Fall Festival

This weekend, Papa and PJ came for a visit. We haven't seen them since they were here in May to help out after H was born. S had to go on a business trip, leaving me to care for a preemie, two little girls and recover from an emergent situation. It wasn't pretty. I never would have survived without their help. They did countless loads of laundry, cleaned my house from top to bottom and made my life much easier.

Friday was our school's Fall Festival. The girls got all dressed up as "Ice Princesses." I'm not real sure where the Ice Princess came from but I went with it. Since we have tons of princess dress-up stuff, I saw no reason to spend $14.99 on another princess outfit. I found some inexpensive crown/earring sets and added those to our existing costumes. The girls were so excited about the crowns and earrings that they had no idea that most kids get new things for Halloween/Fall Festival. H got to wear a bumblebee costume I purchased for K for her first Halloween. He wore it for all of five minutes, just long enough to get a picture.

The festival was fun. The girls had a great time although it took them a little while to warm up to the large crowd. The best booth, according to K, was the "Go Fish" booth. It's there every year and the little kids (preschool and kindergarten) get to fish for candy. This year, however, they gave out live goldfish. She looked up at me and said, "Mommy, I really hope I get a fish."

Let me take this opportunity to recall a story from my own childhood. My dad took me to the state fair when I was about 10. My friend, Susan, went with us, along with a couple of other girls my age. We played games, rode rides, ate junk. All things you normally do at the fair. We all played the throw-the-ping-pong-ball-in-the-fishbowl game and one by one, each started winning a fish. Susan, however, didn't win a fish. My father made me give her my last ball and, wouldn't you know it, she won a fish. I was the only one who didn't. This has been a sore spot for a very long time.

So when K said she really hoped she got a fish, I flashed back to my 10-year-old self and did all I could to make sure K got that fish. I was so proud when she fished a fish (which was promptly named Aurora)! Fortunately, we had an extra fish bowl at home and some fish food so Aurora has taken up residence in our living room.

After over an hour of wandering around, the adults (and H) were ready to go home. The kids had a blast and we have survived yet another school-related function.

I left our camera in the car so I will post pictures from said festival as soon as Papa downloads them from his camera and sends them to me. For now, here are a couple of pictures of the kids prior to the festival.