The Most Wonderful Time of the Year

My favorite part of summertime is going to the Ventura County Fair! It brings back great memories from my childhood and I love, love, love sharing it with my kids each year. Since last year I was busy getting my stupid appendix out I miss out on all the festivities, so you can only imagine the excitement I had this year. Grandma and Grandpa Young spoiled all the children at the fair. Grandma loves the rides and made sure everyone had a wristband which meant unlimited rides from 11 a.m. to 7 p.m. Grandpa loves the food and made sure to stuff our bellies full of funnel cake, ice cream, snow cones, pizza, french fries, hot dogs on a stick,  caramel apples, and frozen bananas!

 This is the first ride into the fair and I'm pretty sure the first warm up ride each and every year. It's hard to believe that Damon use to go on this with them because they were too small to go alone.

 Trevor loved the big slide! He went down and down the slide.

 Now this was my favorite ride as a kid. Trevor is our serious yet crazy child. I love seeing him explore and have fun. Him and Lyla splashed each other and had a blast together with Gavin as the big kids went off going from ride to ride without telling us! Shane's 7 which freaked me out when I couldn't find him but then again he was with the big cousins and Madisyn is 14 so all was well. When we found them they were confused because they were just having fun!!!

 Poor Nie Nie. He spends a big chunk of his vacation life watching in the stroller. I like to think that he enjoyed his day people watching and looking at the bright colors everywhere.

 When Shane went up to Techno Power I almost fell over. Shane is our cautious child. When it's just our family we usually end up having to force the child into something new. Now, with big cousins in Junior High he seems to grow up and bravery comes along with this and he can conquer anything with his cousins by his side!

 My fingers were crossed for him to be too small to ride this crazy ride put together by carni people! The ride spun around faster than I could take pictures and it made me sick even looking at the people on the ride, but sure enough Shane was determined to go and tall enough.

 Second thoughts came through but he went on. I was sure he would start crying or puke but sure enough he rode the entire ride.

 That face is classic. He rode the ride but he didn't smile until about 3 minutes after it was over. He was shocked and I'm sure Shane was wondering what just happened!

 Classic fair ride, the swings. They kind of freak me out. I don't like all the chains and swinging around so high, but I think Shane did. I do like how pretty and carefree they look.

 My Shanners with his flip flops on his lap ready to go!

 Landon's excitement for the day was "walking" around and pushing his own stroller. He walked around and around in circles as his brothers rode the rides.

 We love butterflies and loved the butterfly exhibit. The big kids were too busy riding crazy rides but the little ones loved the cool tent and butterflies. Trevor is feeding it with sugar water.

 Damon eating his way through the fair!

 By 4 o'clock little Landon was done. I was secretly happy he was done because I was sure done! However, Shane was nowhere near being done and stayed with Grandma and the cousins until 7 o'clock. As always we had a blast at the fair and cannot wait to return next year.

Landon was so worn out from the fair that he ended up sleeping 15 hours once we got home.

First tooth lost TWICE!

Loosing teeth was a sore subject in our house. Everyone around us was losing teeth and poor little Shane hadn't lost even one until now! He will be going into second grade in a few weeks and has finally lost his first tooth! The first tooth to come in as a baby was the first tooth out and we all cheered Shane with excitement but, the excitement didn't last too long.

 The tooth was a little bloody so I told Shane to go rinse it off in the sink and the worst thing imaginable happened. Yep, that slippery little tooth fell right down the drain. Shane's beloved first tooth gone for what we thought good. The largest alligator tears formed on Shane's face and he was hysterically. I was given the Worst Mom EVER title for MAKING him was it!  He had been waiting for a tooth in his hands for years and now it's gone. I think he thought the Tooth Fairy wouldn't come if his tooth wasn't there. Daddy to the rescue and took the pipes out and found the precious tooth. I think Damon deserves Daddy of the Year Award for this one. He saved me and Shane!

 Smiles came back as the tooth was held tightly in Shane's hands. Shane immediately had to take a picture of his toothless grin and send out text to the masses and post on Facebook. It's funny that at 7 he already relies on technology to communicate excitement to loved ones. I love his little space in his smile.

 Before bed I pulled out a pillow from my hope chest that I purchased way back in the day before kids. I think it was the only item really in my hope chest. We tucked Shane's tooth in and the magic happened while he slept. He hoped for $1,000 but once he woke up was trilled with $10 and a real note for the Fairy.

 I never knew the story of the Tooth Fairy and why they need little boys and girls teeth so it's good to know now! Shane is saving his cash for something good.

Shane has entered the Lost Teeth Club. We were worried for a little while since I still have 3 baby teeth with no permanent teeth under them. We went to the dentist a few weeks ago I asked if there were permanent teeth under there and he said there are 4 right there so expect to loose 4 teeth one right after another. Guess what? The dentist was right, tooth number one is gone and just a few days later tooth number two fell out! Shane is one happy boy and $12 richer.

Landon's Mustache Bash!

I cannot think of anything I love more than a first birthday. To me, it seems to be a right of passage. The celebration of the baby's first year, the love we all share for the baby, and the initiation into growing up with the first piece of cake! However, at first, I wasn't too thrilled about MY baby being 1. I decided to wait to have Landon's first birthday celebration until after Girls Camp  because I didn't want to rush this whole turning one business. It worked out perfectly because in my crazy mind a baby isn't one until he has had cake so I was able to love on my BABY for 2 weeks longer, continued with the formula, bottle are still here, and he is officially one now that he has had cake!

All the rage is mustaches and little man stuff and since Landon is our littlest Mister we went with this funny theme which I'm still pretty sure Damon does not get, but still cracks me up! Invites... I just did a photo strip in photoshop and then trimmed for the invites.

 My mind is always everywhere when it comes to party day. This day was no exception. I hadn't done much for this party until the day of since I had just returned from Girls Camp! I ended up not taking a picture of the food once it was all out but here is the menu! I had decorative lantern balls hanging from above the food too.

 Everyone wet their whiskers with ice cold drinks.

 A lady on Etsy made these for me and I love, love, love how they turned out for Mister L. Drinking out of these bottles make me smile.

 I displayed pictures of Landon's first year around the house. There were plenty of mustaches to go around whether they be paper or chocolate!

 I always have big dreams of making my cupcakes look cute and then run out of time. I ended up hacking off parts of the cake getting it out of the box too! Oh well, Landon was soon enough tearing it up anyway.

 Ties and pictures as a simple garland covering our ghetto TV. This TV better last us through Landon's pounding and button pushing and then there will be finally be a new TV.

Lot of candy and a "Root Beer Float Kit" as party favors. To get all the blue and green candy I had to get creative. Some of the candy I had to pick out the colors I wanted, so needless to say we have a lot of orange, pink, and yellow candy left in our house!

 Big Brother Shane.

 The best party about this party theme was everyone sporting a mustache! All the kids were totally cracking me up with their silly faces. I don't know why I think it's so funny, but it truly is! Here is big brother Trevor.

 Little Baby Colin

 Look at all these sillies!

 See what I mean?! It's so funny!

 Somehow Ella still looks sweet with her 'stache.

 My absolute favorite part of a first birthday is the eating of the cake. I tear up no matter if it's my own child so seeing my LAST baby eat his FIRST cake was happy but sad. He did not know what to think about it all and all the people looking at him.

 Landon's first taste and I go for chocolate for more mess and better pictures!

 By this face I'm thinking he liked it but is very serious about his chocolate cake.

 Now that Little L has discovered this leaves a mess everything starts to do wrong. He isn't quite sure why he's so messy.

 This explains it all! Poor baby, didn't not like his cake. Besides all the people looking at him and the mess, it was really time for bed!

 Since Landon's birth he has had a fan club. You can always find girls following me around trying to get Landon's attention, but these girls are who make him happy. I call them his Little Mommies because that is what they are. They adore him and he adores them.

 Little L and Mommy after his outfit change from the cake.

 Present time. He was done by this point and didn't care too much about the gifts. The next morning when he woke up Landon and his brothers played with his toys all day.I love seeing them all play together. Landon lost interest but Shane and Trevor kept playing with them all day!

 I love this picture. Everyone around him more interested in the gift than he is. The chaos he is completely use to and I'm pretty sure now he needs chaos.

 I needed a picture of all this kiddos. It was a perfect celebration for our little Landon who is now officially one! Thanks everyone for celebrating with us.