The Greatest Show on Earth

David and I took Elizabeth to see her first circus today. And not just any circus - the one and only Ringling Brothers and Barnum & Bailey circus, aka "The Greatest Show on Earth." She had a fabulous time. We had great seats, and it was really neat to see her eyes get wide as she was taking it all in.



She loved all the animal acts - particularly the cute little trained dogs, but also the tigers and the elephants.



She also liked the clowns. But, she could have done without the "people" acts like the trapeze artists, gymnastics, etc. - although David and I both liked those.

We asked her what her favorite part of the circus was as we were leaving...she quickly responded, "The cotton candy."



Oh well....I guess some things never change!

Gasp...gasp....

That's me. Gasping for breath while I am sinking under an enormous pile of work projects. Have I ever mentioned that storms provide job security for me? Hurricanes, on the other hand, provide overwhelming, mind-numbing, cardiac-event-producing chaos. Particularly hurricanes that have the audacity to produce tropical storm-force winds all the way up in Kentucky! The only good thing about that is it has bought me a little bit more time at home in Kentucky before I have to head to Texas/Louisiana - of course, I know that won't last forever!

Of mice and children....

Elizabeth has definitely decided she is a morning person. So much so, that she is now typically getting up at 6:30 every morning. Doesn't matter what time she goes to bed - she's always up early.

We were making due with it until she developed another nasty habit - getting up in the middle of the night. There were several reasons - she had a bad dream, she thought it was time to get up, she wanted to see us, etc. But, the result was two very tired and grumpy parents - along with the bright-eyed 3-year-old at 6:30 the next morning.

David and I were suffering together and taking turns with Elizabeth in the middle of the night - until he left last Friday night for Promise Keepers. Then, it was just me. And, Elizabeth set a record - she got up at 4am, 5am, and 6:30am. So, I was pretty much up from 4am on. It was then that clarity hit me - something had to be done!

So, I implemented the "Sleep Chart." This form of bribery worked for potty training, so I figured it was worth a try to see if it would get me a tad bit more sleep. So, Elizabeth helped me make the chart, and then was informed she would get a Mickey Mouse treat if she filled all of the squares on the chart. How could she do that? It was easy. Just stay in her room until 7am every morning. It didn't take long for her to catch on. Now, she's not getting up in the middle of the night, and when she wakes up in the morning, she's playing quietly in her room until 7am. (It also had the unplanned advantage of starting to teach her how to tell time.)

So, here's the blessed Sleep Chart:



(Notice I taped it to the back of her door so she would see it if she got up and was tempted to come wake us up.)

And, here's the smart little sleep-trained girl with her new friend:




As you see, she'll no longer have to substitute Elmo for Mickey. I think it might be the best $3 I've ever spent!

M-I-C-K-E-Y

Elizabeth's latest cartoon obsession is Mickey Mouse Clubhouse. Now, this is not to be confused with the old black and white Mickey Mouse Show - it's a new cartoon show geared toward preschoolers on the Disney Channel that has all the traditional Disney cartoon characters (Mickey, Donald, Goofy, Pluto, etc.). Here's a video of her singing the song that's at the end of every show:



She runs around singing the entire song all the time, but as usual, she got stagefright when I pulled out the camera.

She also loves to act out all of the stories from the different episodes, and David and I are often recruited to serve as actors. And yes, I've again been cast as an undesirable sidekick - Goofy. Unfortunately, when BB and Al visited a few weeks ago, the current favorite show involved Goofy being sick, so there was a lot of fake sneezing going on at our house!

As part of this latest obsession, combined with her overactive imagination, Elizabeth has renamed 2 of her stuffed animals "Mickey" and "Goofy". Here's a picture of her with them:



In case you don't recognize them, "Goofy" is the larger one and "Mickey" is the smaller one. Elizabeth has been taking "Mickey" and "Goofy" with her almost everywhere we go this weekend. So, you can imagine the strange looks we've gotten when people keep asking her, "Do you like Elmo?" and she responds, "NO" - she can't understand why people would ask her that when she's got Mickey Mouse and Goofy in her hands!

School's in session

Elizabeth has spent most of the week pretending all of her stuffed animals are going to "school" - with Ms. Elizabeth as the teacher, of course! She runs them all through a typical preschool day, which seems to focus mainly on snack/lunch and rest time. As shown in the picture, everyone gets to lie on a special "mat" (aka used coloring pages) at rest time, and she doles out the "food" (aka marbles and crayons) to each one. If they're good, they also get to hear a story. It's really neat to watch her imagination grow, and to have her be able to entertain herself more and more. But, this new game does tend to get a little messy if we leave her alone for TOO long, as she tends to want to pull out everything in her room for the students to play with!

Deep thoughts

An online friend of mine recently asked how I became a Christian. While thinking about that whole process, and the awesome changes it has made in my life, the one thing that really struck me was how I am especially glad to have the hope and faith of eternal life through Jesus now that I am a mother.

This past Sunday, Elizabeth spent the day with Gran (my mother) while David and I went to see the Cincinnati Reds baseball game. That evening, as I was helping Elizabeth get ready for bed, she said, "Mommy, Gran showed me a picture today of another Gran. But she died." I assumed she was talking about MY Gran - my mother's mother. So, I responded, "Yes. That person was my Gran. Her name was Libby Lou." Elizabeth then said, "Hey! You call ME Libby Lou!" (That's my nickname for her.) I said, "Yes. I loved my Gran so much that I named my precious little girl after her." The conversation then went something like this:

E: "Why did she die?"
Me: "She got very sick and she died when I was a little girl."
E: "Where is she?"
Me: "She's in heaven with Jesus."
E: "Will you see her again?"
Me: "Yes. Someday, I will go to heaven too, and I will see her again."
E: "Can you give her a hug now?"
Me: "I can't hug her right now. But I know she's watching us and she sees you and it makes her happy."
E: "Who else lives in heaven?"
Me: "Everyone who loves Jesus gets to live in heaven."
E: "Will I go to heaven? I love Jesus!"
Me: "Yes. You love Jesus, so you will go to heaven too. And Mommy, Daddy, and Jonathan will be there too."
E: "Mommy, I want you to live *forever*."
Me: "When people go to heaven, they do live forever. So, no matter what happens, I will always be with you."

Yes, I was almost in tears by the end of the conversation. But, I can't imagine the hopelessness I would have felt if I couldn't tell Elizabeth that we would always be together forever with Jesus, and truly mean it. Life is tough. Who would want to live it without that promise?

Oh, and thanks for the warning, Mom! Whatever happened to reading "The Three Little Kittens"? :)

The big 1-5

Jonathan's 15th birthday is on Tuesday. Since there's a good chance I'll be out of town for work, we decided to celebrate today. He didn't want a party this year, so it was just the 4 of us. Jonathan picked out dinner (Tuna Helper and crescent rolls). Then, we had Jonathan's traditional birthday ice cream cake, with tons of gel icing added by him and Elizabeth.



Elizabeth helped him blow out the candles:



Then, he opened his birthday card:



We didn't tell him that we had his present hidden in the other room, so he spent some extra time looking for it:



Then, we brought it out for him to open. Of course, Elizabeth wanted to help him open it!



Jonathan was really excited when he saw his present - a new laptop!



These days, you can tell your teenager is excited about a present when he immediately starts texting his friends about it:



Of course, he was a little less excited when we told him it was also his Christmas present. But, I imagine he'll get over it!

Happy Birthday, Jonathan!

Mission trip to McKee

Jonathan went on a mission trip to McKee, Kentucky, with our church youth group earlier this month.

Here's a link to a slideshow with some pictures from the trip that one of the chaperones put together: McKee pictures

I post the link because there are actually several good pictures of Jonathan - which is pretty rare because he's gotten really good at hiding from the camera lately!