Homecoming 2014

Homecoming 2014 was very different from years past.  Previously, we've had a house full of people to the point of having air mattresses in the living room.  This year, it was all about the kids (even though we still would have been completely cool with house guests :). 

For us, homecoming week started Tuesday night when we went to the annual Harvest Carnival.  Children are encouraged to dress up in their Halloween costumes, but since I hadn't made their costumes yet that wasn't an option for us.  Luckily, we received an awesome Pistol Pete costume with some hand me down clothes.  Joseph was super excited to wear it, especially when I told him we could draw a mustache on his face like the real Pistol Pete!  Before we left for the carnival, he kept looking at himself in the mirror and laughing, it was so cute!

Since it was an OSU carnival and to go along with Joseph's costume, we decided to dress Sarah as an OSU cheerleader (you know, since she just happened to have this adorable cheerleader outfit in her closet). 

Getting a picture of the two of them was a lost cause.  Joseph just wanted to throw the little pumpkins and Sarah just wanted to watch him. 

The carnival was pretty cool.  Basically all the sorority-fraternity teams and campus groups had booths with games and after the kids played each game they received a piece of candy or small toy.  Needless to say, the kids really enjoyed it. 

When we walked by this game (and every time he sees this picture), Joseph was very concerned that Pistol Pete was missing his mustache.  He's a pretty observant 2 year old. 

It was funny how many of the college students asked to either take pictures of or with Joseph because they thought his costume was so cute.

In Stillwater (and for all OSU alums), every Friday (especially those before football games) is considered Orange Friday.  It's always fun to run errands on Fridays and see everyone dressed in their orange attire.  The kids and I decided Orange Friday of homecoming week warranted a picnic lunch at the orange playground in town even though it isn't the most young toddler friendly. 

The sweetest part of the trip was when Joseph not only shared, but gave Sarah the first sip of his special drink without being prompted.  He really is a great big brother. 

During nap that day, our only visitors of the weekend arrived.  Uncle Ben and Aunt Kim stopped by for a little bit before heading back to Tulsa since Ben had to work Saturday and Gammy and Bryar came to spend the weekend.  I had made shirts for the cousins, but decided to make them each a little different this time.  I won't make this mistake again since the boys were a little disappointed one said "Go Pokes" and the other said "Cowboys" while Sarah's said "State".  I barely managed to get one semi-decent picture of the three of them in their new attire.

But I have to admit this was my favorite picture.  Sweet Sarah smiling at us while the boys are doing what they do best, tearing stuff up.

I thought they might do better if we moved over by the pumpkins.  Sarah was too busy playing with one of the little ones (and drooling all over her shirt).

While the boys were too busy stacking all the pumpkins away from Sarah.

After we all went to dinner, Sam, the kids, and I went up to walk around.  We decided to forgo the stroller and just use carrying devices.  Sadly, this was probably Joseph's last adventure in the backpack since Sam said he's getting a little heavy. 

Although it doesn't look like it here, he actually loves the backpack carrier.  He was just upset that I was asking him to look at me to take a picture.

Sarah was happy in the sling, but I'll gladly let Sam carry her in the backpack next time.

After we got home, the kids took baths, read bedtime books, and settled in for a good night's sleep in preparation for a busy Saturday. 

Saturday started with a good old-fashioned (super long!) parade.  Next year we know to get there a little earlier and to make sure we're on the East side of the street so we aren't looking into the sun the entire time.  How cute do these three look standing there watching the parade?

About half way through the parade, Sarah decided to sit on my lap and was thrilled to get a sucker.  Can you see that her hair is finally long enough to go over her headband a little!

Since the parade lasted so long, we decided to skip heading home for a bit like we had planned and instead went to one of my favorite places of all time (Rocky Mountain Chocolate Factory) for a little late morning snack.  This might have been Bryar's first chocolate and caramel apple because he was very unsure about it at first, but eventually tore into it.

Sarah had to settle for a white chocolate covered pretzel that she thoroughly enjoyed.  The kids also shared some blackberry cobbler ice cream, but I don't have any pictures of that because we were very busy helping kids get ice cream on their spoons as fast as possible. 

To help solidify my position as the cool aunt, we rode the bus from downtown to campus for some pre-game festivities.  Bryar's I'm excited and nervous for my first bus ride smile cracks me up.  He looked like this the entire ride. 

Poor Sarah, she gets kicked out of the double stroller when cousin Bryar is around since she's the easiest one to push in the little stroller.  She doesn't seem to mind.

Much to the delight of two little boys, we hit up the kid zone on the North side of the stadium.  I can't even tell you how many times they did this giant inflatable slide thing.

I finally convinced them to try something else, so they jumped in the bounce house for just a little bit,

scoped out the football kick,

and decided to play on the slide some more.

As the line for the slide started getting longer and longer, we decided they should move on to something else.  They decided to finally try the football kick 

and get their faces painted.

Although they decided to get the "face paint" on their hands to they could look at it.

After lots of inflatable fun and a little lunch, it was time for the game to start.  Since my mom had scored a pair of club level seats and was nice enough to let Sam go with her since my step-dad was out of town, we consolidated the strollers so the kids and I could head home for naps.  Joseph loved being the captain of the ship.

We had the bus to ourselves and an awesome driver on the way back to our truck making it an even better ride than the first one.

Bryar was too busy looking out the window to take a picture.

Once we finally made it home, the kids all crashed!  Later that evening, the boys made their Halloween shirts.  I don't have any pictures of this process because there was bleach involved and I was a little worried about the whole 2 year olds and bleach combo.

Joseph also managed to fit in some late night giggles with Gammy while Bryar played with "Baby Sarah".

Sis, thanks for letting Bryar come up and spend the weekend with us!  Joseph loved having his buddy in town to share this adventure with.

If you're interested in reading about Homecomings of the past, you can fine them at these links 2013 2012 2011 .

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.