Rowdy Rodeo

March in Texas usually means nice weather and statewide Texan celebrations. Newborn Spencer distracted us last year, but we returned once again to Houston to enjoy the Livestock Show and rodeo festivities. It was just Cohans and Cohens so we did some new adventures along with our traditional expectations.

Spencer was dressed and ready to go!

Ethan's excitement (temporarily) wore off.

Before we got too ahead of ourselves, we started the first afternoon at The Rustic Brush to create unique wooden signs that Aunt Sandi orchestrated to celebrate a couple recent birthdays in our family. We started with plain wooden boards, nailed them together, stained the wood, and painted in customized stencils.

Anyone else think this is a really good idea?

It got quite loud in there.

The 3.5-year-old made the teacher nuts with the amount of paint he used compared to the amount of paint an effective listener is told to use.

These ladies creatively carried out their individual plans. Mira made a beautiful sign for Spencer's room.

All four cousins sweetly cooperated on a housewarming gift for Nana and Zayde's new Texan ranch home.

The artists show off their completed projects!

Cousins Bath!!!

The big day finally arrived! Aunt Sandi got MAJOR winning points by arranging AMAZING outfits for each adorable cowgirl and cowboy, ensuring cute smiles (for all onlooking passers by) the rest of the day. (You may observe that Spencer preferred rest to rodeo rejoicing.)

We're on our way!

Our first stop was Fun on the Farm. We had a lot of work to do!

We planted our seeds and then plowed the fields.

This little cowboy was just too too cute all day.

We fed corn to the chickens, collected the eggs, then milked the cows.

Taking care of the crops and animals kept us busy!

The back view was ALMOST as cute as the front.

We were so grateful for big cousins to spend the day with!

Mira was a great big helper!

Some new adventures included carnival rides that we've never explored before along with the expected rodeo fun.

Gabi chose this super fast ride that went forwards, backwards, and had lots of ups and downs. Awesome big cousin Jacob went right along next to her. Both surprisingly had thumbs-up at the end!

The biggest (and maybe only) disappointment from the day came when we tried to sign enthusiastic Gabi up for mutton bustin' (!), which proved to be a bust when my sweet 5-year-old was too big for those poor delicate sheep. Daddy thought quickly and came up with a new animal to take for a ride!

Yee-haw, ponies!

We headed inside for some food, a break from the sun, and classic favorites like the birthing center, rabbits, honey bees, hatching chick eggs and other poultry, etc. Here the kids learned about horticulture as they planted sunflower seeds.

We were ready for the time-honored tradition of huge cinnamon buns for rodeo dessert. We added Dippin' Dots alongside because (A) Jon had never had any. (They're not that good, but really?) (B) Why not?

Spencer, too, enjoyed his first Dippin' Dots and cinnamon buns. (Maybe we'll have a 2nd 1st Rodeo next year...)

(#proudmomma)

Some good, clean, traditional rodeo family pictures:


(And a couple of new favorites)

With 4 kids with wants and opinions, the adults had to navigate prioritizing the order of activities to please some of the people some of the time. Ethan had been desperately waiting all day for the petting zoo!


Jacob found a hungry friend.

Ethan was in his comfort zone.

They'll eat anything.

Gabi had reached her tired lull in the day but was still able to calmly enjoy the animals.


It was time to appease the older guys with a sky ride. (Ethan was too little to ride, womp womp.)

(trying to balance getting on while keeping my daughter alive)

(Check out those cool dudes walking below us.)

Since Ethan had to wait patiently during the sky ride, we found some good rides for the little guy.

From the sky, Gabi had seen this water ride that she REALLY wanted to do.

Not only do I love doing fun things with my kiddos, I love when there are fun pictures of these things!

Apparently, I was the only one with feelings about the slide.

More not-so-traditional rodeo moments:

Meanwhile in Spencerland...

Lastly, Gabi requested the Ferris wheel before we finished at the carnival. (Aunt Sandi and Jacob were happy to oblige.)

"Look out, below!"

Before heading home, we stopped back inside to visit the animals at the Livestock Show once more.

Scenes from the party bus on the way home:

Back at the ranch, the party continued in the backyard with s'mores!


He may have slept or cried through most of the day, but Spencer looked AMAZING, and these pictures make him look pretty satisfied.

I think it's safe to say that we had some pretty tired folks by the end.