Arizona State Fair

Last month I decided to take my kids to the Arizona State Fair.  I almost didn't, but in the end was soo glad that we went.  I had worked the night before (Tuesday), and by the time 3pm rolled around I felt like I was going to die from being so tired.  I have several of those days each week, where I literally watch that darn clock like a hawk until 7pm rolls around and I can tuck kids in bed for the night and fall asleep on the couch, bed, floor, pretty much wherever I see first.  That day was no exception and I had already been plotting ways to get them to go to bed even earlier than normal. Then my sweet Mother in Law called and invited me to come to the State Fair that evening for "Free admission and $1 rides Wednesday."  I have to admit that when she suggested this, I immediately wanted to just say no.  But then as always guilt got the best of me.  I began to think about how EVERY single year we talk about taking the kids to the fair, and EVERY single year we never end up going.  I knew that if we didn't go that day we would probably end up missing out once again.  So I pulled on my big girl panties (as my dear friend at work used to say) and got us all ready to go.  We picked up Miss M from school and off we went :)

We carpooled with my In-Laws and made it to the fair by about 5:30pm for a night of fun!  I have to admit that it was a little white trash around those parts, but that's what you get going to the state fair right?!  The first thing Maddie pointed out and was insistent that she ride on was the Ferris Wheel. Robby was rooting for the choo choo train.  The only one not super excited for rides was Mr E and he was instead perfectly content to either hang in the stroller or be held by Papa.   All in all, we rode way too many rides to count, were rained on during our yummy Bean and Cheese Indian Fry Bread dinner, didn't hear any complaints about not buying any extra treats or toys, visited the petting zoo, met up with Aunt Abby and her cute friends, and overall had a fabulous night out!  Thank heavens my Father-in-law drove us home afterwards....I think I may have even drooled while dozing off in the car on the way back home :)

I hope Maddie never forgets what I've told her: Size does not determine age

{it cracks me up seeing just how much taller Robby is than Maddie now}

**just don't point it out to Miss M**

funny/sad story:  One of the rides they had was this bouncing machine where you sit in a seat and the ride starts up high and then rapidly drops you downward.  Maddie rode a ride similar to this a couple of years ago at Amazing Jakes and wanted to ride it again at the state fair.  Apparently there is a different height requirement though so Miss M was not quite tall enough to go on it.  So who went on it instead? Why the three year old of course.  Maddie was so sad that her younger brother was taller than her, and thus could go on the ride.  She told the man "but I'm the older sister in the family."  I felt so bad for her and could totally empathize about being the small one.  I remember being told I wasn't tall enough for certain rides when I was growing up as well :(

Mr E in his seat

Robby and Nona rode in the bucket in front of Maddie and I on the Ferris Wheel.  Nona said he was so scared that he put his head down on the safety handle bar and closed his eyes.  What did Maddie do?  Why she screamed with joy and was busy pointing out all the things she could see from "so high away"

{Miss M on the Ferris Wheel}

They even had this cute little roller coaster. Once again Robby was so scared that he was almost crying by the end of the ride.  With Robby being so big/tall we seem to forget that he is only three years old and apparently took him on way too many rides he wasn't quite ready for emotionally...

Miss M liked strolling down all the rows of horses/pigs, etc

The one of my/our favorite parts about the petting zoo was the adorable kangaroo in the pouch as in the picture above: cute, cute, cute!  Eli also loved the ducks and kept saying "Momma, quack quack?!"

Eli is especially attached to his Papa right now and always wants to be held by him.  Whenever we go over to my in-laws the first thing Eli does is wander around their house yelling "Papa, R U?"

This ride Maddie was in, actually looked like a ton of fun.  It bounced each car up and down as they went in a circle.  Nona was soo worried that the kids would fall out of the cars.  As you can see, Maddie thoroughly enjoyed it.

Robby and Maddie on the train.  This is one of the few rides that Eli was super bummed to not be quite tall enough to ride.  I had to take him on a stroller walk away for awhile, because he was so upset. 

Our very last ride of the night were these cute little tug boats.  Afterwards, Maddie and Robby both announced that they were there "favorites".  What you don't see in these pictures, is the kid that was manning the booth by wading waist deep in water making sure none of the children tipped over.

Yeah for the State Fair; we promise to come back again!!

Halloween 2010

This year, with Halloween being on Sunday, was kind of an odd year to celebrate this Holiday.  Although Maddie was tad bit bummed that she didn't get to fall on trick or treat from door to door, we all had a great time and did several things to celebrate this madness, such as:

*Preschool and Kindergarten class parties--although sadly Maddie's school didn't allow the kids to dress up and called the party their "Fall Festival"*

*Visit to the State Fair with Nona and Papa--at some point I will blog about this*

*Cortina Neighborhood Fall Festival*

*190th Dr. Block Party on the 30th*

*Trunk or Treatin' at 2nd Wards Party*

*Visit with Nona & Papa on Halloween night*

*Taking care of all the crazies on Halloween night for me :)*

Robby was pretty excited to find out that he could wear his "Iron Man" costume to preschool on the Thursday before Halloween. Miss M, however, was not too thrilled to find out that at Cortina she was not allowed to dress up. :(

The other two kids decided to line up for pictures as well and I couldn't resist :)

Eli as Superman...I kept trying to get a better picture with camera phone, but he kept moving around so much that all the picture were blurry.

And finally a picture with Aleisa Inglish at our block party.  Maddie was especially proud of the details to her costume: light up Ariel shoes and Red Spray paint hair dye.

HAPPY HALLOWEEN

The First of Many

We will be getting the "official" gymnastics pictures in a few weeks, but I couln't help post this picture when I got it from another team mom.  Maddie is in a group called "Mighty Mites" at her gymnastics center and is loving it!  If she is anything like her mommy, this is only the first of many more to come!!

Our Halloween Dinner

 For several years now, I have had several friends tell me about this little tradition they have at their houses to have a special Halloween feast. 

And I have loved it and wanted to copy ever since.

This year, I told myself that I would do it, no matter how crazy life was.

Once again we hit some serious madness this past week with schedules, Jesse's studying, sharing one car, work, etc. and I have to admit that I had already thrown in the towel on this idea. Until Miss M reminded me on Thursday afternoon that we hadn't ever done our "Spooky Halloween Dinner."

So what was a mom to do?

Well I threw all the kids in the car, went to the grocery store and tried to come up with as many things as possible that could be tied into this dinner.  All in all I was pleased with the results and have convinced myself that this will be a necessary tradition to be repeated each year...just maybe with a little more planning :)

 Our table set up

 "Worm Pie" {aka: Lime Jello with gummy worms}

 "Brains" Decoration {aka: cauliflower in colored water---thanks Bryn!}

 Pink Lemonade with a "floating hand" {aka" ice frozen in a glove}

 "Bandaged Fingers" {aka: hot dogs wrapped in tortillas with ketchup}

Building Blocks {& Friendships}

Do you ever have those toys that somehow get thrown into the back of the toy closet and seem to be lost for months at a time?

That is what happened to this fabulous box of blocks that my Father-in-law made for the kids a few years ago for Christmas.  Just recently with the weather cooling off, we cleaned out the toy closet and found these beauties all ready to be played with.  Now my kids have been spending every evening after baths building castles, fortresses, dungeons, mansions, and even "evil dragons" per Robby.  I love to watch their imaginations run wild as they talk each other through all sorts of colorful images and details of their game.  Most of all, however, I love how sweet they are to each other when they play good together!

Flashback

 I got another wonderful DVD of pictures from dad, aka family Camera Man, and it was so much fun to dig through the files he added and finds some old ones.  These pictures were taken last February on my bro Ben's 19th Birthday.  It is amazing to see how much each of us have changed in an 18 month time frame.....

 Hard to believe that Ben's hair used to be that long....so glad you chose a clean cut version these days buddy!  Also I cannot believe how tiny Mr Eli was back then

 Miss Maddie styling herself in Snow White attire at 3.5 years old

 And this picture is just proof that I do indeed gain weight in my face when pregnant and thank heavens the gym has helped get rid of those chubby cheeks :)

{Never mind the fact that Robby looks like a cancer patient in this picture}

Hope everyone has a lovely Thursday, and perhaps I will find more treasures to add to my blog!

Candy Buffet Birthday Party

This year I asked Maddie what she wanted to do for her friend birthday party.  At first she decided on a "pajama party" but when she made the decision to invite some boys that idea was quickly vetoed.  I had told she could pick to either have a co-ed party or do a girls only pajama party.  Well...of course she picked the co-ed party and so we thew together a "Swimming" themed party.  The one request she did make was for a "candy buffet".  I didn't even know what that was until she told me she wanted one.  I even asked her what it was, and she went on to describe it as a fancy table with "different sizes of glass jars with different colors of candy inside them."  At that point I googled the words and lo and behold she was right.  I am not sure if my daughter is really only five years old; sometimes I feel like she is five going on sixteen.  Either way, I felt like I had to at least put some effort forth to fulfill her one birthday wish.  We searched several different stores in search of semi-cheap candy to supply and I have to admit I thought that it turned out rather well.  Plus the kids seem to all enjoy it as well :)

We ended up inviting a boat load of people to her party.  She has had several play groups over the years, preschool friends, school friends, neighbor friends and finally primary friends.  I think we ended up with approximately 20 some odd kids at our house that day.  Even though it was quite chaotic, they all had a really good time and no one got hurt (yeah!).  We borrowed my good friends bounce water slide and blew up our inflatable pool.  We even pulled out water balloons with the intention of having a water fight, but the kids were so busy playing we didn't need any other entertainment.

*

After playing for awhile, we dried off and then had cake and ice cream followed by present time.  Maddie was so excited to have so many of her good friends there and afterwards she said "Mom, this was my most favorite party ever".  Success!!  Thank goodness we have until February before we have to do another party at our house!

 Cute cousin Kaylin pausing for a photo op

 Crazy kids walking up the slide :)

 Eli wasn't too thrilled with being in the water, but he did enjoy drinking Capri Suns pool side!

 This picture of Maddie pouring water out of the fireman hat down herself cracks me up.  Perhaps if I can ever manage to get Photoshop working on my computer, I would love to crop this one in closer....

"Heavy heavy hang over thy poor head.  What do you wish this giver with a bump on the head?"

Maddie wished for almost all the kids to come over and play at her house another time.  Nice try little Missy!

And later after all the other friends had left: Maddie, Robby, Kaylin and Aleisa had a great time playing in the deflated pool.

 Party attendees: Maddie, Robby, Kaylin, Makenna, Emma, Charity, Peyton, Delaney, Kailey, Sarah, Stella, Jude, Braden, Bradley, Jaren, Abby, Ellie, Madeline, Hallie, Fiona, Zoey, Mequell, Aleisa, to name a few :)