Brookes Horse Show

Today Brooke showed Willow for the first time. It was also the first time Brooke has shown english or jumped at a horse show. She did amazing! The day started off not so good as Willow was not happy being there without her friends. She hollered alot and was not very still for the first classes. She also missed one of her classes because they didn't run the classes in order but the last class made the day. She signed up for a walk trot jumping class. At most shows it is just poles on the ground that they step over and usually just 2 of them. Three minutes before the class we found out that she had to do 6 real jumps! She was really scared. Earlier in the day while practicing over 2 jumps out back she fell off so doing 6 was very scary for her. She did such a good job that you would never know that she had never jumped like that before. It made the whole day worth while! She is so proud of herself that she is ready to do it again! I have video if I can figure out how to download it, you will be able to see!

Brave Little Girl

Today we went to the barn to play and I found a dead squirrel in the water tub! Anyone that knows me knows I don't like rodents and dead ones I really don't like! They die with their eyes open and they look like they are staring at you. Anyway I ran from the bucket and Ashlyn runs to it. She stuck a stick in there and was poking it. I told her to leave it alone and she said she was getting it out. Thats when I gave her the poop fork and she scooped it out and threw it out for me! She acted like it was no big deal! I normally wait till Tony gets home to take care of the dead but now I have Ashlyn to do it.

New Start!

I have decided that with the new year I am making a new start and I registered today with Daytona State College! I am so nervous but excited about my decision. I got very overwhelmed today because I did the whole process in one day but it is done. I start January 18th. I did my pre test to see what I don't know and I surprised myself that I am not as dumb as I thought I was. I passed the reading and writing but failed the math. That was not a surprise about the math but the rest was. I was able to start off with college english but I have to do college prep classes for math. I couldn't even do 5th grade math. I am not smarter than a 5th grader!!!! My english is online but my math is at the school. I am doing it at night so I can be with the kids during the day. Math is 2 days a week and I am guessing my english online I can do anytime. I have to get more info on that. Anyway, I am very scared! I have been out of school for 13 years but I am hoping this will be a good thing for me. Brooke said she can teach me so she will be my tutor. Pretty bad that my 10 year old has to help me get through college! I really pray that I can do this!

Gabby Goat

Ashlyn finally got to play with Gabby yesterday! Lily didn't like Gabby so Tony had to build a new pen while Gabby stayed at Nicole's with her goats. Ashlyn has been so sick that she actually forgot she got a goat for her birthday. Tony went and got her yesterday morning and the girls played for half the day with them. Gabby likes to chew on everything so she was always trying to eat Ashlyn's clothes. Brooke is teaching Lily to jump so Ashlyn had Gabby jumping too. After a while Gabby was tired and took Ashlyns chair from her to rest in. They had a good time! When it is time for Gabby to go to her pen she screams her head off so I am hoping that will go away after a while. I hope!

Disney Quest

Yesterday we went to spend the day at Disney Quest! Candy gave us 6 tickets so we took our friends Jen and Ryan and their son Tyler. We all had a blast! It is a 5 story arcade with alot of simulators and interactive games. We had to do the jungle cruise 2 times because that was Ashlyns favorite. You sit in front of a screen in a boat and the boat moves around like you are in the rapids. She liked the water that they spit out on you! Brooke had fun because Tyler is her age and could play the games Ashlyn couldn't. We all played like we were kids again! It was alot of fun.

Afterward we walked around downtown Disney and then went to Golden Corral to eat dinner. It was a nice day out after having to be confined to the house for 2 weeks with Ashlyns sickness!

Ashlyn's Birthday

Well this is Ashlyns big surprise gift. A goat! Her name is Gabby. John, Kim, Nicole and Billy got it for her. Ashlyn loves it and it made my night a nightmare. Lily hates her and decided she didn't want to share her pen with the goat. So the goat spent the night in the chicken pen, screamed all night and kept me up. The next day she went to Nicoles to stay till Tony can build a new pen! All so my children can be happy. So the birthday went good. Ashlyn had Brennon to play with so that made her day.

Ashlyn got a bad cold over the weekend and had to go to urgent care. She was diagnosed with an ear infection. Her fever was at 102 most of the weekend. She still is out of school because of a fever so I hope she gets better soon. Her surgery has been cancelled due to the fact that she is sick and can't be put under that way. It is now scheduled for Jan. 13.

countdown to madness!

We are getting ready for the very busy December. As most of you know Ashlyns birthday is the 25th and it is very difficult but I don't ever let her know that! For the past week I have been going over what Christmas is really about. To her, when she wakes up in the morning on Christmas day she doesn't say "It's Christmas!". She says " It's my birthday!". So it has been very difficult. I tell her we have christmas to celebrate Jesus because it is his birthday and she says "yea and to celebrate my birthday!" I say to her yes your birthday is on christmas but that is not why we celebrate christmas. Poor thing just doesn't understand!

We always try to celebrate her birthday a week early but this year it will have to be even earlier. We are doing it on the 12th because she is scheduled to have surgery on her mouth the 15th. I am not looking forward to it at all! I hope all will be well by christmas day.

Hopefully we will have a nice painfree christmas! This year we are doing things a little different. Since I have enough trouble trying to express the true meaning of christmas we have decided not to do Santa this year. We have not told her there is not a santa but we are not promoting him either! We really haven't talked about santa and she hasn't either. I really don't think it will matter because she is all about her birthday that day. We will see how it goes! Come back next week for the party update! Ashlyn is getting a very special surprise gift that you don't want to miss!