Fair Feathers Food Fun Family Home Evening

We spent our Family Home Evening a few weeks ago at the SC State Fair. So Eliza, Abby and I met up with Mom & Dad and Katy, Aaron & Reuben.

We had a blast! But if I'm gonna keep this blog going during the rest of this semester, I'm going to have the pictures speak for themselves.

The Caterpillar Rollercoaster! This was the only ride Eliza rode. But she rode it three times! Once as soon as we got there with me. After eating during the middle of our time there with Oma. And then on our way out with Aunt Abby! She was just barely 36" -- just barely tall enough to ride the littliest, easiest kiddie rides. She was excited to ride them but did not want to ride them without me, so that left like 3 ride options.

Caterpillar it was!

If you look closely, you can see Eliza and me in the right corner.

The animal barns were the best part for Eliza, I think.

I had Eliza pose with the peacocks! If you have been around Eliza lately you know why!

For you out-of-towners, the peacock is Eliza's favorite animal to impersonate. Even though I have attempted several times to teach her what sound the peacock makes by showing her youtube videos, etc., she continues to say that the peacock makes this terrible loud, growling honk that sounds like a dying goat! Maybe I should try to get a video of it. She also has a peacock beanie baby that she would take EVERYWHERE if I let her.

She loves her some peacock!

Goats and Sheep. We ran into some friends, the Sheridan's who were riding the Elephants and Camels, and Br. Sheridan shared some sheep food with Eliza. Eliza was ecstatic.


Eliza loooooovvvvvvedddddd riding the pony! She was adorable.

These llama's were crazy smart! And really soft too! He was like eating out of the food machine before I had even turned the knob. Eliza really like them until I got some food and then she just wanted me to do it.

The fair food was a hit as always. Check out Kate's blog to hear more about it. Below, however, is a picture of me right after I took a bite of a "Pig Licker" or the chocolate and powder sugar covered bacon thing. BLAH!

I'll try everything once?

This last Friday, we also attended the annual little Halloween carnival at Pine Island put on by my dad's company. Eliza only wanted to keep her costume on for like 5 minutes. Oh well. At least she was nice enough to try to share her Nerd's with Reuben!

What are older cousins for but to expose you to hard, small, choking-hazardous sugar items...?

Abby and I hadn't gotten quiet enough out of the fair on Monday night, so we went back out on Friday night after Eliza and the old folks were in bed. (Well... Dad was actually still awake when we got back)

I think we ended up riding every single crazy, scary, adult ride plus some. I only got nauseous once, and that was right after finishing off a 10-inch gyro that I shared with Abby right before hopping on the ride that drops like 10 stories in 2 seconds.

Otherwise, it was a complete blast, and we stayed until the rides stopped running! Abby was the best fair date EVA! Thanks, Boo!

Spooky Spiders

Eliza and I made spider hats for halloween!

We got a book from the library about spiders, got a $1 spider from Target that only has 6 legs, have been admiring all the spider halloween decorations, and have been running into spiderwebs all over the place in our walks in the woods.

So we made spider hats!

For anyone who's interested, I love getting weekly pre-school lesson theme plans from this blog on my blog reader. I've gotten some great craft ideas from there too, and the spider hats were one of them.

Reuben enjoyed the spider fun too.

He was very cute walking around with it on his head, but unfortunately it did not stay on him long.

No Einstein in Your Crib? Get a Refund.

"Parent alert: the Walt Disney Company is now offering refunds for all those “Baby Einstein” videos that did not make children into geniuses.

"They may have been a great electronic baby sitter, but the unusual refunds appear to be a tacit admission that they did not increase infant intellect."

Check out the article here.

I still think Eliza is a genius (not because of Baby Einstein), AND I'm totally getting some money back.

A Child of God serenades a cockroach

So we had the bug man come through and spray last week. So since then, some dead bugs have turned up in the basement.

Every time Eliza sees any bug (dead of alive), she says, "Ooo! Mommy, a BUG!"

But when it's a dead bug, for some reason, Eliza has developed a really strange but sweet(?) system for dealing with it.

She sings to it, of course! What else would you do?

And what song does she sing? Well, she starts out with the last line of I Am a Child of God, which goes, "Teach me all that I must do to live with him someday!" and then she goes on into the rest of the song from the beginning.

Then when she finishes the song, she looks up and smiles at me, and says, "Mommy, they're happy now!"

So not really how I had envisioned the song's usage when I taught her I Am A Child of God recently, but that's neat...?

After all, God cares about each little sparrow, so that applies to the lowly cockroaches too, right?

I guess I'm glad to see Eliza showing some compassion to the little creatures, however gross they are.

Turkey Trot: How to Train to Run a 5k Race in Four Weeks

So in 5 weeks, some of my family and I are going to run in the SC Leukemia & Lymphoma Society's Ninth Annual Dan Davis Memorial TURKEY TROT!

Race information can be found HERE.

I think the last time I ran in it was like in 2002. It was really fun. The course goes through downtown Columbia.

I've been working out consistently, but not hard core. But I like a challenge to work towards that's not related to weight loss or something like that. Honestly, I wish I could just be playing soccer, but I don't have time to belong to a team.

Anyways, so Cool Runnings website has these 4 steps to preparing for a 5k or How to Train to Run a 5k Race in Four Weeks eHow.com. I think I might start at Step #3, though.

I'm curious to see what I can get my time down to. Doubtful that I'll break 21 minutes like in high school, but perhaps I can keep up with Abby who's been training hard core during this cross country season. It'd be nice if I can average about 8 minute miles.

We'll see.... I can already feel my sides cramping.

Anyone want to join in?

A heart so big...

I miss my dear friend, Amber. Today is a year since she passed away.

I believe that she would want to be remembered.

I am grateful for the warmth and joy she brought to my childhood and life. It's been really, really hard to cope with the loss of Amber. It's been a hard year...

I miss you, Amber, and you are loved.

Exciting News...

Eliza is POTTY TRAINED!!!!
(Eliza enjoying a potty treat)

Hip-Hip-Hooray!

I love that when I smell a poopy diaper, it belongs to somebody else's kid!!!


We used the Toilet Training in Less Than a Day
method if anyone's interested. Thankfully, Eliza was ready! She's been diaper free (except for night time) for a month now!!!.