The Fulton County Fair at the Top of Ohio

While up in Northwest Ohio, we had the great luck to be able to attend the Fulton County Fair. This is supposed to be the best fair in all of Northwest Ohio. I do have to admit it was pretty good. First, it had lots of machinery and junk food stands. Second, I'm not from Fulton county so I had almost zero chance of running into someone I know while I was not so delicately eating a carmel apple. And Third, we went with the enitre Seibert clan so there was all kinds of fun to be had. As I said in an earlier post, Evie missed the State Fair this year. She didn't miss her yearly shot of sitting on a John Deere 5000 series tractor. Someday I'm going to dig up all those pictures and make a montage.
Eight kids in one tractor tire. Is Eight enough?? NO way! We are eagerly anticipating the arrival of a new cousin sometime in the next month. We all decided that it should be named after a tractor. Kubota Moline has a nice ring to it, don't you think Aunt Elizabeth and Uncle Kevin?

Evie can just barely still fit in the largest wheel we could find.

Annalise is still small enough to fit one more year.

There was even a sprayer that the kids could climb up on. Talk about Heaven for Oliver and Henry.

Grandpa, we think you need a bobcat for the yard. June will drive.

Georgie even got in on the action. She wasn't into sittting in a tire, but did grace us with her deep knee squats in her ridiculous square dance skirt.

Look at all those beautiful ladies walking down the street. I hope that Aunt Elizabeth doesn't get mad about the belly shot.

Check out how tall these sunflowers grew!

Evie found the largest pumpkin in Fulton County

I lifted my meat ban to enjoy this delicous smoked pork chop on a stick. It was wonderful, but it was definately my meat intake for the month.

In the true spirit of the fair, Aunt Becky and Uncle Bran found love in the cattle barn. Look closely to see the cow behind them peeing.

Natalie was riding this wild hay bale.

Annalise also found true love at the fair. Can she keep them at your house, Grandpa?

John and Kingkini's wedding

This Labor Day weekend, we traveled up to Paulding, Ohio to witness the blessing of my cousin John and his wife, Kingkini's marriage. Even though it was 100 degrees outside, these two guys looked pretty cool. Henry was the ring bearer.
The girls were excited to get cleaned up and dressed up all fancy for the wedding and the reception.

Aunt Becky was the chief reader during the ceremony.

Tessa was the chief cheeseball (check out Owen in the background in Aunt Elizabeth's belly)

The beautiful bride and groom exchange their vows.

After the ceremony, Oliver took off to find his buddy, Henry.

Look at all these kids dressed up and looking sweet. They were so good that they earned at trip to the DQ!

Congratulations John and Kingkini--I can't wait to join you for your next wedding in India! That's right, after I get all my shots and Visa, I'm going to India in January! Anyone want two kids for two weeks?

At the DQ, we pumped the kids full of ice cream and then let them run circles around the place. June was pretty impressed by these giant ice cream cones that didn't melt outside.

These cones didn't taste as good as the ones inside.

At the reception, Evie amused herself by making earrings out of pretzels.

Henry's major bribe for being good at the front of the church (and not picking his nose) was this LEGO car. He didn't bother to eat until it was all put together.

The laser eye portion of the family.

Me and Oliver. Just between us, I think he is my favorite Seibert right now. In June he told me that when he grows up that he was going to marry me. Then in church, we kissed and got married. Unfortunately for me, I heard he has also married his sister Tessa 5 or 6 times so I guess that I'm just another sister wife.

Georgiana and Grandma take a spin around the dance floor.

And the big girls all work on their polka moves. Three girls dancing, Aunt Becky, drink three.

We thought we heard Georgie say "grandpa" so we left her with Grandpa and a pile of crackers while the rest of us were dancing.

Tessa really turned on the charm and fun now that she is 3 and soon to be a big sister.

Oliver inspects Henry's finished car.

And then the night came to an end and someone had to break it to these party goers that it was time to go home. What a wonderful party and beautiful wedding. Congratulations again, John and Kingkini.

Bountiful harvest

Annalise and I did some gardening this week. We had to clean up the garden to get it ready to plant our fall crops of lettuces, chard, and spinach. A little rain would be nice.... We planted carrots this year. And we probably waited a bit too long to dig them up. Annalise was pretty excited about this giant one.
This was the rest of the carrots. They weren't too bad. A little bitter.

Our harvest for the morning. We feasted on fresh tomato soup for lunch and had a big bowl of green beans for dinner.

Soccer and Swimming

It's almost fall in our neck of the woods and that means all the kiddos are involved in soccer. Evie is back on the white team again this year. She is #7 in the middle. Not getting a lot of help from her teammates. Her team name is White Dynamite. The other team was called the Highlighters. Haha.

Evie getting ready for action while assistant coach Dad looks on. I think they are both having fun this season. Evie is getting more coordinated and quick with the ball. If there was just something we could do about her genetic predisposition to having the ball hit her in the face.

We have only a few days left of pool time. I think the kids are pooled out. That's ok because the days are getting shorter and cooler and the pool is getting cold too. Evie did not want to go to the pool. She only agreed to come if we let her bring a book along.

Over on the edge, Annalise gets ready to do some serious swimming.

What a show off.

Annalise's swimming skills have really improved this year. She is confident enough to swim all over the pool. If it weren't for her darn goggles fogging up and leaking water, she would be under water all the time. But, with only a few days left, no new goggles for this kid. Heck, I even have half of the beach towels already put away!

Evie did get in the water that day for a time. She spent most of the time reading and couldn't be bothered to put her book down on the walk home. Good thing the sidewalk was straight.

Annalise finally mustered up the courage to jump in off the diving board. What a little fish.

Everyone loves a parade

One Sunday, the cul-de-sac crew decided to have a parade around the block for all of their lucky neighbors. There was a clown (Paige), Bubble Blower (Evie), and Princess (Annalise). The big girls were there as escort and carriage puller.
We also had music playing. Yellow Submarine anyone?

Despite the racket, we only had a few neighbors outside to wave to. It really didn't matter to the parade organizers. They had fun.

Mom's Birthday

On August 17, we celebrated another year of Mom.

What better way to combat another year of getting older than my very own LEGO space shuttle. Yes, there are few things that I have unconditional love for. NASA and LEGO are at the top of my list and to combine them, well that was just awesome. And one of the astronaut mini figs was a girl!!


I only allowed the children to assist me in sorting the Legos. The rest was all me. no one else is allowed to build, touch, breathe, and most certainly, play with my LEGO space shuttle set. I'm thinking of never taking it apart and suspending it from the ceiling over my bed so I can dream about NASA while I sleep.

Part of my birthday celebration was to spring for a new song on Just Dance 2. The neighbor girls (collectively called "Paylor" or "Taige") came over to do Katy Perry's "Firework" with us.

Yes, that's me getting intot he groove. Because of Just Dance 2, Evie walks around singing "Criss Cross is going make ya JUMP JUMP"

These were my space themed birthday cake and cupcakes. Evie, Grandma and Annalise made them for me.

Happy birthday to MOM!

And we all blew them out together.