he's a sucker for petting zoos

It's Rodeo time of year again!! There's just not much to say about the Livestock show. It's pretty fun. We learned how to milk a cow, we learned not to take a $300 stroller because it will be covered in cow poo when you leave, and we learned that Steven really loves petting zoos. Up first: Houston Livestock Show with Mimi: *sorry for the horrible quality of photos- the lighting was weird and I just couldn't get a good setting on my camera.

aww, come here sweet baby goat... ..let me plug your nostrils so you can't breathe... hey, llama- why aren't you biting my finger when I stick it in your mouth? I had the wrong lens with me, but it was an actual horse he was sitting on

pony rides with Mimi

look, MAH! no hands!

carney rides!

Next up: Austin Livestock Show with Nana and B!

you guessed it- more petting zoo

he only tried to stick his finger into one animals' orifice. I'll let your imagination run wild with that one. unfortunately, I wasn't able to catch it on camera.

pony rides with B! they were really haulng ass tail, so it was hard to get a good shot

carousel with Nana!

he was less than excited about this train ride. can't imagine why, I'm pretty sure everyone is aware of his obsession with trains.

let's get a close up of that face, shall we?LOL!!! And it was with ASHLEA!

but he loved this ride!! first ride all by himself!

Until next year, petting zoo.

since it's warming up...

I thought I should finally post about the winter wonderland we had here last month. Our temp didn't get much above freezing for about 3 days and then we woke up one morning to this....

SO much more snow than I've ever seen in Austin! We got about 1.5 inches! WHOA! I know all you Northerners are snickering right now, but that's a lot for central Texas!

Steven loved it, as could be expected. We woke up, scarfed our french toast down, and headed out. We took a loooong walk around the 'hood. He just kept walking and walking.....and walking. We couldn't pass a house along the way that didn't have footprints in it without walking all through it and leaving our mark.

So here are a few snapshots of Steven enjoying the snow...

trying desperately to get his last-years mittens off...and succeding

eating the snow

I love the succession of these next three shots....he's doing some sort of fancy snow walk/dance that was just too adorable.

little's birthday with thomas

It's only 2ish months late. Ahem. Sorry.

We had a lower-key birthday for Steven at the house. I figured it was going to be only too soon that he's going to drag us to party places with mechanical singing animals, horrible pizza, and more germs than the mens restroom at a football stadium, so party at the house until then.

Can you guess what the theme was? THOMAS! Shocking, right? I'm not a huge fan of character themed anything (clothing, parties, fruit snacks) and I was thinking about doing something totally fun for all involved, like a football theme, but a few years from now when we tell him how obsessed he was with this steam engine he might slip a laxative in my Diet Dr. Pepper for being a horrible, selfish mother. THOMAS IT IS!

a few of our party guests playing with the train table B & Nana got him, and poor Mimi with her broken elbow. What a trooper she was!

Phyllis and Tammy, and Gook*

Ashley and D*

Aunt Bleh* and Uncle Tom

the cake, made from scratch HEB

singing happy birthday

blowing out his candle...

all by himself!

he was very proud :)

I think he liked the cake

He got so many great gifts, Mimi gave him trains for his train table and a really neat tricycle!

A big shout out to B & Nana and Uncle Jon for taking all the pictures. Mama was a slacker and took all of 4 pictures, most of which were of the cake I didn't make. FAIL.

Happy 2nd Birthday, Little!!

* Gook, D, and Bleh are what Steven calls the different relatives because he can't say their name quite yet. D (Diane) and Gook (Luke) are perfectly fine with their nicknames, although I don't think Aunt Bleh (Katie) is too fond of hers. ;)

showers

I think we all remember Little's first shower....

How could we forget? He's taken to showers again, this time like a big boy.

*He's cleaning his orange bath tub crayon drawing off the walls, so no, our bathrooms are not that disgusting. :)

shutterfly, oh how I love thee...

We've been using Shutterfly for the last 2 years for our holiday cards. Every year I think they can't get any cuter, and I'm pleasantly surprised.

We just had family portraits done a few weeks ago and I cannot wait to send out holiday cards again.

Here are the cards from the last few years:

Does it get any cuter than this?! I really miss him this tiny!

I think this one will be an all-time fav! I have a feeling as our family grows it will be a lot harder to get us all looking at the camera and smiling.

Shutterfly has come out with some beautiful designs this year and I can't wait to pick my favorite! Here are some contenders:

Pretty Poinsetta

Peppermint Giftwrap

Elegant Lace Snowflakes

Snowflake Dazzle

Emerald Green Stars

Which are your favorites?

Start watching the mail, folks!

the real thomas

Grampy and Nana took Matt, Little and I to Burnett to see "A Day Out With Thomas" this year. It's a life sized, real Thomas steam engine that travels all around the country. Steven is just *a tad obsessed with Thomas the Tank Engine and all his steamy friends. All day long I hear "whoowhoo....whoowhooo!!". All.Day.Long. So when Nana found out about this she knew we all had to go, Aunt Katie and Uncle Tom included!

I don't think Steven really understood why we were just standing in line.

And then the moment of pure joy and disbelief.....

shock and awwwwwe....

There was a Thomas poster at the front of our train car that Steven could not get enough of and kept waving to and yelling "Hai!!!!".

Yes, we brought one home with us. It was hanging in his room, but mama had had enough of waking at 7am hearing "Whoo Whoo!!!! WHOO WHOO!!" over the baby toddler monitor. And nap time was becoming quite a challenge. Now it hangs in the hallway.


"Grampy, I'm waving to THOMAS!"

getting a temporary tatoo on his hand



Posing with Sir Topham Hatt. I'm not sure who he thinks should be holding his other hand...

Such a wonderful day! Thanks Grampy and Nana!

*read: completely obsessed and thinks about nothing else. THOMAS IS THE ONLY THING THAT MATTERS.