.setting of summer

August is winding down and finally cooling off as we get close to settling into a rhythm when school starts next week.  Finn will be heading to Kindergarten, and Meg to preschool.  I'm excited to watch them continue to grow and learn.  Of course there's a part of me that will always want them to stay little and innocent, but mostly I'm excited!
Roy and I hit our 9 year anniversary, and spent a night away up in midway at the Homestead.  After 9 years, I can say that Marriage is something that doesn't just happen, it's something that has be nurtured and worked at.  Roy is my partner through it all and continues to love and respect me as his equal.  He is a crazy hard worker, and still makes me laugh until I get hiccups.  I love his little quirks and willingness to serve constantly.  He's a rockstar!

 wearing niece Jessie's old lady sunglasses.

 View from our room

 at the top of the Homestead crater

We have filled up the remaining few weeks of freedom with fairs, carnivals, and a little Olympics...just because we could.

 Meg watched a little of the gymnastics competition, and mostly just loved the pretty "tards", but she did try her hand at a few trampoline tricks to improve her tumbling skills.

 With the cooler mornings, we've managed to get out for a few walks.  Most of the time E ends up on my shoulders making me do most of the work.

 E's preferred method of eating orange slices is to clamp them between her teeth, and leave it there for an hour until all the juice is sucked out.  I love that little nut!

We are lucky to live so close to family and the county fair and get to go every year with our cousins.  This year E was really having none of it (combination of the heat, and no sleep).  The only time she wasn't screaming or crying was when we stopped for some cotton candy, and the petting zoo where she could get a closer look at these little goats.

 Meg is very cautious about life in general, so the fact that she got this close to a goat was pretty awesome!

 I let Finn and Meg each choose one ride they would like to go on.  Finn had his heart set on the giant slide, and Meg was over the moon about the little car ride...until it actually started moving, then tears...lots of tears.  She made it around maybe 5 times, before she realized that she wasn't going to die, and then this...

 SMILES FOR MILES!

A few days ago we had a scary ordeal when Finn went missing for about an hour.  I had told him to clean up his toys downstairs while I put the girls to bed, but when I went to down to check on him I couldn't find him anywhere.  Pretty soon we had the whole neighborhood looking for him, and the police were called.  Luckily, we had a neighbor come over and look through the house again, and discovered him under the sheets of the bed in the guest room...the one Roy had crawled across and looked completely empty.  So besides aging 10 years, and looking like an idiot, all is well!

Our neighborhood always throws an end of summer carnival, and the kids always love it!

 This year, E scored some sweet glow in the dark bracelets, and then proceeded to hold up her arm the rest of the night to prevent them from falling off.

 Finn and his buddy hunter ran themselves silly doing all the activities and chasing down candy from the candy cannon.  Pretty much a perfect night for little boys.

and Meg...well Meg found her favorite teenage girl friend and stayed latched to her the whole night helping out at the fishing pond booth.  We are lucky to have good neighbors who love our kids and look out for them.