"And they call the thing Rodeo"

This past Friday we went to the Mesquite Rodeo.  A few of our Lifegroup couples were going, and we thought it would be a fun little adventure for Knox.  

He loved it.  There was constant action, which kept him entertained.  No animals were injured, which was also a huge plus!  

When we arrived to the arena, they were out of power.  Pretty funny, actually, but at the time we were a bit annoyed and sweaty.  They got it back up and running right around the start time, so we were able to stay and enjoy the show.

Knox had this serious look on his face the majority of the time.  Just taking it all in.

He also loved (and was slightly jealous) when the kids got to do the "Cash Dash."

They put two strings on a sheep, and let the kids go.  Whoever got the string got $20 bucks.  

Maybe in a year or two he can jump out there.  We'll have to get him some boots and Wranglers to fit in :)

As we were leaving, we paid the $5 for him to have a pony ride.  It probably lasted less than 2 minutes, but it was absolutely worth it!  He did it all by himself, which made me proud and broke my heart, all at the same time.  He's getting so big!

We had a great time, and look forward to going back soon!

Feeding the Turtles

Knox and I go on a run most mornings with friend Jessica and her daughter, Blair...and they both get so excited about feeding the turtles.  And by excited, I mean that the minute we start running Knox starts in with "I wanna feed the tuttles.  Go this way, Mommy."  He's quite demanding.  We typically feed them whatever breakfast the kids don't eat while we run, and it's the highlight of the morning for them.  And us, really, because we get a break from the exhaustion. 

Any day we don't run, he's disappointed.  I'll hear "I wanna go with Bair (he can't say his "l's") and Bair's mommy to see the tuttles," all day long.  So, after church on Sunday, Stephen and I decided to get a little exercise and do just that.  I mean, it was 12:30 and 100+.  Great idea, right?

We almost died from the heat, but it was a great time.  Knox loved taking Gracie and Bella with us.  He was a bit bossy with them, constantly telling them where to sit and where not to sit.  And making them drink his water.  He got to bring a rock home, and he was really nervous Gracie was going to crush it.  He placed it right in between them, and kept saying "Gracie, don't hurt my rock.  Don't sit on my rock."  It was pretty funny!

Daddy took Knox down to water level to see the turtles up close.  There are about 15 turtles that live in the creek, some just babies and others with a shell of about a foot and a half.  Pretty crazy!

Love this picture of my Baylor dudes.

As you can see, the dogs almost died.  Knox was so sweet, filling his water bottle cap and trying to get them to drink some.

I say it all the time, but I love this age.  Seeing the world through his eyes is such a blessing.  Hopefully Fall will come sooner rather than later, and we can enjoy more of these days out exploring.

Treasure Box

Yesterday, my friend Abbi posted a blog on a fun craft project she found.  The recipe was simple: rice, alcohol, and food coloring.  I knew this would be something Knox would love, so we set out to make our own version last night!

First, the recipe:

I used a 5-lb bag of rice.  The ingredients are 4 cups rice, 3 Tbsp alcohol and 2 Tbsp food coloring per batch.  I made two colors, and to be honest, I just guesstimated on the measurements.

I decided to make a dark blue, an orange and then the third color was just the naked white rice.

Once you've mixed all of the rice up, pour it on the cookie sheet to dry in the sun for about 15 minutes.  Once dry, you can pour it into your treasure box and begin the fun.

Here are the "treasures" we used...all from the dollar bin in Target.

All three colors before mixing:

And after:

I did the mixing and such after Knox had gone to bed.  

The first thing out of his mouth when he woke up was "I wanna see the RICE!"

He was so excited...

Love that chubby hand!

He played for a solid 30 minutes before we went for a run.  Once home, it was the first thing he wanted to do. 

Daddy showed him how cool it feels for it to run over your hand.  He has done this a million times since.

I could just melt at that smirk.  He was so excited to find a purple fuzzy.

And then a red one. 

I've since added loose change found in a junk drawer, a random button and some small cars.  He has played  BY HIMSELF for over an hour.  And I've vacuumed about 50324234 times.  But it's totally worth it.  All I hear now is "I wanna play it more.  Where did the rice go."

Go on...get you some rice and make a treasure box!

Brave!!

This past weekend we were invited to sweet Ella's 6th birthday party.  She had a "Brave" party at Cinemark.  We had a little party room, ate cake, opened presents and then had preferred seating for the show.  You never know how a 2-year-old will do in a movie, so we brought along his paci and lovey...and we're happy to report he did awesome.  He watched the whole movie and never made a huge scene.  Whew!

Here's the sweet 6-year-old:

Her adorable cake:

She even had delicious cupcakes for the littles!

Knox dug into the party favors a little early, and gave us a little "Hollywood" action!

Ella's granddad gave her a Merida (the main character) wig and jewelry...it was a hit.  

Once she had the wig, tiara, earrings, necklace and twin baby doll...she was a happy girl!

We had so much fun!  

Soccer Tots Finale

Knox isn't in love with soccer.  He likes it for a little bit, but it's not something he asks to do on a daily (or even weekly) basis.  Every time we are at the Soccer Tots lesson, he tries to escape to see what is going on in Lil' Sluggers, the T-Ball version of classes.  It's pretty funny, actually.  For the final class, though, he did great.  He enjoyed the drills, and actually did really well!

Rolling the ball with his feet.

Team Huddle

Final shot with his coach, Pathe.  This man is the most patient, fun-loving guy!  We enjoyed him so much!

And now, for your viewing pleasure...what it looks like when Knox plays soccer:

He likes every activity for about 5 seconds.

He loved the pyramid demolition.

This was his favorite part (note:  had NOTHING to do with soccer)

Getting his medal for completion!

Next up...Lil' Sluggers!  We figured he wanted to watch them so bad, maybe he'll be a left-handed baseball star :)

Back-to-back

The Canyon Creek Crushers are champions, again!  This time Knox and I were able to be there when it happened.  It's so funny to me how nerve-wracking a neighborhood softball game can be, but we were definitely heckling and acting like this was the MLB.

They easily won their first game, and after a rain delay didn't have too long to wait to play in the championship game.  Knox was thankful for that...keeping him occupied is always a bit of a task.

He was happy to congratulate his daddy, though!  The "big" game was played against a hard team.  In fact, the last time they played, the Crushers lost 15-0.  Seriously.  We think it's because Stephen was out of town (ha, just kidding...4 others were out of town as well).  Tensions were high, all of the moms in attendance were nervous...but they did it.  In overtime.  Stephen had a great game, but came home with bruised ribs and a pulled hammy.  It's real serious, folks.  

The dudes...so pumped.

Knox was saying "I wanna go home," the entire overtime.  He's not too pleased to then have a photo-op.

One missing teammate, Mike Obert (the reason for the "O") had to miss the game due to West Nile and West Nile Meningitis.  I'm happy to report that he's on the mend, but we were rooting for him the entire time!

And our Crushers.  So proud!

He couldn't go to work the next day, he hurt that bad.  I asked him if he regretted playing so full-out and his response?  "It was totally worth it, we're back-to-back champs."  

H-Town fun!

I can't believe it's been a 10 days since my last post.  Ridiculous.

As you can imagine, we've been going non-stop and haven't really had a chance to slow down.  I'm finally getting around to documenting all that has happened the last few weeks, so get ready for a post-filled week!

The weekend before last we headed to Katy to see the Dotsons.  Kelly was in the Woodlands for the 4th and came to Katy once we got in town.  It was fun to have everyone in one place for a few days, and we took advantage or the down time and relaxation.

Most of our time was spent by the pool.  We played games, had a few friendly competitions and got too much sun...and Knox had fun, too!  The Dotsons bought Knox a pirate ship for the pool, and he LOVED it. I adore these pictures of him having a good time and lounging around...too cute!

They also got him a critter catcher.  Glenda saw my post about foraging for leaves and snails and thought he would love it...she was wrong.  He was OBSESSED.  Papa helped him catch a few lizards and a few bugs, and he spent the entire weekend checking up on George, Louie and Phil.  Yes, we named them.

We let them go before we came home, but he's already found some things around our hood to replace them.

We also made our way to the City Center.  We always go there once a trip, and it has never let us down.  

We danced...

We played football...

We ran around at the speed of light...

And even did a few somersaults for the ladies.

He slept well that night...promise!  We ended our trip with some waffles, and Knox made sure they were whisked to perfection.  He loves being able to help!

We had so much fun, and look forward to going back soon!