A Day At The Fair

Are you sick of hearing me complain about the hot Indy weather yet??? Well you are in luck because we FINALLY got the cool down I was looking for! I've never been so happy to see 70 degree weather! It instantly made my whole family more pleasant and it gave us the perfect weather for the Indy Fair!

My desire to go to the fair depends heavily on the weather. I don't find it too appealing to spend insane amounts of money while stuffing my face with various fried foods (Really Indy??? Fried BUTTER!) while it is a balmy 105 out. Give me 72 degrees and I'll gladly fork over the dough for any type of food you're willing to batter and deep fry for me! So, when the hubby suggested he take off work last Friday so we could go to the fair I was more than happy to oblige!

Every year there is a different animal that is showcased. This year is the year of the dairy cow.

First I have to say how amazingly wonderful our kids were! Especially G, he was the best baby ever!

The first thing we did was check out the Family Fun Area. They have a cute little section where the kids can pretend to be farmers. They go through various stations where they pick their crops and feed their animals. At the end they sell their items and get to spend their "money" in the market and buy a healthy treat. The girls loved it and will pretty much do anything for a snack.

Before we even left the girls started thinking about what food they were going to get (just like their mama, it's always about the food!). Noa wanted a corn dog and Lo wanted a turkey leg. The turkey leg ended up being the best purchase of the day! It fed ALL four of us is was so big!

Of course you can't pass up the pony rides! Lo takes lessons regularly, but Noa is old enough yet. The smile on her face says it all-so happy to be on a horse!!!

Even G was having a good time! This is our very first documented smile!

This was the first year the girls were really into all aspects of the fair. They enjoyed the exhibits, animals and everything in between. We even saw some of the high school girls compete on their horses which was really cool. The girls had front row seats and loved it!

Have you seen these ornery characters?

I've mentioned before that we are working on being grateful for what we have with the girls. We gave each of them $10 (hardly any money by fair standards!) to spend on what they wanted. The girls chose different things and their choice really highlighted their personality. 

Lo, my stuffed animal hoarder lover didn't disappoint and chose this cute little poodle. She named him Buttons. Buttons cost $10 so she didn't get to ride any rides and she was more than happy with her decision. She snuggled her all afternoon, made her a cozy bed in her room and Buttons even has her own wardrobe. 

Noa of course chose rides and she had a BLAST! The first ride was the flying bumblebees and when I tucked her in at the end of the night she told me it was the best part of her day!

I love this picture! It looks like Nate is riding the bumblebee all by himself!

Her other choice? Five minutes on the slide. She instantly made a friend and their was nothing but five minutes of giggles and fun!

We had a wonderful family day! School starts in a few days and with it comes all the craziness of balancing everyone's schedules. It was a great end to our busy summer!

Quinoa Taboule

So I've heard a lot about how great Quinoa is for you...low in cholesterol, high in protein, lots of essential amino acids...but to me that means it probably taste G-R-O-S-E. I'm not a huge fan of grains, oats, rice, etc (Have you tried steel cut oats?!?! How anyone can eat more than one bite is beyond me!!!), BUT I am trying to lose my baby-weight and get back in shape so I thought I'd search for a recipe that not only would be good for me, but would also taste good. I was pleasantly surprised to find several recipes that had promise. I tried two of them this week and what do you know! They were fab-u-lous! This one is great because it has a lot of flavor, can be served cold or room temperature and it makes A LOT! I didn't have to go too far to find it, it was right on the side of my quinoa package. The girls didn't care for it, but that just meant there was more for me and the hubby to eat. Serve it with a side of veggies and hummus and you've got a healthy and filling meal.

• 2 cups cooked and cooled Quinoa
• 1 cup chopped Parsley
• 1/2 cup chopped Scallions
• 2T chopped fresh mint (or 1t dried)
• 1 Garlic Clove, minced or pressed
• 1T minced fresh Basil (or 1/2t dried)
• 1/2 cup fresh Lemon Juice (Personally I think this was too much, I'd add a little at a time and taste as you go.)
• 1/4 cup Extra Virgin Olive Oil
• 1/4t salt
• 1/8t ground White Pepper
• I also added, seeded cucumber and chopped tomatoes, amounts to your liking

Toss together all ingredients. Chill for 1 hour or more to allow flavors to blend. Makes 6 servings.

Enjoy!

Do you have any quinoa recipes you'd like to share? Send 'em my way I certainly could use more than two!!!

Happy Friday, 

Homemade Moon Sand

As much as I L-O-V-E, love to be crafty and I am not a fan of messy crafts. I hate play-dough, cringe when my child brings home sand-art or glittery pictures from school and we rarely paint. My idea of crafty fun tends to be less messy.

A long time ago, before I had kids, I sent my good friend Amy's son Moon Sand for his birthday. I don't think she's ever forgiven me and who can blame her. Clearly the person who invited it didn't have children and hated moms. It's sticky, sandy and you find it everywhere for days years after it's been put away!

At the end of the school year Lo's class made their own Moon Sand and she came home with a little zip-lock bag filled with her share. She was so excited that she made it, and was pleasantly surprised I let her keep it. She carefully kept it outside and made sure she put it in the bag after playing with it. All was going well until she let her sister have a turn. With in 2 seconds the entire bag of Moon Sand was gone, lost in the cracks and crevices in our screened porch. To say Lo was devastated is putting it mildly (she's a bit of a drama queen), her precious sand was g-o-n-e, gone. Apparently this ridiculous heat caused me to lose my mind, because I said "yes" when the girls asked if we could make our own!

Are you brave enough to make your own?!?!

Here's what you need:

• 9 cups of flour
• 1 1/2 cups of baby oil
• You can also add 1/8 cup of Powdered Tempera Paint per 3 cups of moon sand for colored moon sand if you're feeling especially adventurous. We skipped that step, I think powdered paint would have sent me over the edge.

Put your ingredients into a large container

Then get ready to get dirty and mix everything up together

Add more Baby Oil if needed. You'll know you have enough and everything is mixed well when your sand looks like this:

This was by far a HUGE hit with the girls and the "recipe" makes enough for lots of playtime fun. I definitely recommend keeping it outside and in an area that can be hosed off because it is EVERYWHERE. The girls have played with it everyday since we made it and personally I think the mess is worth the smile on their faces!

Check Ups and Haircuts

Yesterday was G's 2 month check up. He did great and according to our pediatrician, he is perfect! He's a great eater and one of our best sleepers yet! He's definitely a snuggle-bug and is never lacking in hugs and kisses from his sisters.

His Stats

Weight 9lbs, 8oz

Length: 22.5 in

Milestones

Smiling on purpose

Eye contact (he especially likes to look at Daddy's face and ceiling fans)

Likes

Eating

His pacifier

Being held

Snuggling with his sisters

When Daddy whistles

Bath time

Dislikes

When his pacifier falls out

When you put him down

Sleeping in his crib

Having a dirty diaper

After G's check-up the girls and I headed over to JC Penny for FREE haircuts. Did you know they do free kids haircuts the month of August?!?!? Such a great deal! The girls love getting their hair cut. I think it makes them feel so grown up. Each had their own stylist so Logan went off on her own, chatting away. She's just growing up so fast!

Her stylist used the phrase "PLEASE hold still sweetie" about a billion times. I'm surprised her hair actually came out straight. 

Lo did not stop talking from the time she sat down until the end of her haircut. At one point Lo actually said, "I really like to talk a lot!"

Both girls we so happy with their new dos and I'm glad to have another thing check-off on our back to school to-do list!

Make Over Your Monday

Happy Monday everyone! Since I have ended my Blog-ternity Leave it's time to get back on track! That means Make Over Your Monday is back! For those new to Hanging On By A Thread, Make Over Your Monday is where I pose a challenge or task for the week. It's just something to help us get over the Monday blahs and start our week on the right track. The following week we will discuss how we did and how our week went. It's just a great and fun way for us to get to know each other a little better.

In honor of the Olympics, this week's challenge is to come up with what your Olympic specialty would be. It can be an actual Olympic event or one that you design on your own. For example, Lo has been thinking that she may be an Olympic swimmer or diver, but I think her event might be eye rolling. She's gotten REALLY good at it lately and would definitely be a contender for the gold! 

I can't wait to hear all the fun and creative events you come up with! Have a wonderful week!

Lo's First Concert

Again I blame Taylor Swift (she seems to be the instigator a lot around here). She was on tour and coming to Indy last summer and of course Lo wanted to see here. Tickets literally sold out in 3 minutes, you couldn't even get a single ticket! Lo was pretty bummed, she was really hoping to go to a concert. Since then she has been begging to go to a concert. I kept telling her that we would go to one eventually but we just had to find the right one. A few months ago Groupon had a fab-u-lous deal for Big Time Rush tickets. I thought it was the prefect opportunity for Lo's first concert and grabbed two tickets and a few friends to join us. I even bought her a BTR shirt for her to wear. Yep, I was DEFINITELY going to be the coolest mommy ever!!! Since it was several months until the concert I decided to wait until the week before to tell her. It would help avoid hearing, "How much longer until the concert?" each and every day. As the day of the concert got closer and closer I got more excited, I knew she was going to be ecstatic and this I was just the coolest thing ever! Finally the day arrived when I was going to tell her. 

Our conversation went like this:

Me: Hey Lo I have something really exciting planned for us next weekend. 

Lo: What?!?!?

Me: Well, remember how you have always wanted to go to a concert???

Lo: No

Me: What??!? Remember you wanted to go see Taylor Swift but we couldn't and you were so sad and you kept saying that you wanted to go to a concert?

Lo: No

Me: Yes, you've been BEGGING me to go to a concert.

Lo: That wasn't me (Um who else would it be???)

Me: Well, we're going to see Big Time Rush next Saturday with our friends. It's going to be so much fun!

Lo: Oh. I'm hungry. Can I have a snack?

Clearly my "coolest mommy ever" moment was quickly deflated by my 6-year-old. She was even less enthused over the presentation of the t-shirt so I won't bore you with that conversation.

Finally the big night arrived. We had prepared but listening to a few borrowed BTR CDs and Lo was getting a little more excited. She had even learned some of the lyrics.

Lo was very excited to spend time with her friend Grace and the two of them had a great time together. Our seats were on the lawn so they had room to move around and dance, but Lo spent most of the concert on my back so she could see the stage. 

We had a lot of fun singing the songs and "woo hooing" with all the girls in the audience. Lo ended up having a great time and I think her first concert was a success and I may have reclaimed my "Coolest Mommy Ever" status.

Have a wonderful Sunday and thanks for checking in,

Back To School Fun With AstroBrights

This is a Sponsored post written by me on behalf of Astrobrights Papers by Neenah Paper for SocialSpark. All opinions are 100% mine.

You know we're all about the crafty here. We love anything and everything that is messy and full of color. That's why I was excited to hear about AstroBrights paper. It's just our thing. Bright and colorful paper waiting to be turned into magnificent pieces of art! Not only is it great for home projects, but with the start of school just around the corner it's perfect for room mom fliers, school reports and science fair projects. AstroBrights will help you stand out, you certainly wont' be missed!!!

Now you can help your local elementary school win $30,000 in supplies (and a $500 gift card for yourself)-WOW! What school couldn't use a prize like that??? Imagine all the A-MAZ-ING projects done with all that paper!!! Just "like" AstroBrights papers on Facebook and click on the "Sweepstakes" tab to enter the "GIVE A BRIGHTER YEAR" contest. 

We're also big on family time here and the girls love when we all sit at the kitchen table together and create masterpieces together. AstroBrights also has monthly "Make Something AstroBrights" design challenges-so fun. As a bonus you can win a $200 VISA giftcard. This month they want you to share your best paper flowers. Now that's something the girls can really get into. I foresee our house being a total paper flower garden. 

Don't forget to share all your wondeful creations with everyone on Facebook, Pinterest or Twitter. Use the hashtag #goastrobrights so everyone can find you easily!

I can't wait to get my crafty on and check out all the other creative projects you make!!! Don't forget to share them with us-you know how much we love seeing whatch make!!!