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Sunday, October 13, 2013

Howdy Folks!

Last Sunday we took Luke to the State Fair of Texas for the first time. Since Luke was only a month old last year during Fair season, we decided to not take him to the craziness that is the Fair, and just went by ourselves for a couple of hours. That actually happened to be our first time away from Luke since he had been born. As much as we enjoyed getting away last year, it was fun to introduce our little guy to some of the things we enjoy about the Fair. 

For the past 6 or 7 years (I have lost track) we have planned a Fair date with our good friends, Sterling and Shannon. This tradition started out with just the four of us, but has since grown to including our little ones. One year we were joined by Sterling's brother and his girlfriend and this year we were joined by Scott and Vicki. Our original plan was to go on Saturday, but the weather was a little crazy, so we decided to hold off. I am so glad we waited because Sunday was beautiful! Apparently, a lot of other people thought so, too! It was packed!

Our first stop was to visit the new Big Tex. The Big Tex that we grew up with caught on fire last year and, unfortunately, was unable to be saved. We stopped by to introduce Luke to Big Tex and meet up with Scott and Vicki. 
Our little sleepy-head who was powering through with no nap!
Luke with Uncle Scott and Aunt Vicki. Look how stinkin' cute Luke is in his cowboy boots!
We headed straight for our first "snack" at the Fletcher's Corny Dog stand. It is a given that we have corn dogs when we go to the Fair. Luke and I "shared" a corn dog. 
Here we go!
Shannon mentioned that we pretty much have the same picture in front of one of the fountains at the Fair from every year that we have been going together. So, of course, we had to take this year's picture! 
You can tell how excited the little guys are to be stopping for a picture...
After checking out the new cars in the car buildings, we decided it was time to get another fried treat for dessert. We usually try something new, but this year we went with what was close and easy: funnel cake. You just can't go wrong with getting funnel cake and we hadn't had it in forever. The little guy wasn't too sure what he thought of all of that sugar...
He wanted to make sure he got it all off his little fingers!
The boys.
Before heading home, we ended up stopping to take a break and watch the end of the Cowboys' game. (Too bad they lost!) Luke, again, was not interested in this stop. He was a squirmy little thing who was ready to keep moving! 
At least he was a happy little squirmer!
I remember the days when I used to be so annoyed with people who brought their kids who were in strollers to places like the Fair. We are officially those annoying people! Luke has the whole people-watching thing down and seemed to enjoy himself. I fear that next year will be a challenge because I won't be able to contain him as easily in a stroller. He is already showing signs of independence at times, so we'll see what happens! We lucked out with having free tickets to get in, extra coupons my parents passed on to us, and ended up only paying for parking. Not too bad! I can see how easy it will be to one day blow quite a bit of money once kids want to ride rides, play games, eat their own food, you name it! For now, we'll stick with being those stroller people and enjoy our fairly cheap tradition!
Until next year...

Saturday, October 5, 2013

Happy birthday to you, "baby" Luke!

I can't believe our sweet little Luke is officially one! People weren't kidding when they said time would go by in the blink of an eye! As much as I miss our tiny baby boy who struggled to gain weight his first 4 months of life, I am completely in love with the one year old little boy he has become. 

For Luke's 1st birthday we decided to have family over for his party. As much as we really wanted to have our friends and their little ones, it was probably better we just had the 20 family members we invited. I don't know where anyone else would have sat, stood, ate, etc. in our house! Luke is pretty lucky to have most of his family members living so close to us that we are able to get together throughout the year, rather than just as Thanksgiving and Christmas. 

I promised myself, well, Jeremy, that I would not go too crazy getting ready for Luke's birthday. I realize he is only one and doesn't really get the concept of a birthday party or decorations, but I also love planning, organizing, and creating. So, it is what it is. I had fun making banners and signs and pulling together decorations for his monkey-themed first birthday. (We chose a monkey theme because the little guy loves his monkey paci. He really only uses it at nap time and bedtime. It's going to be a sad day when monkey goes away...which should be sometime soon. Luke lights up and gets so excited when we bring monkey out at night.)

Here is a peek at the decorations I made for Luke's birthday...
1st birthday banner
above the food table







chips and queso were on the counter, too
homemade cupcakes with monkey toppers
My dad insisted we have party hats...a few people embraced them!
Luke's smash cake my dad had made.
Other than dropping the entire bowl of banana pudding right in front of Luke 30 minutes before the party started, everything else went well! I was so worried that the bowl had hit Luke, but thankfully, it didn't! My in-laws saved the day by going to the store to get some more pudding to recreate what we lost.

Oooo, cake!
Someone could have cared less about taking our family picture...he was ready to dig in!
Yummm!
Destruction! I've been told Luke is the neatest eater in his class...
Luke and his grandparents...look who's still eating!
presents, galore
Where is all of this stuff going to go???

Luke's birthday loot!
Once the party was over, we had family nap time. We were all exhausted! We did find time to take a stroll to the park. Check out Luke's new ride!
Thanks, Mom and Dad, for my new wagon!
I think he likes it!
Happy birthday, sweet Luke! We love you!