County Fair

'Tis the season. County fairs are upon us.

The girls had a ton of fun playing with all of the hordes of kids there.

Here are Hannah and one of her friends looking at one of the horses in the 4-H area.

The best part of a fair is having easy access to yummy stuff you don't normally have easy access to.

Hannah ate three of those corn on the cobs each night for three nights.

Matt had two of his lambs entered in the 4-H competition this year. Here's one being shown by the young man in the blue shirt.

And another being shown by the young lady in the red shirt.

Luck wasn't with them. The judge this year favored Hamp/Suffolk crosses, unlike the judge last year and probably next year who will favor Suffolk. Bum deal.

I took Hannah and some of her friends - and her little sister - to see the 4-H poultry exhibit.

Don't ask me why, but the bunnies were smack dab in the center of the poultry.

Ainsley got stuck by the duck exhibit. When I say "the duck exhibit", I mean *the* duck. One and only. Not much competition for that handsome specimen.

But here's what I wanted to show you. My favorite part of the fair.

The army brought in this huge piece of equipment - I have no idea why - and parked it there for kids to play with. If I were more politically minded, I might have an idea about why they would park this machine here with large Army signs around it and no personnel or barriers to keep the children off, deadening them to the real purpose these machines are serving in other countries. But I'm not political. Stepford is my middle name.

Back to why this would be my favorite part of the fair...

This is what I saw when I followed my girls over to this fun magnet. One girl. Swarms of boys. One girl in a pink shirt and boots. In the driver's seat. Refusing to get off for the swarms of boys telling her she's a girl and she shouldn't be driving. Ordering said swarms of boys in their military duties and them listening to her. Made me smile.

My Stepford implant must be on the fritz.

She finally left on errands unknown and some of the boys got a chance to drive. See that boy leaning out the passenger side?

"CRUSH THE TANKS!", he kept yelling, over and over.


But this is all his soldiers had to work with. A dirt scoop won't do much to crush a tank - especially not when it's currently being utilized as a little girl's house. He was disgusted.



Things didn't get better for him when she left. Her sister took her place.



Did I mention that Hannah has an admirer? He watched out for her the whole night.



He's a cutie, in't he?



Can't wait until next year's county fair. Hannah wants to run the barrels on her pony.

Star Wars - the pre-prequel

Have you ever wondered what a Sith Lord looked like as a baby?





So cute, non?

Hannah got an owie.

She was very sad.
And for some reason required band-aids on *all* of her fingers, not just the hurt one. Grandmas have cool band-aids.

On seeing Hannah playing with Grayson, I say "How's he doing?"

Hannah: "He's doing good. He's happy as a worm."

I'll take that as a good thing.

Update on Grayson

Follow up visits are done. In one of the visits, one of the interns, after asserting that he did indeed know who Grayson was and had read his case history asked me the following questions:

" Is this the first hospital you came to?"

and

"Has he ever had any breathing problems?"

I let my husband deal with them after that.

We had the final MRI done on Grayson. They couldn't see anything remaining below the floor of his mouth.


According to the doctor, that means that it was either a cyst and it's completely healed over and I have nothing else to worry about or it wasn't a cyst and they don't know what it was, so I need to be constantly vigilant in case it happens again.

I'm going with my gut which is telling me he's fine. But I'm not letting him out of my sight. I'm ok with being overprotective.

Especially when it's this face I'm protecting.

Lazy summer days.

Lolling around while mom does chores nearby.

Relaxing in the sun.

Cuddling with Ghandi.

Inspecting grass.

Checking on mom.

Studying clouds.

No, there's not much better than lolling on the grass.

Not much.

Except lolling on the pony.

"Hannah, look what I found! It's a swallow's egg, I think. The shell is so thin, I can't believe it fell all the way to the ground without breaking! Yeah, you can hold it. I want to get a picture of it. Just don't squeeze .... well, hold still, I'll take *that* picture. Let's go wash you off."

Spider babies

A few months ago, Hannah started noticing little white spots around the farm. I told her they were spider nests with hundreds of eggs in them. When we were trimming a lilac bush a few days ago we came across this - a spider nest with hundreds of babies. Hannah was more thrilled than me.

Can I watch it again?

and again...



and again...

Let them garden.

Ainsley playing in garden before the next bed is made.

Hannah helping plant starts.

She's mine.

My husband and I may not be much to look at apart, but we do make cute babies.

A spider in the car.

When I was little and our family of ten kids went on vacation, we went on vacation. We lived in Oklahoma and both of my parents' families lived in the northwest. We'd pack up in our van and head out for two or three weeks of driving and camping in Idaho and Utah. Ten. Kids. In a van.

My dad pulled out the third seat of the van and installed a platform that sat a few feet off the floor. Underneath the platform were bags of clothes and tents and sleeping bags. On the platform were as many kids as could fit comfortably - or uncomfortably if you got kicked off of one of the seats up front by a brother who wanted to lay down. Not naming names. Eric.

We travelled for twelve to sixteen hours at a time. Ten. Kids. Times were different then. Seatbelts were a suggestion that ten kids did not listen to. Now seatbelts are mandatory and children are much more safe in vehicles. And much, much, *much* more bored. Since our little family is making more long trips lately, what with visiting family or going down to the hospital in SLC, Matt decided it was time to get the girls dvd players to help them pass the time. It's wonderful. Grayson thanks us.

Hannah spent the trip watching Mariposa, a Barbie fairy movie. Ains watched Charlotte's Web. Not the new one, which is good, but the old classic animated version with the wonderful songs that you can't help singing along to even if your daughter says, with all of her four year old tact "Mother, you don't have to sing along, cause you know, it hurts my ears." I'm no Debbie Reynolds.

Hannah watches movies with a rapt (not vacant) expression. You can almost see her storing the details in her head, ready to incorporate it in her next story. As she watches, she breaks often to tell you what's happening in the story, asking you why certain characters are behaving as they are, or asking why you said four days ago that Ainsley's dress was cute. Isn't her dress cute too? These are questions that need to be answered.

Ainsley, on the other hand, gets completely wrapped up in her movie, but once again, never with a vacant expression on her face. Never vacant. It was so much fun to watch that I started taking pictures which she put up with for a bit.

Hey Mom. I'm watching a fun movie.

Charlotte's talking to Fern and Wilbur and the other animals.

This doesn't look good. I'm getting worried.

Mom? There's a boy trying to catch Charlotte.

Mooooooomma! Make him stop! He's gonna catch Charlotte!

Wait... wait... something's happening.

Oh, that's funny! He fell! Charlotte got away!

Yaaaaaaaaayyyyyyyyy!!! Charlotte got away!

Wilbur knocked him off his feet. That was soooo funny.

Why are they all yelling? What smells funny?

Oh, that's even funnier! They cracked a rotten egg!

Oh, I'm ready for a nap.

You can stop taking pictures now, Momma.

Seriously. Stop.

I'm going now....

Yeesh. I don't want to be rude, but some people can't take a hint.

What my 21 month old learned today.

If you want to get water from the refrigerator, it's best to use a cup to push the water lever in. Because at 21 months old, you are just the right height to have that stream of water hit you square in the eye.

And if mom's too busy washing dishes to notice what you're doing later, you may just be able to drag the baby's bouncy seat over close enough to spray him on the belly.

But the hysterical giggling from both of you will give you away.