Meet Me in St. Louis, Louis, Meet Me at the Fair

Meet me in St. Louis, Louis


Scratch that
Meet me in Elkhart Indiana
meet me at the fair.


I don't think the lights are shining
any place but there.


We will dance the hoochy coochy


You will be my tootsie wootsie,
if you will
meet me here in Indiana,



meet me aaaaaaaatttttt the fair.

Just pretend
you hear the song playing in the background
or something
and if you don't know the song,

well

that is just sad
and you should go watch
Meet Me in St. Louis
immediately.
I mean it
Go.

For the rest of you
On with the post.



The twins were four months old
and already so big,
that it was not pleasant for them
to be doubled up in the single stroller



They were pretty vocal with their dislike

Note to mom:
we don't like
being smooshed together in tight places
been there
done that
for nine months
Don't want to go back there

notice the outfit change as well
no we weren't going for high fashion,
we had a double blow out not 20 minutes after arrival



while watching this


We ended up carrying them around like this
and they were much happier
even though I was much sweatier


My dad did twin patrol
while the rest of us went on the ferris wheel

He said twins are girl magnets.
Every woman that passed had a comment
or a coo
and told him how cute they were.

I would have to agree,
they are dang cute
and they do attract a lot of attention.



me and the handsome hubby


at the Lady Antibellum Concert
sans kids
(Thank you Grandma and Grandpa!)

A fun day was had by all,
and dang we slept well that night.

We love the Elkhart County 4-H Fair
And going to see Grandpa Rick and Grandma Becky.

See you next year at The Fair?

We didn't go AWOL, We went AMISH

I love going home.


Not to my home,
but, you know,
home.


(No, this was not my house, but I think it is so cute, and familiar
and right around the corner from a good friends childhood home)


Driving familiar roads

Where you grew up,
where your memories of high school are
and most importantly,
where your parents are.

I wish you could add sound clips
because if I could
I would educate you
as I did my oldest son
on the glory of the Jackson 5
singing


I'm going back to Indiana
Indiana here I come, yeah yeah
I'm going back to Indiana
Cause that is where my baby's from.
I'm going back to Indiana
Indiana here I come!
Okay Tito, you got it...


I give full credit to knowing this song
to my best gal and fellow Hoosier
Kristy K
She introduced me to the greatness of it in college
and we now CANNOT
cross the Indiana state line without it blaring.

Well, I can't,
Ryan could probably do without,
but he's with me, so...
He must love it by association.

It works that way when you are married
and/or confined in a car with someone.



We headed out on a Friday morning
disappointed
because we were supposed to head out Thursday
but due to a series of unfortunate events
including a Uhaul and a hitch and a dvd screen
it was Friday.


We drove straight on through
24 hrs
which I thought was pretty dang impressive
with 5 small children.
(Check out the time on the Nav screen)

I say we
I mean Ryan,
he drove 22 of the 24 hrs,
But I was there,
and helping him to stay awake,


and dealing with wiggly babies


So it counts right?

and it was worth it to suprise the parents
by getting there in the morning instead of at night
and catching my dad
in the middle of the lawn mowing.

Mmmm...
Home.

This was just the first day,
We got more comin folks.
Stay tuned.

Neighbor Kids

In the past
when a kid knocked on the door
asking to play


I would grumble under my breath
and start to dread the mess they would make
and the fighting amongst my kids
and the emptying of my snack cupboard.

Why is it that other little kids
are always STARVING at my house?

And most of the kids that would come to play were older,
not wanting to play with my kids so much,
as they wanted to play with their toys,
and break them, and in some cases, take them.


and my kids generally play well together,
and are good friends and confidants in secret adventures
its really cute to hear and see.


But when neighbor kids arrive,
they hate each other
and no one can play together
and toys CANNOT be shared with a sister.

However,
we had a mass exodus of families
out of our neighborhood last year
and this summer,
a whole bunch of new ones moved in.
and we have had some fun times.



I don't dread the knock so much.
and I find myself laughing really hard
at the wild adventures that my kids stumble in from.

It was 94 degrees and they had all of Caden's costumes out
I thought they were going to have heat stroke
( Caden is the little Ben 10 with the skunk head, yeah, don't know...)


And by golly
one of the neighbor kids
did the impossible.


He taught Caden how to ride his bike.


Ryan and I have been trying for a year,
and after a 10 second tutorial from Jackson,
Caden is now zipping around with the big kids.

Its been good times in the neighborhood
this summer,
despite the sunburns and mosquito bites
good times.

Adios Summertime

We decided to
kiss summer goodbye

by having a little pizza and a movie
(at Caitlin's Clubhouse)


followed by some
swimming

and cupcakes

Perfect afternoon


truly amazing cupcakes.
(mango cupcakes with coconut frosting)
Saxon devoured his
before I could get a picture of him eating it.

You should all go to Caitlin's blog
and beg her for the recipe
it was just something she
"threw together"
They seriously changed my cupcake eating life.

Goodbye summer,
we'll miss you.


and I just recieved fabulous news
My camera is coming back to me
and should be here by the end of the week.
Yeah!
Now I can really blog again!

The Buzz...

We have bees

or wasps
or hornets
or whatever they are called

I put out traps,
Ryan goes on the hunt
every few days and sprays
and whacks away what he can find.

Just when we think we are safe
they go on the attack.

Poor Kenna
(She couldn't part with the ice pack for the picture)


and Cohen

got on the wrong end of a few stingers.


Ryan went on the warpath again
and found some major nests.


There were so many dead bees
we couldn't even walk in the grass barefoot

My kids love the fort,
unfortunately, so do the bees.

Maybe we've turned the tide?
Somehow I doubt it.

Any good Bee Killin' Ideas?

Better Late Than Never

Since
summer is almost over
and we have been promising our kids
every Tuesday and Thursday
all summer
that we can get a snow cone
next time
we come to the gym


We figured we better ante up
before the good old
Sno Shack
Closed its windows for the season.

My kids knew exactly what they wanted


Cohen- Blue
"A blue one, a blue one"
"Coco wanna blue one"
(His teeth and tongue are still blue)


Caden-Watermelon
Even the teasing from Kenna that it was pink
did not deter him

Kenna-Pink
As luck would have it
they had a Barbie Flavor
Kenna heard that
and there was no turning back
It was cotton candy flavored
but doesn't Barbie Flavor make it sound more fun?


Me- Watermelon with Heavy Cream
Ryan- Mango with Heavy Cream


The kids all swapped bites,
and spit,
and bits of grass.
I offered to share mine
but Cohen took one look
and said
I don yike it.
No amount of coaxing would change his mind.

Oh well, more for me.

The kids are already planning their return trip
We'll have to see
if the Sno Shack
stays open that long.

(Long enough for us not to be in a hurry,
and to have five dollars cash with us.)

Our Little Town
has
"Arts in the Park"
every Sunday afternoon.

Local musicians come
and play for the small crowd that gathers.


My friends from work were preforming
So we decided to check it out.


The kids cared nothing for the music
and checked out the playground instead.


Cohen was so scared
he wouldn't even look at me
to say cheese
But whenever I tried to help
he repeatedly screamed
"I do it, I do it"

Caden was testing out his kung fu moves
from up in the tree.
I was waiting for him to fall and break his arm
but
He's going to be a ninja when he grows up,
don't you know
Ninjas don't fall out of trees



It was a
lovely August evening
The weather was perfect

Summer is so magical
I'm sad that its almost over.

Pardon the pictures (again)
my iphone is incapable of taking non blurry pictures