Hudsonville Fair

We live in the same town both DJ and I grew up in.  It is a {not so small} small town.  It is a {sort of used to be} farm town.  Every summer we have our town fair.  It is one of the high lights of summer.  The fair runs for 1 weeks, we went every day, except one.  The kids' loved it!

One of the first days, the is a deal for $1 rides.  It was packed, but the kids had so much fun. 

Poor Ellary was too short to ride anything, but we sneaked her on the slide and train.

Waiting for the train....

Silly Daddy thought she would be ok riding on the same seat as him, while Big Brother got to ride in the seat in front of them. :)

Two minutes later, and Sister was up next to Karson.

Also, it is impossible to get a picture of them both smiling and looking at the camera.

 

Or a picture of them both looking away from the camera...

I could not tell you how many times we walked through the animal barns.

They loved the bunnies and the chickens.

Ellary LOVED the horses.

Sister likes horses, a lot!

Also, farm animals stick.

 

Outside the animal bars is full of tractors and farm equipment...Little Boy Heaven!

Karson loved, loved, loved the rides this year. 

Last year we put Kars on this ride, because he wanted to ride it.  Two seconds later and he was sobbing, and we couldn't get him off.  He asked a million times to ride it, and we said no a million times.  They he told me "Mama, Me big and strong now.  Me not going to scream and cry."  So I let him on it.

I lost track of how many times he rode it.

He loved it!

The next day a guy waked up to me and asked if he could give Karson tickets to ride a ride.  So sweet.  Karson was so excited to ride the Monster Trucks again!

 

While I have no doubt that Ellary would have loved it, Sister is much too short.  Maybe next year...

The fair is such a fun summer memory!   I have so many memories of the fair as a kid, I love that my kids are making the same memories.

Also, if you are at a fair and you see a sign for deep fried oreos buy them.  A.ma.zing.  We bought them purely out of curiosity.  But only eat one, or just a bite of one, because you will feel like death if you eat more than that. YUM! It may be my new favorite fair food.

Insta Friday

Happy Friday.

Joining with Jeannett from Life.Rearranged with our Instas lately.

I am @kellysmedley on IG.

I haven't linked up all summer...so warning...long post.

 

Bumpa brought his "Bumpa Truck" over.  

My kids were super excited!

The next day Ella saw a semi truck and yelled "BUMPA!"

 

The Mackinac Bridge.

My favorite.

My kids have each been there every year.

If I have it my way, it will stay that way.

The view from our campground in the U.P. a few weeks ago.

I miss it there...

A little family "selfie" on the beach.

Coffee.

Beach.

The U.P.

Babies playing.

My girl at The Bridge on our way home.

Books in the trailer.

We rub Ella's back at nap until she falls asleep.

DJ put her to sleep this day.

She rubbed her belly herself until she was asleep.

I am pretty sure fish are supposed to be neon?

I could be wrong...or not.  Regardless, my kiddos love the 'pretty fish.'

I have absolutely no idea what they were doing, but they did!

They share my love for the beach.

Hanging out in a tractor at the Hudsonville Fair.

An extremely dirty camp ground resulted in a toy washing party when we got home.

His B's straight from the dryer.

His favorite!

 

Nothing good comes from an evening nap.

Except late nights means lots of coffee the next day, and I like coffee.

Looking on the bright side...

 

Sleepy Babies.

Her first ever pony.

Pretty Piggies.

Getting the crash 'em up car ready for the derby.

Over tired baby + sugar = lots of silly giggling.

We let them paint the back of the derby car.

So excited, he was!

There is a stack of books at the end of his bed.

Always.

Every night.

The end of a full day at the beach.

Watching the sun "go night night in the water" as Karson says.

Determined to get the duck.

Which is actually a seagul.

After trying to convince her the entire summer that a seagul is not a duck...I give.

Its a duck.

The derby.

 

"Its ok Mommy.  I shut the gate.  That will keep Baby Ella safe."

The boots.

She insisted on the boots.

Currently, kid free time is pretty much non existant for us.

So the other day, when the kids were asleep in the car, and we HAD to stay outside, because the kids were asleep in the car...it was nice.

We had an hour to just sit.  

He had a beer.  

I had a coffee.  

We ate peanuts and talked.

It as nice, and an extremely rare occurrence for us!

 

Post Pumpkin Donuts.

Yum.

They came out this week.

They weren't on our way the other morning.

They were actually out of our way.

But no so much out of our way that it didn't justify a stop.

So good!

 

Ella & Tractor: 1

Mommy's flowers: 0 

To do: Teach Ellary to steer the tractor.

Ella's sleeping habits is a whole other post.

Or a whole blog in its self.

Basically...

She isn't big on sleeping.

She doesn't need a lot of sleep.

She is an EXTREMELY light sleeper.

She needs Mama to fall asleep.

She gets so exhausted sometimes, that she sleeps in odd places at odd times.

Like the cart at Target.

Whatever works.

I'll take it.

Happy Weekend.

Happy {almost} Fall.

Homeschool

We have decided to start out Homeschooling our kids.  We have talked about it occasionally since Karson was teeny tiny.  Last year, Michigan passed a law that schools would loose funding if they didn't provide all day, everyday, kindergarten.  Decision made.  While all day, every day, may be right for some families, we do not believe that it is right for ours.  As of right now, or plan is to Homeschool for Preschool and Kindergarten.  Beyond that, I don't know.  We will reevaluate every year, and decide then. 

While we never had plans of sending Karson to preschool, I decided I needed a "practice" year.  Basically, I wanted to makes sure I knew what I was doing before we hit Kindergarten.  I wanted to make sure that homeschooling was going to work for us.  Karson is eager to learn, he loves doing activities at the table.  He is constantly asking how things work.  Constantly.  All.day.long.  Thankfully Daddy is an engineer.  "Honey, please come over here and explain to Karson how {insert any random object} is made." is yelled often in our house.  Did you know how they make a Pyrex lid?  I do now. :)

I did purchase a 3's preschool curriculum.  Karson loves it!  He asks to do "preschool at home", all day long.  The first day, he did every worksheet for that week.  We are also using Zoo Phonics.  I have been doing Zoo Phonics with Karson for a few years, but never consistently.  A few weeks ago, I started going through the Zoo Phonics with the kids every morning at breakfast.  I was amazed at how quickly they were both picking it up. 

This week, I printed off the capital "A" and little "a" from Zoo Phonics and taped them to the wall.  Ellary walks over to Ally Alligater all day and says the sound and motions.  Yesterday at dinner, Karson looked at Nana's shirt and pointed out an "A" "Look Nanny!  You have a big 'A' on your shirt.  That is where Ally Alligater lives!!"

While I knew Ellary would pick up on some of the things Karson was doing, I didn't realize how much.  Last night, we were reading books before bed, and Karson was picking out every "a" he could find.   When DJ gets home from work, Karson runs to him and tells him everything he learned. 

Today, I threw all our Zoo Phonics cards on my bed, and started folding laundry on the floor.  The kids played with the cards for a half hour.  They would each bring me the cards, and show me the signs and sounds the animal made.  In that half hour, watching them play together, watching big brother teaching little sister, validated our decision.  Right now, this is what is right for our family.