The Malones: Mondays with Crosby

At 11:24 am, Crosby Fox turned 2 years and 33 weeks old!!! I cannot believe this was our last week of summer!?!? Where did the time go? And why have we not taken one single vacation? Oh yea. We have one planned in a few weeks. Thank goodness!

On Wednesday night, we 2/3 of the Malone crew at the Williamson County fair. You may or may not recall the same adventure this time last year. It didn't turn out quite like we had hoped. (minus the fried snickers) I was hoping this year would be better since we are dealing with an older version of Crosby. One who has had a little more time to balance the need for independence with the need for safety! Thankfully, this year went MUCH better.

He actually put on the apron and carried his basket through the farmers market. He needed a little help staying on task but was able to gather each item at each station. He and Charlotte stopped in to pick up a few eggs...

Then they grabbed an apple from the orchard...

Brushing the sheep and collecting some wool...

Attempted to get a picture of both farmers. This is as good as it got!

Unfortunately, I deleted the pictures of them gathering corn, planting corn and sitting on the tractor! Learned my lesson in keeping my memory card empty.... Anyway, this experienced farmer showed him how to feed a dairy cow so he could turn around and...

Milk her!!! And yes, water did come out of her udder if you did it correctly! Hilarious...

Family shot! Too bad something happened to the lighting and most of my body was dark. I did the best I could with Lightroom, but please know my legs aren't that pasty!

The Cyrs...

Attempting to get Crosby and Charlotte to pose as farm animals. Charlotte wasn't too sure about it...

But you can at least see she was having fun!!!

Playing with the goats...

I was glad to see Crosby climb into the corn pit. Good tactile stimulation for him...

He didn't even mind it being stuck to his feet!

Still on of my favorite exhibits at the fair...

They had all been lined up eating, just like last year's picture. But by the time I snapped a picture, the momma had had enough! Let me just say these little piglets are about the cutest thing I have EVER seen. I have said it before and am sticking to my statement. If pig would stay this tiny and cute, I would have taken one home with me. I mean precious. Too bad they get to be 200+ pounds or something...

I was impressed with the hair do on this Shetland pony...

Crosby has a new love of all things llama thanks to the "Llama llama Red Pajama...Mad at Momma...Misses Momma" books we have been reading. We just happened to be standing there when she was being taken out of her stall. Crosby got to meet her up close and personal...

After making our way through all the cows and horses and sheep and chickens and goats and pigs, we headed out to the rides! Since Crosby is a few inches taller than he was last year (> 36 inches!!), his ride options were much more exciting. I know it is hard to believe, but Crosby was all about the rides. And of course I had to snap a picture of him on every one...

Charlotte really wanted to ride but she couldn't bring herself to do it...

Riding on Nemo...

And look who we found riding with him!!!

Sweet Leighton!! Drinking lemonade from a cup half her size!!

We ran into the Mayfield clan as we were making our way through the rides...

I attempted to ride the tea cups with for the sole purpose of documenting Charlotte's first (and only!) ride. The carny said we had too many people in our cup so I quickly exited. I am not about to break a ride for the sake of a picture...

At least I was able to snap one of them in action. Let's just say Charlotte was ready for the ride to stop as soon as it started...

Crosby riding the roller coaster that went from 0-15mph in 1.5 secs. Or something like that. It did give him a jolt when it took off, which we could not stop laughing about...

Just relaxing on a fair ride...

We had to ride the panda again this year!

It was a big hit for the second year in a row...

But his favorite ride of all was the motorcycles. Imagine that!

Overall, we had a GREAT night with the family. I am already looking forward to going back next year!

We had a dear friend fly into town on Tuesday. Jessica spent Tuesday and Thursday night with us and we were thrilled to have her visit. She actually accompanied me and Crosby to orientation day at his new school! And she may have snapped a few photos for me!! ;-) Can't wait to see what she took... Anyway, we spent the day running around downtown Franklin. Eating lunch at Franklin Mercantile and saving room for desert at Ivey Cake! Well, I really just used that as bribery to keep Crosby in check while we pushed him WAY beyond his limits!!! He was GREAT...

Too bad I didn't get one of our cupcakes!! Little man fell asleep in the car at 3:45 as we were taking Jessica back to the airport! Seeing how he normally sleeps from 1-4+, he was quite the tropper. And yes, he still sleeps with Bubba...

Love this girl!!! Can't wait to spend a week at the beach with her in a few short weeks!!!

Friday was also Anne Claire's birthday. We had Crosby sing a little song for her...

I am not sure what the hind end in the air was all about but it sure made for a funny video. Much like this video of him singing a Yo Gabba Gabba song...

At least he said excuse me!! And at least his parents are so mature that they don't laugh about it... ;-)

Today was the big day...the first day of SCHOOOOOOL, as Crosby likes to say! He was pretty excited about starting back up. We have been talking about his new teachers, Miss Lisa and Miss Jodi all week long. I grieved all summer over which school to put him in, Otter Creek or the one near by. I knew the best option for our family would be the one closest to home for this year. It sure was hard to turn down the opportunity to spend this year with all of his sweet playgroup friends. I just can't look at their class picture... Sigh. Anyway, I am over it now. Sort of. :-)

I got my boy dressed and ready...

I promise he liked his backpack. I just happened to snap a picture after he had fallen backwards due to the weight of it! He didn't know how to walk with something on his back...