Head 'em up and move 'em out,... git along little dogies!

 Swiftsure had their Jr. Rodeo and Stampede today.

 Cally helping Emily get her helmet right.  I love the fact that Cally rearranged things so that she would be the handler walking Emi through the course.

 New horse today.  This is Trigger, just a loaner for the day to help out with the amount of kids there to ride.

 First, through an obstacle course - cones to go around, rings to pick up and place on more cones, a trotting section, the turning ring, a bridge to cross.  At the end, Emily was given a gold medal! (but so did every participant!)

 But then it was off to sort the cattle.  We couldn't get as close to this part, but there were three calves that they had to push from one end of the coral to the other.  They even had horns!

Afterward there was a bbq and a band.  This is Emily with a friend from preschool, Gus, with their medals.

Meet Yum Yum

Yum Yum is the 17 year old paint horse that Emily gets to ride now.   When we showed up for our lesson today, there was (gasp!) another girl on Emily's horse, Sidney.  That was okay, because that girl's lesson would end and Emily could have Sidney, or so Emi thought.  But then, (second gasp!) Sidney got put away...

Luckily Cally is still the instructor working with Emily, and Hugh is nearby, and it wasn't too long before Emily warmed up to this sweet horse she gets to ride now.

It was a windy day, with looming storm clouds (really, snow is predicted for the next couple days), so they used the indoor arena.  I could watch through the window, and Emily was all smiles.  She still keeps her great posture in the saddle, and Cally commented that Emily hadn't forgotten a thing.  Emily got to back up the horse, did a fair amount of trotting around and the ring... and still worked on turning!

And even better news, the rodeo is on for Saturday night, complete with a live band and BBQ.  Word has it, the little kids are going to be sorting cows.  Hmmmm.

Busy!

Monday night is her creative movement dance class from 3:00-3:45.  So far, she loves it.  In the mornings before school, I ask her what the day will bring and she sings, "Dance, dance baby!"  She has pretended to be everything from a dolphin to a flower, and is learning things like first position.

Tuesday night we! are! so! excited! that horseback riding resumes from 5:00-6:00.  She can't wait to see Sidney again.  There's supposed to be a rodeo Saturday night where Emily will make her debut.  It was originally scheduled for August, but had to be postponed because of the Beaver Creek Fire.

Thursday nights are now soccer nights from 4:00-4:45.  Last week was her first attempt, and she looked pretty good out there, especially since she has never been exposed to the game before.  She seemed so grown up in her cleats and jersey, with her hair in the rare pigtails!

Baldapalooza

We went someplace really cool this past weekend, Baldapalooza.

 It was a benefit for local kids battling cancer.  There were music acts from The Voice and other local bands.  There was a kid zone with bouncy houses, great vendors, and free glow sticks.  We came home with about 50 of them somehow.

 Well, she got the glow sticks after spending about an hour in the bouncy house, either bouncing or waiting in line to bounce.

But the best thing about Baldapalooza is that we know one of the very cool people that took an idea and made something great out of it.  The Leavitt-Barker family were our NICU neighbors, and our dates for the NICU grad parties, and a few lucky get togethers since then.  But it hasn't been able to happen since Kean was diagnosed with leukemia.  

2011 NICU grad party with Kean

For a brief moment, or two, I got to talk to a very busy Lonnie.  But one of the great moments was how one of her girls took Emily (this may have been when she started collecting glow sticks!) and I actually got to sit and enjoy the music!

A Conversation With Emily

In Emily's Friday folder from preschool, I found a paper titled A Conversation with Emily.  This is what is said:
My favorite food is: chicken nuggets
My favorite sport to play is: horseback riding
The best show on television is: Mickey Mouse
The coolest person on Earth is: Mommy
My favorite thing to learn about in school is: calendar
The thing I do the most awesomely is: painting
If I could go anywhere in the world, I'd go to: see bears
My favorite color is: pink
When I grow up, I'm going to become a: doctor
My current favorite song is: Five Little Monkeys
The book I love right now: Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star
Three words that describe me are: playful, girl
When I was little, I used to: play with monkey toys
My favorite season of the year is: winter
The absolute best thing about camping is: the campfire
The snack I like best is: salad
One food that I really dislike is: carrots
My best friend is: Maeve
If I had one wish it would be: I would wish for Nadia

What Were You Doing 4 Years Ago?

Emily was still in the NICU.  We were told that she could go home if she gained weight overnight.  She lost an ounce.  One itty bitty ounce, and it looked like home was going to elude us.  It was a big, all day long event, but in the end discharge papers were started.  My almost daily vigil was what finally convinced the neonatologist that we could handle it.  I'm pretty sure the discharge papers were an inch thick in their stack.  It was one of my favorite three nurses, Chris, that had to go over ever single thing... from the apnea monitor Emily was coming home with, to the series of medications we would still need to give, and oh, the follow up appointments we needed to schedule and attend, and therapists we needed to find....  I thought it would never get to the point where we could escape.

And even though I had been discharged 76 days earlier, we weren't even allowed to carry out our own child.  I could, if I rode in a wheelchair, or a volunteer would carry Emily in her carseat until we got to the car.  The carseat got a nod of approval... and home we went.

Therapists, specialists, and doctors have come and gone.  We made it through RSV twice, and croup, colds, and the flu.  She's made two trips to Iowa, and once to the Bahamas (soon to be two), and lots of little trips close by.  She loves her horseback riding lessons and is excited to start dance again.  She's off to soccer camp later this month.  She's in size 4 clothes and 9.5 shoes... and weighs more than I want to carry around anymore.  She'll watch a Daniel tiger episode, or Barney, but doesn't care much for TV or movies.  However, she can name her princesses like she was a Disney movie pro, and would pick Belle as her favorite.  She'll wear her dress and dance to the music in spins, turns, and sways.  She colors, plays card games (Crazy 8s) or board games (The Ladybug Game is a current fave), and spends a lot of time with her stuffed animal friends and babies playing school.  Her favorite food for the moment would be shrimp with a side of noodles, loves fruits and vegetables, but also wants sugar to be a food group.  Outside she likes to go for bike rides, but prefers the park over her own playset in the backyard.  Sleeping all through the night is a rarity, but it's been three times in the last week so maybe we have turned the corner on that one.  She's pretty good at writing her letters and recognizing them, as well as her numbers.  Luckily, she's pretty happy to go to preschool in the mornings.  Her favorite colors are blue and pink, according to her, but that's been known to change!  She happens to love cats, and is planning on telling Santa that's what she wants.  She's helpful, most of the time, but loves to feed the dog more than any other chore.

So, the best thing about coming home four years ago?   It's just that it gets better and better being her parents every single day.

A week in review

preschool art from August 

On Monday we joined friends and watched the Labor Day Parade in Bellevue.  The theme of this parade was CANDY!  And we had to teach the girls how to defend their territory in order to get their fair share.  But after the 30 minute parade, each of our girls walked away with a good amount of sugary loot.

First day of preschool picture.  Emily is returning for another year of preschool at the place where she went last year. 

This was the first day photo from 2012.

This coming Monday, Emily will start a creative dance class with the Footlight Dance group.  Here she is, trying on her outfit.

And on Thursday, Emily skipped school and enjoyed a Daddy-Daughter day.  I received pictures like this one:

Their day included a trip to the coffee shop and the sandwich shop.  Lots of play in the dirt, a trip to pet the cats at the animal shelter, and a visit to the farmer's market.  Emily was definitely exhausted at the end of this daddy date day!

Twin Falls County Fair

By Saturday evening, we found ourselves in Filer at the county fairgrounds.  We started off on the rides, and by the time we ran out of tickets Emily had been on a roller coaster with Mom, the Dizzy Dragons with Grandma, 2 rides on the carousel, a hot air balloon ride, a bouncy house, a train, and a petting zoo.  Then it was a pony ride.  As she was picking out her pony, she turned to me and said, "I don't have my riding pants,  am I going to be okay?"  I told her she wouldn't be on for that long and would be fine.  Then she said, "Tell the guy I don't need help, I got this!"  We finished up the evening walking through the animal barns before calling it quits.  After all, we had already been to the Wagon Days parade that afternoon!  It was a busy day!

brushing the cow in the petting zoo

the hot air balloon ride, the only one where she said she was a little scared

Wagon Days

This past Saturday we went and watched the parade in Ketchum.  Emily always likes this one, being non-motorized it means there are lots and lots of horses.  And if it isn't a horse, it's a mule!  Either way, it's a winner in her book.  

Somehow Mr. Rick ended up with Emi duty!

Summer's End

Vacation has come to an end, and come Tuesday morning it will be back to school.  Emily has one more year at her preschool ahead of her.  I wonder how I will feel this time next year as we both get to go to school together every day?

Grandma's trip has also come to an end.  And at times, Emily didn't always show Grandma her charming side.  One night at dinner, Aaron said that they were going to have a contest to see who could be more nice to her.  Emily's response, in a whisper, was, "Are we going to trick her?"  

But all of that put aside, those two had a good time (I think).  Emily went to preschool in the morning, and spent afternoons at the park, or at the library, or just playing together.  Now it's back to full days at school!