After the dog show we had the CIRCUS of course. Naomi was the juggler and acrobat, she did well considering her limbs are growing faster than she can keep up with. At nine she is to my shoulder, and I am 5'8". I am a little scared to measure her to see how tall she is so we just mark her on the wall.
Anyway back to the circus( this is not called Michelle's Ramblings for nothing). Omar was the lion and Alyvia the lion tamer, she even faked putting her head in his mouth, made him jump through imaginary hoops and walk in a circle. Elaina again was the star of the show, she was the clown. The girls took one of Jon's dress shirts and tied it around Elaina with a big pink belt ( Alyvia is the queen of belts and has like 9 of them). Then they took a wedding vail and hung it over her back so it was like a cape, next they added a bright, floppy, flowery hat the looked like it landed straight out of the 70's,   gave her a few necklaces and a toy guitar. She bounced around the "ring" and played her guitar, hat bouncing like crazy, the more we laughed the more she made that hat bounce.  To top it all off I found Circus music on the internet and played it in the background while they performed. They had a ball.

Our next event was a 4th of July Parade, Naomi really is creative, all these ideas are her brilliance.
I had bought all the kids matching 4th of July shirts and the two younger girls got red skirts with stars. And we got head bands with halos of red and blue stars.They big girls decorated the picnic table with stars and streamers. Naomi stood on the top with Omar,and Alyvia on each side waving a flag. She sang a beautiful rendition of the national anthem. Then they had Miss America (aka Elaina), sit on top of the table, then Naomi pulled the table around the yard ( it is one of those kid tables you know the blue and yellow kind), with Omar and Alyvia bringing up the rear, all kids waving flags, and singing "America The Beautiful" at the top of their lungs.  About half way round the yard Elaina fell off and refused to get back on, so MR America ( aka Omar) dutifully took her place.  They were so proud and we got everything on camera.

We also started potty training Elaina this week. Yikes definately not my favorite thing. She is my 4th kid to do this with, so far she is the easiest. Hopefully that will not change. With Naomi the reward of choice was jelly beans, with Evan cars, Omar bouncy balls, and Elaina ... Chapstick of course. I give one chapstick each time she goes potty for the first week or so ( till I know she knows what she is supposed to do) then, I wean her to one for staying dry till lunch, till dinner, till bedtime, all night.... we gradually wean her off till she is done. This worked with the other 3 so I hope this works with her. So far 3 days into it , she has only had 2 accidents and tells me when she has to go. She loves the chapstick and runs around the house cheering ( minus the panties ), I have to chase her down help get her dressed and then she gets her prize. She is so cute carrying around 3 chapsticks in each hand and frequently applying it to her lips, she even gave me some a few times till I discovered it contains sodium saccharin ( of which I am allergic), yep my lips hurt right now. Oh well, worth the smiles. Oh in case you wondered she is 2 yrs 4 months.

I finally figured out why my bread lately has not been turning out, DUH! I bought some organic yeast on clearance, It was either to old or just not a good yeast, but my bread would not work and tasted funny. So I finally broke down and threw it out and bought some good old Fleishmann's, yup it worked. The bread was so perfect I wanted to make another batch ( but I think 5 loaves is pleanty for 1 week). It was so yummy I had two slices at dinner.

On top of all that we did more cleaning and rearranging. Went house shopping with a friend, met a lady who had walls and walls of bookcases she is selling and well, I am a homeschool mom/ book monster. My current shelves are maxed out and under our KING size bed is full of books, plus I have not even ordered for this coming school year, .  I even got rid of a whole big box at  Born again used books and gave some to my mom. and a huge box to the church. Not to mention the ones on loan to Jamie and Emma, oh and all the books I gave to Janelle, Shawna, Camilla, and Kirsie. SO we are getting 3 shelves from her this week, Although Jon may get another one for all his  Bible commentaries that his dad gave him. ( Currently they are sitting in boxes behind my recliner).

Enough rambling for now, my brain is tired. Have a wonderful weekend.