Jockey's birthday was a big success. Pictures to follow. He loved having the pool party and jumpy house up. His buddy Josh (from preschool) showed up. And Cousin Tessa, and the Grammy's and Papa's too. He got his vanilla cake with vanilla frosting and sprinkles and GUM for his "second treat". The morning of his party, he decided that he wanted everyone to paint rocks. So it was a rush around to get paint brushes, and a trip to the river front to get a bucket of rocks. It worked out great and the boys actually really liked it. I was surprised that something so simple was so entertaining. (Thank you Grandpa Dahl for not getting riled about the glitter we used in your party room.) The best ideas are sometimes from kids themselves.

On Jockey's actual birthday we went to Chuck E Cheese for a bit of fun and then portraits on JC Penny. Hopefully we got some good shots.

Wednesday we visited Caleb's new classroom and teacher for an Ice Cream social. He's met a couple kids from his class, specifically a Taylor. Sometimes knowing someone is a great way to feel comfortable the first day of school. Glad we got this opportunity.

I worked on Thursday and visited my Dr. Alls well in her area, but that just takes me back to my Urologist.

Friday we spent over 10 hours at the fair. We walked and walked and rode the rides to our hearts content and more than broke even on the purchase of the ride wristbands. I was shocked at how many "adult" rides Caleb (and Jockey too for that matter) was able to go with me on. And of course they were able to go on all the kids ones. The highlights were: Jockey tasted Alligator, Mike at Frog Legs, Caleb ran into his buddy Collin and then spent an hour on rides with his family, and I found out the results of my fair entries. For the Charcol drawing, a 2nd place stickered ribbon (generic grading, maybe a 2-3$, which they don't even cut checks for). The scrapbooking however did slightly better. For the first page, I got a generic 1st sticker. But for the other page: I received 2 large real ribbons! One was the Excellence Award (noted for specific creative/unique qualities) and the Class Winner Award (best in subject noted for high quality, etc). Kind of affirming and allays self-doubt of whether this is a worthwhile enterprise/hobby of mine. So while I mulled that over and looked the the competition, the boys got to paint their own ceramic horse (Jockey) and frog (Caleb).
For the rest of the day it was eating, riding, and mulling over the possiblity (the rationality vs insanity vs feasibility) of getting a second rabbit. Once a hutch, feeder, and waterer is procured, our current rabbit has cost us $32 for the last year... plus the occassional "rabbit candy" of $25 (total for the year) for a special treat. Very reasonable. It comes down to the maintence, time, space, breeder, price and what is even available. OF COURSE, the BOYS are all on board and want just anything. I guess I'm the loches/filtration on this decision with a bit more limiting criteria. I'm still thinking/working it through.

We attended the parade this morning and were fortunate to have Daddy along, every other year he's worked. And we didn't get caught in a traffic jam getting home! And it didn't rain!

Well, that's the big update.
More later, and hopefully with pictures.