Horse Back Riding Realtor

Saturday, September 10, 2016

 Last summer, Karl and Emmaline had their first horseback riding experiences. We had an amazing realtor, Dave Siegers, who had offered for us to come horseback riding at his home, and we took him up on that.

He had maybe about six horses. He helped Jared get up on a smaller saddle and ride one of the milder horses that was used to his grand-kids riding it. Dave held on the reins, but Jared held on his saddle and rode all by himself. He was pretty thrilled with the experience of it. 

Next I got to ride a horse myself and practice riding around a bit and how to work the reins.

When we were ready, Dave took us on a loop around his property. Emmaline was strapped to Ryan in the baby carrier. Karl sat in front of me and Jared rode alone, with Dave pulling his reins and leading the way for all of us. We had a really great time, and it was awesome of Dave to go through all the work and take time from his day to let us do this. He was so friendly and gracious the whole time, and said we could come back again if we wanted to. The names of the horses we rode were Sunny, Kiwi, and Bell. But, Karl seemed more interested with just getting to play with Dave's dog, Daisy, and throw toys for her to fetch.

It was memorable family experience and hopefully we can get out to do it again someday. :-)

Drive home and Meijer's Sandy horse videos: https://goo.gl/photos/oM9WrZTSKu8wndXy9

Later, that same day, we went to Meijer, where they have Sandy, the penny horse. We usually just let the boys ride Sandy and Emmaline stays in the cart. Karl and I like to say "Yeha!" and "Giddy-up!" But, when I try to do that with Jared he politely says, "Mommy, can you please stop?" I guess he likes to ride quietly and have fun in his own way. :-) This time, when we went, as Emmaline was watching them she became very enthusiastic about it and looked like she wanted a turn. I think she was remembering her real horse back ride from earlier and was anxious to go for another ride. So, I let her have a turn and she loved it! Ever since then we also let Emmaline have Sandy rides when we're there.

Labor Day Visit

September 2-5, 2016

We had a fun Labor Day weekend visit from Eric, Becky, and their kids. During their visit some of the things we did were tour Ryan's work, play at the beach, celebrate Eric’s birthday, look around downtown, make perler creations, paint, watch Angry Birds, and play some xbox games.

 

It was a beautiful day when we went to the beach. The water was a bit chilly though. But, the boys had plenty of fun just playing in the sand. A few people got buried or buried themselves. Eric and Thomas ended up being brave enough to run out into the water.

Jared and Karl had been pretty into perler beads, so we had this idea to make some creations to send to the grandparents for Grandparent’s Day this year, and have Thomas, Sup, and Olivia make some too if they wanted to. Thomas and Sup really got into it and made some neat things. Olivia gave it a try and played with the beads for a bit with us at the table.

At my request, Thomas, Sup, and Olivia each did a small canvased painting for me to add to our collection of original family paintings for our basement family room décor. I really liked what they came up with!

For Eric’s birthday, he said we could make a pie, instead of a cake. Ryan came up with the concept of a Chocolate-Orange-Cream Pie with banana slices on the bottom, and whipped cream and strawberry slices on top. Then I made it. We felt like it turned out pretty good, and called the recipe Birthday Pie.

 

The weekend came to a close too quickly, but we were so glad to have the time we did having fun playing with our niece and nephews, and visit with their parents more. We’re blessed to have such great family!

Emmaline's Progress

 Emmaline recently had another check-up, so I thought I would give her progress summary from this visit as well as the last two.

6m4w

First Independence Day
First camping and hiking trips: July 16-22, 2016
First tooth: July 24, 2016
First time crawling: August 15, 2016
First time sitting up in the bath by herself: August 30, 2016

Video of Emmaline making mouth noises, 7m: https://goo.gl/photos/hkuFKnzezM6H4ouK9

9 Months September 1, 2016

9m2w

10m

18 lb 8 oz

28 in
First horse back ride: September 10, 2016
First Halloween

First word: "Amen" November 2016

First Thanksgiving

11m3w

12 Months December 1, 2016

12m4w

13m4w; pretending to sleep with Karl

19 lb 8 oz

30 in

First Birthday

First step: January 9, 2017

First real baby-sitter: January 19, 2017

First day of walking multiple steps, often: January 19, 2017

First pig-tail: February 1, 2017

First Jane Austen book to have completely read aloud: "Lady Susan" February 2017

14m

15 Months March 1, 2017

16m

At this most recent doctor's check-up, Emmaline was really playing hard to get. She's become quite the feisty little one-year-old. She never lets her big brothers do something she doesn't want them to without putting up a fight. So, at the office it took the medical assistant a few tries to get Emmaline's leg straight to get her length. It was a little funny to see how easily Emmaline was overpowering everyone there. When the doctor first came in the room she ran to me and climbed on my lap and was pretty determined to not let him touch her. But, we managed to get through the exam, and she got her blood test and two shots. She cried of course. But once she was out of there and buckled in the car, she stopped crying and acted like it never happened. She babbled and played with boys the whole way home. This girl definitely has a spirit of her own.

 21 lb 4 oz

31.5 in

First toe-nail painting: April 10, 2017

 First time getting her own barbies to play with: April 10, 2017

This picture above shows her doing one of her daily pass-times. She likes to get out jars, cups, and utensils, and pretend she's stirring and eating. Emmaline also nearly always has one of her blankets with her and sometimes a stuffed animal; her favorites are puppies.

16m

Treats and Sweets

These are some of the treats we had fun making over the course of a few months last year. :-)

  July 29, 2016 - Turtle Cheesecake

 June 19, 2016 - Strawberry Cream-cheese Pie

May 9, 2016 - Orange Chocolate Pecan Pie

The flavors of this pie make it a perfect Christmas pie.

August 31, 2016 - Monkey Munch
 
This Monkey Munch is basically the same as Puppy Chow with rice squares, but instead it used Honey Comb cereal. It a new and fun difference to a family favorite treat.
These next two are great summer treats!

August 2, 2016 - Jello Melon

 August 9, 2016 - Frozen Orange Cream Pie

 September 24, 2016 - Sugar Cookie Michigans and Zombies

 When we got these Michigan cookie cutters from Eric and Becky, the boys couldn't wait to try them. When we did, they loved having Michigan-shaped cookies to eat!

 August 17, 2016 - Tiramisu

 I made this Tiramisu using slightly concentrated, freshly made, hot chocolate, rather than brewed coffee. I think next time I make this I may concentrate the hot chocolate even a bit more, but it was good. We found that the texture of the lady fingers got better and better on the second and third days, rather than the day it was made, after having sit for only a few hours.

June 23, 2016 - Peanut Butter Fudge

Karl's almost always there to help me in the kitchen and enjoys getting his hands messy with food, but he particularly enjoyed making this treat with me. We had to unwrap almost a whole bag full of reese's cups and I was surprised with what a good job he did unwrapping quite a few of them for me. After putting the reese's in, I made the fudge and poured it over top.