Rodeo Parade and Rodeo

This year we were invited to be on my company's float in the rodeo parade. The theme was Bring Your Wild Bunch so we made cardboard cutouts that looked like various bugs and animals. And we had a cow (the son of one of my coworkers) sitting at the back. Of course everyone thought it was the Chick-fil-a cow so the kids watching would get super excited. Oh and we had to dress like rodeo clowns. I don't think I will share those pictures here...... :) It was fun for me and Hailey. She got the pageant wave down pat by the end! Emma didn't smile because she was a little scared to be riding on this trailer with no real seat or stability like a car and Eli and Kayla apparently didn't realize just what they had signed up for to begin with! It has to be said that it was their idea to do it! I was asked, I asked them and they both got very excited, said yes and promptly got to work on their costumes.

We were given tickets to the rodeo by one of my coworkers that plays a big role in the rodeo even taking place here. I had taken Kayla and Eli only once before and they were both too young to really remember it. They have also changed venue's since then so it is much easier to see the whole thing now. For some reason this town decided to have our rodeo indoors in an arena for a few years but changed it to an outdoor stadium. Which makes a lot more sense! Anyways, I took my 4 kids plus my neighbor's 12 yr old son who was visiting from Houston, TX for the summer. The kid lives in Houston and his dad has never taken him to the rodeo! I couldn't get over it! But I was glad to help him experience his first rodeo! Oh and I didn't mention that our seats were in the front row next to the shoots for bull riding. The kids all had a great time and loved seeing the fireworks at the very end (we didn't get any on the 4th because of budget cuts). It rained on us for a few minutes but the majority of the seating is covered so the little girls and I just moved back a bit. The big kids didn't care that they were getting wet! and the funny thing was that at one point Hailey was on my lap to where she could see the crowd on the opposite side of the arena and started doing her little pageant wave!

It's finally off!

Emma's tape and glue was supposed to fall off in 5-10 days. It apparently had other plans! She busted her head open on June 10th. My mom and I both cleaned around it several times because it had that band-aid like sticky stuff that was collecting all the worlds dirt in it. Still, the thing didn't budge. So when I took Hailey in for her well-baby he told me to use something like nail polish remover to make the glue unstick. He said that wound was healed probably in 5 days but the glue was just hanging on. It had been driving JR nuts and he had been wanting to pull it off so you better believe as soon as I told him that he was going to get to work immediately! He somehow convinced Emma to lay on his lap while he just pulled it off. She squirmed a little but was fine when it was done!

So now, we call her #1 because it looks like she has the #1 on her head! We figure she just wants to make sure that nobody can forget her status! :)

Hailey's well baby & birth mark check-up

Yesterday was the appt for the birth mark check-up in Denver. The Dr. said it isn't as red as it was when he first saw her back in November which is a good sign. That basically means there isn't as much blood flowing to it. And for those who don't remember, this birth mark is formed by a bunch of little capillaries (hence the blood flow, heat and color). I had noticed that it doesn't feel quite so hot to the touch like it did for a while. Other than that, there have not been any changes which is good in that it isn't growing. They did go ahead and get another picture of it just to have some comparisons but I don't take her back til she is 2.

Today was her 1 yr well baby check-up. Of course she has a clean bill of health. Which I am very thankful and blessed for that! My baby girl weighs 26 lbs still! She hasn't gained any weight over the last 3 months. So it looks like she is going to do what Emma did and stop gaining weight and start gaining inches in height. She was 29" long too. Now that she is walking she is loosing her awesome chub thighs though!

Manitou Arcade

I had today off so I took the kids to Manitou to the coolest arcade this afternoon! It's still called the Penny Arcade even though the price is far from that. But what makes it so cool is that they have some super old games and some brand new games. They have this bank of "rides" that I swear are some of the same that I used to ride in when I was little. Like the helicopter that goes up and down...I'm pretty sure I rode that in King Soopers! And they have a "boardwalk" that all of these rides are on with a little creek that runs below it. Of course that kind of freaked out the kids a little bit!