Cookie Baking

Yum! Oma is visiting for the holidays and made today cookie day!  Lots of little fingers put lots of sugar on lots of cookies--cheery and bright!

Opa played cards with the older boys teaching a new game.

Fun memories in the baking and making!

Parelli Level 1

This past week, we had a different kind of celebration! Because the lack of snow here in NH...we've been able to continue our horse program.

At our last lesson, the kids were tested and are able to complete all tasks in level 1 of our Natural Horsemanship program. It was exciting news!

Our Christmas Celebrations

Merry Christmas!  Today was a beautiful time of celebration and family time...a slow day...a good thing.

Michaela joined us after work this morning. We read from Luke, opened our gifts, and ate lots of yummy food.

The kids have spent their day building, playing games, reading and the older ones went to see their first movie in a long time--The Hobbit.

We are very grateful for this day. 

Happy Birthday Jesus!

My Hearty Kids

Today was cold...not as cold as our last lesson but still cold.

They were out there in the cold with their horses...brrr...what troopers they are!  They made some big strides today...I did the driving and they did EVERYTHING else!

So proud of them at their Parelli Play Day!

Turkey Day and Then Some

Our plans to visit family were delayed because of this...

A great big snow storm...heavy snow that came Wednesday and brought with it downed trees and power lines. We lost our power around 9 pm and had it back around 3 am. The snow stopped around them and we cleared the driveway and the barn area and hopped in the car.  On the way we picked up Jess and her friend Thanksgiving--a 42 pound turkey that was donated very graciously by friends of hers. And no...that is not a typo.

We met the our family at Cracker Barrell after 8+ hours in the road and had a delicious meal. We then headed back to my folks place for dessert.

Another exciting thing, we delivered a new puppy to my folks. Her name was Emily and she is a puppy of our dog Ellie who had been recently surrendered in Connecticut.  They were excited to meet her.

Emily looks so much like our Ellie. They are very much a like in their nature and it was fun to compare them.

Oh Saturday, we got together again at the Lowmans to celebrate. This is where Jess's friend, Thanksgiving, came into play... He cooked all night the night before and was tender and delicious. He was huge ...we had lots of meat for the crowd.

We traveled home on Sunday...as we drive north...despite many detours because of traffic--it was stunningly beautiful.  It was so good to be back home!

Eastern States Equine Affair

Last Friday, we headed to Springfield, MA  to the Big E to see Pat Parelli in action. He is the man who made natural horsemanship come alive for the average horse owner. He took all he learned through the natural horse greats and developed an incremental learning program.  Here he is working with an eleven year old girl and her pony to help her find the breaks in her pony. He approaches it a totally different way...that is why he is so good at what he does!

It was amazing at what he accomplished for his young girl and her pony in a short while with just simply repeating a few simple tasks till the pony got it.

A good read for a horse to know they are processing something is to give gem a break after a task and see if they lick their lips.  Sure thing every time!

We tracked him down at his booth when we were all finished to meet the man ourselves.  It was an awesome and inspiring day!

Adoption Celebration

Yesterday we ventured to State House for their annual Adoption Celebration in honor of November being National Adoption Month.  It was good to see the many faces that we know and have been on the same journey as well as new families who have stepped up to love kids in need.

We heard from the Govenor, the new director of DCYF, a ministry helping Foster kids out and a wonderful Foster mom speak about her journey.  It was cool to have Michaela join us too!  We then headed to Pizza Hut to celebrate with a pizza--yum!

        All of us on the steps of the state house in Concord.  Michaela took the picture.