Yee haw! Kinder Rodeo...

On Friday Brooke had the pleasure of participating in the first annual kindergarten rodeo for our elementary school. It was a blast! She had a fabulous time, and it was so fun to watch. The kids have been preparing in lots of ways for their big rodeo day!

Each of them made their own pony to bring along and ride on the Texas trail. We all had fun making Brooke's. Daddy had the great idea of using a noodle instead of a stick, so it was a little easier for Brooke to hold and ride. (He always thinks outside the box.) She and I had fun adding the finishing touches to the sock that we used as the head. Brooke drew on the facial features, we made ears, a bridle of ribbon, and of course, the yarn hair. Funny how something relatively simple could be so fun for her! She loves that pony!

Brooke got all dressed in her western duds to head on out to the rodeo. She picked out that over sized hat on her own, despite efforts to convince her to get a smaller one. I'm really glad she did. It looked awfully cute with her little braids peaking out the bottom! We were also lucky to borrow some cute cowgirl boots from a friend. Of course, boots are the ultimate cowgirl accessory, and she was thrilled to have them!

Daddy went up and had "Cowboy breakfast" with the little buckaroos. They also sang songs around the campfire, and traveled around the Texas trail voting on the chili cook off.

The day also consisted of a kindergarten pony parade through the whole school as the older kids & teachers cheered them on. This was fun since Austin got to see Brooke riding her pony with her class. The kids then moved out to the "pasture" for awesome events out doors "on the range." It was a beautiful day for boot racin', gold panning, roping a steer and tossing horse shoes, to name a few of the activities. It was lots of fun.

My favorite part of the day was when we came in off the field for the kids cowboy concert & square dancing performance. They have been practicing for weeks and were soooo excited to show off their skills. I had a hint of worry that my shy little Brookie might decide not to do participate when the crowds came in, but that couldn't have been further from reality. She sang, danced, clapped and stomped her little heart out, grinning all the while. It was FABULOUS! We had so much fun watching and then joining in for the finale. Even Cameron was spinning around and clapping his hands to the music.

It was a great day to have little one in kindergarten and especially a kindergartner in the great state of Texas!

The kids all had a Texas sized great time!

Brookie looking all sassy!

Kindergarten is starting to take it's toll on my little daughter. She's getting worn out and it showed today. She had lots of tears this morning and didn't want to go. I'm soooo glad it was Daddy that had to walk her in and hand her off to her teacher in tears. I cried just hearing about it! It was a rough start to the day, but her teacher told me that it only lasted a minute or two and she was in much better spirits the rest of the day. That was very reassuring, of course. She came home happy and decided she was in the mood for a photo shoot this afternoon. She was feeling like a fashion queen in this new school outfit and wanted to pose for a few glamour shots. When she feels really stylin' and cute, she calls it "sassy." She was feeling like that today! I'm a little partial, I know, but I sure think she's a cutie!