Arboretum with the girls....

The girls and I and my mom ventured off to the Dallas Arboretum after biblestudy a few weeks ago. I had always heard it was beautiful with all the pumpkins. I cannot believe I had never been in the fall and I grew up less than 30 minutes away from it. I have decided there is never a bad season to visit the Arboretum. It was amazing. So many pumpkins and flowers, even a house made of pumpkins. Riley had a blast. I took my dad's camera just to get the chance to take pictures with an super fancy, high-tech camera. The camera was awesome, but it was super tough for me to learn so not as many pictures came out (with my children) in focus as I would have wanted.

On the way to the pumpkin house...


This is the one Riley wanted to take home....


Hey, let's go this way to the pumpkin house!


Riley is standing inside at the window,
but is too short to peek out.


Follow me thru the maze...


Can you still see me by these pumpkins?


Kelsey was not a big fan of the hay, grass or
pumpkins...this is the only picture where she
is not crying...still cute though


Look who we found by the pumpkin house,
our buddy Jarrett!!! Riley and Jarrett are so
cute and shy around each other.

2008 State Fair with the Stephenses

We LOVE the State Fair! At the end of the summer when we are a little sad cause its over, we cheer ourselves up with the thought that the fair is right around the corner. We did miss going with our fair buddies this year (Nick, Meredith and Reese Floyd) our schedules didn't line up. So we flew solo - it was not the same. We missed you Floyds!


Off with a bang. Jarrett couldnt have been more excited to be there. He dragged Riley around in her monkey backpack/kid leash. The best invention ever when bringing toddlers to the fair.


It's hard to tell in this pic. But Riley is watching Big Tex speak. Big Tex is a big deal in our house. Last year after the fair, Riley's sillyness started coming thru when she would repeat anything she heard him say and imitate his voice for all other sentences for days at a time. She loved Big Tex. But this year, we learned lots of things she liked last year, not so much this year. Jarrett is talking to a friend of ours who happens to be a police officer patrolling the fair. You can see the markings of his uniform behind Jarrett's back. Didn't want you to think we were in trouble with the law!



Here is our family fair pic (Riley refused to stand at the base of Big Tex for a picture). Jarrett is getting really good at the one arm picture taker for our family. We are awaiting Riley's favorite event - the dog show. She goes nuts for this show. This is the one thing she liked last year and this year. We took her thru the petting zoo before this picture thinking it would be super fun and we would take lots of fun pictures. Think again. I have never seen someone run so fast thru the petting zoo. No pictures were taken. Not even with the mama pig and her babies - Riley, were you really afraid of the mama pig or just acting like a 3 year old? The latter.


Riley and daddy watching the dogs run off the deck into the water - her favorite event!



This was Riley's favorite "ride" at the fair. She had the best view.


This was Mommy's view for the majority of the day.


Here is something sad I noticed about the Midway. No, not the attire of the younger generations hanging out there. If you grew up in Dallas and have gone to the fair almost every year of your existance, like myself, you will remember this. There is one ride called the "Magnum" named after Magnum P.I.. I don't know what the ride is, but I know where it is because it is near where the fried oreos are sold. Picture the Magnum ride. Remember the spray painted mural as the backdrop, where a young Tom Selleck has a big blue (Dodgers or Detroit tigers - I can't tell the difference) baseball hat sitting atop his very, very puffy hair....jog your memory. Can you see it now? IT'S GONE!!! They kept the name, but repainted the backdrop to some terrible, terrible "lady pictures". I was so upset. You know that picture has been the backdrop for at least 30 years. Not to show my age. I was soooo upset. Jarrett just thought it was the sugar high wearing off, but I am truly sad Tom is gone. Is this something we can write to someone about. Who will start the petition to bring Tom back?


Riley was tall enough to go on the kids rides, but she wasn't interested in any of them except "The Monkey Maze". So she and Daddy went together. Here they are walking thru the "glass maze". I couldn't hear a thing, but every once in a while Jarrett would have to stop and dry her tears because she would literally run full speed ahead into a glass panel. It was hard not to giggle at - in love of course. Thank goodness she had her monkey hat on to protect her snout!


Waving from the top deck!


We made it! And when we couldnt go thru again because mommy and daddy wouldnt go buy 12 more tickets, the meltdown started. It was 1:15ish and we knew she was wearing down from our 2+ hours of walking and eating. But it was crying and some kicking (specifically when we did not purchase the Dora balloon that we walked by). So no cotton candy for the road.




Not even 10 minutes after we buckled her in. She was out, snoring, drooling and all. Now that's the sign of a good day at the fair.

The Stephens's 2008 State Fair Food Review....

Gluttons maybe, but we like to see ourselves as Fair Foodies. We love to eat at the State Fair. This year was a bit of a challenge since we have been eating much healthier over the last 3 or so months. Jarrett somehow has lost all my baby weight from Kelsey and then some. So its working out great for him. Believe it or not, we did not eat as much as we have in the past. But i believe we ate back all of the fat and calories we had been shaving off!

Here is our 2008 menu
1) The traditional corny dog (with mustard). This is always our first stop, no matter where we park. Don't even tell us you went to the fair if you did not have a corny dog. To watch my calorie intake, I shared 4 toddler sized bites of my corny dog with Riley. Washed it down with a lemonade. Dogs were great this year. We always seem to burn the tar out of our mouths because they are too hot to eat and we just can't wait to inhale them, but this year the temperature was perfect. Thank you Fletcher's!!!






2) Fried grilled cheese. Where is the picture you ask? We ate it so fast, it was gone before I could break out the camera. It was that good. This was our fair favorite this year. It was awesome. The cheese could have been of a richer quality, but this is the state fair. It also came with 3 perfect surprises - a pickle, shoestring fries and a side of tomato (soup) dipping sauce. We think this may have been one of the top winners in the "crazy fried food inventions for the fair" contest they have listed in the newspaper every year. It was our winner for sure!

3) Tornado taters. Jarrett gets them every year. But this will be our last. It is basically a peeled up potato that is fried (yummy) and then covered in cheese (room temp. liquid-y velveeta - not so great). Don't think we let a crumb go to waste, we are the Stephens family. But we just feel we could have spent our tickets better by getting something else.






4) Roasted corn. Add a little butter sauce and a sprinkle of Tony Cachere's and it perfection. We are a true corn family, creamed, on the cob, off the cob, white, yellow - we don't care. Always a crowd pleaser. Bring dental floss unless you are on your way out the door, its messy.




5) Fried oreos. Debbie's favorite. That's right, #5. The three little pigs had 5 things to eat and were there for 2.5 hours. Would have had cotton candy on our way out, but all the sugar turned our child into a terror and it was time for naps! Back to the oreos. They are the ultimate comfort food for me. I crave them all year round. They don't sound good, but trust me on this. They come out piping hot. So let them cool and don't inhale when you eat them - they are coated in powder sugar and you will choke and blow out powder sugar smoke. Notice that Jarrett is holding his hand out for Riley to give him back his oreo. Sorry, charlie. Didnt happen.



All in all it was a good eating day for us. We do wish we had tried the fried peanut butter, jelly and banana sandwiches. There is always next year!

Riley - 5, Daddy - 1 (bite)

Dad, Come to my Donuts with Daddy breakfast...I made this invitation just for you. Pretty please with sugar on top (just like my favorite donut!)...



Riley had 4 donut holes, 1 full donut and Daddy had one bite of donut. Shouldn't it be the other way around, best of luck to Riley's teachers that day...



And of course they had to sit by Grant (yellow shirt). He and Riley are big buddies.



Riley had to "fill out" a fact sheet about Daddy for the teacher to introduce him with. See Jarrett's facts below this picture.

My daddy's name: Daddy
My daddy works at: church
My daddy's eyes are: blue
My daddy's favorite sport: nothing....(its better she remember him this way than knowing that he is obsessed with college football...this is one of those "truths" she is just better off not knowing about her father).

What we love to do now...

Here is a slew of pics just to show what the girls are up to or into.....
Kelsey is almost 9 months and Riley is 3 years and 2 months.


Kelsey looooove's her carrier. She will wander around the living room trying to get to it and into it...its like her little throne. She is so proud of herself when she gets all settled in.



Wild hair women. Yes, this is with a little product. Kelsey's fell a little flat early.



Here is our army-crawler who is already pulling up to a stand and trying to climb. Is it mean or wrong to swipe her legs out from under her - didnt think so.....



Princess of the leaves. She was "line leader" that day in school. Don't worry, we were at a red light when I took this picture.



Climbing Mt. Daddy. He is their favorite mountain to climb on.....

Cubbies...cue the music

For those of you with little ones in Awanas - you know the tune. Jarrett found the "Cubbie theme song" on the internet and it gets played anytime his computer is open. Or you can hear Riley's rendition for the other 23 hours of the day.....
When I was growing up we had G.A.'s and R.A.'s. Still just a great Wednesday night program (at our church) where they are memorizing Bible verses, singing songs and learning all sorts of great things. Now they have Awanas. When you begin at 3 years old - you are a Cubbie. I had no idea that Riley would love it as much as she does. Unfortunately we are only able to attend every other week due to where we live, how late we get out, maintaining my grasp on sanity and our schedule. A few weeks ago we were in the car driving home from church on a Wednesday night and Riley said, "Mommy, I need a Cubbie coat and a Cubbie bag and of course the Cubbie book." I had no idea what she was talking about. So I discovered that after so many weeks of attendance and verses memorized, they are eligible to purchase these items. The more verses the learn, they earn patches - which my mom will be sewing on. We got all of the Cubbie equipment Riley needed/wanted really.... and had I not forced her to change she would still have it on. We have to hang all of it in a closet and its off limits until we get to the church on Wednesday nights.... otherwise it would never come off. Before we recognized the proud obsession, she walked proudly around the house all day with her vest on (coat to Riley) and bag on her shoulder - singing the Cubbie song. Even while using the bathroom. Needless to say that Riley is a proud Cubbie and we are so very proud of her......