Grade 4

Faith started Grade 4 this week. (Grade 4!!!!) None of us were sure how it would go. Faith found out on the weekend that her best friend wouldn't be in her class, so she was pretty bummed and nervous about her first day. It didn't bode well.

But, when I picked her up at our sitter, Karen's, Faith was walking about 5 feet off the ground. Karen said she talked the whole way home, and I don't think she'd stopped by the time I picked her up. "My teacher was really FUN and my class is right next to L's and the classes do lots of things together and we've got two field trips already and we're going to the ZOO! and we've got a spelling test on Tuesday and ...." So far, grade 4 is looking like it will be a pretty good year.

Another weekend, another horse show

You may be detecting a theme this summer, and that theme would be horse shows. We've done three! This last one was at my hometown fair, so it was a great chance to see our families and see Faith, my dad, and Sydney show off their horse skills. George's parents even came up from Florida for the event. So, it was a mini family reunion.

First up for Faith was the carriage driving class. She drove Indigo, Sydney's horse, and for those horse lovers out there, they drove bitless -- no  metal piece in the horse's mouth. For this class, it's mandatory to have an adult with the kid, so Sydney is sitting next to her, holding the whip. As Faith explained, "That thing's too heavy for me." Faith's hands aren't big enough to hold the reins and the whip at the same time. But this year, at least, her feet can touch the floor of the carriage. She ended up with a second in the class, partly because she wasn't holding her own whip! (I could insert some sort of stage mother comment here, but I'll let the exclamation point speak for itself.) She did a great job!



Next up was the costume class. Thanks to the dollar store, we had lots of skulls, pirate hats, etc. to decorate Faith and Indigo, who was a very good sport about the whole thing.



Then it was Blake's turn -- stick pony race time! Note the pirate look. He was devastated when Indigo took his pirate hat, so he spent the previous 15 minutes crying (note the runny makeup). He snapped out of it as soon as he got his hat back, and wouldn't change out of it for the pony race. Just him and all the ladies.



He didn't win the race, but he gave it a good try. He should have won for fashion statement, at the very least. The spiderman face and pirate hat were priceless.



After a quick break, Faith rode Indigo in the next class. I know...she's on the lead line, which Faith finds particularly galling. ("I don't need a lead line!") But that's the only class she can ride in on Fridays, so lead line it was. Sydney had the honours again. And Faith finished third. Why? The judge told her she needed to be paying more attention. She was busy looking around at the great grandparents, her great aunt, her Nana, and Papa, her grampa, her dad, her brother...you get the idea. Basically, she was way too relaxed, which is kind of a good thing in my book. But, she was sitting up much straighter than at her first riding competition, which even the judge remarked on.



For her next class, Faith took the judge's comments to heart and actually paid attention! It was showmanship, and she got first prize because "I was the only one who knew my squares." (To which I replied, "What are squares?") From my meagre knowledge of horse showmanship (my years of dairy showmanship with 4-H doesn't translate), the class involves trotting the horse, walking the horse, and then standing it properly. The class was huge--about 10 kids--so Faith was pretty excited to get first. I think the skull and cross-bones on her cheek helped her along too.



Sydney and Indigo are both very good for Faith. Faith loves both of them and would happily spend every waking moment with horses and Sydney, so we really appreciate the time Sydney takes with her.

But of course, it wasn't just a show for Faith. My Dad had his two-year-old, Stormy, out again for carriage and showmanship classes. She was mighty pretty...Dad didn't look too bad either. But he's always so serious when he's driving.



And, of course, Sydney got her horse back to do her driving and showmanship classes, in which she won multiple prizes.





Not enough pictures for you? You can see the entire horse show/fair set on flickr.

Sunday Stills: Glass

This week's challenge was Glass, but the bigger challenge was actually finding time to take pictures of it, then get them processed. It was a long weekend, which included the fair and horse show, plus the first week of school. Busy. Busy. So I took some liberties interpreting this one.

This first one is taken on Friday morning, at about 7:00 am as I pulled into the Tim Horton's parking lot.  I grabbed my cellphone when I saw this guy parked there, obviously getting a coffee before work. I liked how the glass in the windows was dripping with morning dew, and the sheer amount of junk you could see collected through the bottom of the window.


Next one is from my cameraphone on the way out to dinner on Friday night with George. We drove over to the next city to meet a very nice couple of supper at a golf course. The clouds were amazing that night (even though I blew out the backgroud...it's a cameraphone, after all.)



And, to pull one from the archives, here's one of my favourites of the year, taken in April:

Sunday Stills: Shoes or Boots

This week's challenge, Shoes or Boots, was fun because I like taking pictures of feet. When I go on vacation, I always try to take a picture of my feet wherever I go...a self-portrait, if you will.

This week, I used the kids as models. The first two are Faith's "high heel" sandals, plus her dual-colored toenails. The second two are Blake's feet - one in his dad's cowboy boots and one in his crocs, playing in the sand at the stable.

Eager subjects

I've been taking a picture a day for 335 (!) days now, so I like to torture the kids into photo sessions on a fairly regular basis. Unfortunately, I don't usually get as much cooperation as I did today. Either that, or I'm getting better at herding them in front of the lens. I didn't even have to bribe them with candy on this one.

I was very happy with the results, especially after applying some secrets that Curtis taught us at a recent photo gang get together. :) The only negative was that Faith found out the hard way she has some sort of allergy to the grass she's sitting under in the first photo. She was playing in the leaves, and ended up with a rash on her arms. Suffering for my art...sorry sweetheart!

A very hot horse show

A couple of weeks ago, the kids spent the week at Grampa and Gramma's house. Faith's been doing this since she was three, but it was Blake's first time. (Our house was eerily quiet while they were gone.) The week culminated in a horse show where we reunited.

It was a 40 degree day in the hot sun, but the we all survived -- with ribbons! Faith competed in the lead line class, walk, trot class, costume class and the grandparent driving class. She did miss her driving class due to scheduling changes, which she was not happy about. The kid  has a competitive streak. Anyway, here are a series of pictures from the day.

Lead line class with Indigo (Sydney's mare -- and Sydney's hat)...



This was my Dad's first show with Stormy, and she's already peaked. She won a grand prize for best something or other (my brain was melting, so I can't quite remember).



Blake even got to compete in the "stick pony" class. We didn't know you had to bring our own pony though, so we had to do a little improvising. When you've got a great-grandma, a gramma, and a mom together, you can do anything. Great-grandma donated her cane, my mom found Blake's stuffed dinosaur in the car, and I whipped off my pony tail elastic to strap it to the top of the cane. Presto! Stick pony.



It was ingenuity, and Blake's innate ability, that won him the class. First prize and $5. He bought us all timbits afterwards. :)



Faith rode Indigo again in the walk, trot, class, which she won. I'm not sure who was happier, Faith or Sydney, who was excited  to see Indigo so well-behaved for Faith. (Notice, no bit either!)



And, here's Sydney in one of her classes. Indigo and Sydney both got a big workout that day.



It was a great day seeing the family (great-grands, great-aunt, parents, etc., etc.) and watching everyone compete. More photos.

Ice cream in sweaters

It was an odd week with the hubby gone on a business trip. We were crazy busy, as per normal, but with one less person around to share in the craziness. The kids were actually really good and didn't torture me too much in the mornings. This is normally George's domain, so I really have no idea what goes on after I leave the house at 6:30. But, both of them got up and dressed and breakfasted with relative ease. Kids know when not to push their luck I guess.

As a treat on Thursday, we had supper and then walked down to the ice cream place. Believe it or not, we had to wear sweaters as it was a relatively chilly evening for August. It did help when eating ice cream--everyone could eat it before it melted all over our hands. Even Blake came through relatively clean!  And, I've also figured out that he's outgrown most of his warm clothes. The sweatshirt he's wearing is about 2 inches short in the arms. A cold snap in August has to be good for two things: non-melty ice cream and a pre-school size check.