Old rodeos and livestock shows

Last week's cowboy camp included lessons on hats, horses and other livestock. On the second day, the kids brought in animals and had a livestock show, including ribbons for 'best in show'.

Harry's pig took best in show for: playing in the mud
And Jack's polar bear took best in show for: sleeping in his nest (nest = the hat, since he learned cowboys use it for sleeping and holding important things)The two of them hamming it up for the camera on picture day - the got to ride a real pony, pix to come home this week I think

They also made these bandanas the first day, using paint stampers. They earned their badges and bandanas by bringing their hats back on the second day.

The third day was the 'gold rush' - they had all yellow things and even went on a treasure hunt for gold nuggets .... I'm too lazy to take a picture at the moment, but they covered tiny rocks and the kids had a great time

I know a few of you are homeschoolers, so if you're interested in their curriculum or projects, just email me :-)

Chris Ledoux's Round And Round She Goes

but don't touch my hat

Monday at Cowboy Camp was all about the HAT...and I remembered having caught lots of shots of the boys with these hats over the years. My friend Jenny taught me how to use Picasa's Collage feature to show a bunch of pix in less space....what do you think?

My friend Lori's son goes to a preschool that offers several camp sessions in the summer; last week the boys joined Tim at Cowboy Camp. This is what they looked like when they were just excited to go...
And this is what they looked like the first afternoon, after learning about how many ways the cowboy could use his hat. They wore them pretty constantly all week :wub:

Our kids are fascinated with hats, something I've forgotten since most of ours are in storage awaiting a new home. Here's an old post with one of my favorite cowboy hat pictures, made into a jigsaw puzzle that you can do (yes, you can load your own photos, sent, post, etc. - have fun!)

OK, it's been a LONG time, I found this in my drafts and didn't want to lose it
07/10/09 Harry: Mommy, when you do your errands, don't take a wrong turn! 07/15/09 Jack:Sometimes I just can't make my imagination calm down and go to sleep!

Lyle Lovett's Don't Touch My Hat

You're Missing

The boys are missing Daddy something fierce, so I've found them in his boots a few times this week


Our Parks & Rec department is wonderfully supportive of little kids, running a program weekly that lets them play in the gymnasium with all sorts of equipment. Recently, they hired an art teacher who comes weekly to let the kids do projects - yesterday was just a free-for-all day. She had a few sets of craft scissors with cool designs that the boys enjoyed. They just cut up a few sheets of paper .... minimalism at its best, I guess!

They have summer camps in the main gym, so we're off in a side-room, but all the fun stuff is still available. I think we're pretty lucky to have such great programs through our P&R.

Happy week, and we miss you babe!

Bruce Springsteen

Mamas, Don't Let Your Babies Grow Up To Be Cowboys

We have some silly boys, who love their cowboy hats (ala Toy Story)

Friday nite, they came up with the idea of 'tall pants' - they lifted their pj pants up as high as they could and spent a while running around and giggling and generally being goofy boys! I couldn't get a good picture, but you get the idea ;-)

Willie Nelson

Good Morning Sunshine(s)

So, despite all the amazing and wonderful independence of late, it's been a rough haul the last few months with a lot of negative behaviors and testing the limits and trying to find some security by regressing (and I'm not just talking about them, truth be told!) It has not brought out the best in any of us, and I've let a lot of positives go by the wayside as I've tried to find some new routines.


Jack came into our room this morning with a great big smile and said "Good Morning...Sunshines" and gave me his most adorable and loving smile. I got all weepy when I realized how long it had been since I greeted them this way - I used to go in to wake them every morning with that phrase....now that they get up on their own, I've gotten lazy or out of the routine or whateve. Well, starting our day that way seemed to help us all have a good day today. So, we're trying to get back to some of our better habits and let go of some of the negatives.

Here's Jack's attempt to get himself together during a fit, mostly from being tired but a little just because he's 4 and wants his way ;-) I was going to post it as The World Could Use A Cowboy but got lazy.....


















If you are struggling with your kids' behavior, I can say this worked really well that day - I took a picture of him ready to melt down then we worked to get him to 'cowboy up' and talked about which one would be more fun to be with, which one might get what he really wants, which one might be the better friend, etc. It worked for the moment and a few times since - maybe you can have some success with it, too!

Happy weekend!


Oops, I realized this is NOT the song I thought it was! I think I meant URMySunshine or Sarah Brightman's GM Starshine, maybe?