County Fair

Miss Brett had a wonderful first 4-H fair.  She sewed a pillow mat, baked cookies, and created designer water balloon flip flops.  She received purple and blue ribbons in the 4-H building.

Miss Tilly accompanied Brett to the fair, her suite was decorated with zebra adornments.  Together they won Reserve Champion Pony at the 2012 DC Fair, second in showmanship, and won a halter in the junior barrel class.  The six hour horse show was a learning experience for us all! 

Miss Brett and her friends watched the older showman.  These little ladies did a great job.

Claudine was part of the Bottle Calf Bus.  (Bottle Calf Bus= a route around the neighborhood picking up bottle calves to go to the fair)  She and Halfpint won her age division but could not pull off the Grand Prize.  Grandma Suzy also participated this year at the fair in the Celebrity Steer Show, placing second.  We camped with 62 other campers at the fair, 6 Ditch Divas, and truly missed the Missouri Ladybug.  A wonderful time had by all at the successful 2012 DC Fair!  

July 4th

 We always have a very busy 4th of July, but this year we added to our craziness.  The girls have wanted to "ride" in the parade for a few years, and this year they were asked to carry a flag.  So we washed and prettied our ponies, sewed a trick rider outfit (the one standing on her pony), and added some bling to the girls' hair for the parade.  Later that week, the "trick rider" also got a few pointers for a real trick rider.  The suicide drag is now her favorite trick, but Boss is not quite sure about it.  She will continue to entertain all our friends and neighbors at home with her trick riding.

She goes from trick ponies to sheep.  Halfpint won the 8 year old Muttin Bustin and received this big ol' trophy.  We are very proud of her accomplishments last week.  I am sure a humbling experience is just around the corner.

8

Halfpint celebrated her 8th birthday last night with her family.  We enjoyed swimming in the pond, sprinklers (sparklers) with her cousins, eating homemade ice cream and a delicious UGLY cake with a firecracker candle.  Great fun, good food, wonderful time with wonderful people!  Happy 8th Birthday Halfpint!

Trick Rider

Halfpint has decided to try some trick riding from her pony saddle.  She is "only in the practice at home stage", but she loves to try new things.  She can stand in her redneck, rope, trick rider saddle for 20 steps.  She flips off the saddle, spin in the saddle, and she made up her own dance moves in the saddle.  Maybe she will even get some professional training one of these days... just for safety!

Sunday afternoon...

Sunday afternoon, this was my view.  Shelling peas, from our garden, while the girls played in the pond.  I shelled for a few hours, they swam, jumped off the bridge, and played with cousins... perfect Sunday afternoon! 

The peas and potatoes we eat for supper were perfect also!  Well worth my time of planting, picking, and shelling.

Ponies

We recently had an FBFR meeting and the kiddos saddles up their ponies and hit the trail.  I would have liked to be a fly on one of the rumps to hear the conversations on their ride.  Silliness, giggles, and independence buzzed in the air... what fun!  As always, we enjoyed the company at the meeting and truly love being part of this awesome group.

Piano Lessons

The girls started piano lessons today. Halfpint has been wanting to learn to play for about a year now.  Some of Penelope's friend play so she wants to learn also.  So we will try this new adventure for the next month, practicing on Grandma Chuck's piano.