8 Seconds...Let's Rodeo

Aunt Mimi, Gram, Pawpaw and me took the kids to the Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo yesterday.  We did it last year and they had so much fun we decided to make it a tradition.

This year William was tall enough to ride more rides so they rode their little hearts out.  We actually ran out of tickets and had to buy more before it was all over with.

Erin was so excited to go.  I made the mistake of telling her the day before and that's all she talked about.  She wanted a piece of candy after breakfast yesterday and I told her no.  I told her we were going to eat a bunch of junk at the Rodeo.  She promptly told Tommy that we were going to the Rodeo to ride ponies and eat junk!

The Petting Zoo is always a big hit with the kids.  Erin was actually a little intimidated when we got in there.  There were a ton of kids running around and too many animals in my opinion.  They were fairly aggressive about the feed cones too.  At one point I looked up and a goat had his front feet on Gram's chest trying to get to the food.  It was too funny and I wish I had been fast enough with the camera.  William found 2 baby goats in a corner so the kids bothered them the rest of the time.

It was pretty cool because they had a momma goat in there that had had a baby the day before or that morning.  The baby was tiny and so cute.  There are also one in there ready to pop any day now.  She looked miserable, but seemed to enjoy the snacks.

Here are a couple dozen pictures of the day.  I took over a 100, so I pared them down for you!  LOL

 

 

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Plan of Action...

Erin has outgrown the biggest size of Night Time Pull-Ups Huggies makes.  The next step is the pretend like underwear.  They are outrageously expensive compared to the Pull-Ups  which are also outrageously expensive.

Erin will go sometimes hold it all night and wake up dry.  I thought this was a good first step and that she was ready.  So, I stole a plan of action from a mom at her school.

I bought another waterproof mattress pad and layered the bed with mattress pad, sheet, mattress pad, sheet.  We started the experiment on Thursday night.  She made a mess and didn't even wake up!  The thought on the layering is that you don't have to remake the bed completely in the middle of the night.

Friday night she had an accident but woke up and called me.  I just stripped the top layer and she went back to sleep.  By Saturday we woke up dry!  We praised her and made a big deal out of it.

Sunday night we had a set back and had a very small accident but she woke me up to tell me.  Last night we had 2 accidents and they were sort of big.  I was really surprised that we had 2 of them.  She must have been doing some serious sleeping.

Needless to say, the washing machine has been going non-stop, but the double layer really helps at night so I don't have to change sheets in the middle of the night.  Kristen is a genius.

I know this is a process.  Tommy thinks I'm going to get tired of waking up at night and changing her and the bed.  He's wrong.  I know it will take some time, but I'm committed to doing this.  She can do it.  I just know it.

Dog Fight...

It was literally a dog fight around here this morning.  I had been forgetting to give the dogs their heartworm pills until this morning.  You have to give them with food and I kept forgetting at meal times.  (We won't even comment on what a wonderful pet parent I am!)

They had both eaten so I came back into the room with the pills.  I gave Scooby his and had to wrestle Mae to make her take hers.  In the middle of giving it to her, Scooby ran up to us.  Mae got ticked and the fight broke out.

When I call it a fight, it really was a fight.  They were making a ton of racket and all I could see was a ball of fur and teeth.  Neither of them cried out and neither of them backed down.  Mae is a scrapper, so I thought she might hurt Scooby.  I thought wrong.  Scoobs held his own.

They weren't going to stop until I tore them apart.  Against my better judgment, I went in. I pulled them apart - one in each hand - and they were still lunging at each other and making those deep throaty predatory growling sounds.  When they finally got calmed I let them go.  I looked down and there were tufts of Mae's hair on the floor and Scooby was limping.  I guess that makes it a draw.

After all that, I'm not even sure they both got their pills!  And now they're playing like it was no big deal.  I really am glad it happened after Scooby has been here a while.  I would have been even more worried about it if he hadn't already settled in.

Moral of the story is to give them their heartworm pill while they're in there houses (kennels). (Erin calls them houses.)

Another Year - Wow...

This weekend marked the 2 year anniversary of the day our family got William.  It's incredible that two years have gone by.  I can't remember what it was like before we had him.

To celebrate "Gotcha Day" they took William and Erin on an excursion to ride trains.  William is absolutely obsessed with trains and loves them.  Thomas is his favorite character right now, but any train will do.

Gram and Pawpaw picked Erin up so she could celebrate too.  They went to a Park and Ride and grabbed the Metro Light Rail to Hermann Park.  There is a little train thru the park right next door to the zoo.  I remember riding it as a kid and it's still just as popular.  Daddy said Erin had a great time.  They rode the train twice!  I think they enjoyed the Metro too, but there is no comparison to the Hermann Park train.

William has become such an important part of our lives.  We thank God for him everyday.  Although he came to us down a different path, we could not love him more.  We celebrate the day we got him with zest because it's such an important day to our family.  I'll never forget driving to Fort Worth to be there when they picked him up.  In tribute to that moment, here's another shot of the videos I took.

Super Birthday...

Yesterday was Luke's 4th birthday party.  It was a Power Ranger theme and everyone was encouraged to dress up in Power Ranger or Super Hero gear.

Tommy had a DC Comics Hawaiian shirt and I bought a Superman shirt.  But, Erin stole the Mize family show.  I found the cutest Supergirl outfit on Amazon.  I got it weeks ago but had to put it up so she wouldn't want to wear it before now.

I pulled it out of the bag and she got so excited and told me it was "beautiful".  I put her hair in little pigtails with red bows and she was so "Super" cute.

Aunt Steph hired a human Power Ranger to perform for the kids.  They loved it.  I forgot my camera, so I didn't take pictures at the party.  Erin is typically a little leery of characters but she was okay with this one.  I think because she could tell he was a real human and the other kids were there crowded around him.

The cake was so pretty and almost too professionally done to eat!  The weather cooperated for the party too.  It was humid and wet in the morning but cleared out in time for the party.  The kids were able to play inside and outside.

Of course when I got the camera out Erin had a major attitude and refused to smile.  I think it turned out cuter anyway.  The looks more tough.