Monday, July 27, 2009

how quickly plans can change

I was sitting here earlier today, half way through my last blog, all ready to spend some time getting all caught up, but then Jeff called from baseball. His game was in Reston today, and I thought it was strange for him to be calling me after only 2 hours after the game started. Well, to make a long story short (and spare you all the gorry details) Jeff fractured his right hand while playing, and I had to go pick him up and take him to the hospital for x-rays.

We will try to get in to see the Ortho tomorrow, bottom line is there is no rest for the weary. There went what little help I had around here to try to stick to as much bed rest as possible. So keep your fingers crossed that it isn't too bad and Jeff will at least be able to change a few of Cooper's diapers here and there for me so I can keep up with the rest of the house!

Sunday, July 26, 2009

My Hero

Over this weekend our barn is hosting a Dressage Clinic, and with the influx of horses some of the horses/ponies that live there are living out in the field for the weekend. No big deal, right? WRONG!! Jilly has gotten use to giving out cookies (and sometimes special treats from home) to Friskey, Moose, "Old" Chester, "Boyfriend" Zeb, and New Chester. Well, these are some of the horses/ponies that get to camp out for the weekend. Friskey loves bread, and "Boyfriend" Zeb loves bananas. And wouldn't you know all of them were already out when got there on Thursday.

We went to the field and were able to give Friskey, Moose, and "Old" Chester some cookies, but Jilly had brought "boyfriend" a banana. I had just about had Jilly talked into letting Courtney and Lexi give Zeb his banana (there was NO WAY mommy was walking close to 150 yards carrying Cooper just to get there, hopefully be able to give him a banana and walk 150 yards back).

Just then Mr. Mikey told us that Zeb was in the small barn, also about a walk of 150 yards, but he was in a stall, and we could drive. So that's what we did...we all got in the magic van and drove over, and sure enough there was Zebby with his head hanging out of the stall. I got Jilly out, and she was so excited to be able to give him his banana.

The whole 45 minute ride home, all I heard was "I love Mr. Mikey, he's my super hero!" It doesn't take much to make her happy, and it was so worth it to see her give him his treat, and then to hear how much she appreciated Mr. Mikey was the icing on the cake!

Wednesday, July 22, 2009

All dressed up....






Back around Easter I bought Cooper a very frilly pretty dress to wear for her birthday. But since Mommy is very pregnant (and honestly a little lazy) these days, and Courtney practically lives out at the barn, we did not do anything big tonight. So I decided that we were going to have a mini fashion show to celebrate. Cooper had a blast and Jilly even got in on the action.

Tradition


Here is the picture of Cooper at precisely 8:25 pm July 22 on her one year birthday. It is very hard to believe that it has been a year already. I still can't figure out how the time goes so quickly. But it does, and we can do is sit back and enjoy their company.


Happy Birthday Sweetness

Are you hungry there Coop?!?


For the past few days, if Cooper is left in the play-pen for even 5 minutes she somehow manages to get her pants off. And to top it all off, she must have been hungry and in need of a snack. Thankfully I was able to get to the camera and capture the "hungry monster" in the act!

She pulled it out


After going 0 for 3 in the pleasure division (which is usually their bread and butter) Courtney and Moose went out for the Short Stirrup division and focused and came away with Reserve Champion. When asked after the show what was bothering her, Courtney told me that the PA system that usually pumps in classical music was getting to her. For what ever reason, Fox Chase Farm decided to change the radio station to 94.7 which we listen to, and Courtney said when a song came on that she knew it was very distracting to her. But she was finally able to block it out, and did all that we ever expected her do...try her best.

Tuesday, July 21, 2009

Where's Buggy?!?

Courtney has been sleeping over at Lexi's (aka the barn) and for the past 2 mornings as soon as Jilly wakes up she goes into Courtney's room to get her up. Courtney had a loft bed and Jilly stands no chance of being able to see if Courtney is in bed. So she just stands there and (nicely at first) starts to tell Courtney that it's time to come down for breakfast. Well, Jilly got so frustrated this morning that she actually started to bang on the wall, then she came down almost in tears and told me "Buggy's not whistling (that's how listening comes out of her mouth) to me Mommy, she won't come for breakfast time!" It was all I could to not to laugh at her while I explained that Buggy had a sleep over with Lexi again. To which Jilly replied " She needs to come home so she can take care of her aminals." Jilly was more concerned with all of Courtney's stuffed animals than the fact that Courtney wasn't here to play with her. I love the way the 3 year old mind works!

Friday, July 17, 2009

Noodle Nose




After (most) of us finish with our dinner, I take the dogs out so that the girls can put down dog food without being jumped on. While I had them outside, Cooper was still finishing off her noodles. When I came back in, Courtney had the camera in hand (like I said, my very own personal paparazzi) and was just cracking up. here is why.

Sandstone Show


Thankfully after having so much fun with a bigger jump course, Courtney went back to the Short Stirrup and was able to come home with the Reserve Champion. She and Moose also took Champion in the pleasure division. I was so worried that with moving up for the Warrenton show, Courtney would end up bored and not want to show or not pay as much attention on the smaller course. I think that she has come to the (grown up) realization that she only has to do the little course until Finals in November then due to her age she has to move up. She told me the other day "I think Moose and I need a little more time in Short Stirrup so we can talk (I really think she meant communicate) better and do the best job we can do. We need the practice." It astonishes me how grown up and mature she can be...sometimes more so then some of the adults I know!

Thankgoodness for digital cameras!!







OK, note to self...teenagers (well close enough) are the reason we went digital! Between Courtney and Lexi, there were over 100 pictures of the half hour firework show! I must say that Courtney does have a good eye, and I do love having an extra set of hands to be my "paparazzi" when I'm busy with one of the other kids in my hands. Maybe she has already discovered a hobby that she can turn into a career.

Twinkle
















What would 4th of July be without sparklers?!? It is a tradition that I look forward to each and every year. I just love how much the kids get a kick out of writing their names, and just waving them around. There is nothing in the world like the look of awe and excitement on a child's face, and I am so very thankful to be able to be a part of that.

Down we go







I'm not sure how it happened. Maybe one of the kids tripped, or maybe it was all intentional, either way the kids all had a blast rolling down the hill in John and Carol's front yard. We ended up next door because we had caught all the lightning bugs in our yard, and there were more to be had next door. The hill is not very steep, but it has enough of an angle for them to have fun.

Thursday, July 16, 2009

Catch!

Another way we were able to run off energy and kill time was by catching lightning bugs.
Everybody got in on the action, even Jilly who can not stand even lady bugs!
It was quite funny to see all 6 kids run around for 30 seconds and all stop dead and
look for more bugs

4th of July

Well, we had quite a busy night at our annual family bar-b-cue, so I'm going to break up some of the posts so as not to bog everybody down with stories and pictures.

We didn't take the camera with us when we walked across the street to the playground, and when I say we I mean, Jilly, Riley, Noah, Krista. Courtney and Lexi were already over there. The kids loved swinging and going sown the slides, and it was a nice way to run off some energy before we had to hurry up and wait for it to get dark to see fireworks!

Ammendment to Squishies

OK, so I was wrong about how Courtney and her "boyfriend" got on the subject of "squishies". It was much more innocent than I originally thought. Here's how it REALLY happened...Courtney and Nolan were hanging out at lunch, and he informed her "Ummm...the, uuhhhh, thingy that holds your squishies is showing a little bit."

Courtney still has not gotten use to checking to see if her bra straps are showing, but Nolan, who is very (and I do mean VERY) shy wasn't very sure how to let her know. Hopefully Courtney won't disown me for sharing this story with everybody....here's to hoping!

Monday, July 13, 2009

It's official

There is no stopping Cooper now. She will stand up and (ever so slowly) start to walk to what ever has her attention at that moment. It really is the cutest thing, to watch her wobble across the room to be with the "big girls". She so desperately wants to play with Courtney and Jilly whenever the two of them are running around.

Saturday, July 11, 2009

Squishies




Just a little back ground on the terminology...Courtney's little "boyfriend" from school made some comment about another girls "squishies" (breasts) and Courtney thought it was the funniest euphemism she had ever heard, and we have been using it ever since. Now for the real story...




Just a lesson for the rest of you moms out there reading this...when the kids are "helping" and they are too quiet...go and check on them....




Courtney and Jilly were (supposed to be) helping fold some laundry the other weekend. Well, Jilly decides that she wants "to wear a boo boo over her squishies like Courtney", but it just keeps getting better folks...Courtney decided to get out the camera and have a little Victoria Secret fashion shoot. Ohhhh the things these two are going to get into together.

Warrenton Pony show


We were not ready for the amount of people at this show for the division that Courtney was in. She did a great job jumping 8 fences again, and she did 2 divisions with the same jump course that day. The first division only had 12 riders, that is a class size we were all use to. In the second division however there were 27 riders, 3 of which were our girls Courtney, Carlee, and Bella. They all did a wonderful job, Carlee received a 2nd place ribbon in the flat class, and Courtney got a 7th place in one of the jump classes. Out of a field that big, both girls realised how well they must have ridden in order to place out of 27 riders.


Congrats kiddos!

Warm up

Courtney and Moose went to the Cedar Spring pony which is a warm up for the Warrenton Pony show (which is the oldest Pony show on the East Coast, and a very big deal in this area) and did a really great job. Usually the division that they do has four jumps, this time Fay decided that Bug and Moose were ready for the next step, and they took on an 8 jump course. They did a great job staying on course, and Courtney was very proud of herself, as well she should be...they walked away with the Champion ribbon. But more importantly, Bug was told by Fay that the jumping she did was the best she had ever seem from Courtney. Great things happen when one is out of their comfort zone just a little bit.

Wednesday, July 1, 2009

Too much time in the magic van

For those of you who don't know, the mini-van (or magic van as it is called around here) has a DVD player. Thankfully, both Courtney and Jilly love 2 movies...Spirit and Lilo & Stitch. For the most part Spirit is in, but when Mommy gets tired of it I can usually talk Jilly into watching Lilo. Well, Jilly has cracked us up the past few days. She will just start reciting lines from the movie at random when she is in the house, or out and about. You have to really know the movie to get why the lines she picked are funny, but she wanders around the house yelling (as I said at odd intervals) "Tricky fish...TRICKY FISH!" or "all we had was stinky TUNA!" She puts so much inflection into it, that all of us about die laughing!

last day of school/report card




OK, so I know it's been a while since school ended, but here's a pic of Bug on her last day of being a lowly little 6th grader. The only good news about waiting so long to post this one is that I get to brag about Bug's report card at the same time.

For the last grading period, Bug got all A's. It's hard for me to believe that she is my kid sometimes, she is so much better at the whole school thing than I ever was. What's even better is that for her year long average, she got all A's for all her subjects except for keyboarding she got a B.

I've never been one of those parents who gets mad if she doesn't get A's, all I have ever wanted from her is for her to try her best. If it requires more studying because she doesn't get something, then that's what we do. As long as she understands the material, does her homework, and studies for her tests, she should have no problems. To me it's all about the amount of effort she put in, not the final outcome (also my philosophy for horse shows) everything else is just gravy.