The Greatest Show on Earth (at least for a kid)

Looking at the girls you would think we were at a lecture on the mating rituals of fleas.   But no, this was the circus!

Last night was a big night for Calleigh, Aubree, and David.  All three went to the circus for the first time in their lives.  The Ringling Brothers and Barnum & Bailey circus came to Orlando starting last night and we decided to grace them with our presence.  We weren't going to go at first as the only tickets I had come across were $42 but we finally found some for $21 which we deemed reasonable enough.  The show was at the new Amway Center (where the Magic play) and since we hadn't been there before, it added a little more excitement to the festivities.  In addition, we got a whole group to go:  Us, Ron, Elaine, David, Yully, Uncle Charlie, Aunt Lori, Chuck and Millie.  We had decent seats (section 109A, last row for future reference) to watch it all unfold.  Getting there was a bit of an interesting experience as we had to walk through quite a few protesters letting us know that the animals are abused etc.  Duncan and Ron joked, once we got inside, that they should have mentioned to one of them, "They don't abuse the elephants in the circus...but they do work for peanuts!"  But, I'm sure they wouldn't have taken it well.  At any rate, not only were we batting the protesters but we were battling the elements.  It was downright cold and there was a gusty wind.  Calleigh was even complaining about being cold which is unlike her.  Nonetheless, we made it inside and over the next 2.5 hours, enjoyed the show.  Calleigh was engaged in it the whole time but Aubree spent most of the time switching laps (with Uncle Charlie being a big favorite, of course).  After the show, in which there were all kind of things like elephants, tigers, daring acrobats, a human cannonball shooting across the arena, etc., we asked Calleigh what her favorite thing was expecting to hear one of the aforementioned items.  Nope.  Her favorite was the "tall man" on the stilts.  Of all things!  As for the Center itself, we though it was quite nice but the $8 mini pizzas were a bit much and the bathrooms were tiny and far between.

On Wednesday we spent the morning running to Publix and CVS for some good deals including more free cereal at Publix.  If only I was a big lover of Special K roast, I would have been in seventh heaven with my "purchases."  We did do a quick stop at the playground but with the weather in only the upper 40's, there weren't any kids around and in fact, only a sketchy looking old guy drinking a beer (there were a couple of people idling in their cars so I felt safe but once they left, we were out of there).

My Publix haul: $14.75.  Notice Aubree's little hand trying to get the watermelon!

Thursday is our usual shopping day but we took a raincheck on that so that we could babysit Emma.  Yolanda's hubby, Greg, (and Emma's father), is going through some health challenges right now and I was only too happy to watch Emma so that they could go unencumbered to the doctor.  The three girls had fun playing but I could tell that Emma is the youngest and isn't used to having a 19-month old trying to do everything that she does!  Aubree kept trying to play with everything that Emma was playing with.  When Yolanda came to pick Emma up, she was able to visit for a little bit and we got caught up since we hadn't seen each other in person in weeks.

Yolanda brought Christmas presents for the girls and here's she's trying to get the princess doll out of the package.  Quite an operation to be sure if you've ever opened kid toys.

This morning we did get to a few yard sales with successful results.  I think we did get a few stares though because Calleigh discovered a "new look" in which she wears a skirt around her neck almost like a shawl.  I figured it was one of those things you just let her do and not start up an argument over.  I asked her a couple of times if she wanted to take it off because it didn't really go around the neck like that but she insisted on keeping it on.  Well, we got to one house where there was about a six year old girl that Calleigh obviously took to right away.  Within about 10 seconds, Calleigh came running over to me with the skirt and said "Here you go."  I guess that's all it took.

I "splurged" on a Little People farm that I wanted to get Aubree for Christmas but just didn't want to fork over the funds for a brand new one.  Found one today!

But the yard sales weren't the big story of the day.  The big story is that Duncan had surgery on his knee to repair his medial meniscus that had torn in Nova Scotia.  He hates to admit it but it tore when he was kicking a soccer ball to the dog (I've never liked soccer and there you go!).  The tear wasn't so bad that it had incapacitated him, obviously, but they said it would be better to get it fixed now so as to prevent any problems down the road.  It was just a fairly simple outpatient procedure that he got done by Jewett.  Now, this may make me sound like a terrible wife, but I had his mom go with him because I desperately needed to be working this afternoon while the girls were sleeping (his surgery was at 2).  I'm in the midst of audit and I know I'm going to have to work tomorrow night and Sunday just to get my work done.  And since it wasn't a serious surgery, I figured it would be okay.  Anyway, I still feel kind of bad.  Regardless, the surgery went very well and now he's on the mend.  He can't really walk around for the first 24-hours and has to keep ice on it much of his awake hours.  He's got his pain meds so hopefully he won't be plagued by any pain.  The good things is that he should be able to go back to work on Tuesday without any problems (Monday is a holiday).  A year ago about this time he was recovering from his wisdom teeth coming out.  I'm hoping that next January will be surgery free for him.

As I'm sure you figured, his expression is posed.

Since we missed Walmart yesterday, we made a quick run after nap time today (also with the purpose of giving Duncan some peace and quiet).  While we were paying, another little girl, whom I heard her parents call "Jasmine," came up beside us at the next register.  She went right over to Calleigh and started talking to her.  Before I go on, let me remind you that Calleigh has this thing where she'll tell people her name is Snow White but "my real name is Calleigh."  She likes to pretend she's a princess.  So she asks this girl what her name is and the girl says "Jasmine."  And Calleigh says, "But what's your REAL name?" (As a reminder, in case you don't get this anecdote, Jasmine is one of the Disney princesses.)  She probably asks the girl like three times the same question and Jasmine is completely bewildered.  I finally stepped in to clarify things but I still don't think Calleigh believed me that her name really was Jasmine.  

Have a Happy Sabbath.  I'll be here taking care of my three kids :)

Calleigh's been asking for scissors for at least a week and we finally got some today.  She loves just cutting up random paper (the leftovers from my coupons, actually).  Why she had to do it in the buff, I have no idea!

Lately Calleigh been calling Aubree "Honey."  If Aubree cries about something Calleigh will go over and kiss her and say "It's okay Honey.  You don't have to be worried."  Calleigh also liked to pretend to be "Mary" (as in the mother of Jesus) and puts blankets on her head for the effect.

Mom, this picture is just for you.  See, there's a little something there.