Born to be a Cowgirl

For the last month Greg and Laurel have been working with Laura and Poncho so that they could perform in the monthly horse show. This past saturday was the day! Laura was pretty nervous! It helped that once we got there she got to ride around the arena to get the feel of things and there was hardly no one else there. She participated in two events. In both of the events Laura had to guide Poncho through an obstacle coarse. The first time she did it she lead him through. The second time she rode him through. She and Poncho did an awesome job performing and they even won FIRST PLACE in both events!!!! Laurel barrel races and now Laura says she wants to practice that! Kenni and Little Man even got to be stars. They helped set up and take down the obstacle coarse and they also got to sit out in the arena with the judge and set back up anything that got knocked down! We are so proud of our little girl and can't wait for next month to watch her do it again!

Halloween 2010

I know I'm a little delayed on my posting (Sorry Becky) but finally...Halloween 2010 at the Ozbirn Household. Our neighbors down the street had a Halloween party for the kids this year. There aren't too many people that do trick or treating in our neighborhood, well I should say there aren't too many people that give out candy. As a matter of fact there were only 3 houses down the street that had their lights on. That is why the neighbors had the party for the kids instead. We were able to go for a little bit but unfortunately Little Man was sick this year so no festivities for him. Laura was a bag of Jelly beans, Kenni was an army guy (yes again) and Maddi was Cinderella. Laura wasn't too happy with her costume because it was hard to sit down and it was HOT outside so she was sweltering being inside a plastic bad filled with balloons. To her advantage her bag ripped shortly after we got to the neighbors so she borrowed a ballerina outfit from her friend. The kids had a good time at the party. We got to enjoy some good food and company with friends. The kids got to bob for apples and play other games. They had the most fun juts chasing each other around the yard! On the way home we trick or treated to the only 3 open houses between out house and the neighbors. For Kenni's class party I was in charge of making cupcakes. I didn't have to decorate them because that was the kids' project at the party. My friend had also asked me to make cupcakes for her niece's birthday party that was Halloween themed. So between the party and class cupcakes I baked 135 cupcakes. I was in the process of decorating the cupcakes for the party when my friend called and told me it had been canceled. I had gotten only 30 decorated so the left overs that were undecorated we sent to school with Laura's class so they could decorate them at their party. I thought it all worked out very well! For the neighbor's Halloween party I made Arachna-mole. It was guacamole that looked like a spider web. Nothing special but I thought it was very cute!Since the beginning of Halloween with kids we have always just gotten one pumpkin for the kids to all do together. Up until now it has worked out well. This year we decided that from now on every needs their own pumpkin. The kids are getting big enough now that they could probably do the pumpkin cutting on their own. This year they all fought over who was going to dig out the guts too!

We've been boo-ed

One day we came home and found a plate of goodies on our front porch with a sign that said "you've been boo-ed". It didn't say who it was from but I know it had to be from one of our neighbors so I tested it and told James that if I didn't wake up the next day to throw them away! I survived and we enjoyed some yummy cookies, brownies and rice crispy treats. Wrapped around the note was a fun homemade hair tie. The note said to do this in return to two more neighbors. So I made some fun homemade hair ties and b00-ed two more of our neighbors. I had fun making the hair ties so for our niece Ally's 7th birthday I made her some fun hair ties. They weren't perfect but hopefully from far away no one will be able to tell!!!!

Maddi helping me make the treats to boo our neighbors

Some of the hair ties I made. I LOVE hot glue ;)

But the Barbies needed a bath

The other day Laura came into the kitchen and she told me I needed to go see what MY daughter was doing. Well MY daughter was in her room with a sink full of water and she was giving her barbie a bath and washing dishes. She even soap in it and everything. What was even funnier was when I asked her how she got the water in it she said.....LAURA! When I asked Laura why she did that she said "What she asked me to!" Uhgggg! My kids!

Bwwaa-haaaa-haaaaa

The other day the kids were playing outside and could see something floating in the pool. It was a TARANTULA!!!!! Nasty, yucky, huge tarantula! Thank goodness this sucker wasn't alive or in my house!
It was getting dark when they found it so the next day James fished it out of the pool and just set it on the back patio by our burn barrel. When the kids got home I had Kenni go throw something in the burn barrel but I should have known to send either James or Laura. Kenni is our bug man and all he did was come back in and say "Oh Dad got the tarantula out?"

8 years old going on 50!

It's hard to believe but our Little Man is 8 years old! He had been counting down the days for weeks and if a stranger asked him how old he was before his birthday it was 8! Kenni busted him on it one day. He said "You're not 8 yet! You're still 7!" James didn't like that one bit! "I'm almost 8 Kenni...Right Mom!? I'm 8!"

The day before his birthday he and his Daddy went shooting. James brought his shot gun (410 i think he said, but what do I know about guns!) and let Little Man shoot that for the first time. James helped him the first time then let him do it by himself. He did pretty good but he didn't really like it because it kicked back on him. On the day of his birthday he wanted STEAK for dinner! We don't get steak too often so it was a nice treat for us all!!!! So he had a nice steak dinner and opened presents and Laura made "pin the leg on the stick guy". She drew a stick guy on a piece of paper without a leg and then drew his leg on another piece. And wa-lah! Instant party game! It was a pretty laid back day but he got his STEAK!

Horse Club

Once a month out in Maricopa there is a community horse show/gymkhana. Laurel is practicing barrel racing and this was a great opportunity for her to do in front of an audience. There are also opportunities for the kids to get involved with this too. We went along to see what it was all about and cheer Laurel on. There are many different events that the kids can do and since Laura is so into horses we though maybe she would want to get in on it. It was the first time we were there so she was shy and just wanted to watch. Greg and Laurel then came up with a great idea to have "Horse Club" at their house for Laura to practice. So hopefully with Laura practicing and getting used to the events she will participate with Laurel in the next gymkhana!

Laurel on Lefty during one of the events

Fishing...Finally

It's been a while since we have gone fishing. It's finally nice enough here to do outdoor activities and not sweat to death! While the kids were on their fall break we took them fishing at one of the Urban fishing lakes. The Urban fishing lakes are stocked and supposed to be awesome fishing! It wasn't awesome fishing but I have to say it was better than the last time we went to that lake! This time there were 4 fish caught....3 by Kenni, and one by Little Man. Kenni was the man to bait to hooks and take the fish off the hooks. Laura wasn't excited about fishing, Maddi was scared of everything that had to do with fishing, the boys were boys, and James couldn't hardly get his pole in the water b/c he was constantly baiting, recasting, uncrossing lines...you know how it is fishing with kids! I think all in all the kids all had a good time though!