Birthday Weekend

We are still recovering from an exciting birthday weekend.  It's hard to believe that my little girl is already 3, but it promises to be a fun age.  Her birthday was Sat. and it was the day of the much anticipated princess party with her little girlfriends.  She got up early and after a pancake breakfast she went with Tyler to a friend's yard sale so I could start to set up.  The party was after lunch and four of her friends came and enjoyed cupcakes cones with her.  By the time everyone left, she was too excited to take a nap, so the two of us played for a while and it was great to just enjoy time with her.  We ended the day by going and seeing Tyler's cousin's dance recital, which included more of the girls from town that she knows.  She said it was a fun day.  Here is a fun picture of our 3 yr old and our 3 month old.

Then on Sunday after church, we had a family get-together to celebrate her birthday.  She was most excited to get a water table from Tyler's parents that she had gone weeks before and helped to pick it out.

She got to blow out the candles on a princess cake made to celebrate both our birthdays, since mine was the next day.

Monday was my birthday, but since Tyler had spent most of the weekend celebrating with us and not getting lots of work done, he spent the day inspecting fields and we expected him to come home late.  June is a busy time and I learned years ago that my birthday is not really a reason for a shortened workday.  Plus I would rather him choose Eve's birthday over mine.  So we didn't expect to really celebrate my birthday, but was so pleasantly surprised when my dear friend Brittany invited us to there house and had some homemade ice cream and brownies for me and the girls.  With my family so far away, it was nice to have a close friend to remember and make it special.  And it is always fun to get to share my birthday time with Eve.  Plus I get to remember my birthday when I brought her home from the hospital.

Old Settlers Day 2

Friday was the second day of Old Settlers and it was even hotter than the first.  We headed downtown around 11am to see the Pony Express come through and deliver special Old Settlers mail.  Eve was excited to see all the horses again.  Then there was a free BBQ lunch which was very tasty, but we didn't stay long afterwards because it was already getting so hot, plus we needed to start getting Eve ready for the fashion show.

The theme for this fashion show was Fashion by Remote and featured people modeling clothes from many different decades.  Eve was in a pioneer thrashing scene and worn a denim jumper with a gingham blouse and boots.  She was excited to go, but when I left her backstage I could tell she was nervous.  She was lucky to be in the scene with Tyler's cousins, Tim and Trevor, and Trevor's fiancee Amber.  They all walked out together and she was a little apprehensive, until she saw me waving in front and then waved back and announced onstage that she saw her mom.  She had a good time and asked when she will do another show again.

Here she is with Tyler's Mom Jan in a 60s prom dress she was modeling.

Later that day, we went back downtown to enjoy some free ice cream and visiting with some friends.  Eve had a great time going on more of the carnival rides with her friends and dancing around to the music.  It was a hot fun day.

Firehouse Visit

Living in a small town definitly has its perks and today we got to enjoy one of them.  I have spent the past three days working on year end accounting stuff at the elevator, and the girls have been stuck inside due to bad weather.  So tonight with a little clearing of the weather, we decided we all needed some fresh air and went for a walk.  While out walking, we went past our town's firehouse and saw that they were cleaning and had all the trucks parked outside.  Of course we wanted to get closer and see the trucks, although Eve was very afraid the siren was going to go off and she hates loud noises.  The firefighter and his wife who were there were so friendly and took time to stop and tell us about the trucks and some of the equipment.  They even gave her a play fireman's hat, a waterbottle and a coloring book to take home like they do when they give tours to the kindergarteners.  Eve was really happy they thought of her and put the hat on right away, and everyone laughed when she put it on backwards.

    It was so considerate of them to take the time, even if it was only 15 minutes, to show us around and give Eve her stuff.  I find it one of the perks of a small town.  People are very inclined to share their time and talents with others.

We Love our Library

We are very happy to take place in my friend Christianne's "Love My Library" blog party on her blog Little Page Turners.  Her blog is a great resource for fun activities you can do with your kids that center on a book.  I have done many of them with my girls and hope that you take the time to check it out.  And we would not miss a chance to give a shout-out to our local library that we love going to at least once a week.

Here is our library!

We have two great librarians, Miss Jean and Miss Nancy.  They are always so welcoming, even to Eve's stuffed friends, and they never forget to give Eve some smarties after she checks out her books.

For a small town library there is a great selection of children's books and they are always getting new ones too.

We always make sure to come on the 2nd and 4th Thursday morning for story time.  We have been going since it started when Eve was 15 months old and have maybe only missed twice.  Eve has a great time and even takes our out of town family with her if they are visiting. 

Here are some of the kids enjoying a song at story time.

We enjoy our time at the library, and can definitely say WE LOVE OUR LIBRARY!

Dandelion Curls

One of my earliest memories was walking around the block in our first house picking dandelions with my Grammy.  We would gather them all up and pop off the flower part.  Then we would get out a bucket of water and watch the magic of curling dandelions.  You just have to take the stem and peel them into 3 or fours strips.  Then place into water and watch and wait while the curling happens.  The past weekend the weather was so beautiful that I took the time to do some curling with Eve.  It was great to see her amazement as the stems curled and she was excited to put each one it.  I hope this will become as good a memory for her as the memory of doing this with my Grammy is for me.

Some of our curls in progress.

Some of her favorites!

Trip to the Top

On Wednesday morning I decided that I needed to go to the top of the grain elevator to take some pictures for yesterday's blog.  Tyler was out farming and with the wind picking up, I wanted to have it done before lunch.  Of course my little follower wanted to come and I, without too much thought, gave in and said yes.  Throughout the years, I have taken many friends and family on a tour to the top and  it is always a good learning experience.  The owners were quick to agree to letting me take her to the top under one circumstance, that she was somehow tied to me.  After a few attempts to rig something up, they decided very thick electrical wire would do the trick.  She thought it was fun that we couldn't go anywhere without the other and so we began our trip to the top.

The way you get to the top of the elevator is in a small metal elevator.  It fits two people tops and go down about an inch when you step in.  I could start to see the nervousness on Eve's face and her hand grip mine tighter but she didn't day anything and so we went on.  She even kept quite for most of the ride up, well until the part when it is dark and you can't see anything.  She started to panic a little, but so did I on my first time up, but it soon becomes brighter and you know you are almost there.  When we got to the top it was nice and loud because they were moving some grain around and loading rail cars and that seemed to panic Eve the most.  We walked down the bin corridor a little and headed outside to see all of the town.  It is so beautiful to look out and see the houses and then since it is a small town, you can see the fields all around.  I think she had a fun time as she told everyone she saw that day about how special it was to go to the top.

Trampoline Fun

On Sunday, we celebrated Tyler's cousin's birthday.  It was a nice beautiful day and after dinner and birthday fun, we went out and everyone  had a great time on the trampoline.  I love some of the fun shots my new camera was able to get.