Fall Carnival

Last night we took Bryce to the fall carnival at the rural school near us. All the kids dressed up in their costumes and took their halloween buckets/bags around collecting the candy and soda's (???) they won for playing the carnival games.

This year we let Bryce decide what he wanted to be for Halloween and he promptly declared he wanted to be Spiderman! 

So Spiderman it is, or Peter Parker depending on your perspective.According to Bryce he's Spiderman-Peter Parker. I'm not exactly sure how he knows that!

 

 Most of the games were pretty simple, like this "fishing" one. A fish hopped on the clothes pin and the number written on the fish determined what group of prizes he was able to select from. Of course at this point he was very clingy and didn't find that his legs were working.

As for many of the more "difficult" games, he did surprisingly well! In the "Toilet Paper Toss" game he actually made a roll of toilet paper in the "goal".

Other games included throwing a tennis ball at a pyramid of 6 milk jugs. His first ball knocked 5 of the 6 down, then on the second one he nailed the remaining milk jug! I think the kids running the game booth were extremely impressed...I know I was!

Overall it was a cheap form of entertainment and Bryce was able to get a start on his Halloween candy gathering.

Apparently sometime last month Bryce had his first school picture taken. 

Of course I didn’t know this in advance or maybe he would have been dressed differently…or maybe I would have even fixed his hair. 

They offered these little packages where you can get an OU calendar (or OSU, if that’s what you like). Of course if he wasn’t wearing orange (the colors of OSU) I might have ordered an OU calendar.

Either way, I believe I may have just received a fantastic item of blackmail.

 

Pumpkin Patch Post

Last night in an effort to avoid the crowds, I decided to take Bryce to the local Pumpkin Patch. First I would like to apologize for his crazy hair. The little bit that is there was in a "pony tail" when I picked him up from daycare and needless to say it pretty much stayed sticking up after I took out the rubber band! 

He was so excited to be finally going to the Pumpkin Patch and once again loved climbing over the pumpkins!

 I had promised him a pony ride and he was ever anxious to saddle up! I loved that they had "seat belts" to secure the little ones.

 I believe this has to be one of all my time favorite pictures. Unfortunately I haven't figured out how to edit in Photoshop similar to how I have done it with Instagram!

He's a little lazy and wanted to ride in the wagon!

 I hadn't planned on him also taking a camel ride. After paying for the pony ride all I had left was $1 in cash, which wasn't enough for the camel ride also and they only took cash for it. So we loaded up our pumpkins and went inside the building to get some fudge, which is absolutely amazing! 

Inside was the owner's wife, daughter, and niece, whom I have known for over 15 years since this was my first job when I was 16. At that point Bryce had started having a meltdown about not being able to ride the camel. You know... those moments that Mom's are SO proud of! When they realized the reason he wasn't able to ride the camel was because I didn't have any cash, they were kind enough to loan me the $5 so Bryce could ride that darn camel! Everyone is a sucker for this boy!

Now it looks like we'll have to go back by there so I can repay my debt! That's just convenient!

My Little Pony

So living out in the country, our neighbors tend to have pets other than dogs and cats. Many around us have chickens, peacocks, donkeys, pigs, and of course horses. The neighbors to the west of us, have some ponies, which Bryce believes are his!

So the other day I had some apples that were getting close to point of getting thrown out, so I cut them up so Bryce could feed them to "his" ponies. 

 Of course he had to make sure the apples tasted alright!

 

And he was dressed the part in his pearl-snap shirt and boots!

 

 

Retirement

I am officially retired from being a Matron of Honor. Heck, I'm probably retired from ever being a bridesmaid again. After being in 6 or 7 weddings, and being a Matron of Honor twice, I think I deserve it!

 

I love my friends, and I am happy they all felt I was worthy of being a bridesmaid. For each one I have definitely done everything I could to make their special day, and the events preceding their day, as perfect as possible.
 

I have to admit I am a little bit of a control freak, and I have no problem taking care of things myself or finding a way to get them done quickly so I'm sure that's a trait that caused me to be a desirable bridesmaid. As my Mom said it "Laura just doesn't do things halfway". It's true, I usually go above and beyond what I have to do with ANYTHING!

So last weekend I was able to witness my very best friend get married to one of the best guys I know! They are perfect for each other in every way and I'm excited to see what the future brings for this couple. Congratulations you two, I hope you guys had a fabulous time in Cabo...and you better be ready for St Thomas here in a few weeks! 

Bryce was excited about dancing at the wedding and of course he was excited to have some cake. From what I heard from other guests he did show off some of his moves before he went home with my parents, but I'm not sure if he got any cake or not. 

 
After almost 10 years I have no regrets getting married just the two of us in Eureka Springs; the only thing I would change would be to do it on the beach instead...of course money was much tighter back then.

Fearless at the fair

After the fiasco we had last year finding a parking spot at the Tulsa State Fair, I decided that we would go this year during the workday and hopefully avoid the massive crowds that we encountered. 

 

So the fair began last night.  We were given the opportunity to purchase discount tickets through my work again this year and I decided a few weeks ago that I would take off today and take Bryce to the fair.

We were there right as the gates opened. We had no problem finding a parking spot and, apparently, avoided the crowds. 

We started off at the petting zoo since I anticipated that it would be busier the later in the day it got. I think this was Bryce's favorite part! He recognized most animals and learned a few new ones.

This one had a baby in its pouch! You can barely see it in the picture.

Silly goat!

Not exactly sure what this is, I believe it is some variety of a deer. 

 Little baby piggies!

From the petting zoo, since the rides hadn't yet started for the day we venture through one of the exhibitor buildings. They had a butterfly sanctuary and we were able to see many varieties of butterflies. 

Finally after exploring the exhibits, it was time for the rides to begin! Bryce was very excited about getting on the rides and Daddy was kind enough to volunteer to ride with him.

Mommy was finally volunteered to take Daddy's place as Bryce's ride partner.

 

At least we were all able to take a ride on the ferris wheel together! 

It was a smaller ferris wheel but we were still able to have a great view of the entire fairground. 

I was a little disappointed to find that Bryce was still a little too short for most of the rides, even with riding with an adult. For most rides the height minimum was 36 inches and Bryce was about 35 inches! Just barely too short! Hopefully he'll grown at least an inch over the next year.

Extreme Sports

Bryce is into just about any sport he can think of! At his request many sports based apps have been added to my phone. Out of the blue, he decided he wanted some roller skates. So after debating about ordering them online since I had not been able to find them in a couple of different stores I stumbled upon some at the Walmart near my Mom's house. 

I probably should invest in a helmet, elbow pads, and knee pads!