Thanksgiving 2010: O Give Thanks and Eat LOTS of Food!

Once again I find myself trying to get a post up before the next holiday arrives! So before I blog about Christmas festivities I need to recap Thanksgiving!!! We had a wonderful Thanksgiving holiday that resulted in lots of good food for days and nonstop fun for the boys (and me and Tim too)!


The day before Thanksgiving we spent the day at Nana & Papa Doc's. The boys and I were so excited about seeing Jen, Rich and crew. CiCi and Pop (Daily) invited us over to join in the scavenger hunt! Between Melissa's 3 boys, and mine and Jenny's ... we had 8 kiddos ... 7 boys and one precious girl (Molly holds her own just fine). After a couple of hours of fun we headed back to Papa Doc's and Nana's where the boys enjoyed hanging with their cousins for the rest of the day and I enjoyed having some "sister time" with Jen. Some how I failed to capture this event with photos.... may have had something to do with 7 little boys running wild and one sweet princess!

Thanksgiving Eve was spent baking until 2 a.m.: 2 apple pies, 2 coconut cakes, 1 coconut pie, and one chocolate pecan pie! Whew! Thanksgiving Day was spent in Arkadelphia with my parents, Memaw and Papa, the Harrington Crew, The Leddricks, and the Bishop Crew. We had a wonderful day just spending time together, eating, playing, watching football, and visiting. This is one of my favorite days of the year because it is one time when we are all together. That evening we drove to Texarkana and spent the night, a stop along the way to our final destination.... Aunt Julie and Uncle Jim's house in Trophy Club, TX!

We had a blast at TC with Aunt Julie, Uncle Jim, Grae & Eme, who were our gracious hosts! Uncle George, Aunt Kelly, Meghan and Alex and Grandma and Grandpa were there too to participate in all of the fun and enjoy all of the good eats! We arrived (after getting lost due to my directions) on Friday afternoon and spent the rest of the afternoon playing, visiting and eating... AND... we made a trip to an indoor pool/mini water park! The kids had a blast and enjoyed swimming since it has been a couple of months since they've swam!

The next day we woke up and got ready for our "Christmas Kick-off" a trip to the Gaylord Texan to see the "ICE-Charlie Brown" exhibit! It was very neat and VERY COLD! They give you parkas to wear but grandma swears she nearly got frostbite! It was very amazing! After that we went and ate lunch at Central Market. After lunch the boys went home with the kids to watch football and the girls went shoe shopping!!

That night the kids exchanged Christmas gifts since we will all be at different places on Christmas! It was a lot of fun! We missed the Colorado O's!

On Sunday it was time to return home and recover from our fabulous Thanksgiving! Below are a few of my favorite pics from the Gaylord Texan!

FUN Fall Festivities!

Once again, a month has passed my by! So I'm going to back-up and do a quick blog about all of the fun Fall & Halloween Festivities that occurred during the month of October!

We started the fall season off with a trip to the Family Farm Pumpkin Patch outside of Malvern. It was WONDERFUL! It was our first trip to this pumpkin patch. Daddy was out of the state so Nana and Papa Doc went to help me keep reign over the crew! We had sooo much fun.... slides, hay mazes, carousel, zip line, sling shots, train ride, pumpkin patch and fishing (and I probably left something out too)! The boys had a blast... there was something for everyone to enjoy... AND... it was outside so they could be as wild as they wanted and fully enjoy themselves.... Nana, Papa Doc, and I enjoyed watching all of the excitement!

The week of Halloween there were several festivities that we attended.... first there was "Trunk or Treats" at AWANA which allowed us a practice run for dressing up (N-Ninja, Z-Darth Vader, B-Pirate)! This was followed by a Halloween festival and hayride at the Glenwood Country Club on Friday night, followed by the School Fall Festival on Saturday afternoon, culminating in Trick-or-Treating Saturday night! The boys acquired so much candy it should be illegal! But they had a blast and we are grateful to everyone who made it such a fun holiday!

Now I can at least not feel guilty when my next post is likely to be Thanksgiving!

"RODEO"

Well it's bulls and blood
It's dust and mud
It's the roar of a Sunday crowd
It's the white in his knuckles
The gold in the buckle
He'll win the next go 'round
It's boots and chaps
It's cowboy hats
It's spurs and latigo
It's the ropes and the reins
And the joy and the pain
And they call the thing rodeo...
GARTH BROOKS


Well that about sums it up! Pike County Fair and Rodeo. It is one of the year's highlights for the Oosterhous family. This year was Nate's final year to mutton bust. He was so big that the sheep couldn't move very fast with him on it! It was fun to watch and the boys just get so excited. Zac was off pretty quick this year, but he bounced up and strutted off (I think he thought he had a chance at the belt buckle).

We did not qualify for Sat. night's riding event but we had a blast all the same! In addition to riding sheep the boys participated in the calf scramble and rode a lot of rides at the fair. A big thanks to Nana and Papa Doc for coming and to Papa Doc for riding the scary rides with Nate! We are already looking forward to Rodeo 2011!

Our Neighbor!

Yes this little guy lives in the woods across the street from our house! He is a small little guy (as if that matters to me) and we think his mama lives up the road. Several weeks ago he found one of the deer feeders! No we did not see him personally (thank goodness)! Tim captured the images on his game camera! The boys have been hunting but no deer yet! Tim is in Iowa right now, trying to bag a big one!

Soccer.... Soccer... and More Soccer!

This fall, Nate and Zac have been playing soccer at Caddo Hills. It took a little convincing to get Nate to play. We had to assure him that it would not take away from his hunting time (yes deer season is here in full force)! Although, Nate is not aggressive by nature, he is a great punter and does excellent playing goalie and he really got the hang of the game this year. His team did really well this year and Nate scored some points!

Now Zachy, that child is aggressive on the field and he was born to play sports that require constant movement. He has some fast feet and he did REALLY good on the field, especially since this was the first time he had ever played. He was so fun(ny) to watch. He loved every minute of it and loved it when he scored goals (at least 5 a game) because that meant he was the center of attention.

While all of this soccer was going on, Ben would alternate between yelling for his bubbas and playing on the playground! Grandpa O, Nana, and Papa Doc all were able to attend a game and see what all of the "hoop-la" was about. The boys were so excited that they got to see them play.

Now basketball season is underway, games are on Saturdays so there is NO WAY that I was able to convince Nate to play...... it would cut in to his hunting time! Everything is so busy right now; so maybe we will pick-up basketball next year!

Big Dam Bridge 100

Well we survived the big bike ride! I had so much fun riding with my two biking buddies.... Cindy Daily and Stephanie Duggan! Well we broke no records but we all accomplished our goals and finished the race! Wahoo! Cindy rode 50 miles and Stephanie and I survived (barely) the 68 mile route! Not bad for 3 women who don't consider themselves big time bikers! Amazingly enough, my legs weren't sore... but my "seat area" .... that is another story! Way to go girls!