Fair day ’13

We are now the proud owner of a lemur. And a 3 1/2 foot long snake. (Both of which received a solid coat of Lysol before enter bedrooms, and one of which already needs back surgery to stitch him up.) We also came home from the fair with 3 sacks of candy, 2 plastic trumpets, and one pink ball (and likely many creepy carnival germs).

It was a fun day, and one that we look forward to in the months leading up to the Richardson County Fair. I’ve been to the Arkansas State Fair growing up, and what I’ve come to learn is that I like the small town fair much better. I loved growing up and getting to go to Nokomis, IL for the Homecoming Fair each year. I have incredible memories of those weekend, and I’m glad that my kids get the same small town fair experience each year.

We sit near the tail end of the parade route, and even though most have run out of candy to toss by the time they hit our spot, we still come home with enough tootsie rolls to last us the next several months. This was the first year since I started going that Brad’s sister brought her family down on Friday. It’s always fun to watch the kids get to enjoy their cousins.

After the parade wrapped up it was time to find some lunch and gear up for an afternoon of riding the rides. Nate is kind of in an in between stage with rides. He’s too big for the little kid stuff, and none of the other kids are really big enough to enjoy the big kid rides with him. Lucky for him his little sister is in the 91% for height, and she was able to go with him on some of the bigger stuff as long as she had a adult with her.

And, this is pretty much how we all felt as we drove home:

Thank you Humboldt, NE and Richardson County fair for an amazing day at the fair!

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S’mores labor

 

 

Our Labor Day plan was to have no plans.  We are in a super busy season of commitments right now, and a day of nothing seemed like the perfect idea.  I had mentioned early in the day that it would be fun to break in our fire pit we got this summer with s’mores for dessert after dinner.  When Brad’s sister asked if we wanted to go to the splash pad with them, we thought it would be fun to pair the two things together.  So after having fun in the water, we headed back to dry off and get sticky.  In retrospect, maybe the water part would have served us better after the sticky s’mores!

momma’s sidekick

While the big kids have been having lots of fun things going on lately, Laurel seems to be missing out on blog posts.  She seems to think she is just as big as Nate and Jilly, but she doesn’t get all of the extra fun things going on quite yet.  I’m sure I’ll blink and I’ll be posting about her going to school, losing teeth, and running off to Husker games!

She is my faithful sidekick.  I can’t seem to get more than about 5 feet from her before I hear a panicked, “Mom!  Mom?  Mom, where are you?!”  Here’s a sample conversation from earlier today: (I had just hoped in the shower and Laurel pulled a chair to the bathroom doorway and was quietly sitting in it.)  Laurel:  I go play now Mommy?  Me:  Ummm,  yes please!!  (No audience needed while showering, thanks!)

As I’ve snapped pictures of the other kids lately, she has been right by my side with her little “me too, Mommy?”

Game Time!

This past Saturday was a first for Nate.  He had his first opportunity to attend a Husker game with Brad, and he was super excited.  He loves to watch the Husker on tv, and we decided that age 7 seemed like a good time to start getting to go to a game.  The only down side was that I didn’t get to tag along to see him experience it all for the first time.  Brad said he did really well, and asked a ton of questions.  Luckily we remembered to pull out the binoculars which allowed him to get a better view of things.  Our biggest fear was that the game didn’t start until 7pm – when your dad is a pastor there is no option to skip worship to sleep in the next morning!  🙂

What was most impressive to Nate about the whole experience???  “Mom we set a record, and I was there!”  (With the new stadium expansion, it was a record number of people in Memorial Stadium.)  Adorable!

We signed Nate up for Cub Scouts a few months ago, and it has seemed very random so far.  Although I’ve not been to one, Nate seems to enjoy both the Pack and Den meetings.  I do wish the Den meetings were more regular than the sporadic two they have had so far.  We’ve sold popcorn, learned the motto and law of the pack, and now that this weekend is done we have our first space derby and cake contest under our belt.

Now, if only his patches would sew themselves onto his shirt – we’d be great!!!

silly jilly

Jilly and I had some fun with the camera one day last week, and we took turns taking silly face picture of each other.  Most of the ones she took of me have been deleted since she was laughing so hard she couldn’t hold the camera still and seldom got a picture of my actual silly face.  Jilly has always had a way with facial expressions – so I loved doing this with her.  I still laugh when I look at some of these.

Enjoy the many faces of Jilly:

 

 

Our Favorite!

 

 

 

October brings birthday cards and gifts for Laurel and I as we both celebrate our birthdays, but there are always a few cards and such in the mix for Brad.  October is Pastor Appreciation Month, which some people actually remember and acknowledge.  😉  The kids and I decided that it was wrong of us to not acknowledge our family’s favorite pastor.

They colored signs (Laurel’s says “Best”, but she refused to hold it up. (And Jilly refused to make a normal face.)), and I wrapped up a Flintstones DVD.  The kids have been really into old cartoons lately (classic Mickey, Tom & Jerry, Looney Tunes, etc.), and Brad has been enjoying it and mentioned wanting to introduce them to The Flintstones.

It was a fun way to turn an ordinary day into a fun celebration – which the kids are always up for!

an elmo takeover

Elmo.

He’s a blessing – and a curse.

For one sweet 2 year old, he’s an obsession.

He’s EVERYWHERE!

on the TV, in books, soft toys, hard toys, in my CD player in the car, on my phone, on the computer – everywhere!

And in the rare moments when he’s no where to be found, one sweet 2 year old turns not so sweet.

Let’s hope this passes quickly!

Please!

sword fight!

Brad mentioned he had to run as soon as service was over in the Haven yesterday to the main worship center for a prayer thing.  Okay.  I headed out to pick up the girls from class and nursery.  By the time we made it back to the Haven, Brad had returned and was now in possession of a sword.  Not the foam kind we like to sword fight around the house with, but a real sword.  Ummm, uncomfortable.  Kids of various sizes and ages gathered around as Brad and Trevor checked it out.  My protective mommy mode kicked in, and I watched every kid surrounding them like a hawk.

Turns out they were a gift from past and present Board members for Pastor Appreciation/KoK’s Year of Jubilee.  The swords represent the Sword of the Spirit found in Ephesians 6.  (Pretty cool, but I still told Brad I’d rather he keep it at work.)

Here are a couple of pictures Brad emailed me earlier (thankfully, for the safety of my son, it has it’s cover on in all of these photos):

Not sure if it will work or not for those who don’t “like” them on Facebook, but here is a link to several more pictures:  http://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.527423637286679.127161.196872390341807&type=1

A Getaway!

Brad and I were super blessed at the end of September to travel with the other pastors and wives from KoK to take a few days to retreat together in Hilton Head Island, SC.  It was an incredible place to take a few days break from the norms of daily life.  The house we stayed in was beyond amazing, the beach was beautiful, the weather was perfect, and NO KIDS came along!!!!  (Thanks again to Dave and Kay!!!)

{the view from our bedroom}

{this made me a little nervous}

{a couple days later Brad and I spotted this across the street from the house}

{It’s always nice to get away together!}

{The amount of creatures we saw was amazing – and made us miss the kids since we knew they would love it all.}

{After our all the quick time in Hilton Head was done, Brad and I drove to Atlanta to take advantage of a couple of extra days away and visited several different Atlanta spots.}