RODEO 2010

What does Rodeo mean to you?

I am from a city in the mid-west. I had no idea what a rodeo meant. After living in Houston for years now I admit that I thought it was a huge concert venue that latest several days. To entertain the guests before the concert began there were a few rides outside and then a few cowboy type stuff before the concerts began . . . boy was I wrong.


Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo (From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia)

"The Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo (TM), also called Rodeo Houston (TM), is
the world's largest livestock exhibition as well as the richest regular-season
PRCA rodeo event, held at Reliant Park in Houston, TX, USA. An average of almost
2 million attendees a year, which requires the support of more than 21,000
volunteers on nearly 100 committees. The event is 20 days long. It is kicked off
by the Downtown Rodeo Roundup held near Houston City Hall, the Downtown Rodeo parade and the Conoco Phillips Rodeo Run - 9+ and the World's Championship
Bar-B-Que Contest. The Show features championship Rodeo action including bull
riding, livestock judging, concerts, a carnival, pig racing, barbecue and the
Rodeo Uncorked! International Wine Competition, shopping, sales and livestock
auctions. The City of Houston celebrates this event with Go Texan Days, where
residents are encouraged to dress in western wear for the duration of the Show."

My teens started going to more and more concerts. Sugar told me all about the animals that she saw with the Tobias family at the livestock show. I admit that the definition is just words until you live it. J got me and five older kiddos tickets to one of the concerts. We met another family with 9 children. We walked into the concert and sat down to watch the "cowboy stuff". If I tell you that my favorite part is the Mutton Busters and you have never seen them you will think I am crazy but to my Texas friends they get what I am talking about. They also love to watch the children clinging to a sheep as it is released. So fun watching these little cowboys and cowgirls.

After a great concert our friends left and my children encouraged me to walk around. We walked through the carnival setting until about 11:00 p.m. We tried some fried oreos and a fried twinkee. I don't think they are worth the hype or the cost but we could at least say we tried them. I was told there was lots of food at the rodeo but so far all I saw was corn dogs and turkey legs, real carnival foods.

Then our homeschool group met up at the rodeo for a school event and tour of the livestock show. It was here that I feel like I finally came to appreciate all things related to this rodeo. Inside the same convention halls that we saw 600 RV's we were now looking at pigs, cows, chicken, sheep, rabbits, bees and so on. We climbed on tractors, watched an egg hatch, and learned a little about a world that this city girls knows little about.



Our friends the Snow family joined in our adventure making the day so much more fun!





It was during the tour that one of the kids heard Pickle asking our guide if she really knew what she was talking about. We all believed everything she had said. This is when she confessed to Pickle that she had only given one other tour. Pour lady, she was very nice. We did learn a lot from her but she just wasn't the same after a young one from the group walked off to explore on his own.





After all that fun we headed outside to get a bite to eat. This is when we found all the food that the rodeo is known for. Yummy. Some of the local restaurants offer their dishes at the rodeo and we loved trying some new dishes. It was expensive so we shared everything except the seafood dishes that dad and I got.

We stayed outside for some more fun. We tried to make it across to the horses but never got there. Instead we were outside in the little kids area. We let the big kiddos venture off for a little while by themselves and we hung out and learned about the economics of farm life.
The lessons were really cool. The kiddos got "feed" and then "took care" of the chickens, they then "gathered an egg" and took it to "sell". Here they were given "money" that also worked as "seeds". The kiddos then went to various stations where they learned about different Texas fruits, vegetables and even cotton from the sheep. As they "spent" their money and "grew" their crops they then collected the goods and even some cotton, we also got to touch a sheep skin. The next visit on the path was the market where they "sold" their products and were given a "dollar" from this market they went into the grocery where they got to "buy" a real snack and box of Texas orange juice. It was a very cool and well thought out path. I learned a lot. After this awesome little snack we ventured out again still trying to get to the horses. This is when we got side tracked by some of our friends who's children were riding the mechanical bull. Believe it or not Moogie and Pickle tried it and did pretty well at it. The older kiddos rejoined us to watch.





They did pretty well considering. I am beginning to understand why this really is a big deal for the people of Houston. All kinds of things to do, lots of fun to be had, lots of learning, celebration of our heritage and the local economy, all centered around the children and the family.


After these adventures our friends left one family at a time. We stayed behind to see what the carnival was all about. It had been such a fun morning but by now I was getting tired. So was Jumba. He feel asleep in his stroller and I grew more and more jealous that he was able to catch some zzz's. The big kids went off again with a few friends that joined us for the ride home.

We left after we all gathered back up together. We talked about our favorite things on the way home. Everyone really did enjoy themselves. We talked about how fun it is to dress Texan. We all want boots. We all want hats. We never understood that before and now we want to be a part of it. Then came Sunday the last day of the Rodeo. Sugar was invited to go back, to play at the carnival, to watch the last bull riding and to see the ending concerts. The only issue is that the group of young teens needed a chaperon. I was elected to join them. We had a blast and now I really felt more a part of this adventure in Houston than ever before.

I loved the time with the girls but hated teh ski lift. Not pretty! AFter it was over everyone laughed at how silly I was and then we headed into the rodeo and concerts.



We left the concerts, used our last ride tickets, and then headed out. The girls had school the next morning and we left the rodeo grounds at 9:00PM I was shocked at how many people were still there as we prepared to leave. I was even more shocked at those coming is as we were leaving to get an hour or two more out of the carnival.

The Texas T family became a little more Texan this past rodeo season. We all took a little more pride in watching, learning and celebrating all things Texan. We are so thankful to all of our friends that took us with them or came with us to enjoy this event.

God Bless Texas!

Time to brag on Pooker!

"Uh, what's this?" Pooker asked her father and I the other day after opening her mail. Her lack of understanding just goes to the point that there are just some things that homeschooled children just are not used to.

"This" was a letter from Pooker's school. She is attending the local community college before heading off to a four year school. She is paying in cash for her education and being very smart at keeping costs down while still getting a great education. The community colleges here in our area are known for their quality of education. Pooker has a full course load this semester, just like last semester. She is taking challenging courses and is doing extremely well.


As J and I read the letter we both started smiling. Pooker was still a little curious but we explained to her that making "The President's List" was considered a very good thing. She has maintained a high GPA and it was recognized by the school.
(Austin A. Lane, Ph.D, Ed.D. President Lone Star College-Montgomery)

Pooker is a very smart young lady. It really is one of her gifts from God. J and I are just so proud of her. She knows her strengths and her weaknesses. She takes pride in using her given gifts to excel in what she does. It shows and this letter telling her she made the list is just one small example. This note is because we just needed the world to know that Pooker is doing extremely well and that her family is very proud of her. (love this picture of her. Taken by her friend Daniel Gonzalez)
This did also give us a few minutes of laughter with Pickle. Remember he is our very literal child. He freaked out when he heard us talking about Pooker being on the Presidents list. "What does that mean? Is Obama mad at her? Is he watching her now? I don't want Pooker on his lists!" After we calmed him down and explained that #1 we were talking about the president of her school and not of the country and #2 that it was a very good thing being on the list did our family get to celebrate with Pooker.

We love you girl and are proud of you!

Guess What Time It Is!!!!

Oh yeah! It is Cuda time. Finally after a long winter the time to sign up is here.
Pooker is too old to be a swimmer but was honored to be added to the coaching staff this year. My other kiddos are ecstatic. They can't wait. I was informed a few weeks back that my children only want to talk about swim team. I know it is annoying but they really do enjoy the team that much. We try to discuss moving and every time it comes back to, "But what about the Cudas?"

It looks to be another fun year. Our neighborhood was one of the few neighborhoods that formed teams and the league 40 years ago. We plan to enjoy that aspect of the year with our psychedelic 40Th year Cuda design.

I will be missing two Cuda moms, two real friends that passed away unexpectedly this past year. The parties will not be the same with out Miss Lisa planning them. Everything will never be the same without our dear Miss Linda helping. My kiddos will miss Linda's words of encouragement as they get out of the pool and the special treats that she would make sure were added to the groups cooler on the days of the meets. I will miss her loving hugs at the beginning of a stressful meet day or the enchanting conversations while our children were practicing. This year will be sad in some ways. We plan to enjoy the year and remember our friends with love. Go Cudas!

Food Update

I need to update you all on our mission to be better at preparing foods. We have had some fun and made some yummy meals. I have tried to let the teens take over some of the meal planning and preparing.
So they decided to try some fried pickles. Not sure why but they all loved them.
Some were cut long ways but the better ones were cut round circles.
While they were frying the pickles they also fried chicken. Yummy yummy!
That all being said everyone likes the birthday gift that I got from a friend.

When dad does the dishes!

I must start this post my pointing out that J is always helping with my chores. He has never been a hands off kind of dad. He likes to cook so it has been almost hard for him to let me do more and more of the planning and preparing of the meals. The other night the kids took over and made the entire meal themselves. They just wanted to try a few things. Then when dinner was over J said he would do the dishes if his bride would stay in the kitchen and chat with him. I think that had the kiddos very curious. They never left the room. J washed, I prepared the dishes for washing, someone else put the dishes away all while everyone sat in the kitchen.
Not sure why Jumba put a costume on but we all know he loves Buzz!
Bagel decided to dress like a Knight.
Dad slaved away while the rest of us played.
Sometimes it can get rough.

It was time for a little change so Bagel found the Pooh costume.
The rest still played and dad still worked on the dishes.
Then Jumba got himself ready for bed.
We learned two things that night. #1 Jumba should never be allowed to dress himself and #2 when all of our kiddos get in the same room and start laughing you know it is going to be a fun night. Thanks for doing the dishes and all the other things that you do, J.

Mom and Some Much Needed Doll Time

Princess got an invitation to a doll birthday party the other day. I would usually ignore such an invite because it is just hard to fit into the day. Our mornings are little kid studies and afternoons are for the big kids. I was worn out and the big kids were taking a test. So we decided to go. I am so glad we did.
A picture from the afternoon is enough to show you how much Princess enjoyed herself. The girls played outside while the moms sat inside and chatted. I admit that I really needed that time with my friends.

The girls all had a blast as well. Thank God for friends and an afternoon set aside to just enjoy them.

Some cowboys do sleep with their boots on!

We used to call Jumba Cowboy way back when he was first born. The nickname made sense considering that he is our first boy born here in TX. Bagel is our only other child that is a native of the glorious state. Her nickname for a while was Tex. Cowboy, now called Jumba even came home from the hospital wearing his first pair of soft boots. These new boots were a Christmas gift from Santa and they do not come off his feet. You will notice them if you look back over a few older pictures.We have found that it is getting harder and harder to get him to put his tennis shoes on. I hear that many boys go through phases like this. .I think his siblings have encouraged it along a little as well. Today was no different.
My favorite part though is when he is changed for bed and begs us to put his boot back on over his PJ's. Jumba is all boy, all cowboy!