Balloons and Candy Bars!!!

The Morton Pumpkin Festival is usually around the second week in September and it is a fact that 'Mortonites' LOVE the Pumpkin Festival. Although I have only lived in Morton for 7 or 8 years, I think there is a Mortonite deep inside becase I LOVE the Festival as much as humanly possible. I buy pumpkin shirts for the girls for each day of the festival (complete with matching bows and hats of course!), I go up to the carnival every single day, I start keeping my eye on parade seating about a week in advance, and I start looking forward to the next year's festival around November. So, imagine my shock and delight when we got a phone call a couple of weeks ago that Isabel had won the Festival's Balloon Race. Ever year, the school kids of Morton release orange balloons on the opening night of the festival. Ashlen had dance class, so Isabel released one for each of them. Apparently, Isabel's balloon traveled the farthest of all of the balloons. Because of bad weather this year, it only made it to the Indiana border, but still...we were so excited!!! So, we went to the Chamber of Commerce and she had her picture taken with her reward (a $25 check that she calls her 'money ticket'). Then, a reporter from the Journal Star called and wanted to do the story. So, after a week of playing phone tag to try to get a picture, I finally offered to just take a few shots of the girls (for story reasons, he wanted both girls in the picture...you will understand when you read the article) and send them to him. They were not in the mood for pictures (as usual), so out of all of the pictures, here is my favorite: So, be watching the paper for my little punkins!!!

What did Isabel do with the money, you ask???

She is my daughter, so of course she went shopping for candy! Actually, she has recently found a passion for Reese's Peanut Butter Cups (thank you, Halloween) and when I asked her what she wanted to buy with her money she said "A Reese's Candy...the one with TWO in it!!!" (thank you , Kristen). When I told her that she could buy more than that, she immediately said that she wanted to buy one for everyone in her class. I was so proud of her generosity...personally, I would have bought enough for myself so that I could have Reeses dessert after every meal for a week. We also bought a few Milky Way bars in case of peanut allergies (yeah, yeah, I know...they are made in the same factory...it was getting late, I was tired...at least we made the gesture, okay?!?!). Here she is with her candy and her check (corny picture, but hey, I had to document the event!):

And, yes, she did buy one for her sister, too!