Bringing Up The Brands: September 2012--Tons of Local Fun

On Kenly's actual birthday we went to Chuck E. Cheese because four year olds think the place is magic. I always require a family photo in the sketch booth. It's 25 cents and it can be a real treasure. This year's sketch is priceless in my book. Since I'm not sure it will last the test of time, I decided to take a picture. Captured forever!

We bought several Groupons to The Farm in Hendersonville, NC. I took Kenly and Corah strawberry picking in the spring, and I wanted to continue to teach them that food grows in the ground, not at Walmart. So, we decided to go on a picking adventure. Kenly helped pick tons of okra.

She really wanted to pick a cabbage, so she searched through the few remaining plants and found the perfect cabbage.

Kenly started dance again this year. She's only taking tap and ballet this year. Dance was more expensive than we every imagined. Last year, when it was all said and done, we paid about $1,000 for dance. That included lessons, shoes, leotards, costumes, pictures, and other various fees. Mops and Nana and Papa helped make sure it happened, but one teacher salary doesn't always allow for such extravagance. Mops continues to bless Kenly by footing the bill for lessons--she gets a check for her birthday and for Christmas. Thank you, Mops!

We kicked off our tour of local fun by going to the Apple Festival in downtown Hendersonville. We've started going on Friday night because it is less crowded and much cooler.

Corah enjoyed watching all the excitement around her. Hello little fat rolls...I love it!

Notice the birthday party dress again. I'm not kidding when I say that I have to sneak it to the washer. She wants to wear it everyday.

I love it when a self-taken photo turns out decent. I wonder what she is grinning at?

Adam and Kenly have so much fun riding the fair rides that I have to make myself get in on the action. The nausea that follows is always worth the joy of riding with Kenly.

Kenly has wanted to ride the swings for years. But, she's never been tall enough. This year she made the cut. She was so excited. Adam rode right beside her in case she got scared in the middle of the ride. I shouldn't have been worried. The girl know what she wants.

I want this photo on a wrapped canvas. Pure childhood joy!

See...she made 40 inches. Now she's shooting for 42 inches next year so that she can ride the big swings at the fair and the Ferris wheel. It's good incentive to eat her veggies.

This might be too much information for some of you, but I needed this picture to be here. Since RA robbed me of nursing for any length of time with Kenly, I'm proud that I've made it this far with Corah. In September, I had some serious RA pain again and I though we were through nursing. But, a round of steroids and plenty of Advil got things back under control. It's January now and I'm still nursing 2-3 times a day. In the middle of weaning her, but I feel so blessed. I wanted to capture my view in case it was all over. I love nursing this kiddo. I love how she looks at me and plays with my hair. It's coming to an end now, and I'm happy that I'm about to have my body back. But, part of me mourns the passing of a phase of life that I will never experience again.

Corah continued to work on cutting teeth. These teething biscuits seemed to help. She made quite the mess when gnawing on one, but a quiet meal was worth all the clean up.

The Mountain State Fair also come to our area in September. We try to go at least once. We buy our tickets in advance at Ingles to try and save a little money. Kenly loves riding the sky buckets. We typically start by riding those so that we can go check out the animals.

Mops and Pops came to the fair with us again this year. It's hard to believe that this time last year I was still pregnant with Corah Beth. Pops bought a few lemonades and Corah got her first taste of the tangy beverage. She was a huge fan.

More please. Look at those thankful eyes.

Kenly played the duck game again this year.

She won this beautiful princess crown.

Corah rode her very first fair ride. She never could decided if she liked it or not.

Mops rode with Kenly. Believe it or not, Kenly isn't tall enough to ride this on her own yet.

For the most part, Corah just relaxed and watched the show. I thought she would nap, but I guess there was just too much to see.

Kenly enjoyed spending her "tickets" any way she wanted to.

Kenly even rode the caterpillar roller coaster. She was having an amazing time. The operator had to stop the ride to let a terrified child off, and Kenly thought the ride was over. She unbuckled her seat belt and couldn't get it fastened again. I watched her slowly begin to panic. By the time the ride was over, she was in tears.

Daddy helped calm her down. She knew the seat belt would keep her safe, and she thought she was in real danger because it was undone. Sweet girl. I hope she always feels the need to wear her seat belt, even when Mama isn't with her to preach its importance.

We got over the jitters by going down the huge slide again.

Mops and Pops took a ride on the Ferris wheel. This nearly broke Kenly's heart. She wants to ride it so badly.

Pops bought Dippin' Dots to help soothe the disappointment over the Ferris wheel.

Corah even ate a few spoonfuls of the chocolate goodness.

Ever year I win a stuffed animal. Adam gave up trying to win early on. He'd just give me the money and let me do it myself. But, I couldn't win this year. Adam stepped up and won of the newest member of our stuffed animal zoo.

Meet Ferris! He's a really cool monkey.

Adam was so proud. Lucky gun #13.

We celebrated his victory by buying a deep fried candy bar. Yummy goodness!

Poor Corah was such a trooper. She stayed awake the entire time we were at the fair. We left the gates and strolled to the van and she passed out.

That's one tired little baby.

Some time in September Adam and Chance discovered a baby critter in our driveway. We think it is a flying squirrel. It was nearly frozen to death and very scared. I spent the better part of an hour trying to find someone to nurse it back to health. I don't have the time for two babies in the house. Adam fed it some milk and warmed it.

I finally found someone to rehab the poor creature, and then it decided that it was time to pass on into the great beyond. We buried it in the back yard. I now have the name of the rehab facility on file.

Kenly decided to rearrange her room on day is September. This is what happens when you ignore strange noises for a bit too long. She stripped her bed and moved every piece of furniture she could drag to the center of her room. (This included a huge reclining chair.) She also made huge piles of toys in random places. It took Adam and me about 30 minutes to get everything back in order.

We painted a few pumpkins.

We did a bit of okra stamping. I loved this. Kenly was not a huge fan. I could have created pictures with our okra stamp for an entire day.

Corah got really good a crawling somewhere in the midst of all of this madness.

Kenly and Adam camped out in the backyard. Corah and I decided to rough it inside. Kenly was one excited little girl. She got to have her Daddy all to herself of the evening. Bliss!

The entire family ate mac and cheese, baked beans, and fire roasted hotdogs for dinner.

We all enjoyed the fire and a few sparklers.

Kenly drew her first family portrait. She spelled Daddy (Dade), Mommy (Mowy), and Chance (Casp) all by herself and I helped her spell Corah. I love this!