First time at the Central Washington State Fair

Saturday night was Cara's first trip to the state fair.  I wasn't really sure how she would do.  B had a football game at 1:00 p.m., which cut into Cara's nap time.  We did squeeze in an hour nap before we left, but she's used to taking a 2-2 1/2 hour nap.  I was also concerned about all of the walking she would have to do.  It's a pretty long walk into the fair and we told her she needed to walk the whole time.  It was about 80+ degrees outside and no one was going to carry her.

 She wanted a corn dog.  She talked about eating a corn dog for two days before we went to the fair.  Getting a corn dog was the first order of business.

 I  wish I could say she ate the whole thing, but she only ate about half of it before she lost interest.  There were just too many things to do and see.

 Cara and her brother had their picture taken at Grandpa's fruitstand display.

 Eating an elephant ear on the grass with Daddy.

 On to the rides!  I wasn't sure if she would do it.  We tried to get her to ride a pony.  She would go up to the entrance and say, "Help me pick a nice one."  Then when she got closer she would say, "Not yet."  She did this a couple of times before we finally left the pony rides.  I didn't know if she would do rides, but I figured when she saw all the other kids on rides she would go on them, too.

 She loved them!  Especially the swings.

She did walk the whole way and never asked to be held.  We only had one melt down.  On the way back to the car, she wanted a blow up dolphin on a stick.  We said no and she cried and cried.  B got her to stop by promising to print off dolphin color pages for her when we got home.

She had a really good time.  When we got to the car she said, "I like this place!"  Wait til she gets to go to Disneyland! :)

A's Day (Sunday Snapshot)

I don't think I've taken pictures of A by herself since her 16th birthday.  She's a junior this year and starts Running Start tomorrow.  With this program she will be able to complete her high school education and earn her A.A. at the same time.  I won't get to do "first day of school" pics with her tomorrow, so these will have to suffice.

I can't believe she will be 17 in December; I remember the day she was born like it was yesterday.  She makes my job as a momma so easy.  She's just a really good kid.

 She's giving and kind-hearted.  She's helpful and doesn't argue (most of the time).  Her grades are awesome; way better than mine or her dad's.  She has to try hard to earn them, too.  And she does.

 When I found out I had the ovarian tumor this summer and had to have it removed, she was an amazing helper around the house.  She really stepped it up.  She worked all summer and picked up the slack around the house.  She never complained-not one bit.

 I may be biased, but I think she's gorgeous.

 Is she perfect?  No.  Lord help us all if she doesn't get a good night's sleep! ;) 

When she leaves for college in two years I'm going to bawl like a baby.  I don't even want to think about it.  I'm just going to enjoy the heck out of the next two years.

For more Sunday Snapshots, visit Stefanie's blog:

First Weekend of Grid Kids

Yesterday was B's first grid kid football game of his last grid kid season.  He's in the 8th grade, so we're finished with grid kids after this year.  Miss Cara didn't come along because she was invited to go see Shrek, the Musical.  We watched the movie Shrek on Friday night so she had a little background knowledge before seeing the musical.  She was excited to go and had such a great time!  She came home and said, "Shrek is a yogurt and Princess Fiona is a yogurt, too!"  Yogurt?!  So we ended up teaching her the word, ogre. :)

 After dropping Cara off to go see Shrek, we headed to Sunnyside to watch B's first game of the year.

 He's number 40.  It was mid-90's at game time.  I'm glad we thought to bring the beach umbrella for a little bit of shade.

 Maybe if I don't make eye contact, she won't take my picture...

 I finally got a smile out of him before we went to the car.

They won their first game and B was happy about that.  Hopefully they have a great season this year.

For more Sunday Snapshots, click here:

Cara's First Day of Preschool

Today was Cara's first day of preschool.  You can tell she was a little nervous by the stiffness of her smile.  This was the most natural smile I could get out of about 6 pictures.  Last night she kept asking, "And you're going to leave me there ALONE?"  With some serious emphasis on the word "alone."  I just kept telling her I was in the next building over and that Grandpa would pick her up.

A and I walked Cara in to preschool, helped her take off her sweater, put on her name tag, and hang up her backpack.  She was the first one there.  Teacher S said she could play in the circle until other kids got there, but he obliged us with a pic! ;)  Cara wasn't nervous once she got there.  No tears or anything, she just took off to go play.  Not sure what to make of that.  Should I be worried that she was fine for us to leave? 

I asked her how her day went.  She said she drank milk and ate jelly and that she learned how to read.  Well, since she's already conquered reading, I wonder what she'll do tomorrow! ;)

Journey to Cara Video

Finally, I got this video to upload! Took about 3 hours. A big thanks to A for doing this video and getting it on my blog!

Cougar Football 2011

Ugh!  So with old blogger layout, you had to upload pictures in reverse order to get them on your post the way you want them.  Apparently now you can upload them in the order you want them to appear.  This is actually better, but I didn't know this was going happen until I uploaded!  I'll remember for next time. 

Saturday was Cara's first Cougar football game.  She has been to two basketball games, but this was her first time in Martin Stadium.  She was so excited!  She was mostly excited about bringing the 5th wheel and camping.  This bronze cougar was put outside of Martin Stadium a couple of years ago.  I took these pics this morning before we left.  It was much easier to get pictures without very many people around.

 Another "must do" when going to Pullman is a stop to see the bears.  WSU has a bear research facility.  The kids counted 12 bears out today, I think.  There are cages and an open field.  The bears are behind a double cyclone fence with 3 hot wires.  I kind of "scootched" my lens into a hole in the first cyclone fence to snap this shot.  He was huge, just chillin' out on a plastic barrel.

 Here are pics from the game (remember, reverse order).  Here is Cara and her cousin L mugging for the camera.

 They were more interested in playing with each other as opposed to watching the game.

 I always love it when the cheerleaders, mascot Butch, and team run out onto the field!

 In the parking lot where we camped, Butch and the cheerleaders came through before the game.  I wanted to take Cara's picture with Butch, but she started screaming, so A, B, and the cousins helped her out by joining the photo op.

 Here are the girls with a couple cheerleaders.  One of them asked Cara and L if they were friends.  L replied, "No, we're cousins!"

 Daddy and Cara before the game.  It was a really good time for all of us!

For more Sunday Snapshots, click below.

Preschool Orientation

Ok, new blogger setup is a pain in the a$$.  As soon as I mostly figure out how to work the old  way, they change it and confuse me.  But I digress...

Tonight was Cara's preschool orientation.  She was SO EXCITED!!!  They were supposed to come do a home visit at 4:00...and never showed up.  Cara was crying and upset.  I was pretty ticked off about it too.  First of all, she has attachment and abandonment issues.  We need to tell her every night exactly what is going to happen the next day before she can fall asleep.  So expecting a home visit, waiting for them to come, and then no one showing up is BIG.  Plus, helloooo...I work for the district!  You're going to "no show" on my kid?  So anyway, we show up to orientation and the teacher says, "Uh, so we had a home visit today, but I bet you were pretty busy."  I said, "No, actually, I was waiting for you."  He said, "Well, I was going to call, but I got busy and then it was 5:30.  We can do it after the orientation or tomorrow if you want."  No apology or anything, even after I said we were waiting for him!  What is this world coming to?!

Anyway, on to the fun part.  Cara wanted a special hairdo.  She wanted little buns.  I haven't wanted to try it because her hair is pretty slick and still very short.  I took the advice of a mom friend (hi Brenda) and tried her suggestions using A's leftover orthodontist rubber bands and it stayed pretty well.  She was thrilled.  She kept saying, "Thank you for my fancy hair, Mommy!"  Too cute!  Here she is all dressed up with fancy hair and lip gloss for orientation:

 The families were served dinner and the kids got to play on the toys.  There was a welcome, introduction of staff, and the director went over the handbook a little bit.

 Then the kids got to go into the classroom and check things out.  I was very surprised that Cara went straight for the kitchen.  I tried to show her other areas of the room, but she kept going back to the kitchen.  I would have predicted she would want to play on the computers, but she didn't even notice them.

After everyone else left, we got to have our parent meeting.  So now we are set for Tuesday.  Cara is very excited and I think she's going to have a great time in preschool this year.