Collecting Ribbons and Coupons

This evening Big Sis and I went back to the fair to collect her artwork and ribbons. She earned a whopping $4.50. We haven't yet talked about what she'll do with her winnings. Perhaps we'll just put it in the bank. Or, perhaps, she could use it to pay me to clean the toy room. Yeah, there's a story that goes with that statement :)

This afternoon, I asked Big Sis if she'd help put toys away in the toy room while I folded and put away her clothes. I gave her the option of earning 50 cents if she did it herself, having me help her and earning nothing, or paying me 50 cents to clean the toy room. She got out her coins and we counted her money. She decided she would be happy to pay me to clean. I told her we should talk to Cool Daddy-O about her decision and see what he thought.

After discussing all the options again, Big Sis decided that she would rather clean the room on her own and make some money. She worked for awhile and made nice progress. Finally, she decided she needed a break. She became engrossed in a TV program and said she'd finish later. I decided to reward her and give her half the money since she had completed much of her task. She said she'd do the rest tomorrow.

Here's a close-up of the collage that won Best of Show in her age group.

The other highlight of our day was a family effort. One of the local gas stations offers a free newspaper with the purchase of gasoline. There was a coupon that I wanted multiples of. So, we took both cars to 2 gas stations, where we each purchased the amount that qualifies for a free paper. I went to a 3rd gas station and squeezed in some more gas in my car and got a 5th paper. What was this coupon? It's a buy 1 get 1 free coupon for the hair color I use. Since I have so much hair, my hair stylist uses 2 boxes to color my hair...and I color it every 6 weeks. Each box costs between $7.50 and $8.70 depending where I buy it. So, we figured we saved about $40 in hair color expense, or looking at it another way...it makes the gas much cheaper.

Yesterday I had a great afternoon. I was able to spend a couple hours hanging out at Target. We needed to get a second car seat for the second car. I'll be taking the primary kid hauling car to Iowa City on Friday and Cool Daddy-O will need to drive the girls around town for various activities. The new booster seat has 2 cup holders. The old one doesn't have any. Big Sis is willing to share her extra cup holder with Lil Sis. What could be better?

She Decided To Stay...

We've been going to the fair a lot! Yes, we're crazy! Yesterday, we went to the 4-H and FFA horse show. It rained all day, so it was good to be inside. Big Sis had her 3rd corn dog.

Tonight we returned to the fair for supper and the demolition derby. Big Sis ate her 4th corn dog. I had my second tenderloin (yum). The girls lasted through 4 heats and a final round of the compact car class. Then they were done. Cool Daddy-O made arrangements for me to get a ride home with our neighbors and he took the girls home. I'm glad he did. There was only one heat of full-size cars, but they were DEAFENING! It was fun to watch.

Cool Daddy-O said it was kinda hard for him to watch the cars get demolished. He's very much into vehicle maintenance and getting as many miles as we can our of our beloved Hondas. On a good note, there were no Hondas or Toyotas in the derby. Fortunately, they're mostly still out on the road.

This morning, the girls were not allowed to watch TV (in part due to yesterday's behavior -- long story). They decided to play with Lincoln Logs and then Big Sis built a log cabin she was quite proud of. After that, the girls became quite irritable with one another and a fight broke out. I decided I was going to put the Lincoln Logs away and out of reach for a consequence. oops!

Big Sis came unglued when she discovered what I had done! She stomped back to her room, screaming and crying. After some time had passed, she stomped out and placed a hand written note on the kitchen table. Here's what it said:

I am going to the othr sid the wrld. frome big sis

I took the note back to Big Sis's room and talked to her about it. I couldn't quite understand what it said, so she told me she was packing up her things in her backpack and she was going to leave to go to the other side of the world. I asked her how she was going to get there. Her plan was to take a plane. I was able to talk her out of running away and all was forgiven.

Here is Big Sis pretending to be sad and posing with her run away note.

On another note, the girls had their first swimming lesson on Wednesday. We finally convinced Lil Sis to sit on the edge of the pool and dangle her toes in the pool. I think she will be more brave next time. It's too bad the lesson only lasted 30 minutes and half of that time was sitting outside of the pool talking about safety. I think another 15 to 30 minutes and she would have been in the water too. At least they both left wanting to go back.

That's all for now. We're going to hang out at home tomorrow and will do some cleaning, laundry, mowing, etc.

Ribbons At The Fair

The girls and I went to the county fair this morning. Big Sis entered a few drawings / pieces of artwork in the Junior Arts competition. Last night she worked on a collage using the technique she learned earlier this summer at a class she attended. I'll upload a picture of it later. I didn't get a chance to take a picture of it yet. It turned out pretty nice. She also entered several other drawings she had colored with crayon, markers, tempera paint, and another crayon design. She ended up with a red ribbon, several blues, and one purple (for the collage).

Other cool stuff we saw:

• a showering sheep...he was NOT happy about it
• a friendly lamb whose best friend is a horse
• an Angus calf named Hershey's
• a pen of pigs enjoying a bath
• an attacking turkey (don't worry, it didn't hurt, but it did scare the sh*t out of me)
• crowing roosters
• furry bunnies

I know it's not healthy, but, Big Sis ate two Jumbo Corn Dogs today. For an afternoon treat, Big Sis got a huge chocolate ice cream cone and Lil Sis got a blue raspberry shaved ice. Big Sis got full, so Lil Sis ate the rest of the cone. I got the rest of the shaved ice. It was definitely a WIN - WIN situation!

We send out Kudos to Uncle J today on being part of a #10 Country song. WhooHoo!

Swimming lessons commence tomorrow. The girls are excited!

I'm hoping to stay away from the fair tomorrow. We'll definitely go back later in the week. We have to pick up Big Sis's prize money!

*Dryer Update: I think I forgot the share the good news. The dryer was fixed quickly. It is working better than ever!

Pioneer Girl

Big Sis spent the last 2 days at Pioneer day camp. She made a candle, wrote her name with a goose feather dipped in ink, and milked a goat. She got bit by a kid (the baby goat variety) and cut and pinched her finger on something that she describes going up and down and then getting stuck. She's pretty proud of her injuries.

It rained most of the day today. Fortunately, Big Sis wore her raincoat all day. Her coat was muddy and her face was covered in chocolate ice cream. I'd call Pioneer camp a success.

Lil Sis and I hosted a fun play date today. We ate sweet corn and other good stuff. Days like today, I wish I had a bigger, more open kitchen. An island would be nice. Otherwise, I really like our house. The best part about hosting a play date? Having a clean house! We really need to do this kind of thing more often.

Next week is the county fair. It's a nice warm up to the state fair. We made hotel reservations for two nights in August. We plan to spend the night in Des Moines and get up really early and try and be part of a new world record corn dog chomp. We may go to Omaha to spend part of the day at the zoo and then return to Iowa for some more state fair fun. This may be the closest thing we get to a vacation this year. WhooHoo!

Sunday Trip to the Zoo and Pondering the Number 4

On Sunday afternoon, we made a spontaneous trip to the Blank Park Zoo. It was the elephants' last day (they were visiting for the summer). The girls didn't seem interested in watching the actual show, so we just watched them get ready for their show. We watched them get brushed and washed up for their performance.

We also visited the Baby Brazilian Sea Horses. They were born in May. To put things in perspective, they are in a regular sized fish bowl. Yes, they are extremely tiny. They are black.

It was feeding time for the bats. Bats are Big Sis's favorite animal. I think it's fun to take pictures of them...I get to use the Night Scene mode on my camera, which I think is COOL!

We had some down time while in line for the train. I decided to take some close-ups while we were wasting time. Here is Big Sis. She's starting to get a little bummed out that she doesn't have any loose teeth yet, however, we pointed out that she wouldn't be able to bite into an ear of corn if she had a loose tooth. Hopefully, that will boost here spirits for a few weeks.

Lil Sis enjoyed a little down time also. Looks like she's planning something mischievous. She's kind of like that. It's just her nature.

Today, we struggled a bit. She refused to sit in a chair at little kid story time at the library. After 3 failed attempts to sit in a chair, she ended up sitting on my lap in the play area at the library in a time out of sorts. I didn't allow her to play with toys, however, I explained to her she could rejoin story time if she wanted. We remained at a stalemate and we just sat there.

I continue to struggle with the whole 4-year-old thing. I know it's an important stage...increasing independence (can also be viewed as stubbornness), wanting to do big kid stuff, yet scared to and wanting to stay close to a parent. It's frustrating for all of us involved.

And, finally, our favorite part of living in Iowa in the summer. SWEET CORN aka CORN ON THE COB!!!! Very delicious!! The girls are getting very good at husking the ears. In fact, Cool Daddy-O and the girls husked the corn while I made a peach cobbler for dessert. We grilled hamburgers, too.

There's no way we can top that meal tonight. In fact, I'm not sure what we'll have tonight. Better sign off and think of something...I'm getting hungry!

Who Doesn't Get Excited About Their Dyson?

Check this out! I spent the afternoon cleaning off my desk, going through my pile of things to do. The girls hung out in the basement playing and watching TV.

As I was dusting the desk, they came upstairs. It was like pulling teeth to get the girls to help pick up toys. Lil Sis became interested in helping with the dusting. That set Big Sis in motion....she just had to do something too.

So, she got the vacuum out of the closet, asked me how to plug it in and turn it on. She was on a mission and did a fantastic job. She vacuumed the living room, hall way, her bedroom, and mom/dad's bedroom. She was so excited! Cool Daddy-O was quite impressed when he arrived home and found her in her room pushing the vacuum around! She even came back to the living room when she was all done and caught a few spots she missed the first time.

Lil Sis tried, but said it was too hard to push around. She did her part, though, and unplugged it and helped wind up the power cord when Big Sis finished.

Cool Daddy-0 and I went out on a date tonight. We had a delicious meal and then headed to Menard's to hang out. We had so much fun and when we finally checked our phones to see what time it was, we freaked out. It was 9 p.m. and we hadn't done our shopping at Target yet. We had coupons we had to use!

All was well. We paid for our books (yeah, I know, it's not a book store, but they have great prices on books). The trip to Target was successful, yet uneventful.

Pay It Forward - My 2nd time

Title Of Blog I Would Like To Feature Is: Heart On The Line

URL To That Blog: http://www.heartontheline.blogspot.com

I Like This Blog Because: This is a fairly new blog. I found it through a parenting message board I frequent. Anyway, she takes awesome photos and is in the process of adopting a little girl from Korea. She has 2 little boys, and an awesome husband. She is someone I respect and admire (in a non-stalking sort of way), even though I've never met her.

Here Is A Post I Enjoyed: Back to the House

Come on, join us for PAY IT FORWARD FRIDAY! HERE'S HOW!

My Boring Week

The lack of posting is due to lack of excitement around here. Let's see, we had lunch on the porch one day. They weren't very excited about getting their picture taken. Big Sis is taking a big bite of cauliflower. Notice the dresses...they've been choosing their own outfits this week. They've worn dresses nearly every day. They have shorts, but the dresses must feel cooler. Notice, their purses are from Happy Meals and they each are armed with a magnifying glass to check out any ants that come to visit. Here's a picture of the steak, mashed potatoes/ice cream sundae (not sure which it is) and green beans I was served during a marathon play dough session. Yes, they used real plates.

I think the highlight of this week is the cat faces they apply with eye liner pencils. Big Sis came home from school one day with a cat face. Below, you'll see Lil Sis after she applied her cat face. Totally independent, I might add. She's good. Soon after this photo was taken she washed it off. She said it felt funny. Silly girl. We have yet to go out in public with the cat faces.

Cool Daddy-O informs me that the dryer is no longer producing heat. The repair guy is coming to check it out tomorrow. Hopefully it's repairable. We are saving up for both cars to have major service check-ups at the Honda dealership this summer / fall. A new dryer isn't exactly what we're planning for. Our 11th anniversary gift to ourselves was a dishwasher. Perhaps the 12th anniversary gift is supposed to be a dryer. I guess we'll find out tomorrow. Tune in and see....

Who Can Sleep With All That Noise?

We've had a busy weekend so far...and it's only Friday night!

Yesterday, Lil Sis was "plugged up". We made a team decision and bought some prunes. After her first "dose", she was snuggling on my lap and before long was twitching....that tell tale sign that she was falling asleep. She fell asleep at 4:45 pm and didn't wake up til after 6. Her "problem" resolved itself during the evening. She was soooo HAPPY! She was also quite AWAKE, so she helped me make brownies and hash brown casserole. She finally fell asleep around midnight.

This morning, she was bright eyed at 7 a.m. and ready to go to the parade and family reunion. The bag of candy and other stuff rivaled anything they could dream of after a night of trick-or-treating.

We spent the rest of the day visiting with various family members. We headed home, the girls bathed, then we put on sweats, jackets, and drove to the soccer field to watch fireworks.

We arrived about 30 minutes before the fireworks started. The girls grew increasingly impatient. By the time the fireworks display started, Big Sis was snuggled up on Cool Daddy-O's lap and Lil Sis was snuggling with me. During the "grand finale", I noticed Lil Sis wasn't moving or talking. I assumed she was faking it and was really awake, because who would fall asleep during a fireworks finale??? She was really asleep! Cool Daddy-O lifted her out of my lap and placed her in her car seat. Big Sis made it to the car, but by the time we were ready to get her out of the car, we noticed she, too, had fallen asleep! That was the easiest bedtime routine we've had in a long time.

The Scent of the Ocean

Big Sis just asked if G-ma and G-pa were back from their vacation in Florida yet. I told her she would see them tonight at the band concert. She gasped, and in a quiet, yet excited voice, said, "They'll smell like Florida!"

Hmm...what does Florida smell like anyway?