Minnesota State Fair

What a busy few weeks we have had! I feel like it has been forever since I've posted a blog update, and although I've thought about it several times, it obviously hasn't gotten done. I'll try to make up for it by including some recent photos.

Brecken and I are both well in the swing of school and even adjusting to waking up via our alarm clocks again.... Eh, we don't like it! Every day, I find myself thinking that my child is the SMARTEST child to EVER walk the planet! EVER!!!! I am fully aware that he is doing things age appropriately and therefore isn't a childhood genius, but I am certainly a proud mama to say the least. He just amazes me every day with the things he picks up on, the receptive language that he knows, his new words that he adds to his ever growing vocabulary and his walking is getting less shaky each day! He has officially gotten the gift of gab from mommy and is always saying something.... Some of which we even are able to understand as intelligent words! He says "hi," "bye," "mama," "dada," "ball," "fish," "shoe," "look," "book," "tickle tickle" to name just a few :) He does a lot of signing and can even tell someone what sound an animal makes when asked (cow, pig, sheep and fish are his only sounds for now!) It is so fun to watch him grow up and change and we are amazed at all he has discovered in the past 15 months!

Here he is riding on his tractor in the basement....

He takes his tractor driving VERY seriously...

Helping Mommy cook dinner one night.

Reading books in the evening is his favorite thing in the whole world. He usually brings us a book to read to him every 5-10 minutes when we're playing after dinner, and then we go back to his big boy bedroom and read books in his race car bed until bedtime. He seems to know the routine now and as soon as we say, "Brecken, it's time to go night night," he takes off down the hall and crawls into his bed! I have to pinch myself sometimes to remind myself that I no longer have a baby!!! He is such a BIG BOY!

Brecken and I went to our second annual State Fair experience tonight with Auntie Jill, Michael and Julia. Here the kids are with their pig ears.... Note, Brecken does not like things on his head so they didn't stay on long :)

Eating our first of many fried delicatessens of the night.... Fried Pickles. Yum! To say that we ate our way through the fair is an understatement! Needless to say, I think Brecken would consider his "fair food" the best supper meal he has ever had :) Fried pickles, french fries, funnel cake, chocolate malt, lemonade smoothie, chocolate/marshmallow/banana sandwich, pizza-on-a-stick, fried-fruit-on-a-stick, and Sweet Martha's cookies. Nice menu, eh? The fair only happens once a year so I'm not going to beat myself up for poor choices :)

The tractor section was a big hit for the kiddos!

There was also a model train exhibit with tons of tracks set up for the kids to play with. VERY cool. Brecken even got to pick out a train to take home with him, what a special day! He chose one that plays music when you push a button and he played it most of our drive home before falling asleep!

Sweet Martha's Cookies were our last stop on our way out of the fair. As you can tell, the kids enjoyed them 'til the very last chocolate chip was smudged across their faces.