Fair Grove Fall Festival

Saturday was the 30th Annual Fair Grove Fall Festival. My mom and I plan around this every year. We get up early Saturday to join the other thousands of people to walk around and look at various craft booths and vendors. There is everything you can imagine that is homemade. This year we took the kids with intentions of spending the morning doing all the kids stuff and then taking them back home for naps and coming back that afternoon to volunteer picking up trash. During which the trash picking up time we would walk around and check out the booths and see if there was anything that caught our eye.

We did indeed do all the fun kid stuff in the morning. Jadon got his face painted with a big snake, Haven screamed when the lady came near her with the paint. Jadon rode the horses, twice, Haven screamed when she got in the fence with the horses. She loved the horses when there was a fence between them and her, but do not get her inside with them. Jadon walked around looking at the old tractors on display. He reminded me so much of my dad. My dad can walk around for hours looking at old cars and old tractors. I think Jadon stared at one tractor for 15 minutes. I had to explain to him that the nice rope they put around the tractor was their way of saying "do not touch". He so wanted to ride the thing.

That was the fun part. Then came the rest of the day. Our church thought it would be servants to the city of Fair Grove and volunteer to help with trash duty for free during the 2 day festival. My mom and I signed up for the afternoon shift. When we got there and learned of our duties and who else was there to serve and I realized this was not going to be as easy as I thought. Also, our duties were not to go around and pick trash off the ground, it was to empty the nasty trash bags out of the trash containers and take them to the biggest dumpsters I have ever seen. Thankfully we did have some men who could heave those bags up into the dumpsters. Our shift lasted 3 hours and we did not get a chance to look at those lovely booths that kept calling out our names. By the time I left I was exhausted, sweaty and regretting the fact that we chose to park in the free parking lot about 10 blocks away. It really wasn't 10, but it definately felt like it!

This poor horse at 9:00 in the morning looked like me at the end of my day. I don't think it could have held it's head up if you put a carrot in front of his face.

Haven after her long day of riding in the stroller, it's amazing how that riding can tucker you out.

Friends, The Circus & Elephants

It seems like some weekends we don't do anything and then others are jammed packed with all kinds of things to do. This past weekend was one of those every minute planned out. Jadon and Haven loved it, they love to go and usually will go anywhere. On Friday morning we met up with a dear friend from highschool that has a daughter the same age as Jadon. We went to the park and let the kids run around while we tried to catch up on things. We have gone all summer without seeing each other. The kids are finally getting old enough where we can actually get some talk time in. Our times together used to be say "hi" and then run after our kiddos the rest of the time and then say "bye" and hugs when we left.

This park had a cave and the kids enjoyed walking around in it. This is a small cave off the big cave.

After naptime we quickly got around and took Jadon & Haven to the circus. We received in the mail free kids tickets and buy 1 get 1 free adult tickets. Praise the Lord we did or we would have really disappointed some really excited kids. I was shocked when I saw the prices to get in! It was so worth it after a long decision on if we wanted to pay the price of the one adult ticket. Jadon loved every minute of it. He sat there through the entire thing watching in awe everything that was going on. Haven loved the animals and once they were done so was she. I ended up taking her outside to run around and look at the animals. While we were out there we got to see the elephant handlers get the elephants dressed and watched how the elephant then helped the lady get on his back. Haven wanted so bad to run over to them. I could just imagine my little Haven starting an elephant stampede and elephants and baby hippos and camels and zebras and llamas running lose all over our mall parking lot. At the very end we gave in to the extra $5 and let Jadon ride an elephant. He thought he was the coolest kid in there, all big and riding an elephant. I remember my first elephant ride at our zoo. I wish they still did that.

Haven and Daddy looking at the animals.

Jadon thought the pretty lady riding the elephant was a clown. While we were watching her get on the elephant he yelled, "look at the clown!" Oh, I hope she didn't hear him.

Look at our proud son in the red. The poor little blonde in the front cried the entire time.

Hey Jude...

Na na na na na ,na na na, hey jude...


So, we had our ultrasound yesterday and we saw very clearly and right away that sometime in February little Jude Ezra Wallace will be joining us. He looked great and was very active. We think we even saw him sucking his thumb, great. We've been wondering what the odds are of having 3 thumb suckers in one household. I told Todd that it looks like our chances are pretty good.

Jadon was glad, I guess, that he is getting a baby brother. In the beginning he wanted a sister, but here the last month he changed his mind and has been wanting a brother. When I showed him the ultrasound pictures he was a little disappointed. I think in his mind he expected them to look like when he has pictures taken. Haven has no idea that she is going to sandwiched in between two brothers. Our household is going to be a blast very soon! I can't wait!

Everything looked good and Jude looked healthy. Thanks for your prayers and we do ask for continued prayers for our little man.

Ultrasound Thursday

For anyone that reads my blog, I know there aren't a lot of you out there and that's okay. I just wanted to give you one last chance to play guess the sex of the baby. On the right side of this blog at the bottom is a link to a website where you can put your guess in as to what you think we might be having. You can also guess the birthday and time and weight. We have our ultrasound on Thursday so I will be closing the game out tomorrow.

You don't have to sign up on anything to play and if you are the one that guesses the best you will win a "Way to go!" and that's it. My office ladies did this with Haven and I thought it would be fun to include others who might want to gander a guess.

We will be sure to post the gender of our little miracle and anything else we might find out at the ultrasound. You can pray for us and this little one that everything looks good. Thank you.

To Be a Daddy

About a month ago a lunch time Jadon, Haven and I were sitting at the kitchen table eating our lunch and I asked Jadon what he wanted to be when he got bigger. He just looked at me, when you ask him a question and he doesn't quite understand it he just stares at you. I asked him again to see if maybe he was just thinking really hard about it. When I asked the question I wasn't sure he would know what he wanted to be when he got bigger. He's 2 1/2 years old, does he understand the concept that he isn't always going to be the way he is now?

After a long pause, I had given up that he was going to answer my question and started to change the subject, he finally said, "a daddy." A daddy, what a great thing to be when you get bigger. We talked about it and I realized that to him the greatest thing in the world he could be is a daddy. There is nothing more important. The daddy is the one who takes care of everyone and fixes things around the house when they're broken. Daddy is the one who reads the Bible stories at night before bedtime. Daddy's, his daddy is very important.

I couldn't wait to tell Todd when he got home what his son found to be the most important job. The thing he wanted to be when he grew up. Still Jadon comments on how he wants to be a daddy when he gets bigger. I think, what a great example he has in his own daddy.

Here is one of my all time favorite pictures of Jadon and Daddy, Jadon is about 7 months here.

New About Jadon & Haven

There has been so much happening in our home right now. The kids are changing so much and I can't keep up with it all. I'm afraid that one day I might not remember those little things that make everyday so much fun. I have a list of things that Jadon and Haven are into right now.

Jadon:
- Has found he enjoys sleeping naked (we go into check on him and he has stripped all clothes off-when asked the next morning his response is, "I like to sleep naked") Hopefully he will be out of this stage when he have the new baby - I can just see me going into labor during the night and having to first dress my naked son before we can leave
- His favorite song is Kindness the Todd Agnew version - it's a little jazzy
- He dances by closing his eyes and swaying to the music
- He wants to be a daddy when he grows up (he has a great example of how to be a great one just by watching his daddy)
- Is very protective of Haven (watch out boys!!)
- Loves to get his Bible down and read it (we pray he does this his entire life)
- Opens the car door for me (he learned this from daddy)
- Can't wait for it to be his birthday (he's waited so patiently through everyone else parties)

Haven:
- Has a purse aunt Mal got her for her birthday that she loves to carry around on her arm
- Loves to wear her shoes (as soon as she's up from nap she is asking to have her shoes put back on - such a girl)
- Has become stingy with her kisses again (poor daddy, he seems to be the one she withholds from the most)
- Wants to read books by pointing to the pictures and saying "that" (once you actually start reading the book to her she's done)
- Had her first Pebbles' hair-do on September 22
- She loves to have her hair done
- Has started walking around the house squatting like a duck (she thinks it's hilarious when she starts walking around like that)
- Enjoys trying to run from you in public places (how fun this will be when I'm 8-9 months preggo)
- Loves to snuggle with me in her room right before bedtime
*edited to add - she loves to hug herself in the mirror

Picture of Haven with her new do

My oh My, Where's September Gone?

I was looking at my last post and saw it was in August. Man, have I slacked in September. I also want to know where in the world the month has gone. In just a couple of weeks Jadon will turn 3. My little boy is growing up so fast!

So, what has the Wallace family been up to this entire month? We went to visit the Hirsch family over Labor Day and see little Bethany for the first time. She takes after the other Hirsch girl's, beautiful. I think it's impossible for Gary and Lynette to have a baby that isn't just beautiful. We had a wonderful, relaxing visit as usual. Our times together are so refreshing and often times way too short. Here are pictures of Bekah & Jadon, Belle & Haven and Bethany.