moments in life

My daughter is a special kid. I know every parent says that, but with all of the corrections and parenting I do during the day sometimes I'm in awe of being able to sit back and watch her learn and grow. With this whole horse deal we were presented with, I gave Amanda some major decisions to make. When this started I told her that we had an opportunity to go look at an older mare that needed to retire from being a lesson horse. "With older horses you can't just decide to not do it in a couple of years and sell them. With this decision comes the knowlege that this horse will be our responsibility until she dies. She will need special care when she is no longer rideable, and probably special food. There is extra care in the winter to help them maintain their weight, and this will all be your responsibility. That means you get up early before school to go care for her, blanket her, check her feet, and pay attention to her even when life gets busy. You will be out there when it's pouring rain, if you are sick, and when it's dark. You will be mucking through the mud, and wearing slickers while you curse at the wind and wet. They need your care no matter what. If you are still interested, let me know and we can go look at her." She thought about it a good long time and said she wasn't sure if she was ready for this responsibility yet, but she'd wanted to take a look at her. She said this with tears in her eyes. When I asked her why she was crying she said she didn't know, but that she knew this was a big deal and she didn't want to make a mistake. I told her if she wanted to see her, she could and to let her heart and her mind decide. The fact that she just didn't jump at the idea cinched the deal for me. That was what I was looking for. I didn't want a quick decision, but a thought out one. She took this very seriously. I was so proud of her. I also knew that when she saw her she'd fall in love. Chic is such a ham, very expressive, and perfect for Amanda. She's got some swaying in her back, and has seen a lot of life and experiences, but I couldn't ask for a better girl to show my girl how to take care of a horse-rain or shine-good or bad-you do it because you LOVE it. They become part of who you are.

For now she is over at grandma's house. We have some work to do on a gate to allow better entrance to the pasture so I can separate her from the cows. We are also taking advantage of Amanda being able to walk her down the hill to take her lessons from her old owner. That has been such a blessing.

Being a mom can sometimes be such a thankless job. There are so many moments where I feel like I'm just making sure they don't kill themselves and yelling for them to pick up their junk. But when there is a big decision or opportunity for your children and you see them take the right steps to make a good decision, it makes all the bickering and frustration seem worth it. I'm so proud of my girl, and when I see her from a distance, whispering to her girl, hugging her, feeding her, just being with her, it makes all of the expense worth it. Chic will become her best friend, her companion, the one she goes to when she's angry or sad, and wants a friend. Chic nickers when she sees Amanda, and that makes my little girl's heart sing. What more could I ask for?

Summer fun

We started out the summer with our little vacation and not much else planned until the end of this month. We'd wanted to take a little weekend trip to the bay area, but then Chris's car died, and we have 3 large bills due, and then we decided it was better to be responsible and stay home. Blah. On a more exciting note, we had a great old mare dropped in our laps at the perfect time for Amanda to love on and learn from. The lady that gave her to us said she wanted to find a little girl to love on her and after meeting Amanda, it was a perfect match. Emerald Chickadee is her name. Amanda is taking lessons from this lady on Chic and spends countless hours loving on her, brushing her, and drawing pictures of her. It brings back memories of my first horse and how proud I was to have her.

I've been doing some sewing this summer, and of course had to make Amanda a top with horses on it to wear. I am enjoying the fact that she'll still wear things I make for her. She also picked out 4 or 5 different fabrics to make shorts. I know those days aren't going to last much longer. She's growing up right before our eyes at an alarming rate.

Here are the kids with their redneck hot tubs. A boring, hot summer day forced them to get creative. The funniest part was they spent about 2 hours out there in those tubs. That made for a nice quiet afternoon inside the house! I won't post the pictures of them watching tv or playing video games, of which they've done too much of this summer. I'd rather act like I have them outside running and playing, never fighting, and using their imaginations. Sounds good to me!

School starts soon and then we'll be back to our routines, but for a couple more weeks we can sit around in the mornings, soaking in the cool air and figuring out what each day will bring us.

Good bye San Diego

My husband works very hard at his job. I think one of the most enjoyable things was to see him let go after a couple of days and really enjoy himself. Evan asked him if he'd bury him in the sand. Then the digging began!

Here he was, up to his neck...makes me all itchy and scratchy just thinking about it!

Amanda wanted no part of the burying and chose to build a sand castle instead.

This is the end of the vacation pictures I'm going to post. Don't get me wrong, there are LOTS more, but there are lots of things going on and it's time to move into summer pictures here at home!

whiner

I think summer has finally gotten to me. More importantly, I'm completely frustrated with my kids(horse included)! The problem is if I were to get a break I am constantly thinking about the things I need to do at home! Add to that Amanda's softball tournament coming up in Concord and it makes for a whining sesson from me. Today has pretty much been a waste of time. Actually, it could be completely be erased and there would be no impact on my life whatsoever. I have gone from limiting the kid's television watching to ignoring what they are doing and letting them be complete couch potatoes. I'm doing nothing stimulating or enriching with them because at some point they will start bickering, yelling, hitting, tattling, _____fill in the blanks! I'm guessing I need a major attitude adjustment. Some fun money and chocolate might be nice too...well OK, skip the chocolate. I'm way too sore to jeopardize my workout with chocolate! Do you ever feel like you have a rope tied to your back and as soon as you start moving forward with something you get yanked right back? Among the worry of making a decision to get a hysterectomy for my fibroid issue, the horse I purchased in February is at the trainer's house getting a tune-up so I can learn how to ride her better. She is dealing with some nervous issues and once the trainer has her ready, I'll be the one with the nervous issue! That lady is intimidating! One step forward, two MAJOR steps back. The trainer seems to feel that someone in her past was pretty heavy handed with her, which makes her jumpy and quick to respond. That is what I need to learn how to ride out of her. The scary part is I don't know how long it's going to take me to do that. We thought we did an adequate job of doing our homework with Cat. We took her to the trainer to ride, had her checked out by the vet, and spent a lot of time talking to her old owner about her habits and such before I decided to purchase her. It doesn't matter how much you do it is still a gamble I guess. After getting dumped on the ground a couple of times I guess it's better to learn in a sandy arena over the trail and pavement that met my body at an alarming rate of speed! I keep telling myself I don't need the stress and to just quit. But where is the fun and scary excitement in that? I'll just go over there with a knot in my stomach and a little throw up in my mouth and get on. Right? Sounds easy! That's what happens when you learn to ride old school as a kid and now the trend is to have them finely tuned to respond to every body movement. I guess this old dog has some major learning to do. And that scares the shit out of me!