The Sweetest Thing

On Sunday night we made a fort, or fork as Grady calls it,  for the boys to sleep in between their beds in their room. They turned on their kids CD, played with their flash light, stayed up together, and had a lot of fun. That was pretty adorable on it's own, but then when Ty and I went to check on them after they had fallen asleep, we found them holding hands. My heart melted! I love how these two are becoming best friends. They really do love and care about each other, which is not something I could have said last year at this time! They still fight all the time, but they are friends now too. I recently read an article about siblings that said that on average siblings fight every 15 minutes. That made me feel a lot better. It is normal for my kids to fight all the time, but the point of the article was how important it was for the children to act like they love each other at least for a little bit in between the fighting ever 15 minutes.

My kids in their fork.

On Sunday after church, I thought my kids looked exceptionally cute, so I made them sit together on the couch for a picture. I wasn't expecting anything great. They absolutely refused to touch each other. Oh well, at least they all look somewhat happy!

Friday was Ty's birthday. Luke was insisting on getting Ty a hamster (zhu zhu pet) and a hamster house for Ty's birthday. Luke also really wanted to get his dad a hamster birthday cake. Somehow I got away without buying another zhu zhu pet or hamster house. I did put the hamster we already had on Ty's cake. It was actually smores brownies this year instead of cake. I called this beautiful creation "Hamster in a Ring of Fire."

It was also Fair weekend here in Graham County. Growing up, I never went to the county fair, but around here it is a pretty big deal. They even give the school kids a day off from school! I got to judge the music competitions this year at the fair. Thursday night I judged instruments, and Saturday morning I judged singing. It was a good experience. I also got to hang out with my friend Jordan Keith who was one of the other judges. Friday morning we went to the parade with my mother-in-law. Check out that dude riding backwards on his horse!

Saturday evening we went to the fair. I love going to the fair and just walking around and seeing everything there is to see.  I will say that taking the kids to the fair was a lot easier before Luke realized that he wanted to ride all those expensive rides, eat all the expensive treats, and buy all the expensive toys. Gone are the days when just looking at all the cows was enough entertainment! We let him ride one ride, and somehow we managed to get some free cotton candy. He was pretty satisfied with that.

Thursday night was a big night for Luke. He got his yellow belt in karate! They put the kids through a pretty strenuous work out, and he had to do his form in front of Master DePalma who came down from Gilbert, and his teachers. He did pretty good for only being 4 years old and this being his first belt exam. I've been really impressed with this karate program and the instructors. I was very proud of Luke that night!

Luke doing his Dragon Coma form in front of Master DePalma and his teachers.

Luke receiving his yellow belt.

After the belt exam we went out to celebrate!

When we got home he wanted to put on his new yellow belt and do some karate moves in it. That night in his prayers he prayed that he could get his orange belt (the next belt), then all the different colors of belts, and that he could get his black belt. So cute!