The Fair!

We love the fair! When we lived in southeast Idaho, we tried to make it a point to attend the Blackfoot Fair every summer. Last year we moved to Oregon right before the fair. We were super bummed. Then we realized that the Oregon State Fair was almost as good. (Ginormous compared with the Blackfoot Fair!) We had so much fun last year.

This year we got to go with Cousin M & Cousin D. We were there for 7 hours. It was a bit intense considering it was in the 90's the entire time. We were a bit hot. They had a misting thing that you could walk under and get wet, so we had the kids do that. And by kids I mean Lulu, Sticky, the Husband and Cousin M.

Sticky had a great scowl on her face, but she did enjoy being wet.

I think they were all dry a few minutes later.

I feel kind of lame, because we didn't get the best pictures. We forgot the camera and I put my phone in the diaper bag all day, so we relied on the Husband. He usually does get some great pictures, but we just weren't on top of it.

Lulu got to try her hand at fishing with Cousin M. When she was holding the pole she kept jabbing it in the water trying to poke the fish. (We still haven't replaced her birthday fishing pole and given her a lesson yet.)

We saw the coolest tent that attaches to the roof of your car. We want one, but would rather not pay the price tag, so will be accepting donations anytime.

The girls even got to go on a ride. Sticky barely hit the height limit for this one. It was a little canoe that floated around a tube. A little too mild for both of them, I think. Lulu was so good at holding Sticky and keeping her safe. And Sticky was so good at letting Lulu Hold her.

I think we will be spending more time at the rides next year. Lulu wanted to go on all of the other kiddie rides.

As fun as all that was, it wasn't the main reason we went to the fair. We go for the food! The Husband was commenting on the way to the fair, how happy he was that he married a woman who enjoyed food. He may not be so happy when I weigh 800 pounds, but for now we are happy. We got to the fair just in time for lunch. Our family shared a plate of nachos with everything on them. We then got a 16 inch corn-dog. I really wish I had gotten pictures. I had about 3 inches and the girls polished off the rest. Later we got a snow cone icy thing. Then when that was totally un-sastisfying the Husband found a refillable Slurpie cup. We got that twice. We were peckish by then and got a flowering onion. I next got apple pie fries. Amazing! Then the Husband got a chicken fried steak with sauerkraut in a pretzel bun. It was tasty, but we were all pretty full by then. We washed that down with one more Slurpie. Besides the corn-dog, the girls helped with the snow cone, Slurpie and apple pie fries. Lulu also helped Cousin M with his giant turkey leg. Sticky mostly ate snacks we brought from home for them. I think I will bring PB & J for them next time, because they so do not appreciate fair food and I have a really hard time spending 4 dollars a piece for them each to have their own corn-dog. I still have yet to try a deep fried Twinkie and a deep friend Oreo. They continue to be on my list of fair foods to try next time.

All in all we had a great time. Despite the sun and heat, no one got sunburnt and no one got terribly dehydrated. Although the Husband was totally sick that night and all day Sunday. He will tell you it was all worth it though!

What Smiley Has Been Up To

Smiley has been enjoying his toys lately.

He has also rolled over 6 times in the last month. Mostly back to front, but he did front to back today. He will be 4 months old on the 9th. I think he is too young to be doing this, but it really seems like he just wants to get up and play with his sisters.

He has also been rinding in his front pack carrier a lot lately. I am pretty much guaranteed a happy baby and often a napping one.

Smiley got to sit in a cool seat at a friend's house the other day. I think we are going to have to get one of these.

Berry Picking

The kids and I have been trying to go on walks around the neighborhood while the weather has been so nice. We try to incorporate a bit of blackberry picking during these walks. We scoped out a potentially good picking spot that we could come back to with the Husband, when he had some time off. Two Saturdays ago, he finally had some time off so we could go! The cool thing is that the patch is within walking distance of our home and nobody has touched it, so I do not feel at all bad about getting free blackberries. It would be terrible to let them all go to waste ;)

Lulu did a great job of picking! She picked more than I did and only ate a few. We let her get the low berries.

Sticky did enough picking to accomplish this and a few more stains on her hands and clothes.

We picked enough berries for me to make this:

It was YUMMY!

This past Friday we were able to pick raspberries, my personal favorite. We went to a u-pick farm and picked 4 pounds! I told the Husband we needed enough to be able to eat as many as we wanted for a few days and make a pie. I guess we should have picked more, because we did not have enough for a pie. We might need to go back and remedy that.

Once again, Lulu did a great job picking. 

I picked a few more than her this time, with the help of Smiley.

Sticky did a lot of this

At one point I had to rescue her empty bucket from in between the rows. It must have been holding her back.

We also were able to pick a few tomatoes and some corn. YUM! Sticky picked a nice green tomato and carried it around with her the rest of the morning. I'd like to try fried green tomatoes. We'll see if it seems worth it for one tomato. 

The girls had so much fun. We are definitely going to try it again before the season is over.  

Moving

Admit it,

you are worried,

or excited

or just plain curious.

I won't keep you in suspense any longer.

It isn't us. The Husband's sushi loving cousin M and wife are moving to our neck of the woods at the beginning of September. (Actually only about 3 blocks away from us.) We are very excited! Cousin M came and stayed with us last week so he could find just the right place to live. It was fun having him. The girls loved Cousin M and Smiley enjoyed being held by someone, when I couldn't hold him.

Now the Husband won't have to drive forever away to get his sushi fix with his sushi buddy. We will also have another couple to do game night with. (We recently had a game night with our newish next door neighbors and realized that we have really missed having game nights.) It will be so nice having a bit of family so close. I just hope we don't terrify them with our kidlets, they don't have kids themselves yet. We'll have to let them see the kids in small doses until we are sure they won't decide never to have children. Because I am pretty sure my three kidlets, for an extended period of time, is a great form of birth control.

Growing Up

My Smiley is no longer a newborn :( 

He is a full grown baby now.

Smiley 3 months old
Look what he can do

He is finding his hands a lot now

He also rolled from his back to his stomach last week. He was arching his back and trying to push his face into the floor, because he was upset. He hasn't done it again thank goodness. My baby is already growing up. Sigh.

Lulu's 4th Birthday!

Lulu made it to her 4th birthday on the 10th. I know it has taken me a few weeks to get it posted, but we have been doing stuff. I actually remembered to take a picture of her with her haul. I like to be able to look back and remember when she got stuff and who it came from. We got her 2 pair of shorts, a t-shirt, a zip up hoodie, a dress and a fishing pole. Her grandma K got her the letter, number toy. She was so excited about the "fishing cole" so she can go fishing with daddy. Unfortunately it was already broken, so we gave it to her and then promptly took it away, so we can return it and get her a different one. She was less than impressed, but able to distract herself with her letters and numbers toy.

I tried something new for her cake.

I found a really fun rainbow cupcake recipe and instead of doing 24 cupcakes, i did 12 cupcakes and a double layer cake the size of a loaf of bread. The colors were so vibrant and it was pretty darn tasty. I even made real frosting which was extremely yummy too.

My attempt at photography

I have a new found respect for food bloggers

and their awesome food photography skills.

(I am also hungry for these cupcakes again)

Since their birthdays are only 10 days apart I got them both

in their birthday outfits and tired to get them to smile at me.

Sticky 2      Lulu 4

Chopsticks

During the family reunion the Husband gave me a much needed break by taking the girls for a few hours so I could hang out with the family and just Smiley. He and cousin M took the girls into town to check it out and of course go to a sushi restaurant.
Isn't that the thing to do when you go camping? If you know the Husband and cousin M, then this is actually extremely normal. The Husband once drove 8 hours round trip, just so he could go out to sushi with cousin M at a particular restaurant.
I do not like sushi, so the Husband has to get his fix when he can.
At the restaurant, Lulu grabbed a set of chopsticks, picked up a roll of sushi with them, and popped it in her mouth. (I think it came right back out as she wasn't impressed with it.) What was impressive was that fact that it was the first time she had ever held a pair of chopsticks. The Husband and cousin M were both shocked and told me about it the minute they came back. I was impressed, but figured it was a fluke.
Well, we went out for thai food recently, (by the way we have found a thai food buffet that is totally nifty) and I gave her some chopsticks to see if she could do it again. To my amazement, she did, multiple times. She uses them a bit odd. She uses both hands on the chopsticks to pick the item up and then transfers them into one hand and pops it in her mouth. She did it way fast, so I had a hard time getting pictures. The kid just barely turned 4!

Just for posterity I will mention that we went to this restaurant a second time and she would only use the chopsticks as drumsticks and hitting implements and they were promptly taken away from her. She is talented, but still four.