It's Rodeo Time

Matt spent Spring Break in SA with Gram and had a wonderful time! He came back just in time for us to catch the last day of the Rodeo! We started off great.....of course Matt wanted to ride the horses...surprise, surprise... and the moment he was in the saddle it was all smiles.

But I wasn't sure if Marlie was ready for this given last time she kicked and screamed and I could not get her near that sweet pony. But we tried...she had me in the death grip until I forced her to sit on the horse. I wasn't giving up this time. She got on...

Then to my surprise I saw a smile on her face!! I held her hand and we started riding...

And before you know it I put both of her hands on the saddle, let go and there she was!!! Riding like a real cowgirl!!! After she got off the horse she was SO proud of herself. She kept saying "I ride horse" like she was the first person on the planet who had ever done such a thing!!!

We could have gone home at this point and the kids would have been happy. But after the 45 minute drive, $12 parking fee and $20 entrance fee we decided we were getting our monies worth out of this rodeo!!! No matter what happens we WILL have fun! We went to the pig races and the kids loved it. Marlie kept saying "more pigs". Then we learned about farming and the kids had a great time being farmers. They actually did really well although I don't think they really understood the concept.

Matt and Dad decided to take a ride down the slide. Matt was furious when he got to the bottom that he wasn't first. Oh boy....please don't let him be one of "those" kids. Matt usually loves carousels but this one was fast and the ride lasted forever! I would say we got our monies worth except that Matt was crying (still not happy about being 2nd on the slide) and Marlie had me in the death grip again because she was scared.

So we decided maybe it was a good time for lunch. We came back and did a few more less "scary" rides. Marlie and I rode the bumble bee ride and she LOVED it. The kids got to ride on one ride together by themselves too. Matt held his sister tight the whole time. And then Dad got to ride with them!

In the end we had a really great time. And Marlie can't stop talking about how she rides horses now. She's trying SO hard to keep up with big brother!!! I hope next year to actually catch a show. One step at a time!

Marlie Lou Retton

That title is just hilarious given the circumstances. Marlie had her first gymnastics class today. Mom has been waiting for this moment for a LONG time and we were all SO excited. Marlie could sense the excitement as we got her dressed and she was smiling like crazy for the camera!

She thinks she's super cool here.........

This one we're smiling because Momma actually put a pony tail in Marlie's hair!

I LOVE the look on her face in this one. This is priceless! Neither of us have any idea of what we're in for here. Just wait.....

And she even gave me a kiss. The stingy kisser in the family gave me a kiss! WOHOO! Must be my lucky day.
Well maybe not.......as soon as we got to the gym Marlie spotted all the little girls practicing and wanted to go into the big girls section. She wanted NOTHING to do with the cute little toddler area they had set up. She started screaming......... I finally got her to go on the slide and that calmed her down until she literally bottomed out at the bottom and tears started again.

Our friends Heather and Avery came too and I hope I at least said hello here. The rest of the 5 hours...okay it was 45 minutes but seemed like 5 hours... I was trying to keep Marlie from screaming everyone out of that gym.

Every time I asked Marlie if she wanted to do a somersault she started crying like I was asking her to walk through fire, barefoot, on broken glass, blindfolded! She eventually calmed down and she attempted the little rock wall. Of course the teacher was so excited that Marlie had tried something so she ran over to help and the screaming returned! She calmed down at another point until she spotted Daddy in the balcony and started crying again!!!

Oh well, I guess we'll have to try again. Hopefully I have a better update next time. We'll try for a few more weeks and if this continues we'll have to be drop outs. Maybe try again when she's a little older. One step at a time..........

TBall Take II

Well we had our first TBall game of the season on Saturday. It's a little sweeter this year because Coach Doug (aka Daddy) is coaching and our team is made up of all of Matt's friends from the neighborhood. A little less comical because he is really pretty good. No rolling all the way to first in the dirt and less tackling. I can't even put into words how fun it is to watch these little ball players. They try so hard and just do and say the funniest things. Thank you to all the parents that have joined us on this journey and for all your help! This is going to be a great year!

There are lots of good pictures from our first game but this is my favorite! She wants to be part of the action so bad! She is so cool! Our own little bat girl!

Here are this years All-Stars!



Thanks Dad so much for coaching our team! You are awesome!

Celebrating Great Gram's Life

We took an unplanned trip to San Antonio this weekend. Doug's Grandmother passed away and it ended up being just a wonderful weekend to celebrate G Gram's life and see family. Doug's Grandmother was so funny. She always had a story to tell. We know she's in heaven right now dancing with Doug's "Bapa" who is one of the neatest men I've ever met. Those two were meant to be together and now they are together again!

This picture is dated but it's the most recent I could find. Here is G Gram with Matt at Easter a couple of years ago. Doug got the call Friday morning and happened to be taking the kids to school that morning. Matt asked his Dad what was wrong and so Doug explained that G Gram went to Heaven. Remember we had just been through the whole heaven explanation with the recent loss of our dog Precious. So Matt kind of understood and said, "Dad I bet Batman took G Gram to heaven in the bat mobile. " Well that was Matt's way of understanding anyway. He thinks Batman helps people and so that was his first thought..that he helped G Gram too.

We had a great time visiting with Doug's family from Chicago. It's so nice to catch up. And I got to meet his cousin's new husband who was SO sweet with all our crazy kids. And I learned that there are some other cousins who read my blog!! YEAH!!! Thank you girls!

Thank you G Gram for all the wonderful stories! You will be missed!