fair fun

the girls have been bugging us for quite some time about seeing some farm animals... so every time we make a trip to the zoo, we leave with disappointed faces "there weren't any cows or pigs!" ha.
so we decided what better place to fill the farm animal craving but the fair! in full fair-style, we endured the unbearably hot, sticky, sweaty hours by filling up on sugar filled and totally nutritious dinner food, like mini donuts, hot dogs, stromboli on a stick, ice cream, roasted corn, and of course sweet tea and shaken lemonade. in the car on the way there, i was prepping the girls on all the awesomeness that is the fair and had to spark their excitement with a full description of the famous "butter cow." Ive never heard such belly laughing and carrying-on....the thought of it to them was truly hilarious :) Though it ended up not being as big of a deal as they built up in their little minds, they fully enjoyed it along with pig races, petting zoo, horse shows, mini tractor rides, and mommy and daddy's seemingly endless wallets and "sure, why not's" to treats and spectacles. because of the lines and my overly-cautious children, we didn't get to do the one thing mommy wanted to do (I'm not bitter, I promise ;), which was re-live my childhood going down the big yellow slide over and over again, but no one (but me) seemed to mind too much. all in all it was a grand success (of something I can certainly only handle once a year...if that).  although I truly wanted to make a photo documentary of all the outstanding things and people I saw, like "Most amazing thing I saw at the fair...." "Most Ridiculous thing I saw at the fair...." "Most hilarious thing I saw at the fair......" etc. etc. I was a little too distracted to complete it.... but had I been able to do it.... I can assure you, the loaded cheeseburger sandwiched between 2 KrispyKreme donuts would have ranked up there as one of the most absurd "truly-American" things I saw.
and just in case you're wondering... no, we did NOT try one..... and yes, peter would have tried one, had he not had a very responsible and loving voice in his ear telling him he wasn't 17 anymore ;)

when asked about their favorite parts:
Remae: "the BIG pigs snorting <insert multiple adorable snorting sounds> at me"
Ellia: "those funny little pigs racing around the track"

so I guess we leave having fully enjoyed the pigs...and probably looking a little more like them in the process. ;)

all-star game

every year we get together with pete's fam for the all-star game. the original tradition was that everyone bring various snacks and we enjoy a new one each inning. though over the years, the length and lateness of the game and the exorbitant amount of food has now inhibited us from sticking to that exact tradition...we still had fun getting together and eating tons of yummy food. other than it being a blow out, im not real sure what happened in the game....which seems to be the case every year, as im only partially interested :) we missed the Burns but it was a good little spur-of-the-moment get together with the fam:

(looking back at my last few posts...i know you're probably thinking.. is there anything else you guys do but have parties!?)    the answer is.... sometimes. ;)

unfortunately the kiddos were just too fast and too uninterested for me to get a good cousin pic tonight :/

Happy 4th!

Had a great looong weekend celebrating the 4th and just hangin out together. Pete was able to be off work the weekend thru wed so it made for a nice little mini stay-cation. With the crazy windstorm starting off the weekend on Friday, we had some unexpected but enjoyable experiences.

Saturday we took a little day-trip to Cleveland to visit our dear friends and their adorable little guy. Spent the day eatin yummy food and checkin out their new beautiful home. As we headed home really late that night, we got a call that our other dear friends were out of power and their little guy couldnt sleep! Although, bummed for them, I was really excited to have unexpected houseguests! I love that. They stayed through the afternoon on Sunday and then Sunday night, Pete's sister and her family came to cook dinner and do a little laundry at our place as they were out of power too! We enjoyed an evening with them and spent Monday and Tuesday working hard on the patio.... almost done (pics to come later). For the 4th we were invited to share the afternoon with a cookout at the neighbors and finished the day's celebration at the Westerville fireworks with Nana & Papa. It was a stuffed-full weekend but tons of fun. Thanking the Lord for a cool house and the ability to use it to help friends and family...such a blessing. Also thankful for some time to just enjoy Pete bein home with us...always love that - still soak up every second I can with him and our little family.



my little sparkler and my little firecracker:

remae seemed to LOVE the fireworks... with some hilarious commentary through the whole thing: "wow, that one was really big" and "sooooo preeettty" after EVERY one plus things like:

 "i wanna take that one home with me"

"oooh that looked like a strawberry"

"that was pretty loud"

"im really scared...crying like a baby" (not crying at all)

"i dont like this.... ohhhh that was pretty!"

"that one is probably really hot"

"ahhh i think they are falling on me!!!"

"they are all circles... i want a triangle one!"

"mommy...thats not thunder..it sounds like it, but its not"

daddy-daughter-date-night

Tonight, the girls got all fixed up in their cute little summer dresses and were swept away by their date..... daddy. Pete picked them up right after work and took them over to the Chick-fil-A daddy-daughter-date-night. It was so sweet... they had "reservations" and the tables were covered with a nice cloth, flowers, placecards, etc. They had their picture taken and got special little prizes. Their date, of course, included a LARGE portion of ice cream from daddy :) and then a trip to meijer. They were so wired and excited when they came home, telling me all about it. 

Looking forward to their many more dates in the future......... with DADDY!  :)  (if i could triple underscore that, i would)