Fairs and Firsts

To end the summer, we headed to the Canfield Fair for some good old-fashioned fair fun over Labor Day weekend!  As usual, it was VERY hot, but we had a blast anyway - eating fattening fair foods, checking out the baby animals at Old McDonald's Farm, playing silly games and winning even sillier prizes! 
Our annual pictures with the fair pumpkin -

Check out their matching "County Fair" shirts!  (This time it was at least somewhat unplanned though - I had one from Colten when he was little and then Braden passed a larger size down to Colten so it was perfect!)

We love our cut-outs! - Colten at the YSU tent as Pete the Penguin!

On our way to a pizza stand, Colten and I spotted this dart game that had a sign reading "kids win every time!" so after lunch we headed back to let Colten try his luck.  The man running the game was so nice to Colten; he was only supposed to get three tries, but after his third miss, the man said "I never saw that" as he handed him another dart.  He let Colten throw until he popped a balloon!  And Colten was so excited because he actually won his little blue stuffed dog then! 

And then we were off to KiddyLand!  Unfortunately by this time we were all very hot and Ryan was very tired so we played a game and opted out of rides.  There is always next year - plus Ryan will be able to ride everything with Colten by then too.

The boys had to pick a duck and then they won a prize; Ryan just wanted to play in the water though!  Colten chose a blue race car, and Ryan chose - you guessed it - a ball (which he proceeded to throw into the water as well - it was time to head home!)

We had a so much fun!  But as much as I always enjoy the fair, a part of me dreads it because it truly marks the end of summer and the start of school...

This year, Colten and I both began on the same day so I sadly wasn't able to be with him on his first day of his second year of preschool.  Luckily Grandma is the next best thing to mom, and he still had her and Ryan of course.  In fact, Grandpa was even able to see him for a moment as he arrived at school.  I missed him but was super glad that he was excited and that he had a great day!  In fact, his teacher from last year moved up with the students, so he already knows her and most all of the kids.  Sadly, Kayleigh is not in his class this year, but they still see each other during gym and when they stay for lunch.  Regardless, I know that he misses her.  She truly is his best friend; they have literally known each other since her birth and will hopefully always have a special place in each other's hearts. 

I always try to make his first day of school a bit of a celebration, so even though I couldn't take him out to lunch this year after school, we celebrated later with a HUGE cookie cake from Sam's Club! 

Last year Colten went to school three days a week, but this year I chose to send him all five.  It is still only for half of the day but I wanted to begin transitioning him for kindergarten when he will go all five days and all day.  I was a bit worried that he would complain about not being home with Grandma and Ryan, but so far he just seems to be really enjoying himself and all that he is learning.  It is hard to believe but even in comparison to last year, he is doing so much more and learning like crazy!  I am so proud of him already!

And Ryan and Grandma are enjoying their bonding time as well - even though Ryan does miss Colten.  He has never known life without his big brother so when Colten is not around Ryan may enjoy playing with his toys but you can tell he misses his companion.  In fact one day Grandma said it was time to go pick Colten up from school; Ryan smiled and said "Colten. Happy!"  Too cute if I do say so myself. 

Anyone who knows Ryan knows that he is OBSESSED with balls so we took the boys to the first Fitch home football game of the season.  Even though the game didn't begin until after Ryan's usual bedtime, they still had a blast and did not want to leave.  As soon as Ryan saw the players, he was yelling "football" and "helmet!"  We left at half-time because it was getting too late, but both boys want to go to another game! 

From that point on, Ryan was obsessed with helmets and kept trying to put mini helmets on his head.  While I was shopping that weekend, I found a clearance softball helmet at Wal-Mart and couldn't pass it up.  Check Ryan out!  He loves it!

And one last note that melted my heart.  Today after school, I was sitting with Colten and Ryan as they ate.  Ryan turned to me, gave me a hug, and said "love you."  I couldn't believe it!  It was completely unprompted for one, and Ryan rarely says that anyway.  More often than not, if we say "I love you," he says "bye-bye" because he associates it with us leaving him to sleep or so we can go to work, etc.  I love the boys so much!  They continue to surprise me everyday!