Sausage Fest Fun

Another September means another fun-filled time at Sausage Fest! To recap Sausage Fest is a Bavarian-styled festival that our local parish puts on to raise funds for the school and church each year. Think food booths, stage entertainment (of the kid's dancing and singing variety), game booths, Bingo (a Catholic must!), and a beer garden (another Catholic must!). This year we were blessed to have Nate's parents come up for the weekend to join in on the festivities.

Our first order of business upon arriving was to grab some yummy corn on the cob (fields of corn are actually planted solely for this event because so much corn is sold), a handful of sausage dogs, and some pop for a treat. It's always fun walking the grounds and running into people I know but haven't seen since last Sausage Fest. Plus, there's always that wonderful feeling of remembering years of Sausage Fest fun, both when I was attending the school and later when I was reminiscing about attending the school. This year promised the same as I ran into eleven groups of people that I knew from one avenue of life or another in the first fifteen minutes, and all while I was trying to get the various food items from the different booths. I was in meet-and-greet heaven!

Dinner with Abby was a hoot. We were close enough to the entertainment stage that she was easily able to see the dancers perform. She'd bring the sausage dog up to her lips and have it hover there as she became so enamored with what she was seeing on stage that she forgot to eat! A few times she'd glance back at Nate and notice that he was eating corn on the cob (her's long since demolished) and would dive in like a shark with her mouth wide open to snag a bite. The first time she did this it actually startled Nate as this random face came out of nowhere right above his shoulder. :-)

Once dinner was consumed we were off to play some games. I made the strategic error of thinking we were at an event similar to the prices of the Benton-Franklin Fair and Rodeo and bought WAY too many tickets. I was thinking each game was a minimum of four tickets when they were actually two tickets, so bought twice as much as I wanted. Oh, well.

Abby throwing a ball into goldfish bowls trying to win a prize. Thankfully they no longer give away actual bags of goldfish as the grand prize. I don't know how many fish my family and I personally killed (because let's be honest, the fish didn't survive much past the trauma of being driven home and held by sugar laden children), but add in all the other families and I think we killed lots and lots of fishy friends.

Picking out a consolation prize (which every booth offers to all participants if they don't win one of the bigger prizes). She ended up picking a butterfly tattoo that she lovingly pointed to every time she saw it on her hand. After bath, when it washed away, she'd point to her hand and tell me how butterfly had gone "night-night" which is why we couldn't see him. :-)

Putting in her tickets at the Fish Pond (This was always my favorite booth to volunteer at when I was younger. It always reminded me of the scene in Pollyanna where she "fished" and got her doll. Granted, I was giving away Oriental Trading company plastic junk, but I always tried to listen for the little kids and give them the extra cool junk!)

Holding the fishing pole so well!

We also hit up the Duck Pond where Abby grabbed a higher numbered duck and actually won a decent prize! A pack of crayons!

The Lollipop Tree was also another big hit. In fact I spent almost all of our leftover tickets (after Abby was done playing games) on getting her suckers knowing that she'd love them in the future. As we were gathering up our peoples to head out I thought it would be a fun treat to get Abby some cotton candy as she rarely gets it but loves eating it. What followed was comical.

First she goes in for the dive trying to eat the fluffy goodness. 

Then she starts ripping off chunks in an effort to eat as much as possible at once.

When that doesn't work she decides that shoving fist-fulls of the stuff might be the way to go.

Yep, she found her favored cotton candy delivery routine to get as much into her mouth as quickly as possible. 

And ended the adventure by daintily licking her fingers of the good stuff.

Another great year of family fun at Sausage Fest! This year we became members of the Kegger Club by donating funds to purchase a keg, but were unfortunately not able to make it into the Beer Garden to find our names on the sponsorship flags. Hopefully we'll get the opportunity to do so next year!

First Day of Preschool

Abby officially began her many, many years of schooling journey today. Yep, today was her very first day of preschool. I can't believe my baby is growing up so fast! Last week we went to her preschool's open house where Abby and I got to meet her teachers (Miss Jeanette and Miss Christy) and got taste of what preschool would be like. There was only one rough spot that occurred as I was leaving to go the parent conference portion of the open house and Abby was staying behind to do a project with her teachers. Abby begged me to "hold me" and I made the mistake of picking her up and giving her a big hug and so when it came time to hand her over to her teachers I had to pass off a crying baby. But I know my girl (and the teachers confirmed afterward) and after a quick two minutes she was happily playing again.

My baby and I waiting to meet her teachers.

Fast forward a week and the big official day was here. We started the morning off in a little bit of a rush because Abby decided that this would be the day of all days to sleep in until 8 am instead of waking up at her normal 7:15 am. Since we needed to start moving to the car to leave at 8:30 am I had to get Abby up, showered, dressed, and have her hair done, get her to eat breakfast, put together her back pack, and, of course, take the obligatory first day of school pictures all in thirty minutes. I was really impressed with how we were able to get everything accomplished without feeling too rushed or having any meltdowns.

I was a little nervous about how her "first day of school" pictures would go because we had a previous photo session with her holding a piece of paper that didn't go well. I mean she and the paper were both in the photo but the paper was either over her face, upside-down, backwards, or in a mess of other spots besides where I wanted it to be. So I figured we'd calmly take a bunch of pictures and the best one we got would have to do. To my surprise the very first shot was EXACTLY what I wanted. :-)

Nailed it!

And a close-up of the previous picture because I love it so much. I especially love that she's actually smiling in this picture. It's not her big nose-wrinkled grin, but since she normally stares stoically into the camera this upturned mouth smile is pretty darn awesome.

Pointing out the letters on the sign to me.

"Are we done yet?"

When we got to school Abby's Grandma (my Mom) was waiting there for us. It's become a tradition that Grandma goes to the first day of school to take pictures of her Grandkids. She started this with Haylee and I'm happy to see that she's continuing it with Abby.

Abby with her adorable backpack walking to school. She goes to Bethel Church's Kids Express Pre-School.

Once inside we waited a few minutes in the hallway for Abby's teachers to open the classroom door. The preschool has a "drop and dash" policy (kids are dropped off at the door instead of in their classroom) so I knew it would be a quick transition into her room and I wouldn't be able to take lots of pictures or spend extra time with her if she needed it. I needn't have worried.

Abby waiting outside her classroom door.

When the door to her classroom opened Abby did a repeat of last week and asked me to "hold me", but this time I figured that picking her up would cause problems so I instead knelt down to give her a big hug and told her how much fun she was going to have at preschool. Then I took her hand and we walked to the door where she dashed inside with nary a good-bye. I turned to walk away but my Mom said we should stay just out of sight in case Abby ended up crying and needing us. Mom watched Abby through the door window and laughed when she saw Abby walk up to a girl who was crying, pat her on the back a few times, then walk away to continue playing as if saying "There, there no need to cry. Let's play!" And with that my Mom proclaimed "Well, she doesn't give a rat's ass if we're here or not, does she." Yep, that pretty much sums up how much Abby was enjoying the start of her preschool day. :-) Here's to many more years of the joy of learning!

Swim Lessons

Abby had her first swimming lesson today! It went...okay. :-) I'm sure all parents want to be able to say that their child was the star of the class and was by far the best swimmer, sat so perfectly on the stairs, and out shined everyone else in the class. Well, while I don't get to say that I do get to say that Abby had a lot of fun, she's already learning better swimming technique than the dog paddle she's been doing, and she's also learning that she needs to follow directions and pay attention to her teachers. All good things to have happen on the first day of swim lessons!

Waiting so patiently before swim lessons begin.

When I first thought about putting her in swim lessons one of the conflicts I had was that her lessons were from 9-9:30 am while I had a gym class that started at 9:20am. After talking to the gym's daycare I found out that the workers would be happy to pick her up from her swim lessons and take her back to childcare to watch her until my gym class was over. Sweet!! So my original plan was to attend this first day of swim lessons to be able to talk to the instructor after the lessons were over to make sure Abby was ready for this class (they typically say to wait until a child is 3 but Abby so loves water that I thought I might be able to sneak her in early) but to also to make sure that a childcare worker picked her up when the lesson was over. But then I put my daughter in the water. :-)

Abby meeting her teacher, Ashley.

After meeting her teacher, Abby was instructed to sit on the step and wait her turn while her swim classmate was taken by the teacher for a quick swim. Abby sat so sweetly for like three seconds. Then she decided that she also wanted to be swimming. So she started walking down the steps of the pool.

Feeling a little jealous that she wasn't swimming.

And kept walking until she suddenly stepped off the last step and found herself unable to touch the ground. I quickly walked towards her while she dog paddled and tried to swim back to the step. Just as she was about to go under, and I was about to enter the pool fully clothed and with tennis shoes on, the instructor turned around and saw Abby and pulled her up and back to the step. Okay. Minor heart attack but major one averted.

Abby enjoying her first official swim lesson from an instructor and not just Mom or Dad.

Having fun!

But she shook her near drowning off and gave some good giggles when her instructor took her out into the pool. Then we were back on the steps that shall not be sat upon. Eventually a third child came into the class and it became apparent that one instructor for three kids (of whom wouldn't sit on the step - Abby being the worst) wasn't enough adult attention. So the lifeguard came over to help out. I'd say she came to help keep all the kids on the steps but I'm going to be honest and say that she was there to make sure that Abby sat on the steps while waiting for her turn.

The lifeguard helping Abby learn to stay on the steps.

Abby and her classmates playing Red Light (stop kicking), Green Light (Kick), Blue Light (blow bubbles).

The thirty minutes passed so quickly. I don't know if it was because I was so nervous over how Abby would do in the class or how much fun I was having watching her have fun. She did end the class with a definitive "I'm done" as she refused to jump off the side of the pool into the instructors arms on her second and last turn. Instead she said "no, no, all done" and came run/walking over to me. Since the next class wasn't appearing yet I took a few minutes to chat with the instructor to see if this class was a good fit for her or if she thought that Abby should wait a few more months before trying again. I was happy to hear that the instructor thought that Abby was pretty on par with the other kids' skill level and should stay in the class. I think we're both hoping that learning to stay on the stairs is a skill that comes sooner rather than later. :-)

I did, however, change my mind on how the swim classes vs. gym classes timing problem would go. Originally, I was thinking that I'd drop Abby off for her swim lessons and hang out until my gym class started or go and work out a bit on my own, and then have the childcare workers pick Abby up from her swim class and keep her until my gym class was done. Now, though, I just don't think I can leave her alone. Granted there are two adults there between the swim instructor and lifeguard but seeing as how Abby almost drowned (yeah, I'm being a bit melodramatic), needing constant reminders about staying on the stairs to wait her turn, and just generally being my daughter and around water I just can't not be there. So now the plan is that I attend her swim lessons with her, have childcare pick her up from the swim lessons (and change her out of her swim clothes), and then I head off to gym class a little late (but not as late as if I changed her and dropped her off in childcare). I'm hopeful that this will actually work. :-) We'll see what the next few lessons say.

I Love You

Out of the blue my Abby said three little words that went straight to my Momma's heart and made it melt. We were shoe shopping and out of the blue she turned to me and said "I love you, Mommy". Oh, let me tell you that moment is etched in my mind forever. I didn't even realize how much I was looking forward to hearing these words until she said them. Of course the rest of the day was me trying to get her to say them again. :-) Finally, as the day came to an end I was successfully able to get this momentous occasion on film. Abby telling her Mommy she loves her.