Fair Day!

Gary took the day off today so that we could get over to the fair.  It was a beautiful day for the fair. We had such a great time….Noah especially was finally big enough for lots of the kiddie rides, and he had a blast!  His favorite ride was the bumper boats….he did those several times.  He also loved the skyride, it was just like a snow ski lift, but it went over the entire fairgrounds. He went with mommy and daddy on the skyride.  Yep, we had fair food.  I had some roasted corn on the cob, Gary had a deep fried peanut butter and jelly, and Noah had a cheese burger.  Good stuff.  I also got to see how my fair entries did.  Here are the results…

 

2nd place for ugliest cake (kitty litter cake), 2nd place for the picnic table, 3rd place for my cookies, and my pumpkin bread didn’t place.  I am happy with the results!

 

Lots of rides!  Noah rode his first roller coaster with daddy and loved it!

 

Petting Zoo

 

Watching the pig races.

 

Deep Fried peanut butter and jelly!

 

Favorite ride of the day!

 

Busy day of rides for Noah!

 

Our tired out boy!

 

Mommy and Noah dancing in the mist.  Felt so good!

 

We all went on the BIG ferris wheel!  Great views of the fair.

 

Mommy and Noah on the skyride

 

 

 

 

Patio is Done!

Our new patio is finished and looks awesome!  All that’s left is the installation of the lights on the pillars.  That will be done Monday.  Take a look!

 

Patio – Day 3

They guys made awesome progress on our new patio yesterday!  It is taking shape, and best of all, Dad’s bricks went in yesterday and I just love them!!!  Noah loves watching out the window at all that’s going on.  His favorite yesterday was the big brick cutter and all the dust it stirs up!

 

 

Dad’s bricks going in….right in the middle of the patio!

 

The steps, wall, and pillars with lights will be done tomorrow.  They were outlined today.

 

I worked last night making a special cake for our friend Sam Bish.  He’s the 8-year old from our church dying of cancer.  Noah and I are taking it over today.

 

Demo and Potty Training

We are in the midst of craziness at our house this week!  We are potty training and having our fence AND patio ripped out….then replaced with a new fence and beautiful brick patio.  Plus my garden is in full bloom and is awesome!  This blog entry is to share all of that with you!

 

Potty Training….We are in day 2 of being serious about the potty training.  I have to admit I was a little scared about getting started with this process, but it hasn’t been too bad so far.  Noah has been doing great peeing in the potty (we haven’t even attempted pooping). He seems to be really excited when he goes, and of course Gary and I jump up and down and get excited too.  He also loves the tootsie roll he gets when he uses the potty.  My friend Lesley sent me a great 3-day potty training plan which I am going to try this weekend….we will let you know how that goes!  Keep Noah (and mommy and daddy) in your prayers this week as we continue the training.  Pray for patience, consistency, and that he will "get it" sooner than later.  He can’t start preschool until he’s potty training….and preschool is supposed to start in early September.

 

First pee in the big boy potty!

 

My garden in full bloom!  Love all the sunflowers this year.

 

My tomatoes and peppers

 

Deck and fence demo!!!  Here’s our deck’s last day….

 

DEMO!!!  Noah is really loving to watch the tractor in his backyard! Our yard looked huge once the fence came down!

 

I had to laugh out loud at this picture.  Noah is "pantless" due to potty training….so he was standing in the window watching without pants.  Hilarious.

 

This is what it looks like at the end of day 2.  I can’t wait to see the patio go in tomorrow!!!

 

 

 

Ohio State Fair 2010 Entries

Here are my entries for this year’s State Fair….

 

Intermediate Cake Decorating entry.  I call it "picnic table lunch". It’s all edible….all cake and candy.

 

This is for the Ugliest Cake contest.  It’s all edible cake, cookies, and candy!  Gross isn’t it??

Oh Canada……

We love Canada!  We had the most amazing trip, full of lots of activities, shopping, beach time, gorgeous weather, and eating of course!  It was my first time in Canada and I really love the area we visited.  We drove through beautiful farm land on our way to the campground.  We arrived at the Pinery in the later afternoon and I couldn’t believe how nice and cool the weather was!  It was in the 70’s almost the entire trip, and the breeze off Lake Huron was wonderful.  We had a wonderful campsite located just steps away from the boardwalk to the beach….and the bathrooms were close too, always a plus!  The beach was just like the ocean and the water wasn’t too cold….the best part was no sharks, no jellyfish, and a nice sandy bottom for feet.  Noah absolutely loved playing on the beach with daddy, they especially enjoyed frisbee and sand castle building. We are proud to say we made it the entire week with no sunburns!  YAY!

 

The campground was full of fun stuff to do, we hiked a couple trails and rode our bikes.  Of course visited the beach everyday.  We also rode our bikes about 7 miles to the closest town called "Grand Bend".  It was a small little beach town that was very family friendly and had a beautiful beach to watch the sunset.  We visited almost every night, it was a great way to get away from the "camp" scene and do some shopping, eating, and they had an awesome playground for Noah to play on.  We had dinner one night at a cool little restaurant right on the beach…..a wonderful place to watch the sunset.

 

Crossing over the border into Canada over the Blue Water Bridge

 

Getting some Canadian money! Now were ready to shop.

 

We arrived!! Setting up camp.

Heading out to explore the beach!

 

Ready for our bike trip to Grand Bend.  Giraffe went along!

 

Playground at Grand Bend and dinner.   There was a huge platform on the beach and these pictures are of the view from the platform, the streets of Grand Bend, and of course the beautiful beach!

 

Noah was a great helper around camp…..he especially liked helping with morning dishes!

 

Day 2 at the beach….sand castle building!  Daddy and mommy built a villiage for Noah’s tractor.

 

Another night at Grand Bend.  We loved the dog on the surf board!  We met lots of nice people….and dogs on the beach!  Next to the playground they had a neat water play area for kiddos…and daddy’s too.

 

This guy is a bit of a local celebrity in Grand Bend.  We learned from some locals we met on the beach that he is a musician and this was the first time he took his dog, Shelby, on the surfboard.  We bought his CD from a local store and really love it…it’s sort of a mixture of Jack Johnson and Jimmy Buffet. We love his stuff.  If your interested in hearing some of his music, here’s a link: http://radio3.cbc.ca/#/bands/brian-dale 

 

Popcorn night at camp!  Yum!

 

We went on a hike and loved the view from the top!  Daddy carried Noah the whole way to avoid the ridiculous amount of poison ivy along the trail.  The platform you see was at the end of the trail and had a beautiful view of Lake Huron.

 

Back home!  We got back to Ron and Marge’s Friday afternoon and went to a Toledo baseball game.

 

 

 

 

Picnic with Friends

Noah had his friends Hailey and Quinn over yesterday for playtime and a picnic.  He spent most of the morning running away from Quinn (the little one) because she wanted to hug him.   The kids had a great time playing….I’m pretty sure they got every single toy of Noah’s out and left it on the floor.  You should have seen my house after they left!  The best part was when we came inside after dropping the girls off, Noah looked around, threw up his arms and said, "mommy, I need to clean this mess up".  Love that boy.

 

I laughed when I found Noah with the tractor tread on his head!!

We are leaving Saturday for a week camping trip in Canada….when we get back, literally the next day my fair entries are due at the State Fair!  I couldn’t decide what category I wanted to enter this year, so I did them ALL!  Yep, 3 cake entries, 1 bread entry, and a cookie entry are due next weekend!  So, I have been pre-baking all the cakes so all I have to do is decorate (none of them are actually consumed) when we get home.  Needless to say, I’ve done a ton of baking in the past couple days.  Here’s what you need for baking 5 fair entries!

My newest decor additions to the house.  The wooden wheel I just love….and it was only $8 at Big Lots!  I moved my beloved picture from dad’s house and I love it’s new "home".

How cute is this??   I found these vinyl "stickers" at the craft store and put the on my back car window!!  I love it!

Fun Stuff to Share

We have done a bit of shopping this past weekend.  Thank you dad.   In our defense…before we went shopping we used dad’s money to pay off our second mortgage….that being said, then we went shopping for a few fun things.

 

I got some new pillows for the couch!  I was watching a show on HGTV and they said if you want to change your look a bit, get some new pillows!  I love them and they match my curtrains!  Big Lots rocks….both pillows for only $8.

 

Our biggest splurge….and yes, we are READY now for Buckeye Football season!  Everyone c’mon over!

Here’s a before and after pic of our living room.  I love love love the new table the TV sits on, it matches our house much better.  It’s much more rustic than the entertainment unit was.

 

I made my FIRST cheesecake ever!  I made it for our neighbors….and they said it was "better than Cheesecake Factory".

 

I am a big fan of TG MAXX now.  I never shopped there much before….but have visited this past week.  I found these beautiful set of 4 ramekins for only $3.99!

 

My friend Bridgett gave me these gorgeous flowers from her garden.  Isn’t the yellow one amazing?

 

Someone got a new shirt today!!  I made this for him online with his two favorite "people" on it.

 

Guess who had peanut butter for dinner?

 

Look at my garden!  My "mammoth" sunflower is now above our roof line!!

 

Look at our big boy on his bike.

 

Dance with the Parrot…..Noah and I dancing before the race this past weekend.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mGu-KETzFJQ

 

 

 

5K Race Today

Today I ran in the Lifeline for Ohio 5K.  It was a huge turnout and all the money benefited organ donation, which I fully support!  There was a half marathon, 5K, and a kid’s mascot dash.  The kids race was adorable!!  Noah was so excited to run, especially since he has his "fast shoes" on today.  He got a medal at the end of his race….and I don’t know if he was more excited to see Brutus Buckeye or getting the medal.

 

I really enjoyed the race!  It energizes me to do these races and I am so proud of how far I’ve come since February when I started this weight loss journey.  I don’t know my time yet, but I am hoping that it was 30 mins or under.  FUN morning!

 

Noah and mommy ready for the race!

 

Kid and Mascot dash!  Adorable!

 

Me starting my race…..and finishing!

 

This doggy was awesome! 

 

In other news……we have done a little shopping this weekend with dad’s money to get some things we have been wanting.  I have wanted a new comforter for our bed for a couple years….and finally got one!  Listen to this deal….I went to Bed Bath and Beyond and found this gorgeous comforter reguarily $250.00 on sale for $179 then when I got up to pay for it the price was only $99!! 

 

We went to our town’s annual Art Festival and found this beautiful hand made oak trash can (yep, I get excited about trash can’s). It is perfect to keep dogs and kids out of the trash!

 

Things to share….

Last night we went out to dinner with Barb, Susan, and Brendon.  Then we headed over to Easton to get Barb some Cheesecake and let Noah show Brendan the train.  We had a great time.

 

 

Today we got a big package in the mail from Uncle Michael.  He surprised Noah with some "new" toys…he sent Noah all his old toy trucks!  Noah was in heaven and was SO excited!!  Michael also sent a beautiful gift that he got us in Italy…….and the most emotional gift…..the check containing my "share" of dad’s money.  It was bittersweet to get the check.  I know dad’s happy to know he has provided for us all one last time, and I know he’s happy with what we’ve decided to do with his money……but it’s also sort of the final closure to the cancer situation and the final realization that dad’s really gone.  I said a prayer tonight and asked God to tell dad how excited we are to use his money for house improvements and asked if He would let dad look down and see all we’re doing.  I know dad’s smiling.

 

Our beautiful gift Michael brought us back from Italy.  Thank you little bro, I love it!

 

I have some new products to share with you!  I found some yummy hummus today at the grocery store and it has a great kick of Jalepeno.  It’s delicious and only 35 calories per 2 tbsp.

 

These are a new product….and are seriously FABULOUS!  Finally a light bagel that actually tastes and has the texture of a real bagel!!  You have to try these!  Only 2 points for Weight Watchers per bagel.

 

I found these brownie fiber bars at TJ MAXX tonight.  They are pretty good, and 12 grams of fiber each.  They are 2 pts each for WW. They have flax seed in them and whole grains.  I admit they don’t have a real brownie texture, but they are very chocolately.