We survived Thanksgiving, now it is time to get back to the grindstone for 3 more weeks, then it will be Christmas Break, Yesterday Bill and the boys took off the shooting range, Aiden is quite the marksman, he had to bring his target he shot home and put it up on the wall, this is something Bill, Dalton and Aidn all like to do and I think it will keep them busy this winter while Motocross is on break. The girls and I went to Indy to go to Wine and Canvas to paint pictures, their works or art turned out beautiful they are now hanging on my bedroom wall. Then we went shopping at the Keystone mall with some friends, it was a blast to get out with friends. I have been doing quite of bit of trail riding with the girls and 2 days ago we went out on a Advanced ride , it was a total blast, we took the horses up hills that were very steep with trees fallen down that the horses had to jump over, also we trotted the whole time as well as some pretty deep water crossing, I am not gonna lie, even though I have been riding alot I woke up extremely sore the next day. So sore that no amount of Tylenol and Ibuprofen would work, so I did the next best thing........yep you guessed it CUPCAKES lol, it works everytime. Not the best treatment for someone with Diabetes but sometimes you just gotta go with it. The kids are having fun putting up the tree, I told them to decorate it however they wanted, so they get all the ornaments on and then come ask me if they were supposed to put the garland on before or after the ornaments...........OOPS!!! guess I should have told them that first. LOL Hope everybody has a wonderful Christmas

Responsibility

So I have been battling insomnia and this have given me time to research homeschool companies, today I took off for Lafayette to view Abeka's program, we really like the program and are hoping to use them for all the kids next year it will be nice to have all the kids using the same programs. Also we had some more pictures taken of the girls and their horses and the boys and their dirt bikes, while taking photos it actually started snowing, sooo not ready for that. The kids have been working on saving their money for various things, I have been teaching them responsibility by requiring them to help pay for their hobbies, with Dalton he is saving for a trip to Monster Mountain this winter to help with his training. And the girls paid for their drainage system so hopefully the pasture will dry out and the horses wont have to traspe through mud all the time, now if we could get a little dry weather to finish it. Also with the remainder or any more they make they are either going to purchase new blankets for the horses or buy Avery a new saddle which she needs desperately, we had to resort to duct tape on her old one LOL. Mckenzie will have a week off next week and I can not wait, we miss her terribly. It will sooo nice to have her home, she is bringing a friend home Friday, Emily is her roommate and a great friend to her, she has brought Kenzie out of her shell, which is a blessing, Kenzie doesnt usually go out or do much (not that I am complaining) but a teenager needs to have fun!!! And her and Emily def. do that. And its good clean fun even better. I am going in for a surgical procedure next week, I pray they can figure this stomach issue out, tired of the pain. Here are some of the pictures taken , none of Kenzie this time as she absolutely hates her pic taken.

Drainage system

so the girls finally raised enough money to put the drainage system in and today is the day that the boys are putting it in, Bill brought the backhoe home today to dig the trench and Aiden wanted to give it a try, so Bill let him, well it only took Aiden by himself about 2 minutes to figure it out and he has been digging ever since, Aiden I would have to say is not your average 7 year old, he is so mechanically inclined, he always figures stuff like this out without instruction, he never ceases to amaze me, he and Dalton and like 2 peas in a pod, although they struggle with reading they difiintely make up for it with common sense and mechanical abilities....these boys are gonna make someone wonderful spouses someday, yesterday Aiden and I made puppy chow for a cooking homeschool adventure and today the excavating with Bill is another homeschooling learning adventure........who says school can not be fun??? Our mini pot belly pig is settling in quite well, she loves the cats, I cannot wait till Bill has time to build her a house so we dont have to worry about her getting cold or rained on, right now we have to keep her in a crate when not with us or in the fence. In the last week I took the girls trail riding twice, it was a blast, I dont usually get to ride, but when we go to crooked creek they always loan me one of their horses, I got to canter and I havent done that since I was young, it was a blast i cant wait to do it again, makes me feel like a kid again!!