Birthday Circus Trip

Josh and I made the decision this year to take Sawyer to the circus instead of throwing a huge party like last year.

Best decision ever. 

We saw the Ringling Brothers "Dragon" show and Sawyer was absolutely enthralled by it. While he had his moments of antsy-ness, especially during the "people acts" like the trapeze stuff and the martial arts stuff, he really enjoyed the animals and clowns. 

My only complaint? I wasn't allowed to take in my nice camera. When I got up to the gate to show them our tickets the ticket guy saw my Rebel XT on my shoulder and said I couldn't bring it because it has interchangeable lens? I wouldn't have minded as much IF they had put that on the ticket information so I would know to bring a different camera  Instead, I had to walk all the way back to our car and put up the camera and use our cell phones to take pictures. But besides that (and the crazy costs of food) we had a GREAT time!

Here are some pics from our day at the circus. 

the program for the show (yikes, $15...)

someone had to have a snow cone..

fuzzy phone shot before the show

everyone on the floor before the show

singing the Star Spangled banner and the first elephant sighting!

crazy opening act, so much going on!

There were all kinds of human acts like the Flying Caceres, a trapeze act...

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the crazy Troupe Scala who bounced on this bouncy Russian bar thing...

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And of course the aerial dancers, my favorite:

And of course there were cool animals, which Sawyer loved the most.

absolutely captivated.

 Our favorites were the Cossacks and their amazing horse tricks...

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the big cats and Alexander Lacy, their trainer person.

crazy to think that cage around it is there to keep the animals from you know, going rouge and killing us all...

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and Sawyer's favorite, the elephants!

I highly recommend the circus, I am glad we waited until he was a little older to go, I can't imagine him sitting still like that if he was younger. We paid about $30 a ticket so we could sit a little closer and I'm glad we did, definitely worth it!

I have a two year old.

On Sunday, my little monkey turned TWO and I can barely handle it. How did he go from being my baby bug to being a little man?

sneak peak at pictures from his little birthday gathering (not a party)

So what's going on with our two-year-old?

He loves to talk and can say just about anything he wants... including a few things I wish he wouldn't (i.e. "mommy pooted" and bad words, which he got from his daddy of course). My favorite phrases he says are "I love you baby" (which he definitely got from hearing his daddy say it to me) and "Come on Jack!!" (thanks Duck Dynasty).

He has become so independent and demands to do things himself or "help" mommy and daddy do things.

mouth full of food "helping" mommy pack up some old clothes (diaper boxes are the best ever by the way, so sturdy)

Sadly, his latest thing is being sick all the time, ever since his hospital stay in December he has had some sort of sickness off and on, I swear he needs a plastic bubble.

during his hospital stay in December

He has become obsessed with Nick Jr. shows like Bubble Guppies and Team Umizoomi and sits way too close to the TV. Sawyer has also developed a love for coloring!

sorry for the grainy pic, not sure what happened - but here he is sitting in his tailgate chair with his feet propped up watching TV... just like his dady.

He's still in love with Old McDonald and all things related to farm animals.

Blankey is still his favorite thing, along with his bunny.

snuggling with blankey and bunny

We've tried teaching him manners and we can get "yes ma'am" and "no sir" and of course "please" and "thanks" but his will not say "ma'am" instead of huh? which I despise. We're working on it though.

The potty adventures are about to begin and I dread them. He's used it sometimes when he's about to get in the bathtub, but rarely.  (he will kill me for this picture one day:)

He isn't very interested in eating lately, and has gotten pretty picky about what he'll eat. Stubborn child.

But, we are so beyond blessed to have such an amazing little boy. I will post on our trip to the circus tomorrow and some pictures from our family gathering for his birthday on Wednesday!

Saw It, Pinned It, Did it #7

So glad that I finally had time to be a little crafty again so I can link up with the  Katie at Keep Calm & Carry On and Steph @ Beautiful Mess for Saw it, Pinned it, Did it!

I do not like the bright overhead lights in my office, so I use the under-the-hutch lights on my desk units and two lamps to light my little work area.... however one corner has gotten exceptionally dark since I added a second monitor (btw, dual-desktops make design and multi-tasking SUPER easy).

So, I decided to buy another lap... but I had a budget of about $10. So I hit up Target... where every lamp was around $15. Then I saw one hideous lamp on clearance for $8 and  remembered where I'd seen a pin about covering lap base with a sweater sleeve, and I thought hey, I could buy an ugly lamp with a square bottom and cover it with some fabric. So I bought the lamp, grabbed some fabric on sale at Hobby Lobby and went from there.

Original Pin:

Source: ritamay-days.blogspot.com via Rita on Pinterest

My lamp:

Cheap lamp

Fabric
Scissors
Hot Glue
Tape (unless you have twelve hands)

1. Take lamp shade off, if it's attached, you'll need to unscrew it. This step is so you can fit the fabric onto the base.

2. Cut a hole in your fabric to fit over the bulb piece. You're going to "wrap" the base like a present so just lay the fabric over the top and cut a little place that can be easily mended with tape on the back side.

see, just a little nick in the fabric right on top!

3. Wrap the fabric around the base and use a piece of tape to secure it on the bottom before cutting another slot for the cord to slide through. 

painters tape is a great tape to hold fabric tight without leaving goo-ey stuff behind.

this isn't too pretty, but that side is definitely facing the wall!

4. Wrap the sides like a present and secure with hot glue! I have no idea how to explain that but to say, just wrap the edges like you wrap the short sides of a present box.. sorry. The key is to be sure your fabric is tight, especially if your lamp is hollow in the middle like this one.

5. Plug in your lamp and enjoy! This project cost me a grand total of $10.45 since I got the lamp for $8 and the fabric on sale for $2.45!