Yippie Ky Yay! Cowboy Luke had Birthday!

My littlest cowboy Luke had a birthday party - a cowboy party to be exact. Yee Haw! He invited all the craziest cowboys and cowgirls in these here parts to help him celebrate!

The invitation:

Since we had the cowboy wedding for my mother in law in our backyard the week before many of the decorations were already up. (The truth is I had planned a cowboy birthday for Luke long before I ever even knew there was going to be a wedding, let alone a cowboy wedding. The fact the my mother-in-law wanted a western wedding the same week as Luke's birthday was pure coincidence! It just gave me an excuse to really decorate!)

When the guest arrived they each got their own hat, bandanna, and sheriff star. I made the little silverware denim pockets and stamped napkins to look like bandannas stuffed inside.

When the guests arrived the party began!

First everyone needed to complete their cowboy outfits by decorating their own paper sack vests with markers, cowboy stamps, and puffy, glittery star stickers.

They all did a great job!

Then it was time for a few cowboy games - like Pin the star on the Sheriff.

And a new favorite : the There's a Snake in My Boot game!

The cowboys had to toss snake and lizard shaped bean bags into a pair of cowboys boots.

This game held their attention for a long time!

Meanwhile, we got lunch ready. Luke requested his favorite cowboy vittles: chili dogs and root beer.

The chuckwagon provided other vittles for all the cowmoms at the party - roast beef, horseradish white cheddar, and green chili paninis. They also got the bottled root beer and cherry cream sodas. Amazing grub!

After lunch, there was just some wild west fun ads the kids horsed around.

Handcuffs and a jail complete with a set of giant keys made for some great outlaw fun!

My roses were about the prettiest the have ever been, by the way, not that the kids cared, but I had to snap a few pictures anyway.

My favorite cowboy!

The cowboys and cowgirls got a real kick out of the boot cake!

When it was time to open gifts, all the kids got into the action.

They were all SO excited and so helpful to open the presents! Every gift had about 12 hands helping to tear it open at once. Kids this are are just so darling!

The prize basket was filled with stuff that cowboys love, like snakes, and horses.

I sewed the goodie bags with some really fun western fabric tied with ric rac. They contained western shaped silly bands, toy horses, star bubbles, beef jerky and a ton of other fun cowboy toys.

Everyone also took home a package of rattlesnake eggs "rite likely to hatch any moment", and the cowmoms each got to take home her own flower and a Cow Patty "Genuine One & Only 100% fresh", still warm! There is nothing quite like a fresh warm cow patty, is there? Yummy!

All the little cowboys and cowgirls had a rip-roaring good time, and I hope the cowmommies did as well! It was a beautiful day and a really perfect party for those youngins!

Of course, on his actual birthday, Luke we had a small family party for him as well. Oh how we all love our Luke!

Obviously, he was at taekwando before the celebration began. I love the gun and holster with the gi. That is a good look!

My sweet little man!

The big cowboy birthday party was during the day, so that evening, when all the older brothers were home from school, we invited some cousins over and did it all over again! You just can never get enough of cowboy fun!

The Cheering Section

Caleb just earned his gold medal for the read-a-thon at the elementary school. This year had been a great year for him! He has finally "got it" when it comes to reading, and now he loves, loves, loves to read. Getting the read-a-thon gold medal was easy.

Caleb has done amazingly well this year with his grades. On his last report card he got mostly 5s a few 4s and all of his citizenship marks were "O" for outstanding!!

We are so proud of Caleb!

Derek and Nathan had their "pop recital" last weekend. Derek played the theme song from Charlie Brown and Nathan played the theme song from Chariots of Fire. They both did a great job!

Where was Dylan? He didn't make it to the recital because he earned a free trip to see Wicked that day in Orange County. Lucky kid! He earned it because of his terrific grades.

Dylan got straight A's, including 5 A+s! But guess what? He never bothered to tell his dear old mom about his awards assembly, so I wasn't there to see him get his Platinum Award, to yell and cheer and to take a ton of pictures. I am so sad about that.

You think maybe he didn't tell me on purpose? Nah.

Hitting the Road!

I have found a new passion - hitting the road! For Christmas, Dennis completely caught me off guard by getting me an awesome road bike. I was certainly not expecting it! I was not into biking. I already have a pretty pink beach cruiser with flowers on the big fat tires that I have only ridden a few times, and was perfectly happy with that. I guess I had mentioned once while driving past a group of bicyclists on the road that that looked like fun. That comment was enough for Dennis to get a road bike for me.

At first I was kind of bugged that he would spend that kind of money on a bike that I didn't even know I would use. After all, he could have spent that money on a new camera lens I know I would have used. But, then again, it was a cool looking bike, black, white, and pink! Pink! He did so good at picking it out for me. I love the look of it. But it sat there in my living room under the Christmas tree a week before I even got the courage to take it for a short spin around the block. I was intimidated by that fine piece of equipment and afraid of crashing it, so it just kind of sat there, even after I had it fitted.

Then I heard about a free 4 weekend Cycling 101 class given by our local rec district. I signed the whole family up, and my sister Lisa attended as well. It was a great class, part classroom instruction, part on-the-road practice. It seems that there wouldn't be much to learn, but surprisingly, we learned a lot about road etiquette and group riding, bike maintenance, equipment, hydration, and nutrition. Most importantly, it got me comfortable on my new bike.

So I got my padded shorts, and my cleats, and hit the road - never to look back!

In February, with our new cycling knowledge and our new cycling jerseys that they gave us in our class, Lisa and I did the Tour de Palm Springs together. It was SO fun, and an absolutely beautiful day!

We did the 25 mile course and were both surprised at how easy it was! Amazing how easy a good bike makes it. Piece of cake. As soon as we rode through the finish line we looked at each other and both said "Next year, 55 miles, definitely."

Since then I have just been riding more and more. Lisa and I have a standing date to ride together every Wednesday morning. We have so much fun together! We like to ride up in the La Quinta cove, up to the top. I love the burn of pushing uphill, and then the reward of getting to ride downhill at top speeds! It takes 20 or so minutes to get up to the top and only 4 minutes to get back down. Then we ride past the beautiful country clubs and just enjoy this lovely desert.

I am so glad Lisa is doing this with me. We can surf together in the summer and ride together in the winter. She is awesome! I love her philosophy about age and athleticism - not to be afraid and get out there and use your body while it still pretty much does what you want it to do. You can read all about it here. I am amazed what this old body of mine can do when I push it a bit! I plan to be in better shape when I turn 40 than I was at 30.

I find myself riding more and more, and going further and faster. I am also getting more comfortable going out on my own, though I always prefer riding with someone else. When the weather is nice I just want to hop on my bike and go! Go anywhere! Pedal power!

I love it! I love going wherever I feel like on my own power. For some reason, riding a bike around town is so very different from driving a car around town, like I do all day, everyday. Driving is a drudgery for me. If I could ride a bike everywhere I would, only most of my driving involves picking and dropping off kids, and I can't do that on my bike. Darn.

Things are just different when you are on a bike. You are right there in the middle of it all, rather than separated from it all, alone in your car. I love to feel the wind on my face and to smell the fragrant patches as I ride past all the flowers and citrus blossoms. I love being outdoors when the weather is so nice, and can't imagine why anyone would want to be stuck in a gym on a spin bike when they could be out enjoying this!

I find that I ride like I swim - I like to get a good strong pace and just go and go. Push. Get that momentum going and keep it going. I am NOT a sprinter. I'd rather have a few long rests than a bunch of short ones. All the open roads out here lend themselves to this nicely, though I am appreciative of a well-timed red light now and then. And I have to admit, the view from my bike is much nicer than looking at the bottom of a pool!

Today I rode all the way up Jefferson through PGA West and back. It took me an hour. It was a great ride and a beautiful day. Yesterday I decided to ride to Dennis' office just to surprise him. On my ride, the odometer on my bike hit 300 miles! I am racking up the miles fast, but I'm sure that will come to a halt when the heat comes. For now, however, I am going to put as many miles on that bike of mine as I can.

Got a bike? Join me!

Champs!

A few Saturdays ago, we had a bunch of champs at our house. The morning began at the Regan School track meet where Caleb did the long jump and later ran in the 50.

Caleb ran fast and made it to the final heat. It looked to me like he came in 3rd, but I guess he ended coming in 4th. He was a little bummed not to get a medal.

But there was still hope. We still had yet to hear the results for the long jump.

It was worth the wait to hear Caleb's name called. He won the gold medal!!! Way to go Caleb!

With those extra long legs, those other kids didn't have a chance.

Meanwhile, the twins spent the same day in Brea at a water polo tournament. They won every game they played, and were the tournament champs!!!

What a great day for the VanBuskirk athletes! So proud!