Zing Zang Zoom

Last weekend we went to the Ringling Brothers and Barnum & Bailey circus. This year the theme of the show was Zing Zang Zoom. The show was heavily focused on magic, and those were the magic words.

Prior to the actual show, the clown troupe came out and played a funny game of musical chairs. Peyton laughed when the clowns would pull a chair out from under another clown and that clown would fall on the floor.

Peyton was very focused on the show. He spent some time on both of our laps and some time in his own seat.

The show began with a big opening number. A highlight of that number (for Peyton, at least) was an elephant.

This is the ring master/magician. He did several magic tricks throughout the show, including making an elephant disappear and turning a man into a tiger! He also did the old standby tricks of sawing a man in half and stretching a man until he was 15 feet tall. Most of the magic was lost on Peyton, but Kyle and I enjoyed it.

Peyton's favorite parts of the show were the ones that included animals. He just loved the horses...

... and the zebras. Um, yeah, why were there zebras? We couldn't quite figure that one out.

After the horses and zebras left the floor, Peyton continually asked where they went. He was so sad that they were gone. Luckily, the next act was a bunch of dogs doing tricks. They weren't quite as interesting to Peyton, but still entertaining.

Next, these two groups of people did acrobatics on these giant swings that were constantly swinging back and forth. Impressive.

Other highlights of the show included these two women being shot out of cannons all the way across the entire arena.

This was another group of acrobats doing flips between all four of the swings as they were swinging back and forth.

Peyton was never too impressed when the acts didn't involve animals. I think he just didn't know that what the people were doing was difficult. But, the elephants came out next and Peyton was captivated again. I also like the elephants a lot. It is amazing what tricks they can do, even being as huge as they are.

After the elephants, Kyle's favorite - the tigers - came out.

There were a few other random acts, like the women doing the acrobatics on the hanging ropes, some tightrope walkers, and two guys doing a performance on these big wheels. Our seats were at the end of the arena, on the short side of the rectangle, so there were some things that we couldn't see. We couldn't see the tightrope act at all because it was set up perpendicular to our seats. I was pretty disappointed with the seats, but oh well. The circus ended with another big number.

Peyton loved the show, especially all of the animals. He said all of the animals were "kall" (meaning "cool"). He couldn't stop talking about the horses, zebras, elephants, and tigers all night. He also associates clowns with the circus now. It was a good show and I'm glad Peyton enjoyed it.

Easter

On Sunday morning, Peyton woke up around 7:30. We went downstairs and we found that the Easter Bunny came! Peyton got a basket full of candy and one full of books and small toys.

He also got a tricycle. He's really been wanting a bike for a few weeks.

Here's Peyton's reaction as he took the first look at his Easter treats.

He jumped right on his tricycle and rode it around the kitchen and down the hallway.

Then he wanted to check out his candy basket a little better. He was excited about the big bunny in it. He hasn't even asked to eat any of the candy since Easter though. If we offer it to him, however, he is happy to eat it.

Next, Peyton did his Easter egg hunt. This year, the Easter Bunny hid all of the eggs in the living room and dining room. Not that the eggs were awfully difficult to find, but Peyton did a really good job at finding all twelve of his eggs.

After he found all of the eggs, Peyton sat down to check out what was inside of them. Each egg had one or two small jungle animals in it. Peyton loves all types of animals, so he was excited about his loot.

Peyton checked out his other Easter basket after the egg hunt. He got a Mickey Mouse Clubhouse Easter book, two Sesame Street books, sidewalk crayons, and two small race cars.

Next, we ate breakfast and then got dressed for church.

Look at my little man!

Peyton and Daddy

Peyton and Mommy

Peyton did a really good job at church. He even tried to sing all of the songs. He would clap after each song was over. He also flirted with the old ladies sitting around us. He loves to shake hands, so the sign of peace was also a highlight for Peyton.

After church we ate lunch and then Peyton took a nap. When he woke up, our guests started to arrive for dinner. Grandmom and Pop-Pop were the first to arrive and they came with lots of gifts! Amongst other things, he got some pajamas, a Terps outfit, some bubbles, a coloring book, a sticker book, horseshoes, special Band-aids, Sesame Street cups, and a ball toss game.

His last gift was outside. It was this grill. Peyton loves it. He spent most of the rest of the day playing with it. He cooked everyone some hot dogs and hamburgers to eat.

Jeremy and Jill came next, followed by Aunt Bev, Nadean, Vester, and Austin. Here's everyone right before dinner. It was a smallish crowd this year, as we were missing Kim, Bo, and Dougie.

Dinner consisted of the usuals - ham, ravioli, sausage, meatballs, cracker corn, and broccoli salad. I also made three desserts - black bottom banana cream pie, pineapple upside down cake, and death by chocolate. I think everything was a hit.

After the meal, Peyton got even more gifts from Aunt Bev and Nadean. It definitely looks like Christmas, rather than Easter, with all of the gifts around our house. Thanks everyone for everything!

It was definitely exhausting hosting dinner this year being pregnant. But everyone helped out a lot, and I appreciate that! It was a super busy, but very fun Easter.

Noah's Birthday

Saturday, April 3 was Noah's first birthday. We headed down to Virginia for his party in the afternoon. It was a small party. The other guests were Kyle's mom, Dave's parents, and three of Kate and Dave's friends. Before the birthday festivities began, Kate and Dave gave Peyton his Easter gifts.

He got some PlayDoh, bubbles, sidewalk chalk, and a painting book.

Then we gave Noah his Easter gift. We got him an Elmo outfit since we heard he really likes Elmo right now.

Linda had a few gifts for Peyton too. She gave him a Five Little Ducks book and two cute outfits.

After Easter gifts, the food arrived. After everyone was full of pizza, it was time for cake. Kate made Noah's birthday cake. She did a really good job on the blocks.

We sang Happy Birthday to Noah, which Peyton loved as usual. Kate even let Peyton help Noah blow out his candle. Noah got to enjoy this giant cupcake with Cool Whip frosting. He was a little timid at first, but then he got into it. He decided he didn't even need to use his hands.

After cake, Noah opened his gifts. We got him the Little Tikes Cozy Coupe. He was dying to get to that box since we brought it into the house. He helped tear the paper off of the box.

Kate prepared a slide show of pictures from Noah's first year that we watched after Noah opened his gifts. He's definitely grown a lot. We hung out for a little while longer and then we left the party around 6:00 so that Kyle could get home to watch the Michigan State game. It was a fun party. Happy 1st birthday Noah!

Egg Dying

We had a very busy weekend last weekend, so we decided to dye our Easter eggs on Friday night. I bought the egg dye a few weeks ago, but when we began the process of setting up the dyes, we discovered that the kit that I got only included three colors. Kyle went to the store to get a better kit, but couldn't find one even after visiting two stores. So, we ended up just doing the three color kit. Peyton had a good time putting the eggs in the dye and then deciding when each egg was finished dying. Here are some pictures.

Big Boy Bed

We went shopping for Peyton's new bedroom furniture two weekends ago. It arrived last Friday. When we got home from daycare, I took him upstairs to see his new room. He was pretty excited about his new big boy bed. Well, he was quite excited until... it was time to go to sleep that night. He really did not want to sleep in the bed. He wanted his crib so bad. I was trying to get him excited about sleeping in his new bed, but he ran out of the room and into the baby's room where we moved the crib. He jumped up into his crib and didn't want to get out. Kyle came upstairs as reinforcement. We got Peyton back into the big bed. He cried for a few minutes, practically begging us to let him sleep in his crib. We got him calmed down though and he went to sleep with no problems.

The next morning, when I went in to get Peyton when he woke up, I asked him how he liked sleeping in his big boy bed. He enthusiastically said, "I love my big boy bed!!" He's been doing really well sleeping in the bed. Here are some pictures of his updated room. Obviously, we let him pick out the bedding that he wanted and of course he chose Mickey Mouse Clubhouse.

Doesn't Peyton look so tiny in that huge bed?! He even sleeps with Mickey, as you can see. He loves that mouse.

Cruisin'

The weather has been so beautiful lately. Peyton has taken full advantage of the sunniness to take a few rides on his power lawn mower. Here are two pictures.