Sarah & the Boys

This morning my MOPS (Mothers of Preschoolers) group was able to get in free to the first day of the annual County Fair.  So the boys & I went and had a wonderful time.  We started out with the animals. Ethan took them all in without much comment or interest, but Sam loved getting to pet all of them:

 

  

 

The highlight of the day for Samuel was definitely the cotton candy (he told me so  himself):

 

 

And everyone was good & worn out from all that fun by the time we got home:

 

Sam, sitting on his 'school desk' with the Alphabet Caterpillar we made today for "Alphabet Intro Week"

I've spent most of the past 2 months with what feels like a "tummy bug"...nauseau all day long, delicate appetite, etc.  But...this "tummy bug" will be around for about 7 more months.  Yup, baby #3 is on the way, due around Feb.27th (just in case the news hasn't spread to the far corners of the earth yet ;) )  I'm finally starting to feel a little more human again, and we're all very excited.  Sam especially is eager for this baby's arrival, and asks at least a couple times a week if the baby is "ready to come out yet?"  He's also quite convinced it's a girl...we'll see!

 

In other family excitement, we're getting ready to kick-off daily homeschool pre-school lessons with Sam next week.  He is very excited to start and keeps busy practicing important skills, like how to use his pencil sharpener (one of his very favorite skills to work on).

 

Ethan is saying more & more words every day.  But 90% of the time, you'll find him saying his very favorite word of all, "No!"  If the room has been quiet for a few minutes, he'll shout it out, just to assure everyone that he's as contrary as ever and that, if you were even thinking of saying something, he definitely disagrees.  O boy...toddlerhood, here we come!  But he is also a delightfully cuddly boy, still, and has taken in the past few days to randomly wandering up & kissing my leg, or grabbing my hand while I'm changing his diaper, to plant a big kiss on it.  So he really is a charmer, underneath the facade of obstinate, terrible-two-year-old in-training!

 

I'm sure you've seen these modern conveniences at your local grocery store; these wolves in sheep's clothing, pretending to help out harried young moms, while secretly plotting to add untold difficulty and embarrasment to any shopping trip - yes, I'm talking about the grocery carts with the "cute" little ride-in-car at the front.  Sure, it looks sweet and fun.  What kid doesn't love getting to ride in his own little car throughout the grocery store? But am I the only mom who dreads these 10-foot long monstrosities?  They should have a warning label that reads something like this:

 

****WARNING*****

10 years experience as a barge captain is necesarry to navigate this device.

Store will not be held responsible for: 

- knocked-over displays

- angry patrons accidentally run over by device

- injuries to children resulting from squabbles and/or climbing on top of the device

DRIVE AT YOUR OWN RISK!!!

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If you manage to make it through the store without taking out any displays; and your kids miraculously don't fight over who gets which side of the car; and your barge, I mean cart, doesn't get "grounded" (stuck up against the side of the aisle, requiring you to physically lift the 500 lb beast and point it back towards the center of the aisle); then it does boast one small advantage, as I found out yesterday.  While trying to turn out of an aisle (of course not able to see past the hulk of my cart), I stopped abruptly right before colliding with an older gentleman. I apologized and motioned for him to go ahead first. He kindly allowed me to go first, while quipping, "O no, you're larger than me!" and then hastily added, "...when you're driving that thing, anyways!"  So yes, I may mutter under my breath every time the boys insist on the car-cart, but I do have the size advantage over everyone else in the grocery store, and I'm not afraid to use it!