The Western Idaho Fair, yeehaw!

Such a pretty sight. I stole this shot from Natalia's Instagram (@all_these_things).

We squeezed in a carousel ride right before we left for the day. This was after 11pm, and the kids were still going strong!

I never play games at the fair. Am I missing out? I just can't bear to hand over money for such dinky little games. Also, it reminds me of Las Vegas, all these hopeful people betting on winning, though most of them never do.

My one ride of the night. Ben needed an adult to ride this with him, so we spun and rattled around on this together all in the name of saying we did. :)

When we arrived, Natalia was on the ferris wheel with Noah and Olivia.

Yes, he looks exhausted, but at least he came.

Can't believe I haven't posted photos of the fair yet! I was trying to figure out how I'm going to keep a baby happy all day in the chaos and heat that is the fair, and then my sister volunteered to help me. She took the older three kids in the early afternoon, and B and I showed up late that evening as the last of the light was fading for the day. The older kids got to ride to their hearts' content all day long, Noah had buddies to enjoy the fair with, and B, I, and Naomi got just enough of the fair to satisfy us.

Four weeks makes a big difference

There is a four-week difference between the pool pictures and the bed pictures below them. I guess it's kind of hard to tell the differences in her in pictures, but this little girl is getting further and further away from being little. She's growing out of her clothes by the week, and I can barely keep up and keep her clothed! Her eyes are losing that tiny baby puffiness, and she weighs 17 pounds now. I think she was about 13 pounds in the first photos. The best thing about the last week or so is how she focuses on things around her instead of being completely oblivious. She's also focusing on her hands with her eyes and moving them deliberately to where she wants them to go instead of flailing around randomly. She is holding toys now, and needs to touch things that are around her. It's so fun to see her blossom like that, like a flower opening to the sun. I love it!

xoxo,
Tanya

Life lately

I haven't forgotten about this blog, I've just been so busy lately. It's kind of annoying to say that, because I'm always trying to get to a place where I have time for everything, and where everything is under control, and I can't seem to get there. I don't want to be busy and stressed and complaining that I don't have time to relax and that I don't have time for me. B has been working more than ever before these last two weeks, so it's basically been all me at home with four kids, three of which are in soccer. Ouch. I signed them all up this season because they all wanted to play. I knew it would be busy, but it's been pretty brutal driving them to five practices and three games a week. I just want them to have fun childhoods where they got opportunities that I never had as a kid, so I try to provide that.

The first weekend they all had games, we made it to Mila and Ben's game as well as two birthday parties, and I just couldn't make it to Olivia's game on time. I guess I should have expected something to fall through the cracks. B and I were both driving around town like crazy people. Then, as if we hadn't had enough excitement, we cleaned out the garage. Then on Sunday Ben and Mila went to a Nerf gun place with a couple of their friends and Olivia went to the water park with her cousin Noah. Such a full weekend it was!

Then last weekend I decided to have a garage sale with my sister, so I figured out how each kid will get to their game without me. It took some planning, but I made it work. Prepping for the garage sale, though, was pretty brutal. We just had way more stuff than I thought we did, and I literally spent all day Friday either taking care of Naomi or sorting and pricing things, and Natalia did the same. The sale went really well, but we were both exhausted by the end of it. And of course on Sunday, I had my first Sunday School lesson to teach after summer break.

Tomorrow we have three more games with pictures beforehand, starting bright and early at 8 am. And I'm sitting here trying to avoid going to bed. Life has been throwing curve balls at me lately, and some of them have really gotten me down. Also, life just feels like a bunch of busywork, and I don't know how to change that. There's just so much to do. I've just been go, go, go, with no time to sit back and analyze and adjust. From the time I get up to the time I go to bed it's all about housework, school, homework, dinner, baths, laundry, groceries, bed, and repeat. Ex.haus.ting. I feel like a guinea pig in it's wheel, running full speed but getting nowhere. Hopefully I can get off of it soon, and get back to blogging, see a friend or two, host a dinner, date my husband. And maybe even take a bath. I'm working up to it. :)

xoxo,
Tanya

August on my phone

Looking back at August, I see that basically all my pictures are of my kids, and about half are of Naomi. Obviously that's what life is about these days, and I'm okay with that. I'm going to soak it all in, give it my all, and soon enough the baby won't be so little anymore and B and I'll be reminiscing about this time in our lives. I guess we just can't get enough of that adorable little baby of ours!

This month we took a trip to California, spent a day at the Discovery Center, celebrated Ben's birthday, went to the pool, ate lots of chocolate, couldn't stay away from Naomi, went to the water park, went camping, hung out with my sis and her husband from Seattle, went to a birthday party, watched Noah and Adele during their parents' date night, started school, started soccer, and tried to make Naomi smile every chance we got. It was a good month, but an exhausting month, so I say good thing it's over and things are slowing down a bit. At least the weather is gradually cooling off, and I can feel change in the air. Maybe one of these days I'll actually want to use the covers at night, when I'm not sweating bullets.

xoxo,
Tanya