Happy Valentine's Day!

I was lucky enough to spend my entire Valentine's Day with the loves of my life!  We started our day with church, I was the volunteer for Mason's Sunday School class this week and really enjoyed watching him in his Sunday School enviroment! Then we rushed home for some lunch and headed over to our host church for cub scouts to partake in their Mardi Gras Celebration!  The scouts each put in some volunteer hours by running some of their games for the celebration, a great way for our pack to repay the Church for letting us hold our meetings there every week.  So while Colton worked his booth Mason and I enjoyed a fun afternoon together!  We played games, checked out the silent auction, ate some snacks and played some bingo!  Mason daubed his first Bingo card, he did great all on his own.  Yes, I was one proud mama as my 5 year old was able to keep up with his own bingo cards (yes he was playing a sheet of 3 cards)!  After the Mardi Gras we headed home for dinner and then the boys went to Grandma's for a sleepover cause they don't have school tomorrow.  It really was a great Valentine's Day, wouldn't want to spend it any other way!

Also my sister surprised me with some awesome Valentine's photos of my kiddos, she asked to take them with her so she could get a shot of all the kids for my parents but she also got some of just my boys for me! 

World's Toughest Rodeo

Friday night the boys and I were lucky enough to attend the World's Toughest Rodeo!  The Rodeo always invites the Boy Scouts to the rodeo and each Scout gets a free ticket so we can't pass it up!  And as an added bonus we get to go to Cowboy Camp prior to the show.  Camp meant we go to go down in the dirt and the boys got to ride a bull (it was stuffed of course), get autographs from a few bareback riders/bull riders and enjoyed pony rides!  They enjoyed their time at camp and then it was off to get snacks and find our seats!  This was Colton's second time at the Rodeo so he knew what to expect but Mason was on the edge of his seat with excitement.  Once the lights when down and the cowboys came out he was in a whole new state of excited!  I dont think he sat back in his chair the entire event. he was yelling and cheering every time a cowboy was able to complete their 8 second ride! I had such a fun night out with my boys.  I love that they enjoy these kinds of activities, they might have gotten a little of my farm blood in them.  And any event that means I get to where my cowboy boots is a great even if ask me.  

These two good looking Cowboys sure are my world!

The boys had so much fun riding the bull (stuffed of course) and ponies, I think they each got in line to ride the ponies about 5 times!

6 of the 11 boys in my den!  Such a great group of boys!

Getting Autographs from Cowboys and Rodeo Princesses!

Ride Em Cowboy!

Found our seats and got snacks, we are ready for the Rodeo to start!

Denise, another Scout Mom, has become one of my good friends and is always my partner in crime for these kinds of events.  Our boys have been in Scouts together for the last 4 years and her husband is my co-den leader.

This was Mason's first Rodeo and he LOVED it!  He was dancing in his chair most of the night and he was so excited when it finally got to bull riding!

I was able to get my Tweet on the big screen, the boys thought that was pretty awesome!

I have to say that being a Cub Scout Leader is a lot of work, takes a lot of dedication and time to plan our meetings, set up volunteer opportunities and make sure they get through all their requirements to earn all the pins and patches but nights like this make it all worth it!  This was a selfie that took for one of the boys in my den (on his phone), he said he wanted a picture of everyone including me!  I really do have a special bond with these boys, some of them have been in my den for 4 years now so I have really gotten to know them and their parents!  I love Cub Scouts!

Sound the Alarms, Get to the Station! It's Mason's 5th Birthday Celebration!

We celebrated Mason's 5th Birthday with 19 of his friends/cousins last Sunday and it was so much fun!  Mason had the option of a Fire Fighter Party or a Star Wars Party this year and he picked the Fire theme!  So I called up a good friend and local fire fighter and he got us all set up for a birthday party at our local fire station.  We invited some of our friends, neighbors and cousins and got ready to help Mason celebrate turning five!  I of course had a little fun with the food, I mean its a fire themed party but also one for kids so I couldn't have any flaming drinks or anything (sorry parents)!  The party included a safety demonstration from a couple fire fighters, one volunteer (Auntie MaryBeth) putting on the full fire gear, another volunteer (Thanks Clint) wearing the Fire Safety Pup costume and most importantly all the kids and some parents got to go for fire truck rides!!  We also enjoyed cake and presents!  It was a very hectic, loud and wild two hours with that many kids and all their excitement so I didn't take a lot of pictures but I did snap a couple!  Here are some memories from Mason's 5th Birthday Party!

 

 We of course had to wash the fire truck after our rides!  Every time a truck returns to the Station it needs to be washed so it is ready for its next adventure!!

Look at all those presents and that isnt even all of them as he had already opened a few throughout the evening to play with them!  He is one spoiled little guy!  Thank you to everyone who came and celebrated his birthday with us!

Happy 5th Birthday Mason!  I hope you enjoyed your party as much as I did.  You are such an awesome little guy and I am proud to be your mom.  Love you to the moon and back, always and forever.

Hibachi

So we decided to try something new for dinner, no it wasn't my idea as most of you know I am a picky eater!  Clint suggested we go to Shogun - Sushi and Hibachi Restaurant just down the street from his place.  I thought, hmmmm.... they throw food so that might entertain my kids but it is Japanese Food so no idea if they will actually eat anything and who knows if I be brave enough to try the food either! But in the end I trusted his suggestion and I am so glad I did.  The boys loved and so did I.  The food was delicious!  I mean grilled steak and chicken with some rice, whats not to love!  Each meal does come with 2 grilled shrimp so Clint got a couple extra servings of those (although Colton and I both did try Shrimp for the first time, he was not a fan however I didn't completely hate it so I will call that progress)!  They start out with flipping veggies up into the air for you to catch in your mouth, Colton was excited as he caught his on his first attempt.  Mason wasn't brave enough to have food thrown at his face!  Then comes the Sake - which they squirt into your mouth until you raise your hand to signal you have had enough!  YAH!  The very idea of this had me nervous but after some cheering on from my 9 year old I did give it a go.  Then the chef grabbed Baby Sake (pink lemonade) and Colton was very excited to try this as well.... he jumped up out of his chair and opened his mouth wide!  Again Mason was not sure and didn't want to participate!  However by the time the Baby Sake came around for the 3rd time Mason has mustered up the courage and then he was hooked.... he was begging for Sake the rest of the night.  The Chef even joked that Mason should be cut off and he definitely can't drive home :)   We all enjoyed our meals very much and as we were getting ready to leave Mason asked if we could go to this same place for dinner the next night!  I guess we have a new fun dinner place to add to our list, which is good because Perkins and Apple Bee's were getting very boring!

We ended the night with some swimming and then relaxing in the hot tub!  Another fun night in the books!