State Fair 2012 Review

Mom, Cari, and I had our annual girls day at the fair. I was pumped to be in the 2nd trimester of pregnancy which meant a little extra stomach room for all the great food! Plus with baby craving salty foods, deep fried goodness was right up my alley. I did a pretty good job this year of remember to take pictures of everything we ate, although most of the times it was after we were a few bites into it. You still get the idea. We created a rating system for the food this year based on thumbs. Each person could give the item a total of 2 thumbs, so the ratings are out of 6 thumbs each.

We started breakfast at French Meadow with their new sausage and gravy scone. I thought it was awesome and gave it a big 2 thumbs up (which is how the scoring originated). Overall it got 5 thumbs. We also had their egg, cheese, tomato, & bacon croissant which got 6 thumbs.

Mom needed something sweet to go with her coffee so we hit up the deep fried cookie dough next. This was an enthusiastic 6 thumbs. A perfect combination of melty cookie dough and sweet batter. 

As a lunch time appetizer we tried Giggles new walleye roll. I had heard great reviews about it, but we were all underwhelmed. It was nice, light, and refreshing but overall didn't have much flavor and the bun was a bit over buttered. We gave it only 2 thumbs total. I would much rather have their delicious walleye cakes.

For lunch we hit up the food building and tried all new [to us] items. We started with a wild rice corn dog. It was pretty good, but you didn't get a lot of rice flavor. We gave it 3 thumbs. Then we tried the Sausage Sisters new item Great Balls of Fire. This was the winner of lunch with 6 thumbs! It came with a cool cucumber sauce that complimented the spices nicely. The loser of lunch with a lowly 1.5 thumbs was my pick - a Jamaican jerk roti. It was chicken, carrots, onions wrapped up in a flat bread, but it needed a sauce or something. The only flavor I got was a burning after taste. It was good for clearing your sinuses.

Our afternoon snack was the new poutine - french fries covered in gravy topped with cheese curds. I didn't care for the cheese curds on it. They were rubbery but it was so good that it still got 5.5 thumbs. 

Finished the day with the new Reeses Peanut Butter Cup Fudge Puppy. Sooooo good if you are a pb and chocolate lover like I am. Mom wasn't as big of a fan but it still got 5 thumbs overall. 

Somewhere in there was also tried cheese curds which I have been craving. They were great but so standard it wasn't picture worthy or rated. I did decide I like the ones from the food building better than the ones from the big yellow mouse trap booth. Need to remember that for next year. 

Cari & Mom continued fairing into the evening, but my tired and hot pregnant body was done. We go back again on Friday with the kids. I'm already making my list of must haves. The only new item left I want to try is the bacon ice cream. Reviews of that to come! 

2 Days of Partying for Turning 2

Finally her birthday was here. After [sort of] patiently waiting while many others celebrated their birthday, counting down the days, and talking nonstop about it, Sienna got her day. Her excitement was contagious as she ran around the kitchen yelling, "My Birthday!!" over and over again. Seeing her eyes light up and hearing her exclaim as she spotted every decoration that had been hung for her party was priceless. I wish I could say everything was perfect. But she was turning 2...while battling a cough that has kept her up at night. I didn't think I'd have to bribe her to eat her cupcake, or threaten to let her cousin open her presents, but such is life with a toddler.

Justin & I took the day off Friday to spend with her. I got up early to bake her chocolate chip banana muffins. We kicked the day off with some singing and a candle. She was ever so pleased.

We checked out the Children's Museum next. Of course her favorite part was the room with all the water stations.

She also had a blast spraying different colors on the wall. Yellow was her favorite.

In the evening she had her favorite dinner of Mac N Cheese, opened presents, and sort of ate her cupcake - after again singing and blowing out her candle. Gotta get good use out of it! Her favorite present of the day was a Minnie Mouse camera.

Saturday afternoon was her family party. We filled the house with everything Minnie. Sienna even wore her Minnie Mouse dress for the occasion. Oh the excitement! As all of her favorite people arrived, it continued to grow.

The awwww moment of the night. Sienna giving Ariana a hug. Ariana sort of gave her one back. They'll work on it.

Double owies after Nana & Sienna bumped heads.

She was most excited for her birthday cake. She told Nana at dinner that she wasn't going to eat the turkey and she would have cake instead. (Only on your birthday can you get away with that) Presents couldn't even compete with the birthday cake. Halfway through opening them, she completely lost interest and wanted to play with Ariana.

The cake was consumed, sugar highs were had, and by the end of the night she was exhausted. I think the day(s) lived up to all of her hype. All day Sunday she wanted to play with her new toys and she was still talking about eating more birthday cake. (She tried to not eat her dinner again in lieu of cake but it didn't fly this time) She also wanted to know whose birthday was next. Time to start a count down calendar for Justin?

Updates

It's been a busy past couple of weeks and I haven't gotten a chance to blog any of it. Baby is taking the blame on this one. I have been tired, very tired. Struggling to stay awake past 9 tired. Lets hope it's a temporary growth spurt. This is almost as bad as the first trimester! Here's what's been going on.

1. My Mom retired!! A big congrats to her and I'm very excited to see her start this next chapter of her life. It's been a little over a week and she's already asked to take Sienna for a day of play time. It's great that they can spend that time together. Sienna came home fully sugared and so excited about the fun day she had.

2. Conner had his 9th birthday. We haven't had a chance to get his doggy sundae at Lake Harriet yet, but it's on the to do list in the next week or 2.

3. Sienna started a countdown for her birthday. This girl has been asking about her birthday for 2 months. We finally had to start a countdown calendar so she could visualize when it was. We hung it on the fridge right at her eye level. Now whenever she walks over there she starts shouting, "My birthday!!!" and points to the Minnie Mouse sticker representing her day. One day I caught her hugging the fridge saying, "I love my birthday"

3. I have said good bye to pizza and spaghetti. For some reason those foods are making me sick. At first I was blaming the tomato sauce, so I thought I would try a white sauced pizza. Unfortunately it had the same effect. I have no idea what it could be, but it's not worth eating them to figure it out. Lets hope the list of foods I can't eat doesn't get any longer. And also that this isn't signs of baby food allergies. I am already so scared of that.

4. I enrolled Sienna in dance classes. It's a half hour every week Mommy & Me class but they still get to be in the recital! Can't wait to see that. Last week we went to the studio to check it out and register. She was in awe of all the mirrors and kept running to look at each one. She was sad when we had to leave and she didn't actually get to dance. We've been reading this book about a girl who gets a tutu and wears it everywhere. All Sienna will talk about is how she's a ballerina, is going to go to dance class, and wants to wear her tutu everywhere. I can't wait!

So that's our highlights plus many other fun events and hopefully soon I'll get some of the pictures up. Big #2 birthday this weekend! What happened to my little baby??

Yoga

We were sitting around yesterday morning and Sienna started to do this routine. Took her a few times of doing it for me to realize she was doing yoga! I haven't confirmed, but she must have learned it at daycare. My favorite part is when she kicks her legs back. So cute!

Harvest Time!

The veggies are starting to roll in. I love this time of year! Just made a great spicy salsa with all these goodies. Mmm mm!

Baby Pool

I've posted the new baby pool on the top sidebar! Guess the gender, weight, length, and birthday for Baby Jovle. We find out the sex September 5th, so guesses are due by then. Here's some hints for you.

The heartbeat was 164.
The Chinese calendar says boy.
I've been craving salty foods, especially potato chips and also hamburgers - total opposite of last time.
Sienna was 1.5 weeks late (finally induced).
She weighed 7 lbs 3 oz and was 19.5 inches.
This pregnancy has been very different from the first one.

Take all that as you want! Last time we were soooo sure it was a boy and it was a girl, so I really don't know what to think this time. Please vote. I'd love to get as many people on there, even if I don't know you or that you read this. Good luck to everyone!

Belly

I'm not sure I even want to do these this time around, but I am...for now. The belly has already really popped. I was comparing it to pictures last time and yikes! This is me from last time at 20 weeks. I think we've surpassed that. Here we are at 16 weeks this time.

Tickles for the baby.

We'll work on getting my head next time.

Sienna is starting to get it. You can ask her where the baby is and she'll say in Mama's belly. She is also understanding that something is going on and she is determined to be attached at Mama's hip so she doesn't miss out. She wants Mama for everything and won't let anyone else substitute. We're hoping it's a phase that doesn't last too long. She's got 6 months to get out of it! 

70th Birthdays

I hosted a birthday party for my Dad and Uncle Jim. They both turned 70 in July, just a week apart. We had a great turnout with a lot of my Dad's family -  many of who he hasn't seen since my wedding! 

The birthday boys - Uncle Jim & Dad

Deb, Dad & my cousin Jimmy

Micky, Jim, & Mike

Rebecca, Jeff, & Margaret

Sienna was a little overwhelmed by the party. She really wanted it to be her birthday party but was happy that there was still cake.

They still got it!