It WAS Their First Rodeo

August 9th, we went to Lawton for the annual Lawton Rangers Rodeo.  Sam and I went a few years back (and I wrote about it here), but this was the kids' first time to go.  In fact, part way through the night Sam and I started joking that I should have made them shirts that said 'This IS my first rodeo!' thus the title of this blog post. 

We actually went down Friday night so we could go to the parade Saturday morning.  Mindy and Bryar drove down and met us at the parade which was fun for everyone.  We sat by the grand stand, so we were able to watch the pre-parade gun fight which didn't get near the reaction out of the boys we thought it might (actually, it pretty much got no reaction at all).

Sarah watched from the safety of Aunt Moo's lap.

It would be an understatement to say we had two excited boys when the parade started.  Daddy/Uncle Sam stood by the front of the chairs with them for most of the parade.

We even let them stand by themselves and wave at all the cars for a little bit.

Joseph's favorite parts were the fire truck and "street sweeper that cleaned up horse poop."  He even told us what the fire truck sounded like.

In true Sarah fashion, she was unimpressed with anything

except for the cold water bottle we let her chew on.

After the parade, Mindy and I took all the kids to visit their great-grandparents McMahan, then back to my dad's house for nap time.  After nap, it was time to prepare for the main event.  Mindy and Bryar opted not to go to the rodeo, but that's ok because we had fun without them.

Joseph wasn't too sure about the getting there early to get good seats then having to wait part,

but he soon started people watching and got over it.

Sarah was happy as long as we held her and gave her snacks.

One time she got a little cranky and let me stand up and rock her and took a little nap in my arms, but that was it (if you know Sarah, you know this is a big step for my little non-cuddler).

I'm happy that for once I got as many cute pictures of Sarah as I did Joseph at an event :).

Joseph's favorite part was the bull riding and between the live rodeo and the one we watched on TV earlier in the week, he left torn between if he wanted to be a bull rider or a bull fighter.  I have neglected to talk with him any more about this in hopes he'll forget about both options,

As tired as he was by the end of the night, there was no way we were telling this little boy we were leaving early.  We stayed until the end then went home and crashed.  Hopefully we'll be able to make it back down for next year's rodeo. 

 

Sunday, we went back over to my grandparents' house for lunch.  While there, Joseph accompanied my grandma while she played the organ (have I mentioned he loves musical instruments?).

 

She also played my favorite childhood church hymn selection (always these three songs, always just the first verse of each, always in this order) while Joseph sang along (to the first song, we're still working on the others). 

 

We left right after lunch Sunday so we could get a good night's rest before Sarah got her tubes put in that Monday morning.

 



Sarah is 11 Months Old

Wow, it's hard to believe our sweet little girl is 11 months old already!  Sarah still isn't walking yet, but she can get around like it's nothing.  She even stands independently when she doesn't realize it.  Sarah now has 6 teeth with four more trying to pop through.  She is also starting to wean herself off of both bottles and formula (since she has started getting a hold of her brother's sippy cup and tasting the good life of whole cow milk).

Sarah - Month 11

We take brushing our teeth very seriously around here, particularly when it's your sibling's toothbrush and I'm trying to take pictures. 

 

Sarah often scrunches her nose, especially when she smiles.  I've been told she gets this from me.

Check out those big front teeth!  This was the best picture I could get of them, but trust me, they're there and they're big.

And we're done. 

As I mentioned last month, Sarah had to get tubes. 

The only problem we had related to her surgery is that Sarah is not a cuddler, thus she was unhappy and didn't know what to do about it as the anesthesia was wearing off.  Once her recovery time was over, we headed home where she let me hold her for one nap, then returned to her normal, independent self.  I'm happy to report that I truly think the tubes are working for her!  She will now actually sit on my lap while I read books and says mama, dada, and byebye regularly as well as tons of babbling (which she didn't do before).

Sarah went on her first camping trip this month.  She handled it like a pro which is great since the rest of our family loves camping.

Although we weren't surprised she liked camping given she loves being outside.

Notice her expression in the previous and next pictures, Sarah is simply a happy (or I often say content), but not overly smiley little girl.

Sarah still adores her brother!  Look at the way she looks up to him, it makes my heart smile.  She is definitely what our family needed.