Fall Carnival

It seems that this is the time of year for all of the schools to hold their annual carnival. It also seems that since the first day of school (for both boys at both schools), the school has been hitting us up for money and item donations. Though we did not participate in any of the door-to-door fundraisers, we've contributed pet items for Sam's class basket for the carnival, toys for Nathanael's class basket, and baked goods also to Sam's carnival. Finally, I think we have seen the last of the donations....atleast until they start asking for gifts for poor children at Christmas time.
All along I had intended to take Sam to his school's carnival. I have heard from multiple sources that it is actually a lot of fun and, despite my own tendencies toward stinginess and stick-in-the-mud-ness, I don't want to deny Sam experiences that he wants to have. Besides, I remember my dutiful mother taking me to the carnival at Plain when I was a kid. Well, it just so happened that Sam's and Nathanael's carnivals were on the same night. Sam did say he wanted to go and Nathanael was looking forward to it too. But when Paul got home from work, he immediately set out to persuade Sam against going. That child is so much like his parents it's ridiculous. He is not generally affected by the crowd and prefers a quiet night at home. He was easily bought out of the carnival when I offered him Chick-Fil-A and a Redbox movie. Nathanael, on the other hand, had been sold on the carnival in class earlier during the day when the teachers told them all about the games that would be available. All he could talk about was the fishing game and the duck pond, and he would NOT be dissuaded. So, while Paul and Sam enjoyed their quiet evening, I took my little blondie on a date to his school for carnival games and a hot dog.
I love that Nathanael has several of his church friends who go to preschool with him. We were able to see a few of them at the carnival and he palled around with his friend Myah as they enjoyed most of the games. Of course we went straight for the fishing pond, followed by the duck pond, bean bag toss, cup cake walk, face painting, and there were even inflatable bouncy things.

Then Nathanael was able to have dinner with his friend, Aidan. And, though it was never in question that Nathanael is a lady's man, I met one of his little girlfriends, Charlotte, as she came waltzing out of the face painting room to greet him with a very drawn out "hiiiiii, Nathanael". Nathanael talks about chasing Charlotte and Gabby on the playground every day when I pick him up from school. So, I had to get a picture of those two. So cute!

I'm glad Nathanael and I were able to have a night out together. Better yet, I'm glad we were able to do it without battling the crowds at the elementary school!