A morning on the wild prairie plains of Paris...

Well, we had a fun little Saturday morning.  Our little family has been hitting the festival circuit these past few weekends.  Kyle got tickets to the Kiwanis' pancake breakfast in Paris, IL.  This is the weekend of their Honey Bee Festival so the pancake tent was set up in the thick of it.  

The Kiwanis had a really neat rotating griddle that allowed them to make probably 50 pancakes at a time.  It was very efficient and impressive.

Here Kyle is explaining to Evangeline what the sausage is on her plate...

After we had had our fill of he Honey Bee fest we drove over to the fair grounds to another festival, of sorts, put on by the historical society.  Now, this was cool.  People had very authentic tee-pees set up.  One tee-pee owner I spoke with said that he and his family spend about 6 months of a year in it, and I don't think he was kidding.

There were also lots of people in period clothing making baskets, selling wooden toys, cooking over a campfire.   There were blacksmiths and vendors.  I almost bought one of these prairie dresses.  They were beautiful....kind of kicking myself.

There were all sorts of treasures for sale.

There were the most adorable little sheep there.  They were baaaing like crazy and were quite loud.  Evangeline thought it very amusing.

This sheep couple had the cutest little baby.  It was precious.

Here are my finds from the day....bought all three for a song.

After coming back home and playing with her wooden blocks (a yard sale find from last spring) and making a bed for kitty we all took naps.  

A very lovely Saturday indeed.

Now this is the way to grocery shop!

We get our meat and eggs just outside of town at Clover Field Market.  It's always fun for Evangeline when the owner's little granddaughter, Maria, is there.  Evangeline never wants to leave.   This time Maria had a new car to show Evangeline.  These two were buzzing all over the place. 

Evangeline hadn't ever been in a battery powered car before and when it was her turn to drive she jerked it backwards and forward giggling like crazy. 

The girls didn't really have the steering part down.  They had to stop and be turned around when they came to the horse fence.

I think the  miniature donkey was nervous.  He kept hee-hawing at them.  It was just funny.

 

Here are two little monsters Evangeline drew last week.  Some little person around here is getting really excited for Halloween.



We put some of our fall décor out.  I decided to make a few fall pillow covers from some of the fabric Colleen so graciously passed down to me.  Evangeline made me a "pumpkin pillow pattern".

She loves to take scraps of fabric or yarn and fasten it to her hair with a clip.  She wore her little hair creations almost everyday to school last week.  I'm sure it was all the rage. 

She has been really determined to write her name without me calling out the letters for her lately.  She can spell her name, but she has trouble saying the letters and writing them in order independently.  She did it by herself for the first time last week and we were excited!  You can see on the paper how many times she tried it.  I guided her along with her little name song and she was able to call the letters out orally and put them on the paper in the right order. 

Small town livin' is the life for me!

Until I lived moved to Marshall for the first time several years ago, I only thought a life like this existed on TV.  Who knew there were real life little towns were everyone gathered around the court house lawn for festivals, band concerts and ice cream socials.  Last weekend was Marshall's annual Fall Festival.  The lawn of the court house was all a bustle with tchotchke junk stands, craft booths, delicious fried treats and every kind of sweet concoction you could imagine.  Between the pumpkin ice cream, yummy apple pie filled cupcakes and barbeque, I probably gain about five pounds each year at the Fall Fest.  Well worth it! 

We always enjoy the parade on Saturday morning.  It's fun seeing all the kids I know marching along with their various local organizations.  The weather was just beautiful this year.  It was too cold on the shady side of the street and a bit too warm on the sunny side of the street.  You had to make a choice.  We chose the sunny side.

Granny, Kyle's Uncle Steve and the Hwangs were in town visiting Ammie.  We all walked down to watch the parade together. Colleen and Ainslee joined us too.  E.B. and I enjoyed mooching some of Colleen and Ainslee's elephant ear. 

Evangeline just waved her little hand off hoping to get some candy tossed her way. 

She had some competition, but she still managed to make a hull. 

 

And of course having her cousins in town is just the best!



 

Parade participants are getting so creative with what they are tossing out these days.  Along with a sack full of candy she scored some coupons, a flower and popsicles!

The horses always bring up rear of the parade.  I love this part.  It looks like so much fun....even though horseback riding freaks me out. 

Every year there is a different theme to the festival.  I think they have run the gamut for fall related themes.  They are all out of options.  This year we are down to turtles.  We stopped by the art colony to draw a turtle and I bought a super cute pair of earrings.  

As we were waiting in line for our pumpkin ice cream I asked Evangeline if she would scoot over so I could take a picture.  I meant that I was going to take a picture of Archer Avenue, but she immediately started striking her poses, so I had to snap at least a few of her too. 

And here is my pretty little town.....

and my pretty little girl.

There were pony rides, bouncy houses and dancing to the music of an oldies band with cousins.  What more could a little girl ask for? 

 

We had a big birthday bash for Ammie, Granny, Grandpa Roy, and Lily at Ammie's house on Sunday.  I tried my hand at my Aunt Penny's famous red velvet cake.  She has brought this cake to our Christmas gatherings ever since I can remember.  It was always such a special treat.  When I got married she gave me the recipe.  I haven't ever had cause to make it until Peggy requested one for her birthday.  

It was lovely to have all of Kyle's family together for an afternoon.  We had a great time celebrating some very special people. 

Granny brought all of the girls a crown, necklace and ring as a surprise.  She likes to spoil them.  Evangeline always loves getting the Disney postcards Granny sends her sporadically though the year.  What a thoughtful Granny.

Here are the little cake-eating princesses. 

A group called the Wall Dogs came to Marshall to paint a mural on the side of a building downtown.  They worked on the mural the weekend of the Fall Festival.  On Sunday afternoon we went over to check it out.  We were so surprised to see that the painting was of non other than the Stone Arch Bridge!  The bridge by our house!  Our special place.  It was fun to watch how excited Evangeline was by this mural.