Horsing Around

Emaleigh's in love...

With the horses that is!

A few months ago we found this great ranch that offers kids the opportunity to learn about the care and keeping of horses.  The ranch is only available to her on Saturday's, since she is in school the other times it is open.  Therefore, she is going between 1 and  2 times per month.  She just loves it.  For her birthday, she got her own helmet, and now she is asked for a grooming kit.  We don't even own a horse and she wants all the things you need to take care of them.

What's next?  A ranch of our own??

A New Season

It has officially arrived.  I have been thinking about this day since the arrival of our daughter over 11 years ago.  The day when our children would venture off to the wilderness with their dad to go on the annual hunt!  It's Hunting Season!

I can't quite believe how fast it went.  It's not like I have been obsessing about the idea, but it has crossed the mind a time or four!

When the idea of Craig not being able to go this year because he would be alone came up at the dinner table one night, Caleb piped up and said I'll go.  He isn't old enough to hunt yet, but he was super excited to tag along for the ride!

And what a ride it was.  He had a great time and talked about his adventure for weeks on end.  In fact, it still comes when something jogs his memory.

 

Heritage Day

For Emaleigh's final project in her World Languages class she had to bring in food from her country of origin.  She had selected Germany since her Grandma Mann is German.  Her teacher told her should could not bring in German potato salad or German chocolate cake.  Uh, what's up with that?  Now we actually had to do some research to find out what was available.  So a surfing we did go--internet surfing that is!

After a few minutes we found a great recipe for soft pretzels.  Normally it calls for lye, but this recipe didn't and it only took about 45 minutes from start to finish!

We had a great time making them 

and eating them!

That Thingamajig looks like a Whatchamacallit!

Last night, the Mann family did one of those crazy things we do!

We had a taste test between the Whatchamacallit and the Thingamajig--both produced by the Hershey candy company.  Craig and I were out the other night when we came across this new candy bar called the Thingamajig.  We just had to see what all the hype was about.  The two were very similar on the outside--smothered in creamy milk chocolate. The Whatchamacallit had white crisped cereal and caramel, while the Thingamajig had cocoa crisped cereal and peanut butter on the inside. 

And the VERDICT is--

Grown-ups: Whatchamacallit!

Kids: Thingamajig!


Actually they were both pretty yucky!  But given that we had to choose between the two that was our result.  Of course we would all rather have a traditional candy bar like a Snickers or a Milky Way, but that wouldn't have been quite as fun!

Ema Learns to Sew

For Christmas last year, Emaleigh recieved a sewing machine.  We decided the best 1st project would be a pair of jammie bottoms.  She bought the material with her hard earned babysitting money!  She even picked out a t-shirt to match.

After getting the legs assembled it looked like they may be a bit large!

Fortunately, with a little adjusting, some elastic, and hemming the legs, everything turned out great!  She was so proud of her accomplishment and couldn't wait to wear them to bed last night!

Tubing

This weekend we finally got the tube repaired and took it out on the lake for the day.  Everyone had a great time--including Grandpa Mann!

The highlight of the day was when Craig had to go diving for his fishing pole that dropped into the lake.  It was quite hilarious to see a grown man diving into the water to save his beloved pole!

Caleb enjoying a little relaxation before hitting the waves!