Horse Show

Horse Girl's friend.

Getting ready.

Proud winners! Both girls took Champion in their classes and got 2 first place and one second place each. Way to go, girls.

Bulbs and plants

Hubby's mom, Horse girl and I decided to plant bulbs and winter plants in the front flower garden. We spent several hours total of back-breaking work. First we had to pull out all of the old mulch and dirt to remove the weed-barrier we had put in last spring. We then had to replace the dirt and add several more bags to give it the depth we needed. We planted over 100 bulbs in this bed alone and then added the pansies on top.

Horse girl watered while Grandma planted.
My back hurt so badly at this point that I wasn't sure I would be able to get up.
I did manage to get up, though, and continued pulling out plants for Grandma to place. The bed looks wonderful and I'm glad we did it.

Battle of Secessionville

The re-enactment of the Battle of Secessionville happens twice a year. We previously had gone to a re-enactment at another location, so this was our first time here.

Arms inspection.

Grandma and Grandpa checking out some historical facts.

Parade to the battle grounds.

Beginning of the battle.

Hubby's new hat.

Corn Maze

We once again went to the Corn Maze a couple days before Halloween. Horse girl was pleased to hook up with two friends and Tall boy managed to find himself a group of teen boys to hang out with. Hubby and I followed the girls and let them lead us through the maze. It took us one hour because the girls had trouble finding the first 6 spots. Finally, one of the girls took over and we breezed through the last 6.

Victory is ours!

World Equestrian Games

As a semi-surprise, we took horse girl to the World Equestrian Games in Lexington, KY at the beginning of October. Hubby could only take so many days off of work, so we were only able to stay for one day. Horse girl wanted to see the Cross-Country event since she is planning to do Cross-Country.

It was absolutely amazing and nothing like I had imagined. We arrived around 9am, along with about 10,000 other people. We heard later that there were around 30,000 spectators that day. We walked through the shopping area and took notice of the shops we wanted to visit later. Horse girl of course wanted to go into the Breyer store.

This is a picture of the back-side of one of the arenas. You could walk all the way around the lake to get to different jumps. We started on the left and ended up hitting all of the jumps over the course of the day. There were around 28 jumps and a ton of riders. The event lasted from 10am until around 3 or 4pm. Each rider took roughly 11 minutes to get through the entire course.
This is a practice area and we got to see this horse rearing up.
Mom and horse girl, waiting for the first rider to come through this jump.

The spectators were able to get right next to the course, giving us great photo opportunities.

Take a look at the amount of people watching just this jump. This was typical for all of the jumps. We were free to wander the course over the course of the day and watch the jumps in whatever order we felt like.
This horse decided he didn't want to take the jump at the last minute and almost threw his rider. The rider held on, circled around...
took the jump beautifully. The crowd cheered!
Us, at the end of a very long day. Horse girl managed to spend close to $100 at the Breyer store of her own money. She had been saving up for months and was able to purchase Secretariat, a mare and foal, and a Cavaletti (a type of training jump).

The World Equestrian Games were started in 1990 and are held every four years. This was the first time they were held outside of Europe.

Christmas musings

Christmas is quickly approaching and I do not feel like I am as prepared as I want to be. I always set such high goals for myself and desire to enter the season with a well-laid plan. I sat down in mid-November and wrote down a list of events, people to give gifts to, and cookies to bake. My goal is to have a simple, relaxed December, without all the hustle and bustle that make the month dreadful.

We are planning to attend the Nutcracker ballet and drive around to look at Christmas lights. My sister, daughter and I have plans to make several different kinds of cookies, including peanut butter fudge. I am including a couple of recipes that I don't normally do, but they were my mom's favorites. It will be like having her here with us.

I was able to purchase the bulk of dd's presents this summer while she was at her grandparents house. The only things I still need are stocking stuffers, but I don't want to fill her stocking with meaningless nothings. She has requested knee-high socks in funky designs, so that is one idea.

Ds is another story all together. He does not have any clear interests besides playing the guitar and video games. With his attention span being so short, I hate to spend money on something that will be tossed to the side within a short amount of time.

Husband and I are not doing gifts this year as we just spent a good deal of money on our 15th anniversary. We spent the weekend at the Inn at Middleton Place and just enjoyed being alone for 2 whole days. I think I might get him something small, but I want it to be something he will truly enjoy.

My sister will be here for Christmas week and I am so excited. This will be a hard Christmas for us as it will be our first without our mom. Mom passed away in January which means we are also coming up on the one-year mark. I think of her frequently and am brought to tears when I think of all the things in my life and her grandchildren's lives she is not going to be here for.