More Carnival Fun

This weekend Wade helped his parents officially move to the house that they bought in East Texas. They had already moved most of their stuff, so Wade helped them load the truck on Friday and he helped his Dad do a few projects around the house. All in all, it was a pretty easy move.

The house is in a retirement community that has cute little celebrations for all the holidays. This weekend was the Halloween carnival. While Wade, his dad, and his uncle were playing golf, Wade's mom, aunt, and I took Clayton to the carnival. It was cute - little games, snacks, and bounce houses. Clayton had a ball! We are definitely getting our money's worth out of his $30 Woody costume. He has worn that thing 3 times already, and he will wear it two more times this week. I finally figured out how to get him to smile for pictures - reverse psychology! I say, "Don't you smile for this picture! I only want grouchy pictures." He turns on the charm and smiles huge smiles for as long as I will taunt him. It sure is going to stink when he figures it out. Hopefully, my little scheme will work through Christmas. :)

Paint a Pumpkin Playdate

A few of my girlfriends brought their kids over today to paint pumpkins. The kids had fun and we adults survived. :) Somehow my kid ended up covered in paint and all the other children were perfectly clean. (Why doesn't that surprise me???) We ate and played, but didn't get much time for adult conversation. Oh well... such is life with a two-year-old. The little ones had fun and that's all that matters.

Storytime at the Library

On Thursdays, we go to storytime at the library. Today the kids were supposed to wear their costumes and all of the stories were Halloween themed. All the little muchkins looked so cute dressed up. After storytime, there is always a craft project that has to do with the theme of the books that they read. Today the kids decorated a trick or treat bag. They then got to trick or treat at different places in the library (offices, the play house, etc). There is a closet in the library with a book drop slot in it where you return your books. Well... today one of the librarians hid in there and stuck her hand out of the book drop slot to hand out candy. All the kids acted confused, but they got their candy and went about their merry way. When all the excitement was over, we checked out some books and got ready to leave. Clayton ran over to the book drop closet and stood there. I walked over to him and he whispered, "Do you think that lady is still in there?" The librarians heard him and they both started laughing. One put her hand over her mouth (to muffle her voice) and said, "I'm still in here." Clayton said, "Thanks for the candy!" She replied, "you're welcome." As we were leaving, I could hear them laughing talking about how Clayton is always going to wonder about what's behind that door.

The Circle of Life

After our fun-filled morning at the pumpkin patch, Wade and I had tickets to see the Lion King. We had season tickets to the Dallas Summer Musicals, and this was the last one for the year. We had a conflict on the night of our original tickets, so Wade went to the box office to exchange them for a different night. My smooth-talking hubby somehow managed to get front row tickets out of the whole thing. So... we got to sit front and center. It was absolutely beautiful! The music and dancing were great, but the best part of the musical was the costumes. The way that those people make the animals move is just amazing. I loved every minute of it and can't wait until Clayton is old enough for us to take him.

Speaking of Clayton, he had a date of his own with his new babysitter, Katelyn. We have known Katelyn's family for years, and I actually used to babysit for her and her brother, Gavin. I started babysitting for Gavin when I was 13 and he was 1 (he is now 16, and I am ,well... you can do the math). I fell in love with that sweet little boy and was positively thrilled when Katelyn was born. I truly loved those kids and spent a lot of time in Jr. High and High School at their house. Their mom, Aimee, is this really sweet, Christian woman that is a mix between Bree from Desperate Housewives and Martha Stewart. She is incredibly artistic and creative. Everything that she does just comes out perfectly. She is definitely one of my "great mommy" role models. Well... to make a long story short, they moved after Wade & I got married. We lost touch for about 6 years and just recently reconnected. Now that we moved, they live about 5 miles away. So... the sweet little girl that I adored babysitting for is now babysitting my little boy. Talk about the circle of life!

Pumpkin Patch

We took Clayton to the pumpkin patch in Flower Mound yesterday. Our friends, the Masters, went with us. Clayton was a little grouchy at first, but quickly came to life when we let him put on his Halloween costume and pose with the Woody cutout. He is obsessed with Toy Story right now and is very excited about being Woody for Halloween. In fact, he has decided that our whole family should dress up like different characters from Toy Story. He says, "Daddy can be Buzz, Mommy can be Jesse, and Sydney can be Slinky!" I am afraid that his little heart is going to be broken when he realizes that he is the only family member that will be dressing up.

The pumpkin patch was really crowded. Luckily, we got there early enough that we didn't have to fight traffic to get into the patch. By about 11:00 there were cars as far as the eye could see waiting to get in. Even though it is the end of October, it is still very warm. So... needless to say, with the crowds and the heat, we didn't last long. I still managed to take 300 pictures, though. I made a slide show of some of them. :) Happy viewing!

Woody x 2

Driving the tractor

"Cheese"

Hugging McKenna

Fall Family Pic

Taking a hayride

Jumping to Daddy

Our little country bumpkin :)

"I climbed the mountain of pumpkins!"

Daddy & Clayton in the pumpkin house

Mommy and Clayton on the barrel train

Grisham Farm

Today Clayton and I went to Grisham Farm with my friend, Angie, and her little girl, McKenna. I thought that it would just be something to do to get us out of the house and out of Wade's hair. But... it was really educational and fun. I knew that there would be pigs, cows, horses, goats, and other farm animals. I didn't know that there would be so many small exotic animals. Miss Stephanie let the kids pet a rat, a guinea pig, a chinchilla (which was remarkably soft, I must say), an albino hedgehog, a box turtle, a blue tongued lizard, a white-bearded some sort of dragon, a snake, a chicken, and a bunny. They also got to feed the goats, pigs, horses, and cows.

Funny things that Clayton said:

1. This morning I explained to Clayton that he was going to wear his overalls. He was not excited about them until I told him that farmers wear overalls. When we came home for naptime, I went to change his clothes. He started fussing and whining, "Please don't take off my farmer suit!"

2. I asked Clayton which animal was his favorite. I expected him to say the chinchilla or the hedgehog or the lizard. Nope - he said, "Ummm... the puppy dog was my favorite!"

3. Miss Stephanie gave the kids bread to feed the animals. Clayton was feeding the goats the bread. I turned my head for a second, only to realize that Clayton had seized the opportunity to stuff the remainder of a piece of bread in his mouth. Very sanitary... What can I say - that boy loves his carbs!

Petting a rat - Ew!

Talking about Diego and his chinchilla

"Mommy, he's prickly!"

Tuck from the Wonder Pets???

"His tongue is blue. My tongue is pink."

Who lets their 2-year-old pet a snake???

Farmer Clayton and his horse

It's a tough job feeding 2 animals at once!

Baa, baa, black sheep...

Throwing bread at the pigs

Is it nap time yet?

Clayton's favorite animal all day! ;)

State Fair

We took Clayton to the State Fair yesterday. We have taken him every year since he was born, and every year is more fun than the last. This year we stayed longer and ate even more than last year. I think Clayton loves fair food almost as much as Mommy and Daddy. We went to the dog show, the bird show, the petting zoo, the "little hands on the farm" exhibit, and rode the ferris wheel. Clayton was really funny during the dog show. He kept belly laughing after every trick. His eyes would light up and he would say, "I never knew'ed he could do that!" and "I never believed he could do that!" So funny...

He also really liked the petting zoo and was actually old enough to feed the animals on his own. He got a kick out of the animals coming right up to him to eat out of the shovel that he was holding. He also had fun being a farmer at the "little hands on the farm" exhibit. It is a really cute little deal. The kids get to "feed" the pretend animals, gather eggs, plant crops, pick crops, milk a pretend cow, get wool from a goat, then they take all their goods to market and get "paid." With their "money" they can choose something to buy. Clayton bought Nutra Grain bars (his very favorite food in the whole world), of course.

We also took Clayton on the ferris wheel for the first time. He loved it. He kept saying, "I want to go to the top again." We spent a lot of time searching for Spiderman while we looked at all the buildings downton. It is so fun to experience things with your child. All the things that seem so ordinary to me are new and exciting to Clayton. I just love that little guy!

Clayton's first State Fair corny dog

Lovin' his free ice cream cone

Milking a pretend cow

Planting his pea seed

Posing for a pic on his tractor

Driving his tractor to feed the cows

"Selling" his goods at the market

Feeding the camels

Petting a goat

Riding the ferris wheel