The Fair

This past weekend was "The Fair".  The Fair that I talk, and think, and dream about all year.  The Fair where I get to eat nothing but fried food for two whole days!!  Oh yeah, and the kids get to ride rides and play games.  But, it is pretty much about the fried food-at least for me.  

This year, we went in to the fair with a plan:

In the car, on the way to the fair, we made a list of all of the "must eats" for the weekend.  You see,  "the fair" is in Mike's home town, Canfield, Ohio.  We travel five hours every Labor Day weekend to eat fried food.  There are some other perks too- we love spending time with our family.  The kiddos get to hang out with their cousins.  Fun is had by all- but let's get back to the food:))

I decided that I was going to take a picture of everything that I ate at the fair, here it is.  In no particular order.

This was a big basket of fried veggies, by the time I got my camera out all that was left was one hunk of zucchini!  Thieves!!!

In case anyone was worried that I did not feed my children any fruits or veggies this weekend, here is proof.

Something not on the list- fried pickles.  They were pretty good, I prefer a super cold pickle though.

Fried Mozarella.  Looked like a corndog, but so much yummier.  You can see this also got stolen from me.

Fries with bacon, cheese, and ranch.  LOVE!

What's left of a Molnar's cinnamon roll!  Had to eat it before it was stolen from me- anyone sensing a theme?

Soft Serve.  It was super hot, so we had multiple cones.  

Chicken Gyro.  This is Mike's, but it sure tasted good!

The largest chicken sandwich I have ever seen!  The sauce was like the Bloomin' Onion sauce from Outback.  Delish!

Stuffed Hot Pepper sandwich.  This is the best thing I ate all weekend!  I used to get these a lot in Morgantown.  I think they are a Pittsburgh thing.  Banana Pepper stuffed with Italian Sausage and baked in tomato sauce.  They are usually served with melted provolone on top, this one had just blue cheese dressing.  My mouth is watering as I type.

Ribbon Fries.  Kind of a cross between a fry and a chip.  Super thin cut.  Awesome with salt and vinegar.

These next pics were taken the last night we were there.  Mike and I got to go on a date to the fair.  We ate.  That's what old, married people do on their dates-they eat.  They were taken with his iPhone as I forgot my camera.  Subconsciously, I probably got tired of people steeling my food when I was taking pictures.  I bet you feel sorry for me don't you.  Poor, poor little girl who had all of her fried food stolen.

Three kinds of homemade pasta with a meat ball and sauce.  Plus garlic butter in the bottom for good measure:))

This is called the "Pittsburgh Pile", BBQ beef with sauce, coleslaw and fries.  A La Pirmanti Brothers

And the finale: Homemade Apple dumpling with ice cream.  Yum!!

So, there it is, a food tour of The Canfield fair!!!  I have some new things to add to the list next year!

My Student

Today was a first in our house.  Our oldest started school.  Sure, she has been in "school" for the past three years.  Preschool.  But, today was the beginning of her life in "real" school.  I say real school merely because it is the first time she will be away for the entire day.  She does have a rest time built in to her schedule, but, she will be inside a school building from 8:30 until 2:50.  That is all day!

As I was getting ready for today I got really sentimental.  I cried.  I know, I know, those of you who know me well know that I cry at the drop of a hat.  But, these weren't all tears of joy.  I was crying, and still am, because I had to let go a little today.  And I didn't like that....not at all.  Mainly because days like today make me think of her like this,

or this,

or this.

But nothing in me was ready for this:

or this.

Most especially, I was not ready for this,

but it made it easier that she didn't cling to my leg yelling, "Mommy, I don't want you to leave."  Sort of.  There is a part of me that wants that.  Wants her to need me to be there for her to keep her "safe".   But, the rest of me knows that it doesn't go on forever.  That she is growing and becoming her own person.  

Don't get me wrong, I am so super proud of her.  She has such a strong spirit and such a beautiful heart.  I just wish that she could stay like this,

maybe just one more day.  

I am giving myself the rest of the day to be whiney and sappy.  I think I have earned it!  Tomorrow, back to the grind, but for now, I am going to go snuggle my baby.

Back to school....Back to blogging

Well, it has been about six weeks since I have posted anything at all.  It's not that we haven't done anything fun.  We have been super busy:

We waterskied in Canada

We had a birthday party for Liv and Syd.

We fished.

We even made it through an earthquake and are "weathering" a hurricane as I type.  The one thing that I failed miserably at this summer, was keeping up with my blog.  But, now that everyone is going back to school, I will begin blogging once more.  I think it is still the teacher in me that thinks my brain should shut down over the summer:))  So, beginning next week, I have lots to post.  Hope everyone had a great summer as well!

Happy Birthday to Me

Today I am 39.  It is truly hard to believe that I am almost 40.  I am not complaining.  I happen to believe that our age is just a number- the higher the better.  I do not fear getting older, I am just amazed that I have been around for 39 years!  I guess the last 8 have been the busiest.  Getting married to my hubby, buying and building houses, having babies, raising dogs.  But the most important thing that has happened to me in the past 8 years is that I found the Lord.  Or, as I usually put it, He had enough of me misbehaving and called out to me!  I decided that I am going to start looking at life as a series of Blessings.  Each thing that happens, everyone that we meet or come in contact with in the course of a day,  all of the small things, all of these are given to us by the Lord.  When you think about that- it's amazing!  I am reading One Thousand Blessings and it has inspired me to record blessings in my life as I see them.  The challenge is to write 1000.  So, as today is the day of my birth (albeit 39 years ago) I am going to start recording my blessings.    Here are some for today:

Breakfast made by my mother.  Not just breakfast, but egg in the hole!  

She loves me that much.

Time spent with my three favorite people under the age of 6.

Time spent alone to pray, and reflect- and organize.

Time tonight with my truly heaven sent husband.

Time spent with good friends.

Time

Looks like there's a theme????  I am so thankful for all of the special people in my life and the time that I have gotten to spend with them.  God is just so good.  I am feeling overwhelmed at all of the blessings He has given me this year.  I am thankful!

By the way, if you are looking for a life-changing book I recommend One Thousand Blessings.  I have not quite finished it yet, but it has already changed my outlook on the small things in life.

Mother's Day

This year on Mother's Day we went hiking in Bluemont, VA.  Originally, we were going to head to Great Falls, but we got started late and I had heard about this trail from a friend.  So, we headed to Bear's Den in Bluemont for our annual Mother's Day hike.

What a beautiful day we had!!!  The weather was gorgeous,  there were no bugs, and there weren't too many people there.  Plus, all three girls were in good moods!  Here are the highlights:

Little did Syd know she would be trapped in that thing for the next two hours!

She loved it at first......

Getting started.

Overlooking the Appalachian Trail

Just sooooo stinkin' cute!

Of course the boys were with us.  Sorry about the slow shutter speed fellow picture takers:)

Man alive, I think the girls would still be at this creek if we hadn't threatened them with no treats for a week- we couldn't get them to leave!

Syd loved it too- although she was less sure at first.

This was a cool little silo that they had turned into a mini kids museum.  It had all kinds of interesting facts about the area.  The girls loved it!

A mom and her girls!

The end!

Our Garden

Since we moved and now have the space, I decided that the girls would be more willing to eat their veggies if they had grown the veggies themselves.  We shall see, but it did force me to plant a garden.  We had lots of help, some of our friends came over to help plant.  

Here is where we began:

Daddy had a helper- by the way, we bought these corners from Gardener's Supply for the containers, and they were the coolest things.  We then just had to buy the boards from Home Depot and we were in business.  We bought compost/top soil mix from a local gardening shop.  Probably should have tested the soil, but hey, I'm new at this!! Maybe next year!

Here are some more pics of the construction site:

Everyone wanted to help- or just swing a hammer.  What parent doesn't let their 5 and almost 4 year old play with hammers?

The girls were very concerned that Dad was following directions!  So funny- who are these kids???

Even Syd wanted to check out the boxes.  I think they passed the inspection.  Can't wait to show you what happened to the sod we took off the top!

All in all, the boxes didn't take very long to build.  We (and by we, I mean Mike), were done in an afternoon.  In the end, we had two perfect garden boxes.

Next came the filling with dirt and plants.  For this, we needed reinforcements.

This is more water play than planting, but you have to keep your tools clean right?

Izzy really got into the planting.

Some help from the grown ups, and a friend.

Finished Products!  The reason the bottom one looks so empty is because 3/4 of it is going to be an asparagus bed.  We planted the crowns and now just need to wait 2 or 3 years for harvest time.

After all of the hard work was done, it was time to get clean.

It's amazing what kids will do with a bucket!  We had so much fun with all of our friends!  Can't wait to see what the harvest will bring.  Hopefully, less picky eaters!