Texas State Fair

Friday night, Mimi and Papa came in town. We went on a walk at Autrey and Shilo's. Dylan was loving it...

On Saturday, we went to the Texas State Fair with Mimi, Papa, Autrey, Shilo, and Dylan. The weather was perfect after it having just rained.

The first thing we saw was this excavator that Tommy had to drive. The Grambling University marching band was coming so he didn't get to drive long.

It was pretty loud for him.

We went to a petting zoo and Tommy got to feed the goats! I don't remember them being stinky!

Check out these Alpacas

"Daddy, don't do it! He's a killer!"

A huge mother pig and her piglets

Whenever there was music Tommy would dance!

We went to the car show and that was pure torture for Tommy!

Daddy finally let him drive...

a ridiculously expensive car!

We then headed to the pig races

Then stairs with Papa ...

and strawberry icecream with Mimi ( No fried food thank goodness, despite the endless variety!)

Sweet baby Dylan-but no icecream for him;(

So this looked great at first. Tommy was ready to go...and then it BOLTED on and Tommy freaked out! I felt so bad for him!

After Tommy calmed down we had to use up the extra 'coupons' so Autrey and Matt did the 'guess your pitch' game. Let's just say neither one of them was happy with their pitches.

"Hey, did you see that awesome tractor?"

We stopped to watch this parade and Tommy yelled "TRACTOR!" (in the pic background). It was pretty cute.

Mesmorized by this band

Towards the end Tommy was hungry and pretty much wiped out all of Dylan's puffs!

"Heavy!"

Fun fun fun!

We Survived

Well, Matt made it home late friday night, due to a 1 1/2 delayed flight. We survived the week...but just barely;)

The splash park was a fun break in the week. Our ward started a mom and tot group and this was our first activity. Tommy mainly played over on the playground but did enjoy running his truck through the water. Tommy likes it best when the water slowly starts to go off (before the button is pressed to turn it back on). Shilo and Dylan came so that was fun and it was just fun to talk to other adults...one highlight in the week!

That night he helped me with laundry. He loves this step ladder and ended up putting all the clothes in AND soap (with my help of course). Its really cute to hear him say 'soap!'

We also talked about penguins.

-Tommy waddling like a penguin!

By Thursday Tommy was pretty tired of me and I don't blame him. I was running out of fun things to do and my creativity level was at an all time low. I did find his new love though-ELMO! Who would have thought? He doesn't watch TV at all, not even Curious George will hold his attention anymore. I was really ok with it because he shouldn't be watching tv at his age anyway, but I grabbed a few DVD's, including 'Elmo's World' at the library and found it to be a hit. So if you weren't aware beforehand, Elmo IS the coolest dude in the world- just ask Tommy Duke.

So, I pretty much LOVE garage sales. I wouldn't like it so much if I didn't find exactly what I was looking for. Some things I was not looking for but knew Tommy would love, like this remote control car. The animals move up and down as it goes, and you can take them out. When you put them back in, they are different shapes you have to match up.

 I was painting a frame this week and Tommy really wanted my brush, and to paint also. I said 'ok, later' and started looking up homemade fingerpaint recipes. Most of them you had to cook, and then cool. I never got around to it BUT...at the garage sale I found some red paint AND these cups for the brush. (I remember using these when I taught at HeadStart) They were awesome and helped keep it pretty much mess free. Tommy finally got to paint! We made sure daddy got one of these painting when we picked him up from the airport;)

I ALSO found this LeapFrog Fridge Farm Magnetic Animal Set. I had seen this in the stores and wanted to get it but never did. I was so excited to find this. Now Tommy plays with it while I'm in the kitchen doing dishes or making dinner. I love it!

Matt even had to work Saturday til noon. But Mimi and Papa came in on Friday night to go to the State Fair so Tommy had them to play with. After Matt came home Tommy finally got to play with him!

This is a new outfit Mimi bought him. I especially love the shoes.

Our little goober;)