Still Recovering

We had the FUNNEST weekend that we have had in a LONG time! Friday we pulled Ben from school a little bit early so we could go to the Texas State Fair!!! I haven't been since I went with a friend in 8th grade - almost shameful to admit! We had the BEST time! The kids were amazed with pretty much everything; we loved the food and had fabulous friends to show us around and keep us on track! We did everything we wanted to - except my dream - to see Jessica Simpson in concert; we left 30 minutes before she came on stage. :) (Just kidding; I've heard her sing before...granted, I was next to her in choir in 8th grade then..a lot happened in 8th grade, didn't it? That was my best year of school - or 11th grade...)

Okay - the Maases with Big Tex! We saw the most amazing puppet/marionette show. This was our group waiting so patiently...I've never seen Emily so entranced before. She sat completely still on my lap the entire show, without food! It was just incredible!
Andy and I got a kick out of this pig and the fact that the piglets were basically bouncing up and down as they nursed. Each piglet looks small in the picture, but they were about 18 inches each and the mama was HUGE!!!
The kids all loved going through the 'working' farm. I loved there were signs telling the kids what to do and how to take care of each happening on the farm. It would have been great to go through a little bit slower, but it was the end of a busy day and there was a long line behind us!
Annie keeps wanting to go back to the Fairy; I explained it only comes around once a year - just like Christmas!

We got a few fair samplings and ate dinner on the grass. It was dusk and we tried to get a picture of all six kids. I've never taken a picture like this before, but they turned out great!
I just included this because I love this picture! So romantic; and if you couldn't tell, it's not Andy and I. :)
Emily fell asleep going with Andy looking for the fried banana split. He couldn't find it, but made it back in time to see the parade with us. We did do a small detour on the way back to the car to find his fried banana split - he'd waited patiently all day for it! It was really good to me, but Andy thought it had too much peanut butter. I'm just sad I didn't get the fried cheesecake, which was my fair food of choice, but when I went to get it, I made the mistake of watching the girl putting them in and pulling them out of the grease and about gagged... oh well!
We were completely wiped out by the end of the day! But, lucky me got to leave at 5:30 Saturday morning to do produce shopping downtown! I'm so glad I went because we found an awesome deal on blueberries ($5 for 12 1/2 pints), so I got 24. I also found a 25 pound box of pears for $3. They were really ripe and the store was just trying to move them because they were all brown. I was so irritated I didn't get two boxes when I got home!!!

So, home by 7:20 to sort the food. Started some pear sauce in the crockpot. Andy went to play in the regional volleyball tournament (a disappointing loss in the first game). Then my mom and sister came to take the kids to Owen's Farm! I went along and we had such a fun time!!!

Look at that stud cowboy!
Waiting for the barrel ride to start...
Emily got terrified as soon as they started the motor for the ride, so Grandma rescued her! She didn't quite love the hay ride until the 2nd time around.

This was so sweet. Ben and Annie got along SO WELL this weekend; it really made my heart happy! They just love to be outside and are such cheerful little kids!

A 'good' picture - at least it's symmetrical. :)
We came home from the farm, put Emily down for a nap and then the adults (minus Andy) went to get my birthday present from my parents! Off to Bruce Miller Nursery, where the most patient kindest man looked at my little sketch and walked us around the nursery showing me examples of plants that would work in my sad completely empty planters. Yes, that would be VERY patient because for every suggestion, I had to get confirmation from mom or Jamie. An hour later, we were out of there with 92 plants for me, 16 for mom and 4 for Jamie.

Side note - we also got some dried molasses to spread on the grass. According to a friend (and several websites) it is incredible at keeping fire ants off the yard. It's also nitrogen free (all organic or natural ingredients). So, if you live in Texas and are super frustrated and tired of fire ants moving all around your yard, go buy some dried molasses!

We came home (by way of Brahms), mom and Jamie left, and we planted all the grass/flowers in my beds. I still need 5 bushes, but they will come a little bit slower! Then I made dinner (will starting another batch of pear sauce), and put the kids in bed. Andy mowed, spread the molasses, went to Lowe's and set up my front sprinklers in the flower bed, and then went to work in the garage while I started on my next project: canning the rest of the pears. I love them!!! So beautiful and easy! Even though the outsides were brown and yucky, the pears tasted fabulous and I didn't throw even one away - 110 pears for $3!!! Then I started to make jam from the raspberries I'd purchased the day before. Apparently they don't last very long... Still cooking jam - at 11:30 at night...

My beautiful treasures. Can I tell you how much I love canning?!? Had I been more confident in the canning process, I would have been like a gal at church who also happened upon the pears and bought THREE boxes and made pear butter all day... next time! (the pink cans are also pear sauce - like applesauce but made with pears - but I used red hots instead of cinnamon to flavor them. YUMMY!!!!)
And yes, I am so tired right now and still paying for my incredibly busy, but FUN!!!, weekend! Good night...