Saturday, March 17, 2012

Emily visits The Ponderosa

This weekend we were lucky enough to have Ali Grace's friend Emily visit. She rode home from school with Ali Grace and they stayed up until the wee hours of the morning giggling, screeching and talking about whatever it is tween girls talk about at 2am.  They slept in until about 9 and hitched a ride in the bed of the farm truck out to the riding arena this morning. The weather was PERFECT for saddling up.


While the adults saddled up, the kiddos had breakfast "farm style" served on the bed of a trailer!  It worked out just fine until Addie and Emily wandered off and the the dogs took off with the cinnamon rolls. 

Addie has always loved to sing while she rides a horse. I don't know why she does that, but usually she will close her eyes and sing a song while she's on horseback. It's too cute! It's a good thing Peaches knows where she's going, or Nanny had the lead rope!















I always love watching Ali Grace ride a horse. She's true to her name and is so graceful when she rides.


Right after lunch, Addie packed her bags to head north! She is going with Nanny and Poppy to visit Uncle Ernie, Aunt Beth and Colten for the night. She cannot wait to see their new baby goats! It's a gorgeous weekend y'all! Get outside and enjoy it! 

Sunday, March 11, 2012


I know it's been forever since I've blogged. I've been a little uninspired lately. Add that to a ridiculously demanding schedule, and you a have a recipe for blogger's block! Ha!  We've had a great week here. Both girls got straight As on their report cards. Ali Grace worked hard to pull her math grade up from a B on her progress report. I'm also very proud of her reading progress. She's read some tough books lately including Esperanza Rising and War Horse. Both books tackle some pretty intense social issues and we've had some good discussions come about after her questions. 
The weekend was gorgeous here. Saturday was windy and a little chilly, so even though it looked beautiful outside, we mostly stayed inside and listened to Addie's incessant bump ba bump upstairs. She recently taught herself to jump rope and while I'm so proud of her, I do wish we had insulated floors and ceilings. Mercy it sounds like a thunderstorm moving in every time she gets a wild hair to jump rope. One of Pete's old ABAC friends was up from Florida and spent the night last night. I really enjoyed meeting her, but I'm not sure she'll be back to the Ponderosa after being awakened at 7am by a jump roping 7 year old! Luckily, today looked and FELT gorgeous outside and the girls spent most of the afternoon jumping on the trampoline and swinging on the rope swing. Thank goodness for children who love the outdoors!






Roxy, however, does not enjoy the outside. I'm working on it though. I am thinking about getting her a little life preserver and taking her little rotten butt kayaking soon. That will be a hoot and a half don't you think? Look at her in this picture. She's challenging me! I know she is!