Oh, the Circus! (And Crying Jonas)

We're pretty much a circus-loving family. The kids do "circus tricks" with their daddy (Chase lays on the floor and has the boys stand on his hands as he pushes them up in the air, he flips them and even Charlotte has a little trick or few). The boys have seen the circus twice. Charlotte is a little contortionist. Simon had a circus birthday last year. The kids like Dr. Seuss' If I Ran the Circus, and I took them to see a couple Ringling Bros. clowns do a storytime at the library today where they read that book. It. Was. Awesome.

These are the clowns that came to the library.

Charlotte really enjoyed the clowns.

Simon loved the clowns.

Jonas thought the clowns were OK.

This clown juggled chickens. All the kids thought that was hilarious.

Jonas got antsy and kept climbing all over me, which wouldn't have been so bad if Charlotte wasn't trying to crawl to the clowns at the same time.

Clown Simon (they gave out free clown noses)

Clown Jonas

Clown Charlotte

Now, this next picture is one I love. I love it because there are Ringling clowns. I love it because my kids are with the Ringling clowns. I love it because of the colors are fun, the light was bright (no flash needed!) and it's just all around interesting. I love it because it is real. Jonas is having a meltdown...


Jonas didn't love the clowns (obviously), but he was not really afraid of them either. He had been a little uneasy when he first saw them, but he ended up enjoying himself. Mostly he was crying because he was tired of being cooped up in a room where he could not run around. And I'm just a weird and mean mama because I like pictures of my crying kids. (I don't make my kids cry to get their picture, but if they are crying and it is cute or funny, I will take their picture!)

OK, I was just searching my blog to link to my all-time favorite crying kid picture and can't believe I never posted this! (It is on my Facebook, though.) This is Jonas, age 1, at the Cincinnati Zoo, way beyond naptime:

Bonus nostalgic picture, just for you!