Colorado County Fair and Rodeo

It's a Fall Friday night in Colorado county which can only mean one thing...the Livestock Fair and Rodeo! I'm sure there was a football game going on too, but I don't think the kids are quite ready for that yet. We ate a really early dinner and headed out to the grounds. We toured the animals that were shown and Levi was invited to pet the 4th place heffer.

After checking out the goats, rabbits, chickens and pigs, we went over to the petting zoo to pet and feed the animals there.

After we walked around and checked everything out, we headed back to the rodeo arena to sign Levi up for mutton bustin'. We were only third in line so he would have made the list, but when I found out that the event wouldn't happen until about 9:15 pm (it was only 6:15 at the time), we said no way, Levi's not going to make it that long. He no longer takes naps and has always been an early to bed, early to rise kind of kid. So we didn't sign him up. We went back over to the fair and bought tickets so the kids could do some rides.

Daddy got to do this spinning monkey ride with Levi; Mattie was too short.

After the rides, Momma got her funnel cake, the kids got ice cream, and we went to get seats in the stands for the rodeo. Justin ended up taking Levi down to get a better view. (We had also run into Lanky the Clown, who fashioned Levi a sword and scabbard.)

Us girls stayed in the stands. Mattie wanted a picture of us since I took a picture of Levi and Daddy.

After a quick walk through the exhibit hall, we headed home. We managed to keeps the kids awake on the way home, but Levi was very adament that he was tired and wanted to go to bed. He was asleep in bed by 9. I'm glad we didn't waste $20 signing him up for mutton bustin'!

First Day...Finally!

I've been seeing all the first day of school pictures for the past few weeks and it was finally our turn yesterday! Levi started the mixed 4's class and Mattie is in the older 2's. Mattie is the youngest in her class because she makes the cut off date by 4 days. Levi is one of the youngest in his class as well with that July birthday. They did really well at drop off; Levi ran into his room and I had to poke my head in to say "Bye! I love you!". He replied "Bye!" back but I didn't get a hug or kiss or wave. Mattie took a couple of minutes for me to leave but there was no tears and whining. We put her stuff away and washed her hands, I got a couple of hugs and a kiss before she got distracted by some toys and I quietly slipped out. My one Mommy fail was that I forgot her baby doll for nap time so it apparently took her awhile to fall asleep. And their dolls from the home center would not do. She didn't cry about it but just kept asking where her baby doll was. On the way home I asked Levi how his day was and this was the first time I didn't get an "I don't know" response. It took him at least 20 minutes of the drive home to tell me everything they did, who got in trouble, who he played with, etc. It was very entertaining. We're off to a great start so far!

Lazy Days of Summer

The last few weeks have been pretty uneventful. We haven't been outside; we don't last much longer than about 15 minutes before the kids are covered in sweat and want to go back inside. So Levi builds lots of ships, rockets, and airplanes with his Legos, Mattie does her best to pester Levi, and I try to keep the laundry pile down and dinner cooked every night.

Mattie loves to get dressed first thing in the morning and picks out her own clothes. The majority of the time she matches fine, but she does have the occasional fail. I thought this one was funny. Backwards shirt and panty hose. I was quite impressed that she managed to get the panty hose on!

She also likes to try and bring Levi his clothes to put on and wear. But he much prefers to stay in his pj's all day if he can. And she grabs everything for him, including underwear. Because he already had them on, she put the extra pair she grabbed "on". Silly girl.

Of course, there is the occasional time out. Whenever Levi has to go to TO, Mattie will grab the other chair and drag it to a corner and put herself in TO too.

Naptime can be a struggle most days. Levi has pretty much ditched naps but I still make him rest on his bed/quiet play in his room. Mattie will fight me but eventually succumbs.

And occasionally Levi will try to crash late in the afternoon but I won't have that! You miss naptime, you have to wait for bedtime, which is at 8.

And the best part of the day is when Daddy gets home!

Awesome Possum

This little possum came crawling out of the corn trough we keep full for the deer the other morning. He must have had an all night, all you can eat buffet because he was in no rush, just waddling around the yard, sniffing things, came over for a drink of water, not minding me at all, and just kept going on his merry way. What a life.

Levi's Pirate Parrrty

My 4 Year Old:

For Levi's 4th birthday, we celebrated with a Pirate themed party at our cabin. Everybody had a blast, even though it was a bit humid, but at least it didn't rain. For a little while I wasn't sure if anybody was going to make it because everybody was running late! Several guests were stuck in horrible traffic trying to get here but I am so glad they managed to get through it and celebrate with Levi.

To make sure everybody knew where the party was at:

The games:

Decorating their treasure chests with stick on jewels

Walking the Plank
That's my dollar store blow up crocodile.

It quickly turned into kids playing in the pool, whether they had swim clothes on or not.

Hook's Ring Toss
I used glow necklaces from the dollar store for the rings and lots of black duct tape on the sign!

Feed the Crocodile
They threw bean bag hands (Hook's hand) into the mouth of Tick Tock Croc.

And from after I had finished painting it a couple of days before:

Coconut Bowling
I wrapped some plastic containers in paper to look like palm trees and used real coconuts as the ball.

Dig for Treasure

This one was a big hit. All of their treasure chests were full when they left!

Cannonball Toss
Water balloons. I bought the ones that fill up 33 at a time. Which meant I filled up 100 water balloons in about a minute!

The food:
The "Crocodile Teeth" were pieces of cheese cut into triangles.

Those are the fish and chips to the left of the Pixie dust.

The kids ate corn dogs (and some adults) but we also had grilled chicken and sausage for the adults.

When Levi saw the Pirate Ship Cake, he told me I was the best Mommy in the world and that he loved it. It made my day and makes it totally worth it.

And finally he opened his gifts to conclude the party. Everybody got to go home with full treasure chests and swords and eye patches.

Thank you so much to everybody that came; it means a lot that you spent your Saturday morning celebrating with us!