go texan day and rodeo art

it’s co-op day.  that means that i get to spend from 12:00-4:00 teaching three 3 year olds (one of them being my spunky flicka)…one 4 year old…and two 5 year olds.

we are in the middle of a space unit.  because i say so.

i am currently wasting time until chad can find a new ink cartridge for the printer so that my planet printables will continue printing.  we are making a planet diagram today.  oooooooorrrrrr…if chad doesn’t have more ink for the printer…playing with play dough.  i’ve found that play dough can go a long way.

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friday was go texan day.  i’ve written about my love for go texan day and all things “rodeo related” before…but i really can’t get enough.  my love affair with go texan day stems back to my early elementary school days and spans well into adulthood.  we even had it in high school…where we got to rock the rocky mountain jeans and ropers and feel cool about doing so.

back in the day…your coolness factor was directly related to how many rodeo performances you were attending.

some of my most favorite rodeo’s over the course of my 38 years include:

the statler brothers

anne murray

george strait

alabama

clint black

john mayer

and

miranda lambert

there are so many more…but those are my favorites.  my parents even saw elvis the year i was born.

it always begins with the trail ride coming into houston.  and that day…

well…

that’s GO TEXAN day!

this is the day that all little boys and girls transform into real cowboys and cowgirls.  everywhere you look, you see boots and hats and pearl snapped shirts.

2013:

2012:

2011:

 

i’ve noticed over the years that once the boys hit around 4th grade…they stop participating for a while.  you maaaay be able to convince them to wear a plaid shirt and jeans…but that’s about it.

don’t even get me started on rodeo art and how i never won.  every year…i sketched horses in pencil and colors with great concentration and precision…sure that it would be my year.  and i always fell short…losing out to some artistic abstract of boots and a hat. oooohhhhh how i wanted my horses to win.

i just can’t believe they don’t still have rodeo art in elementary schools.  it’s a crying shame.  i mean…i’m fairly certain i could take over one of the kids and win.  i mean…it couldn’t be aiden’s because she really enjoys art and would be all insistent in doing her own…blah…blah…blah…

but chase????  now…he’s a realistic option for me.  he’s not into art at all.  i’m pretty sure i could convince him.  i’m not above cheating at this point.  this girl needs a rodeo art blue ribbon.

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yesterday…i pulled an old bookcase off the wall and decided, on a whim, to distress it.  it’s old…and doesn’t hold any kind of family pass-down value…so i wasn’t too worried about ruining it.  i even let annslee do some sanding…which meant that the scratch lines didn’t always end up going in the same direction…but her enjoyment in helping was totally worth it.

i wasn’t even sure where i was gonna let that shelf live…or what purpose it was going to serve until i was finished.

turns out…it makes a really good art shelf.

a few glass jars and baskets of coloring books and construction paper later…and we have a quaint little place by the table to create.

it makes me pretty happy.