I love these punkins!

I Ate Them...

I can vividly remember the days before I had children. I was always quick to say things like "my child will NEVER act that way, I will NEVER do that to my child, I will NEVER let my child eat that", and the list goes on and on.
Well, today it happened (again)....I ate those words. We took our children to a place where I said I would NEVER take them. We took them to the (I still can't believe I did this) fair. Now some of you are probably saying "what is the big deal?".
You see, the fair here isn't like the fair you read about in Charlotte's Web. There are no bobbing for apples, sack races, or pie eating contests.
I am pretty sure the people who work at the fair have been released from their cell and transported by an officer to operate all the rides. I know that sounds super judgmental but seriously these people are scary. And not to mention the cost is outrageous.
Thankfully, we went on ladies night (can you believe it.....I took my children somewhere that has LADIES NIGHT!!) so husband was the only one who had to pay the $10 admission price.
The one and only reason we took the girls is because as soon as The Belle got in the van from school one day last week she announced "Momma there is this girl in my class that said the fair is coming to our town and will only be here for 10 days. She told me all about it. I asked her if there would be a ferris wheel there and she said YES. Momma I have never even seen a ferris wheel in my entire life".
So, then I began to justify in my mind why we should take them (I knew I would have to convince her daddy). I thought "we are reading Charlotte's Web and the girl is 6 years old and has never seen a ferris wheel and really the fair can't be that bad especially if we go in the daylight". Then when I found out there was a ladies night where we could get in free I had made up my mind that we would go but; we would be there as soon as the doors opened (at 4:00), we would only ride the ferris wheel, see the livestock, and leave before the sun went down.
Here is the big kicker to the fair; every ride takes a certain amount of tickets. You can purchase a wrist band (and ride all the rides) for $20 a person (which would have cost us $100..those are Disney World prices people!!) or purchase tickets separately. 1 ticket is $1.25 the ferris wheel takes 5 tickets.
So, let's do the math. 5 people times 5 tickets = 25 tickets at $1.25= $31.25 to ride a ferris wheel!! So, we decided that I would ride with the girls and husband would stay behind. Because seriously that is more than our water bill.
As we approached the ride I began to pray that we would make it off the thing safely because let's be honest it was probably put together in a matter of 2 hours. The girls loved the ride and really wanted to ride more but I really wanted to be able to grocery shop this week.
We did get to see some chickens, turkeys, ducks, geese, pigs, bunnies, and cows. The girls must have said "oh my word" a million times when they were looking at all the animals. We also went into the art exhibit and saw some very good art work done by local children.
As we were pulling out of the parking lot (which cost $5 to park in) The Belle said "I really like Disney World better because people don't smoke there". The May chimes in and says "yea and you get to ride ALL the rides there". I have to admit; I agree!!

On Tuesday, the girls went on a field trip.....Grandmama also joined us! We went to a corn maize at a farm. It was one of the best field trips I have ever been on. We started out on a hay ride which The Belle claimed that she got "farm sick" on because we went in a big circle. After the hay ride we had a lesson from a retired teacher about corn and cows (the girls got to even milk a pretend cow) we also had a hoe-down. Then we got lost in the corn maize. Thankfully, the corn was only about 5ft tall so we could at least see the direction we had to go to get out. Once we finally found our way out the girls went on a cow train ride. This ride was the craftiest thing I have ever seen (look at the pictures closely; the kids are sitting in 55 gallon barrels that were converted into seats; seat belts were included). The pictures do not even begin to show just how much fun the kids had on the ride! After the ride we ate a picnic lunch and the kids played on the farm playground. This is definitely a trip we will go on again!

I am so proud of The Belle and The May! They both finished their first 5k. Husband and I ran with The Belle, Nana and Grandmama walked with The May, and Pappy strolled around with The Lynn (the two of them make great cheerleaders). We were shocked when The Belle won 2nd place in her age category. She is SO proud of her medal. The May is now convinced that she can run a 5k too. Her favorite part of the race was the free chocolate doughnuts. I don't blame her; a girl needs to carb up after walking a 5k!
It was lots of fun and we can't wait for the next one!

Sopping Snickers

Every night at bedtime I read a chapter book to the girls. We finished my all time favorite children's book this week; The Boxcar Children. Husband thought he would give reading to the girls a try. His book choice; Treasure Island. After the first chapter The Belle and The May had to sleep together because The May couldn't stop thinking about Black Dog and his wooden leg. The Belle let us know last night that they would have to sleep together for at least another 38 nights since there are 39 chapters in the book! So, I decided we needed to change books. Treasure Island can wait a couple more years. After convincing The May that she really would love Charlotte's Web just as much as Treasure Island (if not more) we started it. Let me just say, it took some strong convincing; she REALLY wanted to read that book. Some of the language in classic children's literature is different. For example, they use words like queer to describe a noise or an expression on someone's face. My girls had no idea what that meant! My favorite explanation happened last night...

Fern is running through the wet grass and gets her sneakers sopping wet. I automatically think the girls won't know what sopping means. But, The Belle was quick to explain that sopping meant really wet so on we read. The Belle stopped me and said "why is her candy bar wet?". It took me a few seconds and then I realized she thought sneakers was snickers!!! The funny thing is that The Belle hasn't ever eaten a snickers because she doesn't like nuts and I'm really not sure when the last time she saw one was. Obviously, I have never referred to their tennis shoes and sneakers.
I just love how their minds think!!!

Jude Turned 5

We celebrated Jude's 5th birthday on Saturday. We were so excited to have all of the 6 cousins together for the first time! We started the morning off with an x-games birthday party.







We ended the night with a camp out at our house. Thanks to Aunt Sarah for setting up the tent. She had a little help in the daylight by my sweet husband but, she did the majority of the work in the dark. Believe it or not the kids slept really well in the tent (for the exception of The Lynn; after her first evacuation we brought her inside).






The kids played ALL day Sunday and were the dirtiest kids I have ever seen in my entire life. I literally bathed each one of mine three times.

It Pays To Be Cavity Free!

We had a very busy weekend but it was lots of fun! Friday the girls were invited to Triple Play for being cavity free at their 6 month check up. Their sweet dentist rented out the entire place just for her cavity free patients. I think that is quite the incentive to brush and floss!

The Belle in Training

The Belle has been asking to run a 5k for about a year now. We finally gave in and signed her up for one at the beach in a few weeks. Her daddy began training with her yesterday. She successfully ran a mile and asked if she could do it again when she finished. We thought it would be best if she rode her bike instead of doing too much in one day. I was so impressed at how much she enjoyed running!



We also signed The May up as a walker for the 5k. She was sure that since she is now 5 years old that she would be fine walking 3.1 miles......we will see!! The May and The Lynn rode bikes during The Belle's training. I should really look into a bikeathon next!