Shriner's Circus

Our friend, Bill, had some extra tickets to a circus while my sisters were in town!  Earlier that day I drove myself, Leah, Jessie, and Audrey to Chapel Hill to the Planetarium only to find out that they only show the movies on the weekends (so basically a two hour drive round trip for NOTHING), I was so happy to have the circus to go to in an attempt to redeem myself to my sisters.

 Phoenix spent the night in laps, mostly Travis, and then I think he went down the line, giving everyone including Audrey a turn!

 This circus was smaller production that the other that we go to, the plus side was that we could get very close to the tigers!  It was pretty cool, especially for Audrey (tigers are here favorite animal!).

 I always buy Audrey a cheap hat so that she can have something to make her experience a little more fun, this year I got one for Phoenix to (I should also note that this is the FIRST circus that Phoenix has been to...he LOVED it!).

 Leah looks so pretty in these pictures!  Maybe she should rock the rainbow hat all the time!

 The clowns were...the low point of the show.  They were shockingly bad.  Like people cheered when they were done because they were so happy it was over.  

Overall it was a fun experience, for a good cause.  Thanks Bill!!

Party at Marbles

Marbles is the kids museum in Raleigh.  I go there an average of twice a week.  It is the one place that I can sort of relax with Phoenix.  They had a Halloween party there this year, so we gave it a try.  

We did a Wizard of Oz theme this year...

I made Phoenix's monkey jacket with wings, Audrey's jumper, and my skirt.  They turned out pretty much exactly how I would hope!

I decided to put green makeup on my face because I didn't have time to make a witch hat, it didn't look great...

Dorothy, monkey, the wicked witch and the wizard Travis.  We had planned for Travis to be the wizard, but he didn't want to wear a costume (aka a suit), party pooper!

The party was decent, but the highlight for the kids was the dance party at the end.  Audrey is still talking about it!  We will probably add this party to our annual  Halloween traditions.

Last Soccer Game of the Season

My sisters were here for Audrey's last soccer game, she was excited to have extra fans and they were excited that they got to see her play.

I am pretty sure that Audrey's favorite parts of the game were when she could relax on the sidelines...

 In order to get Phoenix to semi behave during the game we "make a game" of him going to sleep...it is actually surprisingly effective!

 Auntie Leah getting in some kisses

 After the game the kids all got cupcakes.  When I say kids I mean the kids on the team.  Phoenix was devastated when he didn't get one.  We successfully intercepted around 4 attempts that he made to grab a cupcake...and then we turned our heads for 10 seconds, and we saw a victorious Phoenix Willy running back to us with a cupcake in hand.  When he saw Travis he ran away from him because he was scared that Trav would take it from him. I wish I had a picture that captured his joy when he realized we were going to let him keep it.  

And in the end...all he ate was the frosting. Audrey had a great soccer season, I will definitely have her do soccer again because it is actually fun to watch.  I can sign Phoenix up for the 4 year old soccer next fall, and I think he will LOVE it!

Pumpkin Farm

My sisters came right around Halloween, so we took them to the Pumpkin Farm with us!  I would say that this was the funnest thing that we did while they were here.  

 Travis and Leah raced sticks down this thing (I have no idea what it is actually called)...Travis got really into it, lol.  He won, but it was pretty intense.

 Phoenix was in heaven on the train!

 This whole shelter is filled with hay!  It was SO fun!!

 We went so late in October that only the very ugly pumpkins were left.  For a few weeks before we actually went to the Pumpkin Farm Audrey had been talking about how she wanted to pick out the most perfect pumpkin, which sadly was not possible.  I somehow miraculously convinced her to find the ugliest pumpkin.  Once she jumped on board with that idea she quickly found a pumpkin that worked.  And she was just a little excited.  

Everyone had a great time!!  It was so fun sharing our annual tradition with my sisters (we were missing Jo who is at BYU!).