Tractor Pulling Princess

We went to the Spokane Interstate Fair on Friday. Chad took the afternoon off so we were able to get there before the crowds. The kids partook in the kids tractor pulls, which were a blast to watch. Kids are called up in pairs or by themselves to pedal a small tractor attached to a trailer which carries blocks of weight. The weight is determined by age. So, being six, Nick and Gabby each started with 75 pounds. Gabby was the tiniest six year old there and actually did a 'full pull' which qualified her for the next round. A 'full pull' is approximately 25 feet and brings the weight from the back end of the trailer up to the front (as you pedal the weight redistributes from front to back, making it harder to pull) We expected Nick to kick butt but I think he was a little confused and focused too much on the kid pulling next to him (it isn't a race, but sometimes there are two kids pulling at once to save time)

Of course, we enjoyed lots of yummy fair food (elephant ears!), the kids played a few games and rode some rides and we visited lots of animals. Gabby was so excited to ride the Ferris Wheel. She tugged us through the crowds to the most gynormous Ferris Wheel and then burst out crying when we realized she was an inch too short for it. We found a smaller one and she and Nick and Chad rode together (I do not do rides...I got dizzy just watching them!) They rode in seat number 13...eek. As they got off the ride, I asked, "was it fun??!" They both exclaimed, "NO!" They did enjoy the kiddie rides, though!

Here are some pictures of our day...

The next two photos are Gabby on her second pull...

Spin Art...a Fair favorite...When Nick's was finished the guy behind the counter said "cool! you made orange! That 's hard to do." uh. two of the main colors they give you are yellow and red...those fumes must really get to those guys after a while.

Nick was stung by a wasp just before this photo...hence the big ice bag on his hand and the not so happy boy.

The kids and Chad are in this blur somewhere...

This was the big one..the one Gabby was too short to ride (thank goodness!)

Chad spent last weekend enclosing our back porch. We're enclosing it so we can turn half of it into a pantry and the other half into a mini mud room (and by mini I mean miniscule, tiny, petite, itty bitty) Our neighbor's garage was starting to lean and tilt and his insurance company wouldn't cover it so he decided to tear it down. Chad tore it down in exchange for the wood. So, we ended up with a lot of siding to use to patch up our own house and enough siding to cover the enclosed porch, plus, wood and siding to finish our little garden shed. Cool! I don't have photos yet...but you didn't want to see sweaty, dirty Chad anyway did you? The kids enjoyed spending the weekend outside while Daddy worked. Nick used some of his time to unscrew all the boards Chad screwed to the bottom of the fence last weekend to keep the beagles in. He found a screwdriver and a little box and proceeded to unscrew all the screws, depositing them in the little box so they wouldn't get lost. Why either of us were surprised is beyond me.

Nick's Room

I've been trying to get the kids rooms decorated for some time now. They are finally starting to come together. Of course, neither of them have bedding to match yet. I think most people probably START with the bedding and go from there...I did the opposite, of course. I think I'm the kind of person who buys earrings and then an outfit to match. So, here are a few pictures of Nick's room so far. I painted one wall orange, one wall green, the small wall brown and the window wall and the slanted ceiling blue. Nick and I chose the colors together. It's really a neat color combination. I painted his dressers the same white/off white as all the trim in our house and then painted one drawer on each dresser to match one wall. I bought the dressers at an auction when Nick and Gabby were quite small...for their nursery. I also painted an unfinished cubby/bench/shelf from Joanns Fabric to match the room...we found some cool matching tubs at Walmart to put in some of the cubbies. Then, Nick and I were shopping at Value Village one day and found the perfect chair for the corner of his room. I painted an old book holder to match the room and it goes nicely next to the chair. I bought this bookholder years ago at an Estate sale. I also painted an old nightstand to match the room. I've had this night stand for years...and it's been many colors.

There are no pictures that show his bed because we haven't finished it yet. I have an old metal bed I found in a 'free' pile at the curb one day...I tried to sandblast it myself but oh boy...that's just one of those jobs you should leave to the professionals....so it's going to the shop one of these days. I want to have the paint sandblasted off down to the metal and then I'm going to seal it so it will just be metal color. I bought some neat vintage car ads on Ebay and framed them to hang on his green wall, above the dressers. I haven't photographed them yet. We're also thinking of putting a piece of plywood over his dressers to create a work table for him. There's a neat stool at Ikea that would be neat for seating at the work table.

Anyway, here are the pics of his room...so far.

His cubby/shelf and rug...I'm going to make a cushion for the top of the cubby (out of the quilt folded on it now)

One of his dressers ...

Another view of the dressers...with Grandpa Barney's radio. He listens to Grandpa's tape of the Loons every night before bed. When we stayed in the cabin at Twin Lakes he woke up one morning and was just relaxing when he looked at me and said "mom! I just heard a bird like the one on my radio!" He did too!

Bingo likes the thrifted chair too!

The book holder I painted...

And here is his night stand. I bought the lamp for $4 at Value Village. The wooden turtle belonged to Grandpa Barney...the other turtle is a garage sale find. Nick loves turtles!

I'll post Gabby's room when it's more finished. Grandma Elaine made drapes for it the other day and today she's working on the skirt for Gabby's vintage vanity table!

Sometimes She Feels Like a Nut...

Sometimes she doesn't...

Chad didn't make it home for dinner tonight. He is swamped with report writing at work. Nick and I had 8 layer dip for dinner, which Nick helped prepare. He chopped the tomatoes (with a sharp knife...he was so proud), opened the can of refried beans, helped spread the refried bean/hamburger mix into the pan, sprinkled the cheese and olives, and chopped the green onions. He was quite pleased with himself and I quite enjoyed having a little helper in the kitchen. I truly despise being alone in the kitchen, cooking. Bleh. At least come TALK to me!

Gabby filled a page in her notebook with lower case E's while Nick and I cooked.

At dinner, she enjoyed chips with melted cheese and plain chicken (she did add salt but no pepper...god forbid) 8 layer dip is not for her...all that mixed up food and seasoning! We called Chad on speaker phone while we ate to include him in our dining experience.

We also got talking about dogs and their paws and how dogs have no thumbs but humans do...and how humans can do so many things most animals cannot because we have thumbs...so then we decided to see how hard it was to eat dinner without thumbs.

Turns out it's quite hard...but very amusing.

Speaking of dogs...we were...kind of...

the Beagles are doing well. Here's a snapshot of them being lazy on Labor Day.

A is for Apples

A week or so ago the kids picked apples with Grandma Elaine. She has a little ol' apple tree in the corner of her yard and every year they enjoy picking apples and sorting the icky worm ridden ones from the good ones. After collecting all the apples they could find on the ground, shake from the branches, reach with the aid of a ladder and poke and prod from the tree with various sticks and garden tools they went inside and made applesauce. They like it...I think it needs about a pound of sugar.

The Bronze Anniversary

Chad and I have now been married for 8 years. The 8th Anniversary is traditionally the Bronze or Pottery anniversary. I guess Chad and the kids thought it was the Rock anniversary...and no I didn't get a 'rock' to wear on my finger...but I did get a car load of rocks. Chad was out of town for our anniversary...not surprisingly since he's been gone more than he's been home this summer. He was working in Inchelium so he got a little cabin on Twin Lakes and the kids and I joined him for a couple days. The kids spent the majority of our time there finding 'pretty' rocks in the water, which seems to be their favorite beach activity. We left with three buckets of rocks. I'm fairly certain they will never be able to discern one rock from the other but they were all just 'too special' to toss out. The certainly did not acquire the desire for rocks from their mommy...that's a daddy gene for sure.
The cabin was...hmmm...shall we say...interesting. I just tried not to think about what might be in the carpeting. The kids were thrilled with it, though, and really had a good time. We hung out at the beach (not a very big beach since the lake is mainly a fishing lake), played cards in the cabin, took the puppies on walks and whiled away the hours between lunch and evening...the two times we were graced with the presence of Chad. One of the highlights of the trip for the kids was the ferry ride. They thought that was pretty darn cool.
So, our anniversary wasn't exactly filled with romance and candle light...but it was fun to spend it in a little cabin with the highlights of our marriage vying to be the UNO champions of the family. Maybe we'll get a chance to have an anniversary date in the next few months...

On the Ferry...

Cabin Seven

Looking for Rocks...

Pink Shadow!

Nick set their chair up in the water and then said "C'mon in Gabby! It's like a hot tub!"

My Babies are SIX!

Nicholas and Gabby turned SIX on August 8th...a wednesday, the same day of the week they were born. I just can't believe they are SIX already. sniff, sniff. It's not that I miss the baby days so much...it's just that I KNOW when they get to be 'big kids' I'm really going to miss the 4,5,6 year olds....they are so fun right now. Becoming their own little people more and more...and learning and discovering so much every day. Chad was out of town on their birthday...he's been out of town almost constantly this summer. ugh. We'd had a little birthday celebration the weekend before with my dad, brother, sister in law, sister and brother in law. My dad and brother's birthdays were at the end of July so we just combined all 4 birthdays and had a little party. As I said, Chad wasn't home on their actual birthday so I stayed up the night before by myself blowing up and entire package of orange balloons...and an entire package of pink balloons...so I could fill each of their rooms with balloons while they slept. They each had a present in their rooms that morning as well. Then we went to a little pool party playdate at our friend Michele's community pool. We got to play with lots of our twin friends there. Afterward, we went to toys r us to pick out one more gift. Later that evening, we met Grandma Elaine and Grandpa Jack at the kids' favorite pizza parlor for pizza, cupcakes and lots and lots of playing on their big toy structure. There were even another pair of boy/girl twins there...celebrating THEIR 6th birthday...weird!!
The following weekend we had a final birthday party at the farm with the farm grandma and grampa, kip & nancy, travis and the cousins and DADDY too! Mommy wasn't feeling well so I didn't go as 'all out' as I usually do for birthdays...but I did make an ocean cake as requested...with a big SHARK on it (Gabby absolutely LOVES sharks...so odd for my little princess loving girl...but I like that about her!)
So...now I'm the mommy of two SIX year olds...hard to believe. SIX just seems and sounds SO old! Gabby's lost two teeth (actually, the dentist had to pull them), they are both getting taller all the time, they're learning to read and write and everything. Pretty soon I won't be able to lie to them and 'read' the 'rules' every store and restaurant has posted about how children should behave...wink, wink.

Swimming on their birthday...

Picking out her gift at Toys r Us...

Playing at the Pizza Parlour...

Their ocean cake...

the Farm Grandma made their requested dinner...roll up pancakes!

Nick hates having 'happy birthday' sung to him...so he blew his candles out and sulked during the singing...

Opening gifts...look between Nick and Mason's head...little Rowan peeking through!

Mason, Gabby and Jordyn take a quick break from playing "keep away" to pose for a photo

Rowan loves her pink blankie...

Uncle Chad loves Rowan...

Nick found some 'maters in the garden...never noticed that 'eye' watching over the garden before...

Gabby opening her new pink scooter...happiness!

Gift opening craziness...a new racetrack!

Jordyn and Gabby have a quiet moment with Rowan...

Sometimes it's hard to stop for potty when you're having too much fun!