Mastermind

Probably Cara's favorite game to play right now. The other day I was all set up on this end and she was trying to guess my pattern. She put down her first guess and I tried to let her know which ones were the right colors but had to move to a different spot. Instead of concentrating on what I was saying she tried to peek over the guard to get herself situated.

"Cara, you can't do that," I told her, "that's cheating and it's not right." She kind of grinned and sighed and went on to plot out her second guess. Again, she tried to check her guess against my pattern, not actually thinking about the cheating but probably more likely just thinking it was easier for her to picture it if she just saw what she was doing wrong as opposed to me trying to describe it to her :)

I explained once more that she wasn't allowed to look, it took away the fun of the guessing. So she sighed again and said with a very straight face and VERY twinkling eyes, "Mama, can I be on your team for a minute?"

Leah's Special Day

Sharing Leah's special day for those of you who are curious about her vaulting that she loves so very much.

Today was a non-official show with most of the other members of the Cheam Vaulting Club she's part of in the arena she usually practices in. Mostly just a practice run for the shows that will start coming up soon.

I will try to outline the moves she does in her freestyle a little bit. Again, a freestyle is a combo of moves the vaulter puts together him/herself (or with coaches help when they're a bit younger) but when being marked in a show the flow/creativity etc is also given marks. These are some of Leah's favorites of the new things she's been learning since January.

This commentary is strictly a compilation of my uneducated guesses. I very may well be calling things by the wrong name etc. If Leah gets to read this I'm sure she will have corrections for me. (I have been roped into learning to lunge the horse (standing in the middle) and so I have spent significantly less time watching Leah.)

• Not a "regular" mount to riding seat, instead she mounts backwards onto the neck and goes directly into a flag...first guess but I think that's what it is. Looks different on the neck than on the back!
• Goes into a shoulder stand... the girl has ABS!
• A roll down... more abs to keep that controlled.
• Flips over across the back. No idea if it has a special name but it's a bit tricky. Too far ahead and you nose dive into the sand, too far back and you slide off - not as scary but still a pain to have to remount.
• Next is an arabesque. Always looks beautiful in my beholding eyes.
• Next move is a move Leah created on her own. It started when she would sit on her chair at the table with her hands between her legs and then lift herself off the chair. Then she started practicing getting her legs straight. Then she started doing it on the table or anywhere else she could manuever herself. Try it on a chair yourself. It's crazy. But do it suspended over one handle (off to one side of the horse) while doing fancy leg bends is pretty special. It's taken her a long time to build up enough strength to hold herself there and really I think it was sheer will power + the knowledge of being watched that allowed her to hold it as long as she did today. I've never seen her do it so well. That horse is MOVING, the handles are going up and down and the sheer muscles needed blow my wimpy mind away. By the way, this is a move that a bigger vaulter will probably never do. It would be much too difficult on the horse because it's so off balance to the one side. At least, I think that's the truth.
• Swinging her legs together from the one side to the other is another one that takes major abs. I've seen her do it beautifully on a barrel (stationary!) but again I've never seen her do it so well up there on the horse. The idea would be to get her legs perfectly together and perfectly straight and maybe eventually more height?
• The angle of the video doesn't do this next move much justice. But if you've done gymnastics at school you might remember doing the bridge? Leah is doing a partial bridge. She really is arched backwards quite prettily in real life.
• She's been doing a stand for quite a while but this time she is standing up on top of the surcingle (the belt around the horse's belly which has the handles attached to it). I'm not sure why it's so difficult. I suppose if you're used to the "huge" expanse of a horse's back the surcingle doesn't allow you to place your whole foot on it, it probably moves much different than the movements on the horses back (much stiffer I would guess) but whatever the difference is, it's another move Leah's just conquered in the last couple of weeks. Not that you would know, she was quite confident.
• She goes into a push up, makes one leg fancy and then...
• finishes off with a beautifully executed (and videoed!) roll down. A tricky move for learning when to let go so that you don't get tangled or do a face plant.

Thank you if you've stuck it out to read through all that. I don't mean to brag so I'm very sorry if it comes across that way. I just wanted to point out some of the things that make it so much harder than it looks. She's worked hard and she did a great job. And sometimes it's good for her to know her Mom (and Dad too) think so!

ps. I just looked at it on the post and I realize because I am so technicall UNsavvy I made the video much smaller in size so it would upload but maybe now it's too hard to actually see what's happening? Sorry!

Hurrah!

For those of you who knew I one a prize from Fabricland... here it is!
For those of you who didn't know I won a prize from Fabricland, well now you do. It was prize #3 of the quilting prizes. And besides all the neat and wonderful things you see on the table, I also won a gift certificate of a whopping $100.

I didn't scream but I did let them know I was very delighted and grateful - I hugged a near perfect stranger :) (Well I do see the lady every time I go in the store)

But don't hold your breath waiting to see me come up with a quilt - I have more than enough hobbies! Most of the stuff I can't use is already promised to a loving friend. But that stain remover they sent my way - those 2 bottles on the right? It's already proven to be quite a delightful prize!

I can't figure out how to copy pictures from the web onto here. If I could I would have copied a picture of a tomb with a round door rolled away from the entrance.


Low in the grave He lay—
Jesus my Savior!
Waiting the coming day—
Jesus my Lord!

Up from the grave He arose,
With a mighty triumph o'er His foes
He arose a Victor from the dark domain,
And He lives forever with His saints to reign.
He arose! He arose!
Hallelujah! Christ arose!

Vainly they watch His bed—
Jesus, my Savior!
Vainly they seal the dead—
Jesus my Lord!

Up from the grave He arose,
With a mighty triumph o'er His foes
He arose a Victor from the dark domain,
And He lives forever with His saints to reign.
He arose! He arose!
Hallelujah! Christ arose!

Death cannot keep his prey—
Jesus, my Savior!
He tore the bars away—
Jesus my Lord!

Up from the grave He arose,
With a mighty triumph o'er His foes
He arose a Victor from the dark domain,
And He lives forever with His saints to reign.
He arose! He arose!
Hallelujah! Christ arose!

Wishing you a blessed Easter.

a super fun and beautiful afternoon at the river

with some uncles and aunts, cousins, a ranger, 2 quads and friends (and a few thousand others!)
We started out clean and smiling!

The woods appeared so serene....

or not! Sam wasn't too impressed at first when it felt like he and I were about to get dumped over Uncle Brian and right into the muddy puddle but once Uncle Brian had winched himself out he changed his tune and started saying how he couldn't wait to tell everybody about "sinking that ship!!"

whipping along at the rivers edge. Sometimes a little less edge than actual river :)

Fab cousins! Thanks to Courtney for bringing that machine along, it made a whole bunch of people, little and small, filthy dirty and very smiley!

These girls were out to show that girls aren't scared of getting dirty. They were literally dripping with muddy water. Leah's hair was so matted and filthy she actually looked mostly gray by the end!

A little consultation... or maybe Sam's checking to make sure Uncle Brian isn't intending to hit any puddles big enough to sink away in? ;)

If there's room on the seat, fill it. And if there's not, stack 'em up!! Look at Auntie Leanne's face! Is it any wonder Leah went to bed claiming Auntie Leanne gave the BEST rides of anyone?

That helmut was great! I wonder if Cam can actually see over the mouth piece?

This girl surprised me with her ready enthusiasm and adventurous spirit! She came back so wet, so dirty and so delighted! (but she still won't let me take pictures of her with cooperation :) )

Thanks to everyone for another special, memory making afternoon. It sure set the bar high for things to do on a sunny Saturday!

all in an afternoon

It's been a thought in the back of my head for a long time and I finally made it happen this afternoon.
The few spots remaining are peeling paint not crud and they don't bother me enough to push me to go out and buy the paint.

These are the kinds of things that always leave me thinking, "now why didn't I do that sooner!?"

Consider this your gentle nudge to go out and get that small task done that you've been putting off. If you're like me at all, the startling difference a little elbow grease makes is well worth the time spent. You're very welcome for the encouragement! :)

should have got this up a long time ago!

There's more to her life than vaulting... :)

She was delighted to be able to plait her own hair in two beautiful braids. In the last couple of months I've been noticing how long her hair is getting, maybe there will be another major haircut sometime?

There might be more than vaulting but the love of horses is still pretty strong. Thanks to the fact Nana Lynn's horses were drowning at her house, they got moved over to Mom and Dad's front field. There were many special spring break moments as Lynn coached Leah in horse back riding basics.

Enough so that she could take the field and ride on her own.

Such a happy, delighted girl!