Pack Meeting at the Pool

Sometimes in the summertime you forget what day it is.  I love when this happens to me.  Yesterday Tristan forgot that it was a Tuesday and was pleasantly surprised when I told him to go get his Cub Scout uniform on after dinner.  Besides his best friends finally being back from their extra long vacation he was also happy about this meeting being a pool party.  Tristan received 3 arrow heads and 5 belt loops last night.  That is a lot of activity and work with more that he is currently working on even as I write this.  Tristan loves Cub Scouts and I am happy to have something that helps him channel his energy. 

As the pool party ended, our friends asked Tristan if he minded Lady coming out to join us.  She was patiently waiting for her pool back from the crowd that had been there.  I was glad they asked because Tristan is still pretty nervous about dogs sometimes after getting bitten when he was 4 years old.  Tristan said it was fine with him this time and he tried playing “fetch” with her and her favorite water toy.  Tristan ended up retrieving a couple of them (since he can go to the bottom of the pool and the dog cannot).  That puppy followed Tristan around the perimeter of the pool quite closely during this.

Eventually the two of them ended up in the pool together… great fun!  Lady made quite a splash as she excitedly jumped in and watch out when Lady climbs out of the pool too!

Lady was quite thrilled when Tristan got the hang of how the game is supposed to work just as it was past time to leave.  Great job getting your awards, Tristan, and keep up the good work.

Kitchen Craziness

I was invited to a friend’s house for lunch today.  I made two quiches; one to take for the girls plus one for my boys left at home.  And Kaitlyn and I took a nice walk over and had a very nice visit spending the better part of the afternoon with friends.

A funny story about preparing this quiche… I was preparing it this morning, standing at my stove cooking the onions and ham with my back door open.  Three of my kids were in the room with me and a couple of cats and there was general talking and running around the room.  Busy as usual.  All the sudden Tristan yells “There’s a…” at the same instant that I feel something feathery brush over my foot.  Those two things in the same instant made me yell at the top of my lungs “Wooo! Hooo!”  and I jumped.  I was actually relieved when Tristan’s sentence finished with the word “mouse”.  I thought it was one of those huge spiders that sometimes come in my back door but more often make it into my basement.  At any rate it wasn’t more than a second before one cat was on the job.  There was general scuffling around the kitchen with the excitement of the cat chasing the  mouse all over the place followed by the kids as he kept finding hiding places under the fridge or behind the flour barrel and Nathan yelling “Mouse!  A mouse!”  and Tristan getting kids and cats into the other room while I tried to get the mouse out the back door.   In the end I simply held the door open and that mouse scampered out of my crazy house all on his own.  Smart mouse!

Girl’s Camp 2011

Early this morning the van left to drop girls off at Girl’s Camp.  Both of my older girls are there this year; Lindsay as a first year and Haley with her friend pictured as 3rd years.  Many more friends await them and I don’t know who is more excited to go but Lindsay is very much looking forward to her first experience there.  I am proud of my girls for completely raising the money themselves to go to camp. It will be a little strange with only three children in the house; Tristan being the oldest!?!  Oh my!

Kaitlyn is not so sure about having a room to herself all week but she’ll make the best of it I’m sure.  My kids HATE being alone and Kaitlyn doesn’t sleep well without her room mates being there.  I have a feeling I may just find her curled up with her brothers in their room at some point this week.

Kaitlyn still has 8 more years before she is old enough to go and I know the time will fly all too quickly.  -Happy Camping!

Sunbeam Party

This past Saturday, Kaitlyn was invited by her teacher at church to a “Sunbeam Party” at her home.  Her teacher lives quite close to us and has been a good friend to me taking all three of my children when I went to the hospital to have Kaitlyn, bringing us a meal after Nathan was born and I know the list could go on.  Kaitlyn loves her teacher very much and was looking forward to this party for a couple of reasons.

First, besides seeing her teacher who warmly welcomed us into her backyard on this sunny morning, there were her friends!  Mostly there are boys in her class but when her best friend showed up she lit up and vanished from my side.  They shared Sunbeam cupcakes on a tree stump together and made their sunbeam craft together.  Of course they scrambled all over the yard together as well.

Second of all, and maybe just as important, were the three chickens who call this backyard home.  Kaitlyn was REALLY looking forward to the chickens.  In our city you are allowed to keep chickens.  I don’t know how many you are allowed to keep and I presume you should check with your neighbors first, but they were really delightful birds used to sharing a yard with the kids.  And they are strictly egg laying; almost 2 dozen a week.  I have read that grass fed chickens eggs are really a different food than the ones you buy at the store and my friend confirmed this.  Kaitlyn loved the chickens.  One is named (I think) Admiral Achbar.  The other is M.P. (Michael Pollan) and frankly I cannot remember the third name, but they were all quite clever.  I had a hard time getting all three chickens in the picture.

The birds just wandered the small yard with about 8 or 9 kids and about as many adults.  I really enjoyed talking to the other Moms, all of them being friends of mine.  The Dads who showed up stood around having their own conversations.

The boys stuck together playing and the girls seemed to stick together; each with their own agendas (sort of like the adults, I guess).  But everyone had a great time.  It was so nice of Kaitlyn’s teacher to have a special Saturday morning party for her class.  I know Kaitlyn can feel the love that her teacher has for her and the other children.

Lindsay’s Horse Show

On Friday June 24th, our whole family went to see Lindsay in her horse show.  It was already the end of two weeks of Horse Camp.  We watched Lindsay tack up and get ready to ride.

All of the other girls “dressed up” their horse in some way shape or form.  Nathan LOVED the horse in the rainbow hat pictured at the far left.  This made him laugh.  The horse with white feather wings got our attention too, seen in the middle.  But Lindsay said that her horse didn’t need dressing up.  Lulu was already as beautiful as she needed to be so when Anna was done riding Lulu, the decorations came off, Lindsay removed the Western saddle and rode English, her favorite.

Lindsay rides Lulu into the indoor arena.

The kids show us what they have learned in the past two weeks.

Lindsay shows confidence in her ability when she rides.

Lindsay’s Horse Show

Haley states that Lindsay looks like a natural; born & bred to ride horseback.  I think I’ll claim that trait as something that comes from my side of the family.  My grandma told me stories of riding horses with her friend Delma as a girl on the potato farm.  My great great grandmother rode all over the countryside, through the mountains, day & night, rain, snow or shine as she was an educated woman delivering babies in the 1800’s & 1900’s.  I do realize that horses and farming were a way of life not long ago in history for many many families.  Lindsay wishes we lived back then.

 

She is dreaming of the day she can have a horse in her own backyard.

2011 Horse show

Here come Lindsay and Lulu.

Lindsay loves to trot.

Lindsay could tell you so much more than I can about what she has learned. 

They line up at the end, giving us a good photo opportunity.

Lindsay has loved her birthday present of spending time with the horses.  She has made friends with one of the volunteers and has enquired about volunteering there in a couple of years when she is old enough.  Her instructors remember her from last year and are encouraging her in that area too. 

Lindsay leads Lulu back to groom her and put away the riding gear.

Lindsay invites us in to greet Lulu close up.

She loves this grey horse.  She looks white but she is actually grey because of her skin tone underneath.

Nathan, Kaitlyn and Tristan enjoy petting Lulu with her soft mane and velvety nose.  Lindsay and Anna say goodbye to Lulu and Lindsay gets her certificate.  It encourages her to take riding lessons three levels up now.  The wheels are turning with this idea, I can tell.  She did a great job, learned so much and just loved every aspect of spending time with her beloved horses.  Once again, this was the perfect birthday present for her.

Before leaving, Lindsay asked her instructor’s permission to give us a tour of the two barns that stable nearly all of their horses.  Lindsay gave us the rules, and led us through introducing us to each horse by name, even knowing their tempers and who was related to whom.  As we left, Lindsay stopped by Domino’s stall (her horse from last year) and he seemed to remember her as he took a break from eating his lunch and nearly posed for the picture.  It was a great year at horse camp.