The Texas State Fair

We went to the land of fried food this weekend...The Texas State Fair. When you leave, the only question you find asking yourself is, "Is there anything they don't fry at the fair?" You can find fried twinkies, fried peanut butter & jelly sandwiches, fried marshmallows, fried snickers, fried coke...yes fried coke, fried latte, fried cheese curds...eeewww, fried cookie dough and the list goes on and on!! The food really was not that great this year and it is expensive! My favorite things to eat there are corndogs, caramel apples and nachos.

We went to the fair on Sunday, October 21st (the last day of the fair). It was not crowed at all until about dinner time. The kids didn't have to stand in any lines to ride rides. That was really nice and the weather was wonderful (sunny and in the low 80's). We arrived at the fair at 10:30 in the morning and didn't leave until 8:45 that night! We could have stayed longer but we were all so tired! The kids had a BLAST and I mean a BLAST at the fair. Me, Austin, Sammy, Honey, Sugar, Casey, Emily and Emma all went. Russell stayed home with Lauren because she is still too little. My mom and dad treated us for the day and bought everything. That was such a blessing!! My dad bought tickets and told the kids they could ride anything they wanted. Austin and Sammy LOVED the rides. I enjoyed watching them smile and laugh.

Look mommy! Our tickets!

First ride of the day...the motorcycles.

Austin & Sammy liked the canoe ride.

Sammy looked so cute with her little head sticking out of the firetruck!

Austin had fun spraying water on the "fire".Austin and Sammy are opposites! Austin is cautious and doesn't like heights! So there were many rides that did not look like fun to him. However, Sammy is our little daredevil whose motto must be "the fast the better"! Sammy wanted to ride EVERY ride. Even the ones that were just for adults. She was not afraid of anything.

In this picture you can see the difference between Sammy & Austin. Sammy has a BIG smile on her face while Austin has a look of being unsure about the ride. Sammy's favorite ride was the BIG slide. She rode with Uncle Casey the first time. She wanted to go again so Aunt Emily rode with her the second time. Austin didn't want to do the slide but he decided to give it a try after seeing Sammy do it. So, Uncle Casey walked Austin up to the top of the slide and Austin looked down and said "I don't think want to do this." Casey tried to talk him into going down but all he wanted to do was walk back down the stairs. I told Austin that he sure did a great job trying! I enjoyed riding a few rides with them too! Emma was so cute. She did little dances as we passed with rides with loud music. Austin, Honey, Sammy & Uncle Casey

The last thing we did before we left was ride the gondola. The gondola has been closed for quite a few years due to an accident and this year it was opened back up. Sammy, Honey and I enjoyed the ride. Austin and Sugar didn't care for it...they both don't like heights. Honey doesn't like heights either but he kept his cool during the ride. Austin said that he didn't want to ride the gondola again. Sammy loved it!

Jay's 30th Surprise Party

I have known Jay Peterson since he was in the 4th grade. He is the brother of my best friend Jenna (Peterson) Fennell. Jenna and I met in the 6th grade and our brothers were in the 4th grade. We later found out that our brothers had the EXACT same birthday...October 16, 1977! I have always considered Jay like another little brother so it was exciting to be apart of his big "30" surprise celebration!

SURPRISE!! The birthday boy!

Jim & Jenna Fennell

Miki, Stephanie, Jenna & me

me & Jenna

Casey & Jay (welcome to the "30" club!)

The gang...with crazy Stephanie and Casey in the back! :o)

Megan's Pumpkin Painting Party

My kids LOVE to paint. So it was a treat when we were invited to TWO pumpkin painting parties! The kids had a blast at Megan's house. Austin immediately went to paint his pumpkin in the front yard, Sammy went straight upstairs to play dressup in Megan's room and Lauren went straight to Kristina. Austin and Sammy painted a pumpkin, Lauren just wanted to hang out in the house with all of us. Kristina had lots of fun things planned...Halloween music, dirt cake served in cute flower pots painted like candycorn, yummy food and a craft for the kids. Now that I look back on this, I don't have a picture of Lauren from the party! She looked sooo cute too! I don't have a picture because she spent the whole party either with Russell, with Kristina or on the trampoline!

Megan had fun at the party and was a great hostess!

Sammy looked so cute all dressed up!

Sammy had fun painting her pumpkin.The dirt cake was yummy and the candycorn pots were super cute!Sammy playing dress up...silly girl!

Austin had fun making his pirate for a craft.Sammy had fun making her little witch.

Austin & Megan Murto

Ashlyn's Pumpkin Painting Party

We went to Shannon & Ashlyn Pokorny's house for a Pumpkin Painting Party on Monday, October 15th. The kids had a blast. They each painted a pumpkin, ate some pizza, decorated a cupcake with Halloween frosting & sprinkles and played with the other kids.

My cuties and their little pumpkins...notice how their pumpkins match what they are wearing...weird!

Kristina & Lauren...Lauren LOVES her "Tina". She can't wait to see her when I tell her that we are going to see Kristina. Lauren does not want me when Kristina is around. All she wants is for Kristina to hold her...so cute!Megan painting her pumpkin.Austin had fun skateboarding.

Sammy had fun riding around on the little car.

Austin's Field Trip

The first grade class went on a field trip to the Grayson County Fair on Friday, October 12th. Russell took the day off of work to go with Austin. They both said that they had lots of fun. The first grade got to see lots of interesting things at the fair...how a cow is milked, a clown doing tricks, learn about seatbelt safety and lots more. After the fair, the first grade went to a park for a picnic and to play.

Austin & Kerrigan ServatiAustin & Autumn HoodThere were lots of animals to pet.

Winner Of The Costume Contest...

Russell and I went to Phil & Melissa's Halloween party on Saturday, October 13th. The theme for the party was "famous couples" so Russell and I dressed up as Dog The Bounty Hunter and Beth Chapman (his wife). I knew this would be right up Russell's alley! I spent two weeks piecing together the costumes. Russell's costume turned out GREAT! He looked just like DOG! Russell and I won the costume contest and got a $50 prize...wa hoo!

Beth & "DOG" ChapmanRussell looked great!I had to wear a hat because the I could not make the wig look right! Russell really liked the hat though.

The party girls...minus Doug in the front row who dressed-up as Cher.

The party guys...minus Lori who dressed-up as Sonny.

Andy "The Big Bad Wolf" & Kristina "Little Red Riding Hood". Their costumes were so good!

me & Kristina

Melissa and Phil had a karaoke machine and lots of fun music. Here everyone is dancing to Thriller!

Crazy Saturday

Saturday started off really good. We woke up at 8:00 to get ready for Austin's 10 AM flag football game (we needed to be in McKinney by 9:30). All went well, we got there on time, watched the game...they lost (no big deal, Austin doesn't even ask if they win or lose). The craziness started at 2:00 when Sammy and I drove to Denison (30 minutes away) to pick up 1,000 goldfish for the Fall Festival that night. As soon as I got out of my car at the pet store I realized I left their check on my kitchen counter. I asked the guy if I could please go ahead and take the goldfish to Van Alstyne and then come back with his check. He said that was fine....they were really nice. Going to Denison and back is an hour and I had a BUSY evening planned and I didn't have an hour to spare...but I didn't have a choice. I was so mad at myself for forgetting the check. I delivered the goldfish at 3:30, picked up the check from my house and drove back to Denison. On my way home, I had to stop at Wal-Mart to pick up the ingredients to make my Turkey Cranberry Wreath for a Halloween party that Russell and I were going to that night. I didn't get home until 5:00!! Remember I left my house at 2:00 to run the simple errand of picking up the goldfish...I was back home 3 hours later!

Thetwo important things going on for that night were: Fall Festival and Phil & Melissa's Halloween Party. Fall Festival started at 5PM and the Halloween party started at 7PM. So I figured I would take Austin and Sammy to the Fall Festival for about an hour, let them have some fun and come home to get ready for the party. We got to Fall Festival at 5:15 and returned home at 6:30. Russell and I worked as fast as went could to get dressed up as Duane "DOG" Chapman and Beth. We got the kids ready and left the house at 7:20 to drop the kids off at my mom and dad's. I called my mom and asked her to meet us 1/2 way because we were running so late...she is a lifesaver! We met my mom, traded cars and then we FINALLY arrived at the party at 8:30...1 1/2 hours late!! Russell and I had a BLAST at the party but at the end of night we locked my dad's keys his truck....UGH!! My cellphone was also in the car and I have not memorized my parents new "unlisted" phone number. Sooooo Phil and Melissa let us borrow their truck to go to my mom and dad's to get a spare set of keys. We got to my parents house at 1:15 AM to find my mom, dad and Sammy up. Sammy had developed a really bad cough and my mom had be trying to get ahold of me for over an hour!! Poor Sammy! We were going to go with my parents to the State Fair on Sunday...that is cancelled now with Sammy's cough. We loaded up the kids (at 1:45 AM) and my parents went with Russell and I to get my dad's car unlocked, return Phil & Melissa's truck and FINALLY go home! We didn't get home until 3:30 AM. Russell and I got to bed at 4 AM. Saturday was ridiculously LOOOOONG with a lot of setbacks. I wanted to scream by the end of the night....but I was too dang tired! OK, novel is over.

Painting Pumpkins

Yesterday the kids were so excited when they came home from school because I told them that we were going to paint pumpkins. My kids LOVE to paint! I gave the kids their choice of colors and a pumpkin and they did the rest!

Lauren wanted blue, purple and pink...which the three colors together just turned out to be purple. She had fun making a mess!Samantha wanted pink and purple. Alyssa and Austin wanted black, red and brown.Austin's pumpkin looks so cool! It looks like a Texas Tech pumpkin with the red and black! Good job Austin! We are training him well. Go Raiders! :o)What fun is painting if you can't make a mess? Sammy & Lauren (especially Lauren) got messy. Lauren decided to heck with the brush! She used her hands! Oh well, nothing some soap and water can't fix! Kudos to whoever invented washable paint!