Hejaz Shrine Circus at Furman

Circuses aren't nearly as spectacular as I remember them being. We took the boys to their second one today, and I was just as underwhelmed with it as I was after the first.

Is this adulthood?

I'd think so, except that neither of the boys were all that awed, either. They liked seeing the elephants, and at one point during an aerial act, Jones turned to me and said, "HOW does she DOOOO that?"

But for the most part, they were as ambivalent about the whole thing as I was.

This surprises me, because I remember seeing Ringling Bros.' Circus at the Charlotte Coliseum when I was 7 or 8. I can still viscerally feel that sense of being amazed, ASTOUNDED at what I saw. I'm guessing rising insurance costs and, for Ringling Bros., the elephant lobby, have combined with the increased capability of film and video games to make ours a hard-to-shock society.

That's as philosophical as I'm going to wax on the subject. But just in case, years from now, Jones and Freddie are watching "Dumbo" with their grandkids and wondering why their mama never took them to see such a show, I'm posting this here as proof that I did.

And, I'm sad to say, it was FAR from "the Greatest Show on Earth."

(Oh, and I took clothes for the boys to change into after church. They said they wanted to stay in their "Topham Hatt" jackets to show Mayme and Pop, who were meeting us there, so ...)

Palm Sunday Celebrations

For as shocking as it is after two snow days last week, it's Palm Sunday.

On the way to church this morning, we read the account of Jesus riding into Jerusalem on a donkey as the people laid palm branches at His feet and said, "Hosanna!" We then sang Sandy Patti's "Hosanna" as many times as would fit into our 30 minute trip, because it quickly became Jones's new musical obsession.

It laid a great framework, though, for what the boys learned in Sunday school and then what they got to do in church. As the Arden kids do every year, they carried palm leaves around the sanctuary. Last year, Jones and Freddie did it, but I walked with them. This year, they walked on their own, though the idea of it made Jones ... shall we say ... uncomfortable. Still, he did it without whining or crying or clinging to me, and I stood in the back of the sanctuary, taking pictures and praising God (again) for the growth in my big boy. In fact, on this video, if you listen closely, you can hear me saying to my friend Elaine, "He's doing it! He's doing it! He's not waving anything, but he's doing it!"



After the "palm parade," we tried to keep Freddie in "big church" with us. That lasted through most of a single verse of "All Glory, Laud, and Honor" before I realized keeping him in there would be at the cost of my sanctification; back to the nursery he went.

Freddie picked Culver's for a quick lunch after church. As we ate, I showed them the video of what they'd done. Freddie said, "My favorite part is REAGAN." Then, as we left, a couple told the boys that they looked so handsome. Both boys said, "Thank you," and then Freddie embellished his appreciation with a very deep, very dramatic bow, which, of course, made the crowd seated around us go wild.

From there, we went to the Shriner's Circus at Furman - I will try to write about this in a separate post, but to be honest, there wasn't much to it, so we left at Intermission and took a few photos of the boys in their cute suits at "Mama's cah-wedge."

Play Day

At one point while he was playing,
I said, "Say, 'Cheese,' Jones!"
Instead, he made a gun with his hand
and said, "Pow Pow." To those
who think boys and girls are
the same ... NO.

At 9 o'clock this morning, it was already 65 degrees in Greenville, SC.  Knowing I could take the boys outside WITHOUT packing a jacket was all the motivation I needed. The three of us hit the road and headed to Cleveland Park.

Not surprisingly, Jones's favorite part of the park was the slide. Up and down, back and around he'd go, over and over and always hesitating for a split second before pushing himself down the slide but always laughing by the time he reached the bottom.

Freddie's favorite was most definitely the swing. In fact, they'd swung in side-by-side toddler swings before Jones went back to the slides. When I told him it was time to go swing again, he pitched the kind of fit that would put to shame the wild animals in the adjacent Greenville Zoo. The screaming, the arched back (to keep me from putting him in the stroller), all of it. And when I said, "Look at my face, Jones," he said, "NO, Mama,"and looked in the opposite direction, so we had to cut our fun short (did the GORGEOUS WEATHER MEAN NOTHING TO HIM?!?!?).

"Jones," I told him very calmly, "we are leaving SOLELY because you pitched a fit." I'm sure his guilt completely overwhelmed him.

Though we had to leave the park, we didn't have to head home. From there, I drove to Furman, thinking we'd walk around the lake.

And that's what we did.

When we pulled on campus, I said, "This is where Mama went to college and where I used to teach!" When we passed the Amphitheatre, I said, "This is where Mama and Daddy got married." Both statements, I'm sure, had the same "dramatic" impact as when I told him that his fit prompted our early park departure.

The lakeside stroll was just beautiful. On the walk back to the car, I picked a greenspace and figured I'd let the boys run around some. Jones immediately gravitated to the lake. The ducks were very vocal today, and he'd "kack kack" right back at 'em. Freddie sat on my lap for several minutes, and then I sat him right beside Jones. They sat there, side by side, quiet (except for Jones's intermittent "kack kacking") for about five minutes. Then, when I said it was time to go, Jones said, "bye, kack kack" and went sweetly and without incident to his side of the double stroller.

I will NEVER understand the mind of a toddler.

Which is probably a good thing.

Also of note is that Jones counted to five yesterday!  He still refuses to say "one," but once he hears someone else say it, he can take it from there ... all the way up to five.

I know that I take a lot of
pictures of them in the kitchen,
but the light coming through that
window is just perfect,
in my opinion.
This picture is actually from yesterday.

These pictures were taken yesterday, too.

This was today, of course.
It's Jones saying, "Tum on, Ma-ma"
and making that precious little gesture. 

I now have not one but TWO
little Chick-fil-A tea addicts.

Music Man

The most important thing in the world to me is that my children love God with all of their hearts, souls, and minds. Close to the top of that same wish list, though, is that they also love music.

Jones has already shown lots of indications that he does - his first smile came at his Kindermusik class at 6 weeks old. He stops and listens anytime he hears a tune, and tonite? Tonite, he responded to big band music the same way I did the first time I heard it.

After Freddie went to bed, Jeremy and I left him with my mom and took Jones to the last of this summer's lakeside concerts at the same Furman Amphitheatre where we got married. We almost didn't go. It was late; Jones seemed to be on the borderline of a bedtime-meltdown, and it just seemed too rushed to be worthwhile.

We decided to do it, anyway, and boy, am I ever glad that we did.

If a picture speaks a thousand words, these videos sing a million. As we left, Jones boogied out, laughing, dancing, and looking back all the way at the orchestra that was still playing.