So, They Say it's Your Birthday!!??

Yeah, I heard a rumor that it was my birthday. Just a rumor. And you know what they say about rumors, right? Uhm,....... well ...........I do not know what they say about rumors, but I do know that it was my birthday. I turned 28 on Sunday. You would not have known it was my birthday. Can you believe it, my husband forgot it was my birthday! And me being evil, I didn't remind him either because I wanted to use it as leverage later! Whuahahahahahahaha!!! (That is my evil laugh.)

So, we went about our Sunday like always. We went to church, came home ate lunch, then he went to a funeral. He and his Dad drove together. While he was gone I told the kids it was my birthday and they were so excited. Little Cowpoke just wanted to know where was the cake. But, OH, there wasn't any. Finally around 6 pm Mr. Cowboy came home. His Dad had asked him what he got me for my birthday. He told him!! He let the cat out of the bag!!

So, what would you do if your husband forgot your birthday? I am not sure I really did anything. I was not mad. I wasn't too happy either. I kinda was shocked. I am glad my mother had sent me a box! Thank goodness for moms. They always remember!! But that is about all that is going on here! Besides I rode my two year old horse for the first time tonight!! I am so excited about that, but that really has nothing to do with this post!! So, tell me, what would you do if your husband or significant other forgot your birthday?

Let the Rodeo Begin!

Last year was Big Cowpokes first time rodeoing. He was a bit nervous. You would look at him and think to yourself, "That little man must love to ride horses and rope." Just by the way he dresses and what he wears. But oh, he is the complete opposite. He loves the rodeo. He loves the dirt, the cows, and everything that goes with it. He just is a bit scared when it comes to the whole horse thing.


See, here he is standing next to a roping dummy thing. I am not sure what it is called. But you sit up on the "horse" and kick the side and a steer head shoots out and you are supposed to rope it. He thinks he is hot stuff in his wife beater shirt. I am so glad he out grew that!!

I tried to make him look like he was from the 1050's. But anyway. All last year he tried really hard to get better. He went from riding in two events to riding in five! He really improved. He even got a first place in ground roping. That is where he stands on the ground a little bit away from the dummy and you run up and rope it. Here he is practicing. He likes the whole stand on the ground thing and roping. That is safe. About halfway through the year I finally convinced him to ride my old jumping horse. He was a bit scared because she is really tall. But by the last rodeo they were great together!! I was so proud of him for riding so well!! We are about to get into rodeo season again. We have one rodeo coming up on March 8th and one on March 29th. Big Cowpoke is all excited. I hope that this year he will be ready to ride all the events!! We have dusted off the ropes and saddles and are riding about everyday in preperation for the rodeo!! Watch out rodeo fans, here we come!

Can't Sell a Darn Thing!!

So, I have this horse issue. It's as simple as this. We have way too many. Between my father-in-law and I we have about 20 horses. Well 18 horses and two donkeys. One donkey that is expecting a baby soon. So, we have a bunch of horses. I have been trying to sell some of mine. My husband and I have 8 of the 20. So, I have started with my most marketable horse (if that is a word Marketable?). This is Kenny. He is so cute, right? He is a nice pony. Just about anyone can ride him. He ropes, rides, and does all the fun play day events at junior rodeos. I have tried selling him in the local newspaper and no calls. Not a single call. So then I posted him on equine.com. I have recieved a lot of interested people. I have even had a few calls about him with people saying they would come and look at him. But nobody ever shows up. If someone would just come out here they could ride him and love him and take him away!! He could be yours for $2000. We have too many!! Then there is Bobo. He is a nice shetland pony. He is our party pony. He is for sale because the kids don't pay any attention to him at all. We have taken him to tons of birthday parties and could totally make someone some serious money! He doesn't spook at anything. We get about 100 dollars a birthday party with him. He could be yours for $500. Yet nobody wants him. Why not? I do not know. Now here is Mac. He is now a year old, he was only about 4 months old in this picture. But he needs to find a home too. We have a total of four yearlings right now. That is three too many!! So Mac, my breeding stock paint stud colt needs a home!! He is really cheap, so if anyone wants him!! I have him halter broke, he leads, picks up feet, and loves to be brushed!! He could be yours for $400. This is my baby, Ozzie. I have not marketed him and I am not sure I am ready to part with him, but for the sake of being horse broke I would if someone would really want him. He is sensitive and emotional and thinks he is a human. He is going to go into training in the beginning of March. I can't wait to ride this boy!! But he could be yours for $1500. Before training. Here is another yearling. He is so cute and is going to be huge! He is halter broke and all that jazz. He is a registered quarter horse. He has Boston Mac and Peppy San Badger on his pappers. He needs a good home too. But he is my father in laws and maybe I should ask him if he wants to sell him before I go getting rid of him!! LOL!! I am just wanting to reduce the herd so we can have more grass and less money in grain. Then there is this final pony.

This is Buttercup and her filly. She needs to find a good home. She is a very cute buckskin pony. She is a great pony. We ride her out in the big pasture with a halter and lead rope. I rode her in a horse show and won 4th out of 16 horses. She jumps and does what ever you like. She could be your new family member for $800.

Now you see what I have. And why doesn't anyone want to buy my horses? I am wondering if I have a strange illness and nobody wants to come out here and try my horses. I would love to sell just one of them. But not a single one. Would someone please buy one of my horses or ponies? They are all really sweet and deserve a good home. I must be a horrible sales lady. Let me know if you have any ideas for selling something!!

Gather Round Kids, There are Somethings I Would Like to Tell You.

I have been tagged by Karen over at the Rocking Pony. She tagged me a while a go, but I couldn't think of the right things to say. Her post was so beautiful and so sweet to her kids. I have been thinking about what I would say and so, here goes.

5 things I want my kids to know.
1. I love you with all my heart, mind, might and soul.
2. God loves you and knows you.
3. I will always be here for you, in good times and in bad times.
4. Do your best and God will help you with the rest.
5. An education is important. Get one and see where it can take you.

5 things you want to tell your children when they are grown up.
1. I am so proud of you.
2. Don't worry if you mess up, it's okay. Take what you have learned from it and grow from it.
3. Family is so important. Make time for them. I have never heard a grown man say, "I wish I would have spent more time at work."
4. Make time for you spouce. A solid happy marraige makes for a happy family.
5. Always say, "I love you." Never take the day forgranted.

5 things you want to tell your child before you die.
1. I love you and always have and always will.
2. God loves you and watches over you.
3. Do what is right, blessings will always come.
4. My life has been blessed because of you. I am so greatful for the all the times we have shared together.
5. I am so greatful that God had chosen me to be your mother, it has been a bumpy ride at times, wonderful, inspiring, humbling, and an honor. But best of all we were together and we learned from eachother, I loved that.

5 things you want your child to know before she/he dies.
1. You are a charished (son or daughter) of God, he is proud of you for how you have lived your life. He will be standing with open arms waiting for you.
2. The feeling of Pure Joy.
3. The love of a husband/wife.
4. The love of our family and theirs. The joy a child can bring into their lives.
5. Be a great friend and have great friends. Remember, the greatest gift is not found in a store nor under a tree, but in the hearts of true friends.


That was really hard, and I am sure I would like to say more than just five things. Now I get to tag some of you to see what you would say. I would like my sister Amanda at Amanda Creates, Jennifer over at Siguiendo Mi Catracho, Andrea over at A to Z, Tera over at Reed Family Review, and Laura at the Grapes of Roth. Hope you all have fun doing this!! It was for me!!

Mod Podge Project

I am in charge of a youth activity for church. I was trying hard to find something fun to do that all the girls would like to do. The girls will be 12 and 13 years old. I brainstormed and thought about all the things that would be a fun craft thing to do. All I could think of was a duck tape purse. My little sister used to have one of those!! I Googled, duck tape purse, and I found a lot of patterns. I wasn't too sure how long it would take to make one of those, so I made a phone call to the expert of crafty projects. My little sister the Art Major. She said that the purses were kinda sticky and they took a little while to make. She suggested doing something with Mod Podge. I have never done anything with that before. So, I Googled it and up popped all these great ideas!! It's really cool. My sister made somethings for our mom and dad for Christmas with Mod Podge. It was really neat. After talking to her I decided to just go and do it. I went to Michael's and hit up the wood isle, paint isle, mod podge isle, and the scrapbook paper isle. I left with nothing. I had all these great ideas and couldn't find anything I was dreaming of. Next stop Hobby Lobby. They were having a 50% off sale. When I go there I realized I liked the things at Michael's better. But I wasn't going to drag the kids out of the van again, so I just went with the stuff at Hobby Lobby. I came home and then decided to do a picture frame Mod Podge project instead of a plaque. So, I made one for Little Cowpoke. It will be my demo. I started out with a square piece of wood. I dug through some old wallpaper in the closet and found some old paper scrapping stuff. I was all set for the project. I then took a piece of paper and cut it to fit the wood. I then Mod Podged it all together. That stuff is really fun!! I can't believe I have just learned about it now! Where have I been?
I then took some paper and tore it and put it under another smaller piece of paper. Then Mod Podged that all down. I guess I could have just glued it all down but I was excited to use my new found crafty stuff! Big Cowpoke has some cowboy wallpaper in his room. We have a lot left over, so, I cut some of that up and put it on the board with Little Cowpoke's name. I used a stencil for the letters. I would have really loved a Cricket. That is an electronic thingy that cuts out letters for you! It is really neat. It's all the rage in paper scrapping. I haven't done that since 2001, so I am a bit behind on the trends of paper scrapping. I got all this down with the Mod Podge and then I put a layer of Mod Podge over the entire thing. Then I thought the letters didn't stand out enough. I then put a black line around all the letters. I should have done the black marker around the letters before doing any Mod Pogding, but oh well. That is how it ended up. I think I would have liked a different alpha, but oh well. It was my first attempt. It isn't the coolest, but it will due for a wall plaque for a two year old! :)

Valentine's Day Shoebox

A note came home in Big Cowpokes "booksack" (aka bookbag) the other day. It was declaring that the first grade would be having a shoebox contest for Valentine's Day. I love crafty contests. They are so much fun. I love to brainstorm. The ideas just start flying through my head!! Parents were aloud to help with this project, so the game was on.

Big Cowpoke and I rummaged through his toy box and found lots of cool stuff to put on his shoe box. We wanted to go with a Wild West theme. That is Big Cowpoke's favorite. Then all we needed was a shoebox. I do not keep shoeboxes. I toss everything out. But it just so happened that the other day Mr. Cowboy bought new work shoes. So, we had a huge box to work with. The first thing we did was cover the box. We took a red bandana and covered the lower half and then tan paper and covered the top half.

Big Cowpoke was incharge of the glue and I did the cutting. Then we took the old Elmer's Glue and spred it all over the top of the box and put real barn dirt on the top of the box!! The boys loved this part.
It was some serious fun!! A bit messy but with boys, but really what isn't messy with boys? After that I made a small backdrop for the box. I drew a few mountians and a few old town buildings. I made a Saloon. Then thought about that after the fact, "This is for a first grade project, should it say Saloon??" But it was glued on and that was that. We then cut some grass for the cows and some water for the buffalo and put on the charaters. Big Cowpoke wanted a corral for the horse. So we got some woodchips from the landscaping around the house and made a heart shaped corral. That took some glue. Giddy up horsey!! That horse was about missing it's head, but it was the only one that would fit in our corral. We even gave Annie Oakley a heart balloon. Big Cowpoke kept asking, "Why is that lady wearing a dress and holdign a gun?" I tried to explain it to him, but he just wanted to glue her on. He wanted her waving at everyone. We had Indians and a buffalo. The buffalo was drinking from the stream. Big Cowpoke has a great imagination. He put all the charaters where they were to be glued. That kid can tell a story. In the end Big Cowpoke wrote, Happy Valentine's Day on the front of the box and cut out a bunch of hearts to put around the sides of the box. He was so excited. It turned out great. I asked him yesterday who won the best shoebox contest. He didn't even know what I was talking about. Why don't boys care about anything? It didnt' take 3 seconds for the two boys to rip all the guys off the top and run outside to play with them in the dirt. It must be so much fun to be a boy!!

Road Crew

The other day I was horribly bored. There was really nothing for me to do. No dishes, laundry, house work, it was all done (well kinda, not really, okay not at all). Little Cowpoke declaired that he wanted to go ride his bike outside. So, since he rules the roost, outside we went. He rode around on his tricycle for a while and then was bored too. That is when I came up with a great idea. We decided to grab the sidewalk chalk and make a road. I love to use sidewalk chalk. My husband has never had the chance to use sidewalk chalk. He grew up with a rock driveway. So, when the boys first used it on the driveway and he came home and saw it all over he freaked out. He said, "YOU LET THE BOYS DRAW ALL OVER THE DRIVEWAY!!!" He was really mad. I told him it would wash off with water or the next time it rained, which here is very often. Mr. Cowboy just didn't understand. So, anyway back to my road. Little Cowpoke and I started to build a road. "CAN WE BUILD IT? YES WE CAN!!"

It started at the top of the driveway. I was just going to make it small, but Little Cowpoke kept saying, "More More Please!!!" So, more it was. We made roads all over the driveway. We made stop signs, crosswalks, a cultisack (sp?), and cross roads. We even had a few Y's in the road. It was fun, and it hurt my back. Boy, and I getting old. Little Cowpoke made sure to walk the roads all out to make sure they all were made right. They passed inspection. But it just needed somthing more...... Little Cowpoke then colored in some city parks. They were very nice. Very colorful. Bear even enjoyed the roads. He walked down the street and looked both ways before crossing! Then Little Cowpoke took to the roads. He rode his tricycle up and down and all around. He stayed inside all the lines. He had to pull over for some more construction. The road was always needing some more work. Little Cowpoke had a great time. His big brother even joined in on the fun when the bus dropped him off from school. It was some good fun and cheap too, it only took four large pieces of sidewalk chalk.