put her fork down and feed yourself!" Jacob says, "I will. Mommy, I am a vacuum." "Good," I say. "Then eat." Annabelle decides she doesn't need her fork anyway and begins eating her potatoes with her hands, squeezing a fistful before licking them off her fingers. Heath has a fit. "Annabelle, use your fork", he exclaims. "That's what forks are for!"

As I continue to wash dishes, Jacob and Annabelle get busy eating...finally. Both of them clean their plates and Annabelle has seconds. "Hmmmm," I think to myself. "Perhaps we shoud go vegan more often." Jacob never eats mashed potatoes. Well, never, until tonight. Of course, in the middle of their last bites, both kids start asking for dessert. Heath gives them a few tiny gingerbread cookies and that is good enough for them. My dish mountain is now a small anthill. Then, Jacob runs over and throws his dinner plate, fork and spoon in the sink. "Here, Mommy!" He runs off to play, talking a mile a minute, while Heath takes Annabelle straight to the bathtub.

Yep...just a typical dinner at the Duncans'. Noisy. Crazy. Chaotic. Song-filled. A little temper-tantrum here and there. Laughter. Random conversation. Good recipes gone bad. This is the stuff of life...and I love it.

A Merry Little Christmas

I don't know how he does it every year, but Santa did it again. He traveled around the globe in one night and stopped by our house along the way. Heath and I set our alarm for Christmas morning. We wanted to be awake to see Jacob's reaction when he saw what Santa left for him under the tree. The alarm went off, but we didn't get up. Too....early. Jacob was still sound asleep, so we went with plan B: go back to sleep and wait for Jacob to wake us up. About an hour later, I heard shuffling in the hallway, then heard a small crash in Jacob's room. Jacob was mumbling something about seeing Santa. He had already seen the presents under the Christmas tree. He ran back to his room to open his blinds, hoping to catch a glimpse of the jolly old man himself. Santa had been in our house and Jacob could not believe it! The crash I heard was a toy falling down. Jacob was standing on it so he could reach the cord to open the blinds. Clever.

We grabbed the cameras and headed to the living room. Annabelle was still curled up in her bed, very much asleep. Waking her up before she is ready never leads to good things, so we let her be while Jacob emptied his stocking.

Another hour passed and Jacob's patience was wearing thin. His sister was STILL asleep and it was torture for him waiting on her to open his gifts. We all ran to her room yelling, "Merry Christmas, Annabelle!" That did the trick. She was still sleepy-eyed, but got over the crankiness when we told her Santa had left gifts under the Christmas tree. She ran into the living room, took one look at her new kitchen and said, "Oooooooooooh! Toys!!!!"

We noticed the plate of goodies we left for Santa was empty. The carrots had been nibbled on down to the ends and only a few cookie crumbs remained. The milk was gone too. Underneath the empty glass, we found a letter from Santa telling Jacob and Annabelle thank you for the treats. I think Jacob thought it was cool to get a letter from Santa. He's been reading the letter over and over all week. The fact that he can read so well now still blows me away.

After the letter, we moved on to Annabelle's stocking.

Then the rest of the gifts....

They each got a little lantern. They love lights and flashlights. They like to put blankets over themselves or crawl underneath the covers on the bed and turn on a flashlight, pretending they're in a tent.

Working together is fun...when you're opening presents!

The biggest question of the morning? Did Santa bring Jacob the space shuttle he wanted -- the space shuttle he had been talking about for weeks? Was it under the tree? Had Jacob been good enough? All questions were answered with one quick rip of the snowman wrapping paper.

"My space shuttle," he exclaimed. "I love it!" Boy, does he ever. He hasn't stopped playing with this thing since the second we took it out of the box.

Funny story: Before Christmas, we talked quite a bit about how Santa wouldn't bring presents if Jacob and Annabelle misbehaved too much. They knew they needed to be good or they might not get anything. Well, as we were looking through our pictures from Christmas morning, Jacob said,"You know what? Santa brought me presents even though I was a little bit bad. That's weird!"

Annabelle loves her kitchen and has definitely been keeping herself busy cooking, stirring, washing dishes, etc... In fact, later Christmas morning, she climbed up onto the bathroom counter, grabbed the handsoap, and poured it into her play sink. She came to me after the fact with soap all over her hands saying, "Wash hands. Wash dishes." I just laughed...and grabbed a roll of paper towels to wipe up the mess.

It was a wonderful Christmas morning. The kids played with their toys and Heath made us pumpkin waffles for breakfast on our new waffle iron. We stuck a candle in one and sang happy birthday to Jesus. We had tons of fun, but the fun wasn't over yet. More was yet to come.......