World's Toughest Rodeo

Well being a farm girl at heart still (you can remove the girl from the farm but you can't remove the farm from the girl) I was very excited when our Cub Scout Pack decided that a trip to the rodeo would be a good idea!  We had 8 Scouts that wanted to go to the World Toughest Rodeo so we ordered tickets for them and parents and siblings and prepared ourselves for a good time.  The boys were invited to come to Cowboy Camp prior to the show where they would get to ride a pony, learn to lasso, ride a bull (fake of course) and get autographs from a few cowboys and rodeo clowns!  The boys had a blast at Cowboy Camp and a few of us parents/leaders joined in the fun as well.  I mean, can you really pass up an opportunity to learn to lasso from a real cowboy!  Once Cowboy Camp was over we found our seats and enjoy some food before the show started.  Once the lights when down in the arena the boys lit up with excitement.  And then the flag dropped and everyone of our Scouts Saluted immediately, talk about making a Den Leader Proud!  And then the announcer led the entire stadium in prayer, something I had never seen a public event like this but have to say that I thought it was amazing.  Then the show begin, bareback riders, saddle back broncos, barrel racing and of course bull riding!  It was a great time.  I had a blast enjoying a night out with my little cub scout, I know that eventually he will be wanting to hang with his friends and not mom on Friday nights so I soaked in every moment!

Future Fire Fighters

One thing that both my boys look forward to every week is Thursday nights because that is our Cub Scout night.  I am the Den Leader for our den again this year and once again having a blast with my cub scout boys.  Mason doesn't get to join us every week as some weeks we just have too much to do and I can't be trying to keep him entertained but tonight we had set up a tour of our local Fire Station so Mason got to join in on the fun!  The boys were so excited for our tour.  We started with a little fire safety talk with one of the local fire fighters (who also happens to be my co-den leader).  Then we toured the station, went out for a ride in the Fire Trucks, washed the truck after our rides, practiced dragging a 185 pound dummy as if we were rescuing it from a fire and even got to try on the fire fighter gear.  Both my boys had a great time and I have to admit I had a lot of fun too.  

It's Paw-ty Time!

Today we celebrated Mason's 4th Birthday with all our family and friends!  Of course the theme of the party was Paw Patrol as it is still one of Mason's favorite cartoons.  The turnout for the party was amazing, we had 35 people packed into our little home and while things were a little crowded it was so amazing to see all these people here to help celebrate our little man. We had lots of delicious treats (served in dog dishes of course) which I am sure I found much cuter then most of our guests.  Some of our pup themed treats included Fruit Kibble, Ruff-age (veggies), Pup-corn, Puppy Chow, Water bowls (blue jello), Paw-tato Chips, Pup Treats (homemade puppy and dog bone sugar cookies) and of course to wash it all down we had Toilet Water (Lemonade)!  

After some time snacking and playing with friends we piled everyone into the living room to open presents.  Mason was beyond spoiled by all of his guests.  He received so many cool toys, books, art supplies and even a new comforter set (Paw Patrol of course)!

After working up an appetite opening all those presents it was time for cake!  Mason was very excited about his Paw Patrol cake however as soon as everyone starting signing Happy Birthday to him he became shy and tried to hide.  Crazy boy. 

The party was a hit and we want to say Thank you to everyone who came over to help us celebrate.  Mason is very lucky to be loved by so many people and he was very spoiled today.  

Happy Birthday to the Cutest 4 year old ever, love you little man!

Fun with Cousins!!

This past weekend my cousin Sheila and her family came down from Fargo to spend the weekend hanging out with me and the boys!  We didn't have much planned, just wanted to hang out and have a good time together with our boys.  I was so excited to spend a weekend with her catching up on everything going on in our lives and the boys were so excited to have cousins staying with us all weekend. I also knew it would be crazy and probably exhausting have five boys (ages 1, 3, 4, 6 and 8) in the house and I was right!  Saturday the weather was beautiful so we decided to hit the sledding hill with the boys.  Her two youngest had never been sledding so she was excited to see how they would react and like all boys they loved every minute of it (even when they flipped out of the sled and got white washed).  After sledding for over an hour we headed back to the house to build a snowman as she said they had also never done that (it's like she lives in Florida or something).  All the boys had a blast playing in the snow and I think us adults had just as much fun!  I snapped a few pictures on my phone but for the most part just enjoyed the day.  

 He was crabby because I was making him take a picture prior to going down the hill!!

  

  

 We picked up one of Colton's buddies on the way to the hill... what's one more kid, right?!

That is a pretty awesome snowman if you ask me!!

The boys snuggled up to watch some afternoon cartoons!

Mason of course was helping me prepare our big family dinner!  The kids loves to be in the kitchen, he is just like his daddy.

We ended our day with a cousin bath.  These boys were having a blast in the bath together.  It was so much fun to have them all together for the weekend and we are already talking about when we can do it again!

Good People

I am part of on online garage sale group on Facebook in which people are always posting things they are selling or items they are in search of.  Well this morning a lady posted that she was in search of a low priced winter coat size 2T for her son.  Well I have several hanging in our closets just waiting for a garage sale so I took a picture of one and posted it to her post that said I have this one for sale, $10.  She responded that is looked perfect however she was embarrassed to admit that she didn't have the money right now but could maybe have it by next week and asked if I could hold it for her.  At first my thought was annoyance, like she didn't have $10 but then I realized that maybe she really didn't have anything.  I have been very blessed with all the items we received from friends and family for our boys (we seriously have way more clothes than any one household should for only having two kids).  I decided the $10 was not going to make or break the bank for me so I private messaged her and told her that she could have it for free.  She seemed very grateful.  I said she could pick it up anytime to which she responded that she doesn't have a car right now as she lost her job last fall after breaking her ankle and not being able to work.  Ugg, was it a story or the truth (I will never know).  All I know is that I felt bad that there was a child who needed a winter coat and I had one to spare so I talked to her and found out she live right by Mason's school so I said I could drop it off to her.  I will say that she offered to meet me at Cub which would have been within walking distance to her house but I said it wasn't a big deal to bring it to her.  I then talked to her a little more and asked if she needed any clothes, she responded that he has clothes to wear right now but she hadn't started buying 2t yet and he would be in them soon.  I told her I would bring her some and she repeated said "I can't pay you" to which I would respond that is okay, just pay it forward some day.  She seemed to be extremely grateful.   I went through the several bins of boys clothes I have at my house and put together a bag full for her including jammies, sweatshirts, pants and several pairs of shorts and tank tops for when summer finally arrived.

She sent me a couple more Thank You messages and we set a time to meet.  Then she went on to say that she was trying to find the courage to ask for diapers but didn't even know how to do it.  I said to just ask, people might have some half cases sitting at their houses that their children grew out of and don't have a use for them.  She said she had never thought of it that way.  She said it is hard to ask for hand outs but for her son she is willing to put her own shame aside.  Well tonight I saw that she finally posted the request for diapers.  The response was unreal.  27 comments in about 10 minutes.  Many who had diapers available for her and others who said they did not but they had clothes if she needs them or wipes and baby shampoo.  The outpouring from strangers was just amazing.  And she continued to post that she was so Thankful.  And then an older man come on and said that he would stop by Target tomorrow after work and pick her up a couple cases and drop them of at her house.  My faith in humanity has officially been restored.  There are still so many good people in the world and so many times we only hear about the negative things that are happening but we don't hear about these kinds of stories.  I am sure it is not easy to say that you are have fallen on hard times and ask for handouts but she did it for her child and not one person commented badly or put blame on her.  They just jumped into action and helped this stranger.  So Amazing and heart warming!

Four Generations

Spent the afternoon hanging with my Grandpa today.  The boys love spending time and playing games with their Great Grandpa.  Wish we lived closer so we could do it every weekend.  Of course I couldn't not get another 4 Generations picture before we left today, I just love these kinds of pictures! Look at these four awesome guys I have in my life, love them!