Horsey Lessons

Audrey learning to weave the horse between the cones. She did it!

Parker lookin' cool while waiting for Audrey.

Audrey right after mounting Hunter! She looks so little. That is a big horse!

Waiting in the Sienna Stables office for her lesson to start. "Why is it taking so long?"

Because Audrey has wonderful grandparents, she was able to make one of her little dreams come true this week. On Tuesday, she began horseriding lessons at our local stables. She was so excited, asking desperately every night if tomorrow was Tuesday, and then patiently waiting until 2:00 on Tuesday to go. We started a bit late, because some other riders were hogging her teacher, Miss Sarah.
Finally, Audrey got her turn, we walked out to the stall where her new horse friend lives. His name is Hunter, and as Sarah said, "he's a big horse, but he's gentle." Well, Audrey's only ever ridden ponies, so needless to say, she looked teeny up there on Hunter's back. Parker and I waited in the car, as it was cold and windy, and we could barely see Audrey in the ring, so the pictures aren't great, but she had so much fun, she's once again asking how many more days there are until next Tuesday. Miss Sarah was so impressed that Audrey knew what every part of the saddle and bridle were called, and as we were driving away, Audrey saw a horse out in the pasture and said, "Look, Mommy, that horse is cantering!"
OK, I'm sure he was. Thanks Bramma and Pa!

Audrey's Brain

Audrey's little brain never quits. This little girl has the hardest time going to sleep at night. She can not turn herself off. Most nights I have to do the "honey trick" to help her relax. The honey trick consists of me very slowly tracing my finger down from her hairline to her toes, telling her that the magical drop of honey is putting all her body parts to sleep. Even an hour or so after bedtime, Audrey calls to us from her bed in a whisper yell to ask us something or to tell us "one more thing."
Last night, for example, Neal had been laying down with her for about 20 minutes, and he thought for sure she was asleep. He started to carefully get up, when she said, and I quote,
"Daddy, do bats have tails?"
Does anyone have any advice for turning off your brain?

Bedtime Stories

Every once in a while, Parker will sit down and let Audrey read him a book. Tonight it was after the bath, all cozy in the glider.

6:40 PM

This is what we all were doing at 6:40 PM last night. Just a slice of our lives.Neal practicing his ukelele. He's been working on "All You Need is Love" by the Beatles.

Audrey reading the new library books to her guys on the couch.

Parker taking a bath, me on scrub duty.

The Library

Today we took our weekly trip to our local library (above), and although we're usually relegated to the kids' section and storytime, today we got there too late. So we picked out a few (22) kids books, and then I thought we'd venture over to the really quiet section where the adult books are. I'm in a dinner rut and thought maybe I could find some good cookbooks from my favorite chefs, mostly from the Food Network. Well, to my pleasure, there were shelves and shelves of cookbooks I can check out free! I ended up getting Loretta Lynn's cookbook, (complete with recipes for possum and rabbit, but also some good kuntry cookin') and another about Provencal cooking. And then, we were walking past the section about classical literature and Greek history, topics I always wish I knew more about. I was so giddy with excitement and suddenly glad that I am only 28; I have the rest of my life to read books and learn, and to go to the library. One day I might even go alone. Oooooo! So take a visit to your library, too, there are wonderful things there and the only thing that costs money is the copy machine!

Kids and cameras

I let Audrey and Parker take the camera for a minute this afternoon. When I got it back, this is what I found. They posed their favorite toys and took headshots.

At the Car Wash

Neal and Parker washed the car today. In the picture on the right, it looks like we made Parker wash it himself, but don't be alarmed, as much as he wanted to, we don't let him use the power washer. One day, maybe, but not yet. Oh, and it's warm enough for shorts and flip flops here, just in case you were wondering where to come on your next vacation away from cold weather! (ahem, Indianans)

Quotes of the Day II

Audrey, while I'm trying to put her to bed: Mommy, do they speak English in Paris?
Me: Some people do, but most people there speak French.
Audrey: Then where do they speak Spanish?
Me: Oh, Spain, Mexico, Argentina, Chile, lots of places.
Audrey: And Texas?
Me: Yeah, and Texas, too.


Parker, on potty break from Nursery today: "I'm all done with my class. I been in there a willy long time."

I like to do drawrings.

Here are some drawings the kids made today: Audrey's is a picture of her on Spirit, foreground; me on Rain, to the right; and Parker on Esperanza, Spirit's mom, with a really long tail. The best thing about this is when Audrey says "Esperanza" in a perfect Mexican accent. No joke, a rolled "r" and the "z" sounds a little like a "th." Ok, so maybe it's a Spanish accent.

Parker's is entitled: "some people with no heads because the bad guys cut them off"
(He's really a sweet boy, I promise, he just thinks bad guys are really cool right now.)

Swings

closets

You know how sometimes you decide to clean out a closet, thinking you'll make more room and be all organized and everything, and you end up with a huge, dusty mess that makes you wish you had just read a book instead? I did that this afternoon.

Parker's Ghost Story

Parker loves to tell stories, too. He's recently started to really enjoy "ghost stories," and he likes to tell them under the covers. Here is Neal listening to one of Parker's stories, which I have transcribed very carefully below. This is word-for-word.
Once upon a time, Freddy (a fireman Neal invented) and CD (an astronaut Parker has) were walking along the street and found a spooky spooky house. It was too dark. They knocked on the door, willy willy hard, (knocks on bed). They said, what was that? Until, the ghost came! It was black and they couldn't see his eyes. And he said, "oo,oo,oo!" Thats how ghostes say hi. They started to punch him, until BATMAN came! Batman starts to get out his weapon and is starting to poke him, and then Taran came, a big daddy Taran, until he poked that ghost in the eye! Taran was looking in his other eye. That was the The End. (Taran is the hero in one of Parker's favorite movies, please don't ask me why, Disney's "The Black Cauldron.")

Stories

Our kids love to have stories told to them, especially at night. Needless to say, this has challenged mine and Neal's imaginations immensely, trying to come up with new stories every night. Audrey usually wants stories about two rainbow flying unicorns I invented, Tessie and Calliope. They have all sorts of adventures, and try to help people or other magical creatures when they can. In one story, they were flying over the magical forest and they spotted a little gray dog (BayBob, Audrey's precious favorite stuffed animal). They proceed to take Baybob home to his owner (Audrey), and we imagined Tessie and Calliope knocking on our door and returning Baybob. This brings huge smiles to Audrey's face, and big nuzzles of love for Baybob.

Last night, Audrey wanted me to tell her something about when I was little, her other favorite topic. So I told her about when Mom and Dad told us we were getting a pool, and how excited we were. Once they started digging our pool, they found some bones (does anyone remember this?). We figured out they were dog bones. We put them on a cookie sheet and I don't remember what happened after that. I guess we reburied them, maybe Mom threw them out, but anyhow, this was probably not the best story to tell Audrey. We ended up talking about if dogs are resurrected like we are. Oh boy. That girl.

On the Mend

Audrey is on the mend after a week with the flu. This poor girl went through a lot for a little skinny redhead! A trip to the ER and not a single day without a high fever, but she is slowly returning to normal. Here she is "painting" the house this morning with Parker. They like to use old paintbrushes and water and get out there and work.
If her healing trend continues, we may even go to the library tomorrow. Oh boy, life is good.

Buzz Crashed

This is what happened to our little Buzz Lightyear this afternoon. We skipped church because of our quarantine, we turned on a movie and he was out like a light.