Miniatures

The owners of Addison's riding stables have 2 adorable miniature horses. Occasionally when Reagan and Gracyn tag along out there, Marta, the owners' daughter will get the mini's out for them. They love to groom and walk them all around.

Reagan loves Buddy. She combs him, does his hair and one time painted his hooves.

Gracyn loves Levi. Both horses are crazy furry from this frigid winter. This day was COLD and most of the fields had snow up to our knees, but we didn't let that stop our fun. We walked and walked for miles leading these guys.

I LOVE this picture of Reagan in front of the barn. I need to take my real camera out there some day to play. The only downside to the girls coming along, is I didn't actually see any of Addison's lesson....too busy keeping up with these two. 

Cook out

After this winter, if we get a nice day, we take FULL advantage. A few weeks ago, we had a Saturday that was almost 50 degrees. The whole neighborhood played in the cul-de-sac and then our friends Steve and Jenny lit their fire pit. We ended up having a spontaneous cook-out, with whatever food we could all scrounge together. Nights like that are perfect. By the time we went in it was down to around 30 degree and the forecast said we were expecting 11 inches of snow starting in the middle of the night.

The kids are seriously studying something they can see in the basement windows.

Jennie, Addison and I

Tommy is the life of the party with the kids. He is always willing to play and they adore him.

Dinner

They are super healthy down at the Janzen house. They brought the organic ketchup, I brought the Doritos.

How cute are these two Gracyn and Grayson. Also known as girl Gracyn and Baby Grayson.

My love.

Roasting Marshmallows

Such a perfect night. We will miss these friends when we move!

These Days

We play many, many games of "Old Hag", the horse themed version of Old Maid. Gracyn lost this game. Doesn't she look shamed?

Gracyn and her friend Tessa rode the horse in the Ken-Chuck-E Derby at Chuck-E-Cheese.

The neighborhood kids rescued a loose dog one afternoon. They worked so hard to catch him, then we realized he didn't have any tags to identify where to return him. I was getting a little nervous about what was going to happen next, when we found the owners. 

Gracyn has discovered the most efficient way to win at ski-ball.

Both girls sold Girl Scout Cookies. Reagan and I worked a booth at Lowes with her group.

Addison got her braces off.

Gracyn got some kisses from her teacher.

Totally unplanned, but Reagan and I went to church in matching clothes. We were at lunch after when a little old Grandma came to our table to tell us what a sweet family we had. That happens occasionally, but the unusual part this time was when she told us, "I love that you are all so skinny. I just love to see a nice skinny family. You just don't see that much anymore. Good job being skinny!" She told us all this as we were eating burgers and fries and discussing ice-cream. :)

Barn Days

Addison lives for her 2 hours at the barn every other week. Once it warms up we are going to make it weekly. She is just a slight bit obsessed/in love with horses. She does great tacking, grooming and riding. This is Ruffian, one of her favorites.

You might think dogs have the market on begging for food, but horses are just as bad, Maybe worse. This guy had his head through the hole for his water bucket, all day, just waiting for us to spare an apple or carrot for him. Don't worry, we gave him plenty of treats!

At the end of this lesson, several girls switched horses. Addison had her first ride on Hestia. She is so sweet and gentle and is usually where they start their riders during their first lessons. Because Addison started with some horse experience, she never rode Hestia. Today was her first time. 

Ballerina