Video of the Week (Week 41)

Here are two short videos from Ava's latest lesson...she's coming along well for riding less than a year!





Untitled from Chanda Schuh on Vimeo.






Ava Lesson from Chanda Schuh on Vimeo.

Until next time...

Project 365 - Days 291-297

Just plugging along here...we're getting back into our routines now that Ava is better and back in school.  I am about 2/3 of the way through my "21 Day Challenge" and I'm doing okay.  The good part is I'm keeping up with my exercise and working with the horses.  The not-so-good part is, I'm not doing as great with my eating and I haven't touched my paperwork once!  Trying to fit all those things in each day has also eaten into my blogging time.  But I still have 9 days left to make a dent (in my paperwork, eating & blogging) so I'm going for it!

Day 291/365 - October 17

Not sure what this is or is called, but we arrived home from church and this amazing circular rainbow was around the sun.  It was so large I couldn't fit it all in the lens but you get the idea...

Day 292/365 - October 18

This sweet girl showed up at the house.  Some day, when we're ready to get another dog, we will most likely get a Great Pyrenees (such as this dog).  She was quite sweet and when I asked her to sit, she laid down and rolled over submissively ;-)

Day 293/365 - October 19

This was a little dinner party I came across that Amelia set up.  I love finding things like this - it's like a snapshot of her mind.  I think she has some of her most favorite people at the table.  There is Dora, her number 1 heroine, Boots, a baby (this girl is baby-crazy), a big sister (Ava) and perhaps that is supposed to be me in the ponytail - who knows?  It was just pretty amusing to come across this little scene.

Day 294/365 - October 20

Ava had her first lesson since starting school.  She is progressing so well and Tinkerbell is such a good pony for Ava!  She maintains her gaits and listens to Ava so well - they have really become a good match, I think!

Day 295/365 - October 21

This is one of my favorite trees on our property (even though it is where I discovered a 5-foot long bull snake the circumference of Jason's upper arm the first month we lived here).  It is so perfectly shaped and proportioned and in the fall - oh, *sigh*- in the fall we get these beautiful plumy red leaves from it.  Gorgeous!

Day 296/365 - October 22

Here is our little cheerleader again.  She missed the performance at the homecoming game and the big pep rally the week before because she was sick.  But she made it for the last pep rally of the season and went wearing her beloved cheerleading uniform! 

Day 297/365 - October 23

On a whim, we decided to make Apple Cake.  It sure looked good in the picture and since it was cool and rainy outside, it seemed like a great day to try it.  Sure, I had to go back to the grocery store twice because I don't keep weird items stocked like vegetable oil, sugar and orange juice.  Yes, they may be staples in some homes but not ours!  Anyway, Ava really wanted to help so I put her to work peeling apples.  She did a great job for never having used a peeler before!  

Until next time!

Sunday Snapshot - Jack O Lanterns!

I have found over the years that as certain holidays approach, I will have these visions of incorporating certain 'traditional' activities with the girls.  Like trimming the tree, Easter egg hunt in the back yard, helping to prepare the Thanksgiving meal, going to the pumpkin patch to pick pumpkins, etc.  In these visions of mine, they are perfectly coifed and dressed.  We conduct these activities with lots of time and lots of pictures are taken.  


Then reality sets in and I find if I want to meet those parameters, it doesn't end up happening at all!  So, I've learned to not plan it out too much and when the opportunity presents itself, just go with the flow and do it anyway!  


Enter the Halloween jack o lantern.  We were supposed to go a pumpkin patch with friends a few weeks ago but Ava was sick.  Then we decided to just go to a cute local farmer's market of sorts and pick the pumpkins from there.  But Jason forgot to take the turn on the way home from church and we were miles past it when we remembered.  Ava had pumpkins on the brain though and really wanted to get them THAT day.  So, we ended up at the grocery store.  Not exactly the picture taking opportunity of picking out pumpkins off the floor from where they were sitting under the produce coolers.  


But, we still had the carving of the pumpkins to catch on film at least!  And for that I could get them set up on the back patio (good setting) and put them in some fun Halloween clothes (great dressing) and go to town.  We got home with our pumpkins and I went up the barn to feed the horses.  When I came back down the pumpkin carving had begun with Dad on the small landing out the back door (lots of hard concrete and big air conditioners in the way) and the girls were in their play clothes (except for Amelia who chose her pajamas to change into!) with crazy hair and bows askew.  *sigh*  Oh well.  Just go with it, right!?  The girls had a blast anyway...

 

One of Ava's favorite parts is hollowing out the pumpkin!

Amelia is trying figure out exactly what IS inside this thing anyway?  Oh well, better start taking out the guts!

Ava decided to design her own face and drew it on the front with a crayon (can you see the scrawl on the front?).  Then Jason cuts out what she has drawn for her original creation!  Amelia on the other hand, chose a template out of a book we had.  While Ava made a big deal of trying to make her's 'scary', Amelia did NOT want a scary pumpkin and chose a non-scary bat.  She kept saying that her's was a 'happy pumpkin'!  And that "the bat NOT scawy".  I think she was trying to convince herself ;-)

And here are the finished products!

So maybe not the most picture-perfect pictures, but it was a memory made and the girls had a lot of fun!

For more Sunday Snapshot, stop in at Ni Hao Y'all!

Until next time...