A Night at the Cole Bros Circus

A couple weeks ago I got to take my family to the Cole Bros Circus.  

My one cousin got free tickets and they had too much going on so she passed them on to me.  We had a great time, and I got to catch it all on my camera :)  I ended up with 570 photos of the night.  Here's so of the highlights from our night out.

I loved the Aerial Ballet, all the people in the circus were very talented,

but the women dancing 100's of feet above us with only hoops, and silk just amazed me with nothing to catch them they captured the audience's attention and preformed gracefully, making many women wish they could do the same thing.  

This couple wowed the crowd and made many dizzy with their Wheel of Destiny.  It was great watching they do trick as they went round and round, and upside down.

Custom edits of the same photo: original, neon glow, and black and white glow.

What circus would be complete without an elephant??

How these two women preform their aerial art while holding their own weight by only their hair is amazing.  The thought and photos were enough to make my head hurt.

Seeing the Royal Bengal Tigers was a highlight and a low of the night, they were beautiful animals and their massive size and strength really made you realize how they are wild animals and how easy it could be to be hurt by them, the crack of the tamers whip made you realize that they are wild animals and how easily they could overtake the only two other people in the ring with them.   It's been on the news before where the something goes wrong and the tigers and made to look like they are the bad guys.  We have to remember that they are wild animals being forced to do something they don't want to do.  Below are photos of cats jumping through a hoop of fire, I'm sure that that's not something they are too willing to do.

Happy Mother's Day

"Of all the rights of women, the greatest is to be a mother." -Lin Yutang

Oh how right that quote is!  As a mother of one (who knows maybe more in the future) I know there is no greater feeling than feeling the first kicks and all the flutters as the baby grows inside you, and nothing better than holding that little gift in your arms for the first time, then you get all the ups and downs of parenthood as you're spit up on, peed on, laughed at, and loved.  You get to form this little baby into a person and as they grow you'll always wonder where the time went.  My daughter is now 3 and I look at her and wonder when she became a little person with her own personality.  She's full of life and love.

Motherhood starts when you first find out you're going to be a mom, which maybe a surprise, or an answer to your prayers.  You may be scared, excited, or more than likely both.  We've all been there!  To all you first time moms, don't be scared you will figure it out, and use your family and friends as they will help you whenever you need.
When is your baby due?  Most babies arrive in August and September while April is the month of the fewest births.




CONGRATS! to all of you moms to be!  There is nothing as magical as having a life form inside you.

"I loved you before I knew you"

A few fun facts out of Uncle John's Mom's Bathtub Reader:
*In 2000 there were 75million moms in the US!!
*By the time that little bundle of joy is going pee and poo in the potty they will go through an average of 10,000 diapers!!! (why do you think we're so happy when they make that big leap? LOL)

For all the men who might be viewing this I came across this quote and found it very fitting:

"You have this myth you're sharing the birth experience.  Unless you're passing a bowling ball, I don't think so." -Robin Williams

A waiting game, but worth every second.

May you have a happy and safe delivery to a healthy baby.
If you're hoping for a natural birth it is totally possible, read some books and be inspired (I'll attach a list of the ones I read - I had my daughter completely naturally and wouldn't have done it any different)

I came across this short story and thought I'd share it:
"One of the women...halted at a little run about a mile behind us...I inquired of Cameahwait the cause of her detention, and was informed by him in an unconcerned manner that she had halted to bring forth a child and would soon overtake us; in about an hour the woman arrived with her newborn babe and passed us on her way to camp apparently as well as she ever was." -The Journals of Lewis and Clark

My cousin and her beautiful baby in 2010

"so a doctor says to a new mother: 'You look exhausted! It appears that you're not getting enough sleep.  If the baby starts to cry in the middle of the might, who gets up?'  She says, 'the whole neighborhood'."


All of you moms know how true that is, if you're still pregnant have no worries because your neighborhood knows what it's like and they all understand.  


With that we say Happy Mother's day to all the women in our lives that help us moms be the best moms we can be.  To our sisters, aunts, friends, and neighbors.

"A little child born yesterday
A thing on mother's milk and kisses fed."
-Homer, "Hymn to Hermes"

How sweet and precious they are at this age when all they need is milk, kisses, and love.  (and of course clean diapers)  As we hold a child this small we know that there is purity, and security in the world, we want to shield them from all harm and put all our hopes and dreams in them.

Tired of her son's misbehavior, a mom takes the guilt trip route and says, "Every time you act up, I get another gray hair."  Without missing a beat, the son replies, "Then you must have been worse than me when you were young.  Just look at Grandma!"

My aunt who is now a proud grandma of two

Happy Mother's day to all of the Grandmas!  A mother's love is special but a grandma's love is even sweeter, mixed with the knowledge of motherhood, and the surrender to passing time, and the joy of having it all again and passing on family traditions.

Let's face it moms, we can't do the job of a Grandma, no one else will spoil your kids as much or have a bigger smile on their face when you show up unexpected with the kids.  No one else will jump for joy when asked to babysit for the day, and when the world is moving too fast for us to remember to slow down and take time to enjoy the small moments or teach our children how to make Easter candy from scratch Grandmas are there.

No matter how old we are we will always want our mom

"A mother is the truest friend we have, when trials, heavy and sudden, fall upon us; when adversity takes the place of prosperity; when friends who rejoice with us in our sunshine, desert us when troubles thicken around us, still will she cling to us, and endeavor by her kind precepts and counsels to dissipate the clouds of darkness, and cause peace to return to our hearts."- Washington Irving.

Don't forget Mom's worth.  A mother is priceless, but she works hard 365 days and only gets recognized for it one day a year.  salary.com figured out that a stay at home mom should earn over $100,000 a year for all the job titles she has as mom.

Many moms work and still do all the work of a stay at home mom (God bless you all I can hardly keep up on house work while I work at home).  

Happy Mother's Day mom!  I hope you all earn that $100,000 this year and that you get to take a break and go on an exotic vacation.

My best friend
and as a kid she was my second mom
on her wedding day with my daughter
and her husband.

"My mother was the most beautiful woman I ever saw.  All I am I owe to my mother.  I attribute all my success in life to the moral, intellectual and physical education i received from her." -George Washington

In a child's eye there is no one more beautiful than mom, and no one more loving, that beauty and love of the mother doesn't change over the years but only grows, although the child ages and seeks that in other people and items, but no one can love you like the women in your life.















I told you that I'd leave you with some wonderful books for moms and moms to be.  These are all books I've read and loved they all helped me immensely for my past 3 years of motherhood.  I also will leave you with some non LittleDeerPhotography images of me with my daughter:

4 generation of women in my family with the 5th on the way :)

When I was pregnant and wanting to have a natural birth when all the women in my life were saying how hard that would be I found support and inspiration in Natural Childbirth the Bradley Way

My Great Grandma when I was pregnant.

Another great book when pregnant is What to Expect when You're Expecting

A great book for all Mom's in our life, and where all the quotes in bold came from is Uncle John's Mom's Bathtub Reader

My family was very lucky to have 5 living generations of women, up until last year when my Grandma passed away.  With that we say Happy Mother's Day to all the moms who have passed on, we hold on to a part of them in all our hearts and pass part of them down for all future generations. 

Here is the 5 generation photo with my Great Grandma (upper left) holding my cousin's daughter,  my  Grandma (upper right), (left to right across the bottom) my aunt (who's sister, my mother, didn't come over for the photo), my cousin, my daughter and myself

Hands

I think we often take for granted the things we have in life, and often we never take time to enjoy the small things.  Really it's the small simple joys in life that we live for and we don't realize that until we look back at the memories we have.
I love hands, a persons hands say so much about them.  They are just one of the many ways we touch this world.

What our hands do for us:

 They are the way we get to drink, re-hydrate, and refuel. 

 They are the way we get to play games or many other hobbies one has.

 We cloth them to protect them from blisters, the cold, dirt, and germs;

 We wouldn't protect them if they weren't important.

They show our profession,

 When riding they are one of the ways to give direction and to turn.

 They are the way we connect with nature,
and how we feel.

They are how we learn,

and how we play.

 

They show our age; young, old and everywhere in between.

They are how many pray,

They are how we work,

 

how we care,

and how we communicate without words.

We use them to hold the ones we love close,

 to celebrate,

and to say "I do."

They also show off our dreams, past, present, and future.

Next time that you find life slipping by or you want to be thankful for something think of all that you do with your hands.  Think of the people who don't have hands and how different it is for them to open something, cook, or do many other things we don't take time to think about.

I love how much we depend on our hands, and who much they tell about a person, this won't be the last of photos about how great the small things we over look are on here :)