A fun time at the fair...

Last weekend we had a great time at the Pinal.County Fair with Hubby's dad! I was so happy :) I have been wanting to take the kids to something like this, but had not been able to convince Hubby it was a good idea. This was such an awesome fair too. It was not too crowded and perfect for the kids. Beware....there are a ton of pictures in this post...the kids were having too much fun to not go crazy with my camera :)

The first ride of the day...of course she went with the pink car! The kids got wristbands to let them ride everything, which was perfect. They were fearless and wanted to go on almost everything!

This was the first time on a roller coaster for both of them...I think. Pumpkin was not too sure at first. We were cracking up with her expressions. Critter loved every second of it!

By the end, she realized she was having fun though....

This was a little haunted house. She was all excited to go in, then realized it was dark. I guess that is what daddy's are for though! He went in and held her hand....then she was fine!

I have such vivid memories of slides like this! I knew Pumpkin would be excited, was not sure about Critter. But...both LOVED it. Luckily we were at the fair when it opened and there were almost no lines. They went down this one 3-4 times in a row. They just got off the bottom and climbed right back up.....so much fun!

I LOVE his face! We had to almost tear him away from this one. Luckily there were so many they wanted to ride that it was fairly easy to distract him.

Hubby, his dad and I were cracking up at this picture. It is Hubby, but in Pumpkin. She looks just like he does. Observing the world....yet looking slightly disinterested/bored....gotta love both of them!

Yes, he took them up on the Ferris.Wheel! Nope...I did not go! There was no way you were going to get me on that thing. They kept stopping it to put more people on. The kids loved it, but I would not have been pleasant!

We watched a cool puppet show and grabbed lunch. It was perfect timing. Critter had too much fun eating his hot dog, but Pumpkin wanted to meet this puppet. She loved all of it.

She had almost outgrown some of the "kid" rides. Thankfully she fit in the kid swings....there was no way I would let her on the big grown up ones! She can't be getting that grown up!

So much fun...

They were so excited to ride the bumper cars...

She loved it....until she got stuck. She was in a corner and could not get out. Hubby and his dad tried to direct her, but she was in freak out mode. Luckily no one really bumped her when she was stuck. She did great waiting it out until it was done. I don't think she will go on these again for a few years!

However, Critter and I had fun! He wanted to steer into everyone. It was really cute...

It was so much fun to see them enjoy themselves. It was such a treat and a special time with Opa. He got a big kick out of the kids. I think we will make this a tradition with them. Luckily there was a bath waiting for them back at the grandparent's house though....not sure we left much dirt/dust at the fair!

Beautiful girl....

Pumpkin and I finally got to have a little time together shopping and getting her haircut. It had been a LONG time since we got it cut. We kept joking that we would chop it all off for her....that did not go over well :) She LOVES her long hair. Convincing her to cut off just 2 inches was a battle. She does love going though since we go to the real salon and she can get her hair curled like a princesses. I try to do this....it just does not come out nearly as well. Plus, Pumpkin does not have as much patience for me!
I just love these pics of her. She is such a sweet girl. She and I have our issues with communicating sometimes, but I am proud of who she is as a person. She is going to do some amazing things in this life....I can't wait to see what those things are goign to be!

Funtime outside...

With the weather so nice lately, we have been playing outside A LOT! it has been nice. We have some new neighbors who moved in this winter. They have kids too. The only problem is the fact that the little girl rings the doorbell constantly! I want Pumpkin to play with her new friend....but not at dinnertime or during Critter's nap time, or at 8pm at night! So, we enjoy playing outside....but are looking forward to re-doing the backyard so we can sometimes play with just the 4 of us :)

Football is always popular with Critter :)
She has gotten so good with her skates. I want to take her to a roller skating rink, I just don't think Critter could do it yet!

Not much is better than football with daddy :)

I LOVE these two of Critter! He looks so grown up throwing the ball :)

It is just fun to see the kids being kids! Plus, getting the energy out after dinner makes bedtime a touch easier :)

Our Irish eyes...

It was so nice this year having Pumpkin home for St. Patrick's Day! We are in the middle of her 2 week spring break....and having lots of fun! We celebrated the day with our green clothing and a yummy dinner of steak and Guinness pie! Yummy :) Hope you had a wonderful day!

This was the only way I could get Pumpkin involved in pictures...she got to take one of Critter and me!

This is not too shabby considering Critter took the picture :)

My goofballs!

My little Irish girl :)

A new smile...

We finally have an exciting new smile to share from our house! Pumpkin has had a wiggly tooth for about a month. It was REALLY wiggly for almost 2 weeks. We had a full week of being able to see the root when Pumpkin played with the tooth.

This past Sunday, we told her it had to come out. She is too much like her mother, she worries about things that have not happened. She was working herself to tears worrying about how it would hurt to come out. The funny thing is that once I got it out, she did not even notice at first that it was out! I can just hope we do not have as much drama with each of the next teeth! So.....here is the new smile! :)

The tooth in her awesome Tooth Fairy Box. She has been looking forward to using this for years. She got it when she was a baby. We did have to ask the tooth fairy to leave the tooth for mom and dad to keep though.....I think she can do that :)

Now that the tooth is out, she is super excited. She keeps laughing when she goes to play with the tooth though. She got SO used to playing with it during the day. The other tooth has already cracked the surface and coming in. I have a feeling we will be losing more teeth soon!

It makes me a little sad realizing how quickly she is growing up. But, I am enjoying each of these milestones with her :)

My cowgirl...

I LOVE the fact that Hubby has Fridays off. It means I get to help out with Pumpkins class a fair amount. They do a lot of their special activities on Friday, so it works out perfectly!

Last week was Kinder Rodeo Day. They had 9 different stations set up for the kids to do. It was adorable! I got to help out in the "jail".....we took pictures of the kids in the "jail" and then they got to eat popsicles. Needless to say, there was a lot of energy in my station! I am truly amazed at the conversations you can have with a group of Kindergarten kids.....really amazed!

She took this very seriously! If you look close, you can see her tongue sticking out :)

They got to dress in their "cowboy" gear. She picked this outfit out all on her own....she has some pretty good fashion sense. She did pull the typical kid thing that morning though. The sides of her hat had come un-stitched from the main part. She asked me at 7:46 to fix it, we normally leave the house at 7:50. The ONLY reason i fixed it at the VERY last minute was because i knew the kids would be outside from 8:15-11. I do think it was worth it for the pictures too though :)

My beautiful girl. There are times I look at her and realize how quickly she is growing up. She is so fiesty and independent, yet so full of love! She was playing with her loose tooth here. I really do not know how this thing is still in her mouth. We can see almost the entire bottom of it when she plays with it. Yet, she is like her mother, so she is stressing about it. New things do not always go over well with her :)

Doing pretty good at horseshoes!



It was such a fun day with her and the other kids. I am going to take every opportunity I can to help out in the classes. I figure the longer she likes me in class the better! :) I love that I know her friends and who she talks about when she talks about school.

A day with my boy...

One of the hardest things for me when Pumpkin started school was not being able to take her to do all the fun things we used to do. Then....I realized I had over 3 years of taking her fun places and I could now do the same with Critter. I have noticed that our adventures this have been a little longer and more adventurous due to Pumpkin being in school longer and Critter being older.

I was finally able to take him to the zoo the other day with a group of friends. It was so much fun seeing him play with his friends and explore without his sister telling him where to go! :)

Can you tell how much fun he was having!
My FAVORITE place in the zoo is the little monkeys. I love the fact that you can go into the exhibit and see them. I think out of every animal, i have the most pictures of these guys. This little guy was walking right over our heads....well not RIGHT over since we did not want to get covered in a present from him :)

He was having so much fun on these animals. I have cute pictures of both the kids last time we went, but we also had to sort of go along with what Pumpkin wants. This time I could just let Critter explore and do whatever he wanted to do!

It is hard to see, but this is his "WHEEEE" face. He was acting like he was a cowboy.....never mind that he was on a lion....he still thought he was a cowboy!

"We almost forgot the giraffe's!" That is what he told me as we tried to leave. We did not see the giraffe's first like we usually do since we were catching up with friends. Can you tell he is a creature of habit like his momma?

Speaking of like his momma....

I got him a new book at the zoo shop ( I am such a sucker for books, it is getting silly). He wanted to see it as we left. He walked out of the zoo "reading" his new book!

No, this is not posed. He walked out like this. :) I just love it though. He is my boy! How can I say no to him when he asks for books? This is even at the library. We now have to bring a tote with us to the library since we can not carry all the books he wants to bring home. Trust me, I am NOT complaining about his love of books though!


It is so nice to be able to spend such nice time with my boy. We signed him up for preschool starting in September, so I am soaking up as many moments with him as I can. These darn kids are just growing up WAY too fast for me!