GO Pokes! Our Little OSU Fan - Pistol Pete is a superhero

The Oklahoma rivalry game is tomorrow. It is a Thanksgiving tradition. I am the only person in my immediate family that went to OSU (OK State). My parents and siblings all went to OU (sooners). My oldest boy thought Pistol Pete was a superhero. He had a orange OSU shirt with a large Pistol Pete mascot on the front and back. He wanted to wear it every time it was clean. When we visited Papa, he was told "Pistol Pete is an outlaw... a bad guy!" He was a serious kid who thought deeply about everything, so this information troubled him. We all have fun with the rivalry. Papa loves to buy sooner gear for my kiddos, and we love to wear our OSU gear when we visit. This year is the first year that we actually have the upperhand. We play on Sooner turf though, so it is not a easy win, if we can pull it off. My kids are in the spirit though. GO POKES!

Trick or Treat in our world - Too Much Fun

Halloween was a blast. Halloween was a blast. Halloween was a blast… I clicked my heels and told myself this as if I needed to convince myself of this fact this year. And if I watched it through the eyes of my children, it was a real blast. Through the eyes of this exhausted mommy, it was a little overwhelming. For starters, I visited the doctor first thing on Friday 10/30 for some antibiotics to start the week-end. A mommy needs to be in tip top shape on Halloween, and tip-top, I was not. I am tough though, and I love my children, so I will get my strength up for a busy week-end. We will have some daggum fun, no matter what. If I come back in another life, I would like to be my children, or my mom’s dogs, because they all have a pretty good life.

First… this crazy mom decided to schedule Ben’s birthday party at Pump It Up on Friday the 30th. What was I thinking? Actually, like I usually do, I scheduled it before I looked at our master calendar. I also had to do it because Ben was to have his tonsils out on November 5, and it is over a month past this 4th baby’s birthday and I put it off as long as I could. Since his birthday a month ago, he has had a few emotional moments out of the blue, when it hit him that we forgot to have a birthday party. We missed this last year too, because of this little hurricane named IKE that rolled through around his birthday, and prior to that, his birthdays were smaller because he was one and two and didn’t know the difference. This year was the first year he knew he should have a party, and he felt he was missing something. We would hunker down and persevere. That’s what we do in the Thomas / Grizwold familia. We love our kiddos, so we keep going… and going… and going… and then we go some more!

When I first saw that Halloween was to fall on a Saturday, I thought it would be fun. We would have the WHOLE day to celebrate… I then realized that our Saturdays are always crazy with sports and activities, and Halloween is such a busy day too. I am so tired of missing these special moments because I am holding on so tight to the roller coaster that is our life these days.

Note to self… It is okay to miss an event. Everyone doesn’t have to be in a sport every single possible season. It is okay to miss a 5 yr old soccer practice. The world will not end for any of this, and I know it, but I am one who sticks to the plan because it is easier than ever ever saying “No”. I need to try to say “no” more often. That is my goal. I know, I know… I will never do it, but it is a calming thought.

Our Saturday schedule included a all day horse show, starting at 7:30am, where Maggie was to dress a horse up in a costume, then participate in several fun games on a horse. I dodged the bullet on the horse costume, because I told John the wrong amount to write the check for, so we did not pay the fee for the horse costume. You should see this parade of horses in costumes. I have enough on my plate without the need to make a costume to fit a horse. That just made me laugh. How would I make a costume for a horse?  I thought. Some of these kids (and likely their moms) had some very creative ideas. My personal favorite was the black horse that was dressed up to be a poodle. He did not like that costume one bit. It was adorable, and probably took the most time to make, but it was not for the horse on that day. More on the horses later. I still laugh when I look at these pictures. These poor horses. They were good sports though, for the most part.
Maggie won ribbons for 1st place in a pole bending event where she winded back and for th between the poles in a relay race mixed with all levels of riders (so the older faster girls could make up the time for the beginners). She won 2nd place for a cup relay, where they did a similar relay, passing a cup back and forth, then 4th place for a pole jumping course, and a 5th place ribbon for the apple bobbing event (where they rode in a relay, got off the horse bobbed for an apple, then carried the apple to the other side, then the next rider started). Maggie costed her team a few points because her mouth is a little small for the apples so she had a lot of trouble grabbing that apple w/ her teeth. It was at the end of this event, when my friend’s husband, who is a dentist asked if we had our H1N1 shots. Oh NO! I didn’t even think about the germs in that bucket of water… say a prayer that there was not any H1N1 in that bucket of apples. (Please, Please)

I had duty at the horse show all day. We arrived at 7:30am, and returned home around 3:30, after Maggie insisted on stopping off at Petsmart on our way home to procure a costume for Marshmallow the dog. We just can’t stop! While Maggie and I were playing with the horses, John was to take the boys to Anthony’s baseball game, the little’s soccer game, and a birthday party. Soccer game canceled for rain, which I have learned is not always a good thing, because the rain out make up games all get piled at the end, and we have a crazy week (unlike our normal crazy week). Anyway, they were busy, but they left the house a couple of hours after us and stopped for pizza and still beat us home by over an hour, so I would say we won on the business of the day. Maggie was so happy though. She arrived home with all 4 medals around her neck, gave her daddy a hug, and asked him if he would start an account to save to buy her a horse. What daddy could say no to that? Her daddy, that is who. He didn’t say no, but I could tell in his eyes he is not on board. He will be…He just has no idea! His little girl loves horses like no other. I fear the day that Daddy gives in, but one day, he will not be able to look at those eyes that have been longing for a horse as long as I can remember and not try to do something about it. BUT… She must first learn to walk that dog that she was dying to have for Christmas.

And...We are just beginning the real part of Halloween… TRICK Or TREAT!

It was a lovely evening, kids were happy...

Maggie is my creative child. She has always been. She never wore her princess costumes as they came. She was always mixing and matching with another costume, some cowboy boots or a piece of a bathing suit or pajamas. This year, she picked out a angel costume and wanted to turn it into a ghost costume. This involved giving that sweet face ghost make up. In the end, I think she was a cross between a mad scientist and a ghost, but we tried, then she got ahold of the make up and worked her creativity. She was happy, and as always, cute Maggie. Did I say cute enough?

Ben bought a policeman costume, but switched to a Fireman hand me down from Anthony’s 4 yr old days. Being the 3rd boy and 4th child in a family that loves to dress up (thanks to Maggie), he has a closet full of hand me down costumes to choose from.

Alexander was Darth Vader all the way. He loves to dress up too. Although the costume we picked out at the store was Darth Vader, he has two other Star Wars costumes (Storm Trooper and Luke Skywalker), and during the week, he tried them all on for size, but in the end, stuck with Darth. He was happy as Darth Vader

Anthony is now at the age where he doesn’t really want to wear a costume – he doesn’t want to look uncool. He does like candy though, so he was torn between a baseball player, football player, or Dracula. In the end, his love of OSU football won, and he was a OSU cowboy football player for trick or treat (same as last year). This year, sadly, our cowboys team was in the process of losing a football game while the trick or treating was going on, so he got a lot of comments from those nasty Texas fans. For a moment, he thought he was stuck in that costume… and our team’s loss was looking more final. We ended the evening watching the end of the game inside. It was a sad ending to a fun day.

This tired mom’s head hit the pillow pretty hard at the end of this busy day! Tomorrow, I may not move at all – ha! Even if I could manage that, I wouldn’t know how!