Circus Life

Bryan and I were so excited to take the girls to the circus last week. Emma had a great time. As I sat there wrestling with an 8 month old on my lap, I realized that I have front seat tickets to a circus everyday. No, no seats, I am the ringmaster. My dazzling outfit may make me look more like the clown in my pajamas and uncombed hair, but I am in center ring every day juggling laundry, dishes, and two babies. No brilliant musical numbers, just fancy footwork as I try to get both children down for a nap and give myself a shower to look at least approachable when my audience of one returns from work.

The tiger trainer has nothing on me. I spend all day trying to make two people who wouldn't normally coexist peacefully learn to get along and share. Training a toddler to be nice, share, and obey ranks right up there with tigers in my book. My little animals also have a tendency to chew on and tear up the furniture.

You have before you a picture of two baby tigers learning to live in peace and follow the trainer's instructions.

Getting anywhere with two small children in tow is just as big a deal as getting a group of tigers to move together. Incentives (animal crackers, toys) have to be carried everywhere to force, ummm encourage, obedience and patience.

Now, I agree that getting an elephant to paint is a huge accomplishment. However, have you taught a toddler to use a toothbrush or an 8 month old to use a straw. These require great patience and repetitive training over long periods of time.

She is much cuter than a baby elephant, but just as willful.

Here you see the smallest of our clan exhibiting her newest skill of drinking out of a straw, which enables her to steal her sister's cup. Feeding elephants, I'm sure requires a lot of preparation and can be messy. Well, I don't think I even need to paint that comparison. And now, we come to cleaning up after elephants. You are invited to visit my house on any day to see the direct comparison. Toddlers leave a string of crumbs, toys, books, and general debris across a house that parallels no other. Just as the circus is a fun and enjoyable experience, so is my life with two wonderful baby animals! They may make me feel like I am trying to teach a dog to jump through hoops and attempting to put a diaper on a squirming monkey, but the joy a ringmaster feels as center of his small universe could never parallel the joy I feel when my trainees and audience (one in the same) call for "Mommy."

The day the turkey came to dinner

One day not too long ago in the land of Barnett, we were quietly eating our breakfast minding our own business, when what to our wondering eyes would appear, but a turkey of no mean size standing on our car gazing at us through the window.
To my phone I quickly dashed to call my father-in-law, turkey expert, who urged me to run outside to examine this phenomenon. To our amazement, every time we approached, this peculiar bird would run to get a closer look at the species he came to meet.
No one had ever informed this particular poultry that we should not play with humans. We became quite familiar and found that he was called Jake by all those he knew near and far. Jake and Emma became fast friends following each other around the yard.
Many conversations about nature and all that interest both man and bird were shared. Our day was made enjoyable by the visit of our feathered friend and fun and laughs were had by all.
I enjoyed our visit very much and he even allowed me to pet his tail feathers, as I am told by the previously mentioned expert, has not happened often in history. Our lovely friend has not returned but we entertain ourselves with the memories of our surprise visit which happened not too long ago in the land of Barnett. I wonder what tales he tells of his visit to the humans and their peculiar ways now that he is home among his own kind. We shall never know.

Long overdue

Sorry that this post is so long overdue. Life can get just a tad busy with two little girls running around messing up a house I am trying to keep in order. Anyway, pictures from Easter are finally making it on here.
Emma really enjoyed dying eggs.
She liked all the pretty "balls."
But she enjoyed finding them much more. Of course, she was so cute. She carried her little basket around and every time she would bend down to pick up an egg, she would lose a few, making the find much greater than it was intended to be. She probably felt like she picked up 100 eggs as apposed to the actual 12 we hid.
She would pick up the egg and toss it, not ever so lightly, into her basket, resulting in the sound of cracking eggs every time. When we finished, she laid out all her pretty eggs on the step and then turned around and sat on them, officially finishing off several of them.
Here's our pretty Easter picture.
Emma is all tired out of pictures and Erin is finding her bonnet pretty tasty.
What a cutie.
I love that face.
Erin is trying harder and harder everyday to pull up. She is so very close to crawling, but falls every time. These girls add so much fun to my life!