Kid's Rodeo Day

This weekend is the Northeast Montana Fair in Glasgow and today was Kid's Rodeo Day.  If it's a rodeo then it's an occasion to wear the cowboy outfit.  The morning started at 10:00 with a Chicken Scramble.  I think they had about 10 kids in each heat and threw about 4 chickens in at a time.  Carter didn't even come close to catching a chicken but he had fun.  He's the little guy in the blue wranglers, black and brown plaid shirt, and tan hat. 

 After the Chicken Scramble they did a Boot Race.  And they're off!

We let our friend, Wheeler, borrow Carter's cowboy boots from last year so he could be a real cowboy too.  They are the same boots as this year, just a different size.  Wheeler grabbed two boots and headed back to the finish line.  Carter was left with two boots, both for the left feet, so he was a little confused and not at all happy with Wheeler when he got back to the finish line.  I guess you NEVER steal a cowboy's boots.

 After the Boot Race they did a Pig Scramble.  This time they did about 15 or 20 kids at a time.  And they should have...

 check out the size of the pig.  At first it just looks like the guy has on black pants, but nope.  That's a pig held up by it's hind legs.  Pretty big pig for a group of kids 5 and under.  

 After the Pig Scramble they did a Sack Race.  Carter thought it was pretty cool to wear a sack.

Until he ended up in the middle of the pack with tired jumping legs.  I'm not exactly sure why the sad sack, but he was done before he got to the finish line.

 At some point they did Dummy Roping but I was busy chasing down Henry and missed it.  I did hear them announce that Carter roped the bull on the first try!  After all the 'kid' stuff we got down to serious business and did some Mutton Buston.  The first time Carter got the helmet and vest on and made it into the shoot before he chickened out.  Then we had a little talk and he decided he would try again.  Here he is trying to get onto the sheep.  

  He didn't stay on very long, none of the kids did.  He was pretty proud of himself for trying again.  He said he felt like the was riding a bull.  I'm not quite sure how he can make that comparison since he's never been on a bull, but I wasn't going to argue with him.

The helpers are right next to the kids and he did a pretty good job 'catching' Carter when he fell off.

I videoed this but can't seem to get it downloaded.  I'll be sure to re-post or link to it if I can get it working.

We had a pretty great morning at the rodeo.  I only lost Henry once and luckily there were enough people that we knew that watched Carter while I looked for Henry.  Henry didn't want to participate in any of the events, maybe next year.  Carter didn't win anything but they both got $10 gift certificates for Eugene's Pizza for participating.  After the rodeo we had pizza with some friends and headed home.  Both the boys played hard and slept hard.  Now Mom and Dad need to get to bed.  Tomorrow is another big day - 

Kitchen Remodel - Day 3.

Swimming Lessons

 This was Carter's first year of real swimming lessons.  I did aqua-tots with him the summer he was 1 1/2 but haven't done lessons since.  We've been swimming in the lake and teaching him a thing or two on our own but thought it was time for some real lessons.  

They swam for 45 minutes a day for 10 days.  We had two days cancelled because of lightning and the last day was a fun day, so really, he only had seven days of swimming lessons.  It wasn't really long enough to get down to business, but he had fun anyway.  He wouldn't jump off the diving board and didn't swim all that well without the floaty and didn't pass to the next level, but he loves the water so we can't complain.  He'll swim around the boat three or four times with a life jacket on so we know he can swim, but he may be like me and love to float and relax instead of swim competitively.

I Can Skip

I let Carter skip his nap, only to find him zonked out right before dinner.  He slept for almost 2 hours, got up, ate a snack, took a shower and went to bed at 8:30.  I wish I could remember what we did that day that tired him out so.  We'd do that every day.

Snack Time

Why is it okay for a 2 year old to eat only the center out of an Oreo, but when I do it I get scolded?

Tubing with a Fishing Boat

After tubing last summer with the Fasts, One Last Swim, we decided to buy a small tube that we could pull with Dave's boat.  I had to do some major convincing since it is a fishing boat.  Karen came over to watch the boys for us since Miss Stacie had the week off and we had beautiful weather.  We headed out after naps on Sunday for a little tubing.

Not real sure who to blame for these pictures, the Captain or his First Mate.

More Tubing

So, we did manage to get some good pictures, I just needed to mess with you a bit.

 We stopped to do some swimming too.

Ready to go Snorkling

Thanks Grandma Karen for the scuba gear (as Carter calls it).  

Carter's Day at Work

Most of my blog stalkers know that Carter came to work with me for the first year of his life.  On occasion he still wants to go to work with me.  We made a deal that after swimming lessons (10:30) he could come back to work with me for awhile, then we'd go to lunch, and then I would take him back to Miss Stacie's for a nap and the rest of the afternoon.  His part of the deal was doing all the chores on my list.  On Tuesday morning when I woke Carter up I told him he needed to get up, get dressed, and get some breakfast because it was a work day.  Usually I am met with some form of:

in a minute

not now

when I'm ready

don't tell me my business

But, to my surprise he jumped up and did everything I asked.  Swimming was canceled so we just went back to the lumberyard and he went to work.

 He has a little tool belt stashed in a bucket with a little hammer, tape measure, nails and such that he puts on as soon as he gets there, even if we're only stopping for a minute.

One of his chores was to sweep out the shop.  Not too bad for a 4 year old.

I had some Brabeck Construction shirts made for the office staff and the boys.  I don't think there is better advertising than my totally adorable little men wearing Brabeck Construction shirts and they love to wear them.  After work we went to Pizza Hut and chowed down, then back to daycare so I could go back to work.

T-Ball 2013

This year was Carter's first for T-Ball.  He was a Kangaroo with 7 boys and 2 girls.  I think he had fun.  We could really see the improvement over the 5 weeks they played, however, his attention span at games, much like other 4-7 year olds, was pretty short.  I don't think he fielded one ball but he didn't seem to mind.  He spent most of his time on the field dancing.  I missed getting a video of that.

We've been working on his batting at home and he can really wack a wiffle ball with the wiffle bat, but has a little trouble with the big bat and a real ball.

My little slugger.

After the last game they got a certificate with their names and coaches signatures on it.  Carter was pretty concerned all season about whether or not they would get a trophy or metal for playing.  He was satisfied with his certificate and ice cream bar.