Tulsa State Fair Winner

This year for the Tulsa State Fair, Emma Jane wanted to enter her sewing in the competitive portion of the fair.  They have an age category for 10 to 13 year olds to enter.  The fair had been going on for about a week before we finally made it.  You aren't told how you placed so you have to go and look for yourself.  When we walked into the arena it took some time to locate her age group and when we found her projects they both were adorned with ribbons. 

She won a first place and a third place!  She was so excited!

This is a quilted pillow she made which earned first place in the pillowcase division.

 

Her lunch pail and place mat earned a third place ribbon behind two very sophisticated quilts.

She just started sewing in March and already has surpassed me.  This has really fueled her energy towards the craft.

When we first arrived at the fair, I heard Lucy say "that girl in red looks like 'sissy'".  I was focused on getting to the exhibit area so I didn't stop to look at what she was talking about.  In typical mom fashion I dragged my five year old by the hand through crowds of people ignoring what she was saying to me.  Then she said it again.  I was once again too distracted to pay her mind.

Finally, upon entering the building to buy the mega ride pass Emma Jane and I saw these banners everywhere with her picture on it.  I said "Emma!  Look!"  

Lucy looked up at me and said, "I told you about five times that I saw sissy but you were so extracted!"  (I am pretty sure she meant distracted, but I didn't correct her because she was feeling pretty superior to me, so I just let it go and told her that I was very sorry for being too extracted.)  She smiled and told me that it was okay but that I should put my listening ears on next time.

The back story:  About two years ago someone came to Emma's school and recruited children to be in print ads for the fair.  We had to sign a release and got into the fair for free.  We were followed around by a photographer and they were photographed for a couple of hours and then set free to have fun.  Then we never saw anything else about it.  Until this year when we walked around and saw these banners.  The person who saw us taking this picture said they had these banners out last year, but I certainly didn't see them.  (And neither did Lucy!)

All in all, it was a very big day for Emma Jane.  She won two ribbon and got to see herself all over the Tulsa State Fair. 

More Boat Time

Because we were in Dallas and heading home, and because the kids were out of school for one more day, and because we can't seem to get enough time on a boat, we drove up to Lake Texoma on our way home and stayed on Grandpa's boat for the night.

Now it's October here in Texas/Oklahoma and the nights are cooler and that is just when sleeping on a boat is the best!

Food tastes better on a boat.  It also tastes better on a cool fall evening when the whole cabin is filled with not only the smell of the chili but the heat from the stove.

That is the moon over the water.  We played cards and then snuggled down into our bunks for the night with the cool crisp air blowing across our faces all night long.  The sounds of a few halyards banging and the occasional discontented duck were the soundtrack to our dreams.

The next morning while the smell of bacon and coffee was permeating every cubic inch of the cabin, Emma took the camera and started snapping pictures.

My I just woke up and I am not really sure you should be pointing that thing at me look.

This photo is what Emma Jane titled "Classic Mom".  Iphone in one hand, coffee in the other.

Lucy's don't bug me face

I love the next series of shots Emma got while Lucy and I were playing.  I am so happy to have my own little photographer in training.  How lucky I am to be raising a child with such an eye.

And always thinking of inclusion, she made sure she got Daddy in the action too.

I love this growing girl.  She surprises me every day with her talents, but more importantly with her kindness and loving spirit.  She is equally at home holding her own in a conversation with adults or entertaining young children who are feeling nervous.  She is fascinated by the atomic spectrum of an element and how that is unique to each element, but just as interested in art and literature and sewing.  She is a creature who refuses to be labeled.  She is comfortable with herself and that is what every parent hopes and prays for.  I am in awe of her.

We had a great time aboard Miss Magic.  Thank you Grandpa for letting us stay there.  As with camping, we tried to leave it a little better off than before we got there.  We sure took away more great memories.

Dallas

Last weekend was fall break here in our fair city.  The girls were out of school for five days, counting the weekend!  So because we had the time away and because we had a wedding to attend in Dallas, we loaded up and drove the 5 hours to Dallas, Texas.

We stayed the first night with some friends of my brother Greg.  They have a lovely home that they opened up to us as if my children would not scar the furniture or mar their lovely floors.  They were gracious hosts.

 They had a sidewalk to run on.

A pool to dip your feet into (or try in vain to talk your mom into letting you dip your whole 5 year old body into).

A beautiful yellow lab named Joey to love on.

We stayed up late talking and catching up.  George and I tried to get Mike and Jim to turn off the baseball game and watch an episode of Glee, but we failed.  After what seems like a marathon summer and fall, it was a relaxing way to start our mini vacation. 

Mike and I slept late the next morning without knowing that Lucy had been up since 6:15, hanging with the boys.  I am so sorry George and Jim.  I thought she was still asleep, I really did.  She is NEVER quiet once she wakes up! 

Little Lucy just barely made the cut in that picture taken by her big sister...

After a leisurely morning with Jim and George we set off to the Perot Museum of Nature and Science.  We spent the whole day there.  It was a blast! 

It has things for so many different ages.  Lucy was still engaged at five years old but it was definitely geared more towards Emma's demographic.  You start at the top and work your way down, floor by floor.  The section on Space was very well done, Emma and I wanted to spend much more time there.  We were all surprised by the huge number of dinosaur artifacts and fossils that were native to Texas.  They did a great job of keeping it local (and keeping it interesting).

We scored some super cute t-shirts from the museum, seen here.

The next day was the wedding day and I made my family get all dressed up and go to the venue early so we could get pictures. 

A few of my favorites... Just fifteen or twenty...

And now for the Instagram recap.

It was a lovely wedding and reception.  The bride looked absolutely stunning and she actually looked like she was enjoying herself.  Emma Jane closed down the dance floor and Lucy took a two hour nap on her daddy.

After the reception and when the bride and groom had made their big departure, I approached the DJ and asked him to play one more song.  He played "Forever Like That" by Tulsa native, Ben Rector.  I danced with my husband while the workers took down the lights and the food service people packed up the table cloths, but it was still the best 3 minutes of the whole night.

Twenty-five years ago this month, I went out on a date with a young man that is now the pillow to my Lucy.  If you had told that seventeen year old girl that twenty five years later he would still be making her knees weak, I wonder if she would have believed it.