Western Montana Fair

Last July I was able to take Hunter and JP to the Great Northern Fair, which ironically enough, isn't so great. To them it was though. They have been asking all summer long when we are going to go back to Nanny and Papa's house so we can go ride on the cars that go round and round. Unfortunately this year we missed it by a week. However, the fair is in town right now and as soon as we told the boys, they couldn't contain their excitement. 

The night before we planned to go to the Western Montana Fair, Perry and I explained to the boys that they HAD to take a nap if they wanted to go to the fair. Surprisingly enough when it was nap time yesterday, they boys, without fighting, went to their rooms for a nap. JP thinks a nap is just quiet time where he lays in his bed, so I had to sit on his bed and stare and him until he fell asleep...that was fun for Kiki and I.

Grandma and Grandpa joined us on our outing this year. Before leaving the house, we all had dinner. I think the boys were too excited for the rides that they didn't eat much food. Ah well. Normally Perry and I would have made them eat something, but since we had planned all day for the fair, I was not about to change anything just because they didn't eat dinner.

 Here is my sweet, and funny, JP. He insisted on wearing his helmet because "rides are dangerous!" And because he really wanted to ride on a roller coaster :)

 Before jumping right in and riding on the rides, we took a stroll through the animal barn to check out all the 4-H livestock. 

 JP even decided to pet a goat without any prompting :)

 Although Hunter was too anxious to do the rides, he did have a little attention to give to the chickens.

 The first ride the boys went on was the helicopters. These ones actually went up in the air. It was hard to tell if they enjoyed them or not. 

 Then they checked out the cars. Again. Hard to tell if they enjoyed them. 

 But after just those two rides, they were excited to tell Grandma and Grandpa about them!

 Then my little Hunter turned into a big kid and rode the Dragon Wagon. He was stoked about it!

 As I recall from my childhood, the carts at the end were the scariest. Hunter hopped into the one second to last so Perry and I were hoping we'd hear him scream or the like, but he didn't. He was all smiles! After the ride was over, he got out of his cart and into another one...

 Meanwhile, JP took another ride on the helicopter. After talking to him this morning, it was decided that this was his favorite ride. 

After these few rides, we took a short break and headed over to the concession area for a drink. Everyone ended up getting a LemonDairy, which is soft-serve ice cream in a cup with lemonade slushy around it. Yummy! At this point Grandma and Grandpa went home as it was starting to get late. We bought a few more tickets for the rides stuck around a little longer.

 After our break, they rode on the cars. These ones go up and down. I was wondering why they weren't airplanes...since cars don't typically go up and down. Perry and I found it comical that they chose cars that matched their shirts.

 JP of course chose green. The faces he was making as he was going around were cracking Perry and I up, and the couple next to us!

 And then something happened - JP actually rode on the roller coaster. Earlier all he could say about it was "I don't like that." 

 Clearly he had fun too, but not as much as Hunter did!

 He was pretty good about leaning into the curves :)

 I had to zoom in quite a bit on my computer so you could see Hunter's face. LOVE IT! And it looks like JP was brave for a second and let go!

 Towards the end of the ride, Hunter was completely in his element with his hands up in the air!

I would have loved to send them on the roller coaster again, but we only had two tickets left. We bought two more and the boys took one last ride on the cars before we headed home for the evening. I recalled quite a few memories as we walked out past all the bigger rides. The Yo-Yo, the Kamakazee, the giant slide, the Beary Go Round, the Carousal, the Ferris Wheel...  Both Perry and I were impressed at how well behaved they were. That is until bedtime...

Dinner Table Talk

Occasionally I'll get out the video camera at the dinner table because sometimes you can't quite remember why things were funny unless you listen to the whole conversation. It has taken me, literally, a day and half to get these three videos uploaded to youtube. So with that said, these videos together are about 15 minutes long. And be sure to re-watch the video about Jim and his playdough that was recorded 6 months ago!

    

Re-Styled Nightstand for Kiki

Earlier this year when I was working at the hotel, they had various room decor items they were giving away. Along with a few lamps for our basement, I was able to snag this nightstand for Charlotte's room. It matched the changing table perfectly. 

Once I finished painting her room "Deep Coral", I wanted to find a way to add the second color of the nursery room palette to her room, without it being overbearing. I racked my brain for hours on what I could do with the green/blue/turquoises color. I thought about painting a pretty pattern on her closet doors, painting the trim in the room, painting some kind of pattern on the opposite wall but nothing really stuck out. So the only feasible option was to paint the furniture.

Perry volunteered to sand it all down for me, which helped a lot. I set to work on painting it...with children coming in and out of the garage to help. I think it turned nice!

Now I want to paint the changing table to match...

Cousin Time!

Now that the boys kids have a cousin, it was about time for Hunter and JP to meet the little bugger. Chris and Kile and Casey made the long trip to visit the farm, with the intentions of helping harvest. Unfortunately most of it wasn't ready and if it was, it was too wet to cut anyways, so most of the weekend at the farm for them was spent twiddling their fingers. Charlotte and I, however, were occupied with the wedding. 

Little Casey is 6 weeks old and Charlotte is now 11 weeks old. Already. 

 Both enjoyed their time with Papa Craig.

 Charlotte is pretty mellow so it's easy to get pictures of her....Casey isn't so mellow. In this case he was content, but was too fascinated with Papa Craig to look elsewhere. 

 Uncle Chris helped entertain the boys while playing Legos with them. JP just loves Uncle Chris.

 Charlotte can sleep through anything it seems like. Even her favorite cousin fussing and flaying his arms around :) 

 Nanny with ALL her grandbabes :) 

 Hunter can be such a little stinker sometimes. I just wanted to take a nice picture of the both of them. He at least agreed to put his arm around JP...

 Again, we thought it was going to be JP who would be loving on Charlotte, but really I think its Hunter who likes babies! He's so sweet!

 He finally let me take his picture...but he HAD to wear Nanny's glasses...

 Before Kile and Chris left to head home, Casey was getting hungry, so I instead had a little bonding time with him and ended up putting him to sleep. It was then that I decided that Charlotte and Casey needed a couple more pictures together. And this is how it went...

 Charlotte sees Casey sleeping, Charlotte smacks Casey.

Casey gets mad. Charlotte is happy :)

Britta and David's Wedding

Over the past year, I've taken many phone calls from my wonderful friend Britta crying and stressing about her upcoming wedding. And now it's already over! Just like I told her, it'll be over before you know it! I know from experience, it's extremely hard to plan a wedding with kids running around! Regardless, she did a great job and the wedding weekend turned out to be a lot of fun for everyone! Kudos to the bride!

 Because she wanted her Maid of Honor at her bachelorette party, she had it the night before...and yes, I brought Charlotte along. She refuses to take a bottle so she's stuck with me.  You can check out the jail cake I made for her here.

 During the party, Britta and her "bandits" had to go around town to find the rest of her outfit. At the Best Western she was given a sash that read "Suck for a Buck" in which she had to sell all of her suckers. The Best Western then gave her a clue that lead her across the street to the Duck Inn Restaurant. Since Charlotte had stopped fussing for a bit and fell back asleep, I went with the group over there before heading home. I was glad we picked up masks there as I used to work there! I went home after that stop as I didn't think it would be appropriate to take a baby around town to bars :) They made I think 5 more stops before closing time! I was passed out by midnight...

The next morning I rushed out the door, with Charlotte in tow, to head back to Havre for my hair appointment. Afterwards I headed over to Britta's grandma's house to get my dress on...but I forgot it at home...oops!  Thankfully my mom was able to bring it to me! 

I remembered everything else though! Even my veil for her to wear! Something borrowed...

 Speaking of borrowed, she repurposed the vases from my wedding centerpieces so she could use them in hers. 

Charlotte was such a good little girl the whole darn day. She slept for most of it, and was passed around a lot. She was loved by all!

 Despite only one *major* breakdown before the wedding, everything went off without a hitch and Britta so relieved to have the ceremony over with. And then was able to start enjoying the rest of the evening.

 And was a lot happier when it came time for more pictures! :)

 So happy she felt the need to be a$$ grabbing during pictures. That's the Britta I know!

 I was *so* excited when she fired me from making her cake. I thought this one was really pretty! I for one didn't want to stress about getting the cake there and setting it up and such, all while being a bridesmaid. Not fun for me...! I'm glad she found someone else!

 I love that she smashed cake on his head!

 But I loved even more all the little flower girls huddled around the cake table. They were all so cute!

 Their first dance as husband and wife...err I guess first dance as a family. I teared up when I heard Britta had her "step" daughter's mom sign papers to change their little girls last nice to theirs. So sweet. What a great way to become a family!

I hope this doesn't scar little Rylee for life. Her face is priceless! "What's daddy doing?!" She was so cute during the ring ceremony. She walked right up to them and nonchalantly looked up at them and asked, "What are you guys doin'?" Reminds me of Hunter at our wedding. "Mom, is this your wedding?"

Congrats to the happy couple!