A Day at the Fair!

 Jacob was so excited to do the fair with his grammy and cousin Maddie this year!  I think I mentioned in my post last spring that Jacob was getting a little too big for those kiddie rides... so this year he was brave enough to try the BIG roller coaster with his cousin!

 Compared to the Screamin' roller coaster that Adam convinced him to try in California Adventure, this probably seemed like a piece of cake.  ;)

 Nonetheless, I was super proud of him.

 Then my sister's husband took Maddie and Jacob to play some games while my mom and I took Gavin and Casey on some rides.  Gavin was SUPER concerned that Jacob wasn't going on these rides anymore and was VERY picky about which ones he chose.  In fact, I realized that the only rides he would go on were the exact ones that Jacob went on last spring.  I think he was worried that he was getting too big also... but if Jacob went on them last spring, then he could go on them too.

 So he willingly accompanied Casey on the canoe...

 ...and agreed to help him steer those little cars. 

 Casey could barely see over the wheel!  So cute!

  He let Casey ride the helicopter on his own though.  :)

 And the airplane...

 And the motorcycles...  (so basically, Casey got to go on a lot more rides!)

 Daddy would be so proud.  ;)

 Then Gavin finally agreed to go on the little roller coaster!  (I also took Maddie, Jacob, and Gavin on the super slide but I couldn't get pics of that.)

 Then we headed over to get spray tattoos

 Petting the animals!  Look at all those hands!

 Going to town on that turkey leg!

We were heading toward the tractor pull when we found this super fun circus show!  Instead of circus de soleil, they described themselves as "circus do okay".  So funny!  

 Jacob is in awe of juggling, so he couldn't believe this guy was juggling fire!

  They did all sorts of fun tricks!

 The boys loved it!

 Unicycling and juggling fire on a tightrope!

 Acrobatics

 And the grand finale!

 This guy was up SOOO high!  I think he said 80 feet!

Such a fun, memorable day!  

Jacob even set up lunch for the little plush toys he won at the fair.  ;)

Status update...

• I'm slowly adjusting to our very different routine this year!  Last year, (after getting Jacob on the bus) I was driving Gavin to and from preschool three times a week, volunteering in Jacob's classroom, taking Casey to Little Gym, driving Gavin to speech... pretty much constantly busy!  This year, all I have to do is get Jacob and Gavin on the bus.  Instead of running straight to the car to get to preschool on-time... Casey and I come inside, make some coffee, get some chores accomplished, and just hang out.  Eventually, I am going to try to make Zumba a few times each week, sign Casey up for a class or two, and go to MOPS.  For now though, I am appreciating the one-on-one time that is SO rare with my littlest guy. 

• Not to say that I don't miss my older two boys while they are at school, because they both have a huge part of my heart while they are away!  As much as Casey loves having me all to himself, I can tell he really misses his big brothers too.  :)  I am slowly getting used to two different school schedules, folders, library days, homework patterns...  Oh, how am I going to organize all of this when I have four kids??

•  We are still waiting on dates from Russia.  Although I was thankful to be home with the boys for their first day of school, I am a little disheartened that we haven't left for our first trip yet.   It seems so sad to me that this little girl has a family ready to bring her home... yet here we are... waiting.  Two and a half months have gone by since we received our referral.  I can't believe our little girl is already ten months old!  Our adoption agency is trying to contact the orphanage director and see if they can find out any more information for us.  Until then, we pray... and wait some more.

• Blogs like this are so so inspiring, but leave me feeling a little apprehensive about our future.  I feel so blessed that we are able to adopt, so blessed that we can give this little girl a home and a family, so blessed to say there will soon be 147 million orphans MINUS ONE.  I know there will be challenging times ahead though.  Oh, what my life will be like one year from now... after the airport.

Some other randoms...

 Jacob made this garden stone for Father's Day when he was 18 months old.  Since then it was dropped and broken, but it is one of Casey's favorite puzzles to put back together!

The boys really love printing crafts from the computer.  I found this one glued, yes glued to our fence.  Silly monkey!

Jacob decided on all his own one sunny day that he wanted to have a rock sale.  I was hesitant at first, but it was actually one of the most adorable things I've ever seen.

He divided them into three categories...

He patiently, patiently waited.  My heart was sort of breaking for him at first, because nobody was coming.  So I bought a rock, Adam bought a rock, Gavin bought a rock, Casey bought a rock...  then our neighbor came over and gave Jacob a whole dollar for some rocks!  ;)  Some good friends, the milkman, and a couple walking by took pity on him bought a rock too.  By the end of the day, the rocks were all gone and Jacob was $8.50 richer!

Then Gavin was begging me to help him make some lemonade so he could have a lemonade stand next to Jacob.  So we made some cold lemonade, out of real lemons even!

Those sweet boys sat out there for hours.  Jacob got a head start on the rocks so I kept buying cups of lemonade from Gavin, telling him how thirsty mommy was!  Finally he said, "Mommy, that's enough lemonade for you I think..."  Ha!

I found Casey using his Operation game to eat raisins.

 

 Pretty darn creative if you ask me!  But yuck!

 So independent

Some more crafts

Playing with friends in the backyard

Picking snap peas from our garden

 Towing Daddy's hat on his tricycle

Never a dull moment at our house!