Rodeo roundup

My little man turned 4 this past weekend.

He is about all things cowboy. So, we decided to have a Rodeo for his birthday.

It was a gamble...January in Texas is a toss up for weather. We really needed to be able to do this outside. How, pray tell, could we herd pigs inside?

So, I did what any good mother would do...I pleaded and begged with my heavenly Father, to please send some beautiful sunny weather my way.

He totally came through! He loves me...and I don't deserve it! But that's another story.

We had beautiful weather in Texas on what could have been a cold January day.
Here's a picture of our cowboys and cowgirls. I had a stick horse for everyone. I had borrowed them from a friend. They all received a cowboy hat, and bandana before we started the rodeo. Which I got from Oriental Trading, really cheap.

Decorations:
As you can see from the picture, I used red white and blue bandannas tied together and draped along the fence. Also used Wanted pictures that I ordered from Ziggos Western. We had bales of hay sitting around the yard as well.

Unfortunately I did not get pictures of inside. I had bought a barn scene setter and put up in our entryway, along with a horse and cowboy cut out. I also made wanted posters for each child who attended the party. So I had those posted all over the place. The kids had a lot of fun looking for their picture. My son's poster said "Ethan THE KID" WANTED for Turning a year older. My daughter's said..."Emma BOSSY BRITCHES" WANTED for trying to run this place.

Food:
We had fixin's for frito pie. I also made pulled pork sandwiches. You just take a pork butt and put in your crock pot and cook over night. It will be falling apart. With a fork, pull apart and then pour in a bottle of your favorite BBQ sauce. Serve with buns. It turned out so yummy.We also had nachos; which are the birthday boys' favorite.

Games:
We played some great games. The first thing we did was a modified version of barrel racing. They rode their stick ponies around bales of hay instead of barrels.

Then we played Pig Herding. I split them up in to two teams. Again they had to be on their stick horse. I gave them each a fly swatter. Then I released about 30 pigs, which were pink balloons blown up, into the middle of the yard. Each team had to try and get as many pigs to there side of the yard as they could using the fly swatter. They had a blast.
One little girl misunderstood what I said, when I said we were going to herd some pigs. So when I told them to go, she said "okay let's HURT some pigs." All the adults started rolling. I had to stop the game and explain to her that I had said HERD not HURT. All I need is her to go to church and tell people I abuse animals.

Then we played the "Blindfold branding game". We took a large piece of brown kraft paper and traced with an overhead projector the picture of a cow. We posted this up on the fence at the kids level. Then we made a "brand" out of a large dowel rod and a sponge. Since my sons name starts with an E; thats what we made the brand. I took a clean household sponge and cut the letter E out of it. Then we backed it with a piece of heavy duty plastic. I actually had an old storage tub that was broke and we were about to throw away. My husband cut a square out of that larger than the E. We glued the E to the plastic; then stapled the plastic to the end of a large dowel rod. I had a plate of tempera paint out there. I explained to the kids about branding, the why and where the brand is put on the cow. Each kid came up one at a time, got blindfolded. I would dip the brand in paint for them and then let them go. The birthday boy won this game. I only wound up with one green E on my fence.


The last activity for them was "Needle in a haystack game." I bought some harmonicas and parachute men and hid them in a pile of hay. They had to dig through and find their loot. They also had a cowboy boot cup with a small pack of crayons and activity book and sheriffs badge to take home with them. As well as the cowboy hat and bandana I gave each one before we started the rodeo.


Cake:
I love this cake. I have been wanting to make a cake like this for some time. When I asked little man what kind of cake he wanted me to make, he told me he wanted me to make a cake with cowboy on a horse roping a calf. I told him I would see what I could do about a cowboy on a horse...but the roping a calf part...probably not. My hubby was a huge help. I am totally thrilled with the way it turned out.
All in all it was a wonderful day. Little man had a blast. Mommy can't believe her baby is four!