Tiny Tales Thursday...

Every night we go through the same routine at bedtime.

Bath.
Brush teeth.
Book.
"Jesus Story".
Prayer.
Sleep.

Lately he has been adding a prayer thanking Jesus for whatever makes him happy. It's become my favorite part of our nighttime routine because you never know what he is going to "thank Jesus" for that day. A few of my favorites...

Superman
Buzz Lightyear
Superman Pillow
Superman PJs
Puzzles
Kasey (yes, our dog)
Visits from GiGi and Pops
Emmy
Toothbrush
"the big guys"
Mommy and Daddy
Trucks
Colors
Planting flowers
Going to see Thomas
Uncle Pete teaching him how to play golf

Every night it's something different and special to just him. Which makes my prayer easy...because every day, every hour, every minute, I am thankful for him!

A Texas Tradition...

Texas is great for about a million different reasons:

1. It's Texas

2. We drive "friendly"

3. Dairy Queen

4. People are polite

5. Small town gossip

6. Small town heroes

7. Friday night lights

8. Trucks

9. Warm weather (except for those 5 days)

10. Bluebonnets... 

Yes, every year we get to witness Moms and Dads dragging  driving their kids all across the open road to get the perfect picture. They stop on freeways, highways, 2 lane roads, and sometimes the interstate just to place their children among the ocean of that precious state flower. 

Mom and Dad took pictures of us every year...

 

And the tradition continues with the Kings. You may notice a slight difference in our picture, though... as in the lack of bluebonnets! If you look closely to the left of Emmy you will see a few popping up. I like to imagine the whole field behind them covered...nothing a little photoshop can't cure! ;)

You may also notice that my kids are in a chair. Well, precious Emmy is like a little magnolia (which is the Louisiana state flower) and when her skin touches grass she breaks out something fierce. She is just now recouping from her last play date in the grass, so I didn't want to cause her more grief.

Rad's pink shirt matched this little patch of buttercups nicely. 

He was so inquisitive this year, wanting to know what everything was and examining the bugs that were flying all around. This is him watching a bee "makin' honey, Mommy". 

   

 He loved that bee... 

Emmy just liked all the funny noises we were
making trying to get her attention!

Which weren't near as interesting as all the

cars that were zooming by... 

They both had so much fun and just sat and let me take roughly 200 pictures in all of 10 minutes. Ridiculous, I know. But how can I not take pictures with kids as cute as them?!?

While the bluebonnets were scarce, we did get to enjoy lots of other Texas Wildflowers like...

Indian Paintbrushes...

Buttercups...

Wild Orchids...

Giant thistles...

And a few others that I didn't snap pics of. GiGi and I were having flashbacks to my 7th grade wildflower collection... I think she learned more than me!

Yesterday I re-learned that a Texas tradition just can't be beat (yes, that is the jingle of Dairy Queen)!

All aboard...

So I know I've mentioned that I don't really love Thomas the Train. I know I've also mentioned that a certain little boy does really love Thomas the Train. 

And well, with a smile like that how could we resist the opportunity to take him for a day out with a certain little steam engine? The answer is, we couldn't. So we all packed up the car and drove through the piney woods of east Texas until we reached our destination. 

  The Texas State Railroad hosts special events throughout the year. We have taken Radley on the Polar Express and now to this and have not been disappointed! I highly recommend it to anyone... they do a great job, have wonderful facilities and the employees are always eager to show everyone a fun day!

These two could not wait to get started! Well, Radley was ready and Emmy was just happy to be next to her big brother. GiGi and Pops met us in Palestine which made our little man even more excited. He had everything he needed: a train shirt, water, sunscreen, snacks and Thomas. 

We had everything we needed, too... I mean with a view like this how could we need anything else?

First stop was a new Thomas shirt (thanks GiGi and Pops)

and lunch (yes, he ate all of that).

And then it was off to see "EVERYTHING" in the words of Radley. 

As much as I like to joke about Thomas, I must admit that I had been looking forward to this day. For the past 10 months Radley has had to share just about everything with this itty bitty... 

And while I know that is part of being a big brother, it still doesn't mean that sometimes the day shouldn't be about him. We are so proud of how well he has adjusted to being more than "just us 3". He has definitely had his moments of jealousy and not wanting to share more than just attention... but more than that he has had his moments of kindness. I love catching him in the act of making Emmy giggle, or carefully watching over her. He gets so proud when she discovers something new or does something "big" like crawl or more recently pull up. He more than deserved a day just about him... 

And what a day he had! We visited a petting zoo... 

 got a Thomas tattoo (the only one Pops would ever purchase for him)

jumped in a bounce house... 

played on train tables... 

listened to story time...

and Sir Topham Hatt made an appearance, too!

All of Radley's favorite things were in one place...

 especially these two people... 

Everyone was all smiles that day! 

After all of that it was finally our turn to ride on Thomas! Well, technically Thomas was pulling our car, but that's only because he is "fastest, strongest, best steam engine there is, mommy!"

Thirty-five minutes of pure bliss for this kid... 

nap-time for this kid... 

and this one, too!

It was the perfect day! Absolutely perfect. 

For a minute everything was all about Radley... 

and well, maybe Thomas isn't so bad after all.