We are home now and adjusting to our new "normal" life - 3 boys! Eli and Caleb were very excited to have Owen home and love him so! Caleb asks to hold Owen at least once a day, gives him lots of hugs, says "Ahh, he's so wittle" all the time, and has only tried to crawl into the crib once! Eli has lots more questions this time around and wants to know when Owen will be doing all kinds of things like crawling, sitting, eating food, etc. He is also good to find the paci, burp cloth or whatever I need. Owen has been "well received" by the Hall brothers - makes my heart smile!
This is my new life! So thankful for it.
Oh, how I love these 2!Next we ate some fried fair food. I've decided, despite the newest fair food craze - the best value is the funnel cake and I've hardly ever been disappointed. $6 for this and we all shared. Eli wanted cotton candy @ first, but then decided that the funnel cake was equally delicious. Caleb did not want any at first, but then gave in and decided he liked it as well!
You can see the butterflies clinging to the top of the net. Eli liked it okay, but Caleb was the one that really loved it. You couldn't touch the butterfly wings, but they could land on you and crawl on your hand. Eli didn't want any part of this (he has crawly thing issues - can't say that I blame him), but Caleb was all over it. Lance kept helping him get butterflies on his hand. This is quite possibly my favorite picture to date of Caleb!
As they left, the workers checked their backs to make sure that no butterflies had attached themselves and would be leaving with them. Then Lance walked all the way back across the fair (since we parked in free parking) to get the car and meet us out front (since I am with child you know!)
So fast forward to the next morning when my husband went out to his car to leave for work. What do you think he found in his car? That's right a beautiful blue swallowtail butterfly. Unbeknownst (I've never used that word before!) to us, we had smuggled that butterfly right out of the butterfly house. It was amazing! We figured it had to have been on Lance's jacket or in his bag and traveled all the way across the fair, back to the car with him. 
The boys were thrilled with their new pet and named him "Switcher" because he was 2 different colors when he opens and shuts his wings. He stayed with us for a whole week . Then we took him back to the fair on the last night (just kidding, but that is what we told Eli because he was so upset at the thought of the butterfly dying). So that is our fair story! A great memory for us!
Tara
I absolutely love it when he tries to spell on his own. This says - Eli's calendar until his birthday - 58!
this and were totally into it. Next we played "Alphabet Soup" a game I sort of made up, but one that all ages there could play - run down and get a scoop of letters, carry it back and dump in strainer - then arrange all letters in alphabet order. They seemed to like this.
Lastly, we had birthday cake - the best part. This year Eli chose a pencil cake with letters on it. This is how the alphabets travel around in the book. I made the cake and it was actually a pretty easy one (I have this thing about making my own kids birthday cake - it's cheaper, it challenges my creativity, and I enjoy it plus I love to see what they dream up!) The cake turned out great and most importantly Eli loved it!
The party was a lot of fun and all the kids seemed to really enjoy it. We made it - now we can have a baby! I prayed that God would allow us to get through his party before our baby arrived and he totally answered! In case you are so inclined and would like to see more pictures from the party (94 to be exact) here is a link to Snapfish : Eli'sBirthday party pictures
Tara
