Giddy Up

Rodeo has to be one of my favorite times of the year in Houston.  It's like a month long holiday, everyone is super into it and the rodeo theme is everywhere.  So much fun, and the older the kids get, the more fun it gets to get them into it!  My mom and I have been planning to go to the rodeo today for a while and I've been excited about it for like a month. . . I knew Sofia and Gabe would just LOVE it.  Last year was fun but insane b/c of all the school groups and since it was our first rodeo with the kids, we had to take a year to figure it all out.  We didn't get to enjoy as much but today we definitely did!  Thanks to pointers from my MOPS group, we went over Spring Break and got there as early as we possibly could.  I would never have thought Spring Break would be a good idea but it really was.  Of course there were still school groups but nothing like last year!  More families but I'd much rather that than the million huge groups we'd have to wait behind to do anything.

I had to really tow the line between enjoying every minute with the kids (which I think I did) and making sure I documented it because they did so many cool and fun things, I wanted to make sure we had good photos!  I think the only thing I didn't get pics of was the petting zoo.  That was insane!  We paid extra to get food which was a rip off.  We got totally attacked by a llama as soon as we walked in and the food was devoured in like 4 seconds.  The kids just loved petting all the animals and Gabe of course chased the llama b/c it was the softest and he could pet it while sucking his thumb. . . so bizarre but hilarious.

Starting off the morning with a little yee haw :)



Here we are on the train on the way to the rodeo!

When we arrived, we immediately stopped to see the bunnies, pigs, cows, and chickens.  We even saw a baby chick hatch!  Then, we went over to the pony rides.

This was super cool.  There are stalls and stalls of animals waiting with their owners to be shown.  Well, we stopped to watch one girl brushing her bull's hair.  She was so sweet and asked Sofia if she wanted to.  Of course Sofia obliged excitedly!  I might have been a little nervous but am working on not being scared of everything for my kids :) So, she went into the stall with the bull (yikes!) and brushed him ever so gently.  It was pretty sweet, and Sofia loved it.  Love these "backstage" moments we get with the animals - last year the kids got to hold baby goats in their stalls.  

This was exciting for both kids but of course mostly Gabe!  They got to climb and pretend to drive these big John Deere tractors! 

After the "Ag-venture" with the animals inside, we headed outside to the carnival.  Sofia was dying to ride these elephants so Gimmie got in on the fun with her :)  

 The kids got to ride a few rides together - so sweet and fun!  Here they are on the tractor ride.  

 And on the motorcycle ride

 And time for corn dogs! 

 And cotton candy :) The kids were actually not fans

 Here you can see Gabe's little prize that he won - there was a ducky float game and they each won something - a little stingray and a starfish.  

 Lastly, for Gimmie and I (although the kids loved it too!) . . . funnel cake.  We got one plain one and one red velvet.  The red velvet was delicious but I still favor the old standard kind :) 

 Hilarious, Gimmie was a bigger mess than either of the kids!

All in all, it was the most PERFECT day. We all had a BLAST! I'm sure the kids are exhausted - they're still napping.    The only thing we didn't get to do yet again was watch pig races and mutton bustin!  I asked Sofia which she wanted and she preferred to do the rides and it IS all about them so I had to go along with it. I'm pretty sure Gabe would not have sat still for either thing for longer than 5 minutes . . . maybe next year!  I'm even toying with the idea of signing Sofia up for mutton bustin. . . stay tuned :) 

More dance photos

I'm really loving Sofia's new dance class.  And she does too! It helps that I like the other moms since for 45 minutes we are outside the class waiting for the girls.  Yesterday was perfect, after class ended we all went to the park there at the community center. The gorgeous weather is trying to return!

Story time

Last week I decided to try the library story time close to our new house.  I was nervous but knew Sofia wold love it.  As predicted, Gabe pulled as many books as possible off the shelves and paid attention for maybe five minutes. He's always on the go and library story time is no different.  Luckily Sofia was there with her friend from school and was having a ball while I played defense against Gabe all over the library. I thinki need to keep going back to get him into the habit.  Just have to give myself a pep talk each time! 

Can you spot Sofia?! Hint: look for the tiara :)

Finally cornered Gabe at the computers. This kid...

Selfie

Yesterday was a busy day! Sofia went to school and Gabe and I were off to be productive. We went first to get my car inspected and I didn't bring a single thing for Gabe to play with or snack on. Smart! Luckily some crayons hidden away in my bag saved the day and he always has fun with my phone too...

Quarantine

Sofia was fine on Wednesday morning when she woke up but by late morning she was laid out on the couch with a fever, tummy ache, sore throat, and chills.  Poor little thing, just broke my heart. I was putting her down for a nap and noticed her toe was super gross looking - blistery and crusty and totally awful looking. I thought it was either her eczema or athletes foot! But by Thursday I called the doc because I had a hunch it was hand foot and mouth disease. Yes, disease. Sounds way worse than it is, but its no walk in the park either. Total motherly instinct but I also had a couple friends whose kids had it this past year. It wasn't until I saw her blistery hands and fingers and later, mouth, that it occurred to me what was going on. Doctor confirmed my suspicions over the phone and said if she wasn't better by Saturday to bring her in but she should be. And thank God, today she was great. Technically since she's been fever free all day she isn't contagious but I'm going to give it one more day. It's not awful, but day one was pretty miserable for her and I wouldn't want to be responsible for spreading that around.  it is highly contagious so I'm trying to keep her quarantined as long as possible. Today she was back to herself and that's always the best thing to see! Such relief. Now I'm just praying Gabe stays healthy! I'm thinking we should definitely be back in business by Monday. Staying home for four days straight has been a little rough! 

Thank Heavens Mike was off on Friday ! Took a little family walk around the neighborhood. Definitely would have lost my mind being home alone that day- aside from being sick, Sofia was in an awful mood. Rightfully so, yes - but doesn't make it any easier...