For our last big "hurrah" of the summer, we decided to hit the Missouri State Fair for Family Home Evening on Monday. We started with the petting zoo, which didn't allow strollers inside so Tyler and I found a shady spot while everyone else went through. The kids immediately started asking for pony rides and treats. We had brought along our predetermined amount of cash that we were going to spend so we quickly started making our way to the carnival area so that the kids would get a chance to do some stuff there without blowing everything near the entrance. Although we did get some cotton candy to split between all of us for the "long" walk down there.

Tansy wanted to "ride the horsies" so the carousel was our first stop after purchasing our carnival tickets. Zack wasn't big enough to ride a horse, but he was allowed to sit on the bench with me.Tyler spent all of his time like this.

We stayed hydrated. I brought a water bottle for each of us. I wasn't wasting my cash on $2.00 bottles of water.

Tansy was right in there with Sydney on the rides. She is just barely three feet tall, so we stayed in the area where she could ride. There were a couple that Sydney was tall enough for, but Tansy wasn't. We might have told Sydney she was too short. Kept everyone happy.

The girls loved the roller coaster. While they were riding this, I took Zack on the carousel again. They went on and on about how awesome it was.

Last ride of the night was the ferris wheel. Ben took the three oldest while I stayed on the ground with Tyler. I don't like the ferris wheel AT ALL. Zack started screaming when Ben picked him up to put him in the car. That was the last I saw him before it started, and I was worried that Zack wanted to get off and would be crying and squirming. A lady next to me started laughing and told me how funny it was that he was crying and then was instantly happy as soon as Ben put him down. He loved it!

We also got to see a dog show, and I tasted my first funnel cake. That stuff should be illegal. It was so good.

Wednesday was Sydney's first day of first grade and her first day riding the bus to school. She is so happy to be a "bus kid" this year. Our last house was just less than a mile from the school so last year she was a "walker/car rider."

For a back-to-school dinner, Sydney chose turkey. I told her that I really didn't have time to thaw and cook and turkey and if she wanted something else. She said that she really wanted a drumstick. Easy enough. I cooked my first whole chicken that night. We invited my friend Roxanne and her little guy Taylor, who started second grade, to have dinner with us.

Sydney also wanted corn on the cob. She has been intrigued by it ever since the first time she had it for school lunch. Ben doesn't like it on the cob so I always get frozen or canned corn. Sydney was telling me about her lunch one day and said, "We had corn, but it was weird. They stuck it on this hard, round thing." It took me a minute to realize that she was talking about corn on the cob. So I also cooked corn on the cob for the first time. Not as intimidating as the chicken, which was super easy anyway.

As I was trying to carve the chicken, something I have NO knack for, I accidently pulled the bone out of the drumstick I was trying to cut off. Good thing there's two. I managed to keep a good chunk of meat on that one and get it to Sydney's plate. I can't stand meat on the bone, but Sydney will suck the thing clean. Gross.

We rounded out the meal with some homemade mashed potatoes, which I love. I also made a school bus cake for dessert. It was a lot of fun, even though it doesn't look quite like the picture.
I was all excited about it, and Sydney really liked it, but she wanted to know why I hadn't included a stop sign and the number 9 (the number of her bus). I'm not Wonder Woman.On Thursday night, we decided to go to Pizza Hut to redeem the kids' reading program coupon. I was getting Tyler ready to go while Ben was upstairs helping Sydney find her shoes. We each assumed that Zack was with the other parent. I took Tansy and Tyler out to put them in the van. Ben and Sydney came out shortly thereafter. I asked Ben where Zack was. He thought I had him. I went back inside and called for Zack a couple of times only to hear silence. I finally said, "Do you want to go eat?" Those are magic words for Zack. He came running out the bathroom with a black eye. He had decided to really go all out for the occasion and applied some mascara. Lots of water and several paper towels later, we were finally ready to go.

And our living room furniture finally came! Yesterday was the big day. Now we can finally finish putting this room together. Window treatments are proving elusive. I feel so grown up. You'll notice I am continuing with the attitude of "Who am I kidding? My house if never going to be completely clean."

This house really is becoming our home.