Labor Day Weekend

It would only be appropriate that this year it would be 90 degrees+ on a weekend when we are normally in jeans and long sleeve shirts. But it was the boys' favorite holiday of the year (yes, even more than Christmas perhaps), so we spent a full day of our Labor Day weekend at the Rock River Thresheree.

Ian and Sean save up all their money for the entire year for this weekend. They earn their money by helping Grandma when she comes (she always gives them quarters), filling up their jars with warm fuzzies for good behavior, or digging through mom and dad's pockets. I also tend to put coins in their banks when I find them in Charles' pockets while doing laundry. The day before the Thresheree, I took them to the bank to cash their coins in. They were so excited to see who had saved more! They were very close (perhaps it was set-up a bit by mom?), and came in at just about $35 each. They picked up a little more when a man in line at the bank saw how long they had been saving their money and he gave them each $2.

Of course as soon as we arrived, the boys wanted to start looking at all the different toy tractors so they could decide which they wanted to get. They have both pretty much set their hearts on getting a tractor and some sort of implement. If you've ever bought toy tractors, you know these things are not cheap. Charles and I were pretty clear to them that while we would help them figure out what they could and could not afford, we were not going to give them money for any toys. We said we would pay for their train tickets (which ends up being a moot point as you read on) and their lunch, but any extras were on them today! After much debate, they found a box set of 2 Farmall tractors (a brand they do not have yet) that allowed them to split the cost and still have enough for Ian to get a plow and Sean a gravity box. Good gracious, that is just too much for this city mom to handle!

This year, Jim was the Treasurer of the Thresheree and it turns out when you are the child/grandchild of the treasurer, you get to each your lunch in an air conditioned building! This was a relief and blessing since it's difficult enough to try to manage a lunch in a festival-like setting with 3 little ones. After lunch, we walked around the grounds and took in all the usual attractions. A new one for the boys this year was the corn box (which I've only ever seen at the County Fair before), and the pedal tractor races. I personally enjoyed the corn box because it was shady and the corn felt nice and cool on the hot day! If you haven't sat with your bare feet in a corn box, you haven't lived.

Following a break from the sun in the corn box, Ian and Sean rode in what can only be explained as "oil barrels painted for different tractor brands and pulled in a train like formation behind a tractor." This is Ian's 3rd year riding them, Sean's 2nd. Last year we had to chase the train o' barrels down when Sean started crying during the ride. This year was all smiles! The guy who puts this on is just awesome. He doesn't charge anything and does these rides all day. It's not sponsored at all by the Thresheree, it's just his own tractor he brought to show that pulls the train.

 Finally it was time for one of the boys' favorite activities  the steam train! I can still remember the first time I rode the train at the Thresheree. I was pregnant with Ian and still confused about what this whole Thresheree event was even about (although sometimes I'm still unsure...) If you don't know how steam trains work, because I didn't, they are powered by coal. Dirty coal that spatters you when you sit in the train cars behind the engine. I am quite sure that my one 10 minute trip on this train each year will shorten by life by at least 5 years. Anyhow, I have come to realize that kids get dirty and I must just deal with this part of the day that brings them so much joy. When we were eating lunch with Jim earlier, he had mentioned to Charles that he had talked to the train conductor and asked him if his grandsons could ride up front. Cool, I thought! The boys will LOVE that! Well wouldn't you guess they were just thrilled to ride up front... IN THE COAL CAR. Yes, my children (well, 2 of them) sat in the coal box with my husband for the train ride. You bet they had a blast, but man were they ever dirty.  They had a THOROUGH wash down after this event and I declared that to be a once in a lifetime event, aka not happening again next year.

It wasn't long after the train ride that it was about time to go home. We caught a few more little things here and there, but then worked our way to the exit and caught the next tractor to the giant parking lot in the farm field. If you are in the Rock County area and have kids that are interested in tractors, I cannot suggest this event enough. Just walking around and looking at all the different tractor models is entertainment enough for my boys, but there is so much more to do!

Are you wondering where Emmett was through all of this? He was there just being his sweet old self. Sleeping. Waving. Sweating.

Ian's 1st day of school!

Yesterday my oldest baby, Ian, had his very first day of school! I had been preparing him for several weeks, letting him know that soon he'd be starting school and he'd be going there almost every day. He didn't seem the tiniest bit phased by it. We took Sean and Emmett to the farm and I took pictures of him there (see below). Then I let him pick out where he wanted to eat for lunch (he chose Perkins), and we headed to school. He's in the afternoon class which starts at 12:15.

As soon as we got out of the car, I could tell he was nervous. As we entered the building, he started squeezing my hand tighter. Finally, as I sat down at one of the tiny tables to fill out a few papers, he was full on freaking out. He was grabbing me so tightly and begging me not to leave. He even wrote "MOM" on the top of one of the papers to try to convince me to stay.

Luckily, there were a few familiar faces there. This 4k is at the same center that his previous daycare is located, and the teacher from him 3 year old room is now the 4k assistant. I was so relieved to see her there as I know how much she adores Ian. She actually had to be the one to pry him off of me so I could leave. At least he wasn't the only one upset, almost the entire class was crying!

The next hours dragged on as I worked at home and wondered what he was doing. Did he stop crying? Did he feel like I abandoned him? Was he making friends? Learning? Having fun? I was pulling into the parking lot at 2:59, not a moment too soon. I peek in on him before letting him see me, and he was running around outside and looking like he was having a blast. PHEW! He teacher said he was a great listener and answered questions about the story at story time. She said he calmed down almost right away and had a great day.

As we drove home, I asked him how he day was. He said he had fun and played with other kids. They read a story but didn't do any crafts. He also said, "Mommy, I didn't learn things today." I asked him, "What did you want to learn that you didn't learn yet?" He said, "Santa's phone number." Oy.

All in all, it was a good day. It's so hard for me to believe that this was literally the first day of the next 18+ years. We now have a school-aged child and this will be our new normal till Emmett is 18 years old! After that, they're on their own ;-)

And now, my favorite part! The pictures!