our little country girls...

Somehow, the entire time we lived in Illinois,

we missed the county fair back in my hometown!

I think it must've been because we would go back

for my grandma's birthday at the end of July.

Missing it by about 2 weeks.

Well, this year, we made it!

After {another!} shopping trip to Decatur,

we decided to stop by the fair on the way home.

I, at least, wanted Abby to see the tractor pull & pet some of the animals.

{Plus, I knew my friend Jennifer would be there with her family!}

I explained the tractor pull to Abby &

she wanted to do it!!

This was even before she knew a goodie bag was involved!

Bonus: Beks got to do the money in the straw.

{hmm...I think she must've hidden the $$ because all I saw was a tootsie roll!!}

Here she is getting all set up...can you see the totally inappropriate footwear?

No? Well it's there!!

We hadn't planned for this.

While everyone else was in boots or sneakers,

Abby had on her sketchers sandals. :)

Oh well, she looked cute!

Starting to look a little freaked out! :)

She even made it into our local online newspaper...www.shelbycountynews.net

Abby impressed me so much that night.

She really wanted to do it...even though she had no idea what she was getting herself into.

If you know Abby, you know that she is hesitant to do things sometimes.

She likes to see what it's all about & then decide whether or not to get involved.

Not this time!

She just jumped at the chance...once she found out there would be goodies, it just sweetened the deal!

I told her over & over how proud I was.

Sometimes this part of parenting is hard.

I want her to try new things and not be afraid, but I also want her to be true to who she is.

Being a people pleaser & doing things just because everyone else is comes with it's own set of problems!

While she tends to stick close to me, I know it won't last forever.

The worst part about it all was knowing that she wasn't going to go very far on the tractor.

I didn't want her to be bothered by it.

Actually, I was probably more bothered by it than necessary.

She was too little to really care. But she won't be someday & that's just part of life.

I, on the other hand, realized how difficult this part of parenting is going to be.

Distancing myself somewhat.

Not taking every experience she has and making it my own with my feelings.

This part of parenting stinks.

I don't want to go back through it all...

grade school, junior high, & high school.

It's not something I look forward to, but I suspect with TWO GIRLS, I'll get my share of emotional drama!!

When we got home, Abby talked to Daddy on the phone & he told her how proud he was of her too.

Her response was,

"It's no big deal. I didn't make it that far anyway!"

Who cares?

She's 4 & she had never even seen a tractor pull before!

I just think she was darn cute on that little tractor & I got some adorable pictures.

The best part...

she thought she might have won!! :)

She has a blue ribbon to PROVE it!

Bloggy love,