January 2017 ~ week 2

This week has been one of wintry weather and lots of downtime because Abigail and I got colds -- just sick enough that we didn't feel like getting off of the couch.  We did not start back to school on Monday as planned...instead, we were bums most of the week!

Nice things about being sick: staying home, extra rest, snuggling under a warm blanket, extra cat time, Grandma-socks...and a good nurse.  David takes great care of us during the day so that Bruce can work.  He is not quite so cooperative about pictures...

 

One afternoon we made homemade snow-cream for the first time.  It tasted like French Vanilla ice cream, but with the icy-snowy texture of snow. Fun!

More resting...more couch-time and more cat-time...Mindy is not a big snuggler, but she knows when someone is ill and appoints herself their nurse.  It's very sweet.

In the midst of David's tending to us, he managed to spend his Christmas money on Amazon and was delighted when his new Star Wars Lego set arrived!  It is always so much fun to watch him go to work on a new building project.  Here he is with his U-Wing Fighter.

By Friday, we were starting to feel like normal human beings again!  We cleaned and organized and played board games in between projects.

And for a week that started out with ice and snow and frigid temperatures, this is how we ended it...70 degrees and outside without even a coat! Ah, Georgia, how we love thee... :)

Thankfully, Abigail was feeling much better in time for our church's youth group event on Saturday -- her first time to participate in the annual "Cabbage Bowl," where our teens compete against our senior citizens in Wii Bowling.  It is a really fun event and a great chance for the strengthening of relationships between these two very different age groups.  The seniors won the overall tournament as their combined score was higher than the teens' combined score (this is typical...they have won the overall competition four out of the five years).  Abigail and her friend/bowling partner, however, won the individual team competition, defeating the usual bowling champions!  Here they are with their "trophy" after church today.

Not only that, Abigail was the individual high-scorer, so she brought home that traveling trophy and a Chick-Fil-A gift card!  Nobody suspected she was going to be such fierce competition, and everyone thoroughly enjoyed her victory. :)  The teen guys have already started vying for her to choose them as her bowling partner next year! Way to go, Abigail!

Girl + Horse = Bliss

This week we had a big milestone moment...
Abigail had her very first horseback riding lesson!

This was a very long-anticipated moment and she was just glowing...
it was wonderful.

I was a horse-crazy girl back in my day, too, and still remember how the dream --
and the fulfillment of it -- felt, and it was so much fun to watch it happen with my daughter!

Learning how to groom and tack the horse

Up on the horse for the first time!

Learning to find her seat (i.e. balance) instead of just relying on the saddle and stirrups

Hey, Abigail, you're going the wrong way! ;)

Getting brave

Learning to use the reins

Ride, Abigail, ride!!!

Back to school ~ 2014-2015

Our first day of school

David - 12 years old, seventh grade
61" tall, 85 lbs, size 10 1/2 shoe

Abigail - 10 years old, fifth grade
54" tall, 57 lbs, size 3 shoe

Our first field trip -- to Zoo Atlanta with Karen & her kids

Feeding the parakeets in the aviary is definitely a highlight of the zoo!

Our second field trip -- to the High Museum of Art

The kids' first time seeing a real Monet!

School is off to a great start!

Our summer in a nutshell ~ 2014

Our summer flew by in a flurry of busyness, but we also managed to fit in some time to enjoy being with each other and our friends.  I am finding yet more obstacles to good blogging...as the kids get older, I am doing more participating with them in activities and less watching, which means fewer pictures.  I have also graduated to a smartphone now, so it's so much easier to just snap a picture and upload it to facebook in a few seconds.  I am trying to find a good balance!

Here are just a few highlights of our summer...

We finished school and the kids were promoted to fifth and seventh grades! (gulp)

We had a wonderful week at summer camp

Abigail was chosen to participate in the silly game show!

 We played at the lake

We led our church's Backyard Bible Club

We had an absolutely wonderful time together on our end-of-school-year family outing; this year we went to Six Flags.

We celebrated the end of summer break by enjoying a day with friends at a local aquatic center...

...and Abigail overcame a major fear to conquer a waterslide all by herself (and loved it)!

Ah, summer break...you were fleeting, but wonderful while you lasted!

Our week ~ March 31

This week started out with Abigail feeling under the weather...thankfully she was back on her feet in time for her sleepover birthday party!  Her theme this year was rainbows and unicorns, so I had a blast planning details accordingly.

For dinner Friday evening, we had rainbow pasta and rainbow bread...

...and for dessert, a simple cake

that had a surprise inside!

For snack on Saturday, we had rainbow sugar cookies.

The girls had lots of fun being girls...there was a lot of happy playing and a great deal of giggling and squealing, too. :)

Pin the star on the unicorn's horn

Abigail's friends helped her release her birthday balloons (the letting go of the birthday balloons and watching them until they disappear is a tradition in our house, started when they were younger and wanted to keep their balloons forever but I was tired of them being in the way...so we made it something exciting to watch them rise into the sky while they still had enough helium to make it!).

Other "regular" moments in our week:

School (this is Felix hard at work on a spatial manipulation project :)

David and I have been working on the landscaping.  These pictures don't show the scope of the work we have done so far...all of the cutting and pulling and hauling and sweating...but they will have to do.  He is my right hand man who provides all of the brawn and grit that I am no longer able to provide...it has been a joy to work alongside him!

A couple of the plants blooming at our house right now (the daffodils, hyacinths, and crocuses are about done; grape hyacinths are still going strong; tulips are still coming on; many others are getting ready for their big show!)

Bleeding heart (from my Grandma Minota's garden)

Vinca vine

I forgot to include this picture last week...a snuggle session with our friends' newborn.  He is absolutely beautiful and it was wonderful to soak him up!