October

We had a great October.  It went by quickly but was packed with fun days.

Steve took Sophia to visit Aiden at college in Ithaca.  I spent the weekend at home catching up on some scrapbooking.  I finished 2012.  I am only two years behind now.  I need a few more of these weekends!  Steve and Sophia really enjoyed seeing Aiden and I know he loved having them there.

Sophia and I had a great day picking pumpkins and apples.  We went on a hayride and through a straw maze.  It was a great day.  We ended the day in Olive Garden enjoying dinner with the gift card my mother bought me for my birthday in May.  I hadn't even realized until later that night that it was exactly two months since my mother passed away.  Enjoying the dinner and remembering all the times we went to Olive Garden with her was nice.

When we started talking about a family trip to Disney last year (or was it two years ago?) Sophia said she would rather go to a dude ranch.  We checked out lots of places but many of them were far away. Steve found a place in Cooks Forest, PA.  There was a dude ranch which offered ride packages.  When he went to check them out they recommended we stay at a near by cabin because their accommodations were pretty bare bones.  Steve found a great place with heated cabins.  The cabins had a fireplace and were very nice.  The first day we rode for three hours.  The trail was full of small hills which the horses ran up and often slid or ran down.  The trail was muddy so the horses tried to stay along the side which meant if you didn't control your horse you would be riding through trees and brush.  After that three hour ride we were sore!  Well, Steve and I were, Sophia had a blast.  The second day we took a five hour river ride.  The terrain was a LITTLE bit better but crossing the river was scary.  The rocky bottom caused the horses to slip a little.  They were sure footed and handled it well but that didn't put me at ease.  We stopped for lunch on this ride.  At the every end of the ride my horse spooked.  Everyone else took a turn to the right to go up the hill to where the trailer was going to pick us up.  Mine did not want to go (okay likely because I was not forceful enough when trying to steer it.)  Another group of horses came up behind us and spooked my horse.  She took off, stopped, then took off again but this time turning in a quick circle before running.  I screamed for Steve and luckily the guide heard me and came to my rescue.  It was scary.  I could not bring myself to go on another three hour ride the next day.  Steve was sore but not as much as I was.  I just could not relax on the horse.  My whole body ached because I was so stiff.  I held onto the horn of the saddle with one and and the lip of the saddle with the other.  Meanwhile,  Sophia is riding totally relaxed, holding the rein in one hand (like you should) and munching on an apple held in the other hand.  She is a natural.  She stayed up with the guide and chatted with him the whole way.  The third day we took a two hour ride and asked for more leveled trails.  This ride was much easier.  Steve and I enjoyed it but Sophia thought it was a little boring.  As sore as we (Steve and I) were we all had a blast.

The cabin was so deep in the mountains we could not get cell service anywhere near the place.  They actually had pay phones along the road.  It has been a long time since we have seen them in our daily life.  Sophia never saw one before.

Sophia was in her second schooling show of the fall series.  She did amazingly well.  She rode Rex and took first place in all the mini short stirrup events placing her as grand champion of the show.  She really looked amazing.  She also smiled which is something she doesn't usually do when riding.  She usually looks so serious.

The animals are all getting along.  Shadow enjoys Mr. Twinkletoes in small doses.  He does not like when Mr. Twinkletoes bites him.  The dogs are getting used to him too.  Kaegogi did well with him from day one.  Boba just barked and chased him.  Now, as long as Mr. Twinkletoes does not run fast, Boba doesn't bark.  We still don't trust the dogs and cats being together when we are not home, so the dogs get crated and everyone is safe.

And then there was Halloween.  Sophia enjoyed spending time with her cousin Emma who just moved back from Seattle.  They carved pumpkins together.  She also worked on a pumpkin with Steve at home.

She wore four different costumes this year to four different events.  We went to a Halloween party at the barn and she wore the horse costume from two years ago.

At school Sophia and her best friend, Taylor, decided they wanted to be Thing One and Thing Two.  Her mother and I made the costumes.  They looked great.

She wore her Jerry costume while Steve wore his Tom costume when we went out Trick or Treating.

 Then she attended a lego event on November 1st and wore last year's Princess Celestia costume.  She looked great in every one.

October was a great month.  November is sure to follow suit with Sophia's birthday, her party, Thanksgiving, a visit from Aiden and the last horse show of the season.

September update

While this month has still been very difficult we did have a lot of fun moments.

We started the month with Sophia in the in house horse show.  She did excellent in it.  She won first place for equation, first place for commands, fourth place for pleasure and third place for the trial ride.  She is quite the rider!

She was also in her first schooling series show.  She rode Mirage again.  She doesn't always cooperate and I think she does better when she has some space. Sophia got fifth place in equation walk, third place in equation trot and first place going over the poles.  The poles are done with only one horse in the ring at a time. The manager of the barn was watching and said Sophia was perfect going over the poles.  The best part was Sophia smiled the entire time!  Sophia took reserve grand champion for the show.  Not bad.

Sophia and I went to the farm and fed some animals.  Sophia always loves going here and we hadn't been all summer.

Sophia's big cousin Emma moved back into the area.  Sophia is thrilled.  She spent at day visiting with her, Grandma Beadle and Grandma Bev.

My brother and sister spent a weekend trying to get my mother's house ready to sell.  This was very hard.  It is hard to go through stuff and decide what to do with it.  It was fun to find some things like our old Christmas stockings and toys. Thankfully we had a boatload of cousins come help us which made Saturday very productive and a little easier.  It was comforting to hear stories and share memories.  I am thankful for such a close family.

Speaking of close families our furry family is doing well.  Mr. Twinkletoes is growing quickly.  He has been hassling Shadow a little less each day.  One day I even found them laying on the bed right next to each other.

Kaegogi LOVES Mr. Twinkletoes and whines to play with him.  Kaegogi got a little over zealous one day and decided to try to crawl under the bed to chase the cats.  Shadow made it known that he doesn't want any visitors under the bed.  Poor Kae. She has a huge scratch on her nose.

Boba is slowly being introduced to Mr. Twinkletoes.  Mr. Twinkletoes moves fast and Boba thinks it is a game.  It will take a while longer before we can have them together.

That's all for now.

August 2014- a low point

August started out bad and just got worse.  The month started with our thirteen year old cat, Noelle, not eating.   She had been diagnosed with diabetes in January and then on insulin.  She was doing GREAT.  She gained some weight back and suddenly became so playful.  She was like a kitten again. Then all of a sudden she didn't want to eat.  We had to closely monitor her because you can not give insulin to a cat who hasn't eaten.  Noelle, nicknamed No No was really Sophia's cat.   No No loved Sophia.  They slept together every night.  We brought her to the vet and they did some tests but nothing showed up.  They sent us home with some fluids and we gave them to her daily.  She started eating a little better and we were cautiously optimistic.  We kept her in Sophia's room so we knew how much she was (or was not eating)  She hid under the bed at times but came out when we came into room to get some loving.

On August 12th the rug was pulled out from under me.  My mother passed away suddenly.  I had spoken to her three times that day, the last time at 6:00 PM.  She had even gone shopping that day.  I tried calling her at nine on my way out to meet a friend for a quick drink and she didn't answer the phone.  I didn't think much of it, figuring she was in the bathroom.  But when I tried calling at 10:00 PM and didn't get an answer I knew something was wrong.  We talk every night, faithfully, at 10:00.  I was hoping she just feel asleep and the phone was off the hook but when I could not reach her after repeated tries I texted my brother to see if he had spoken to her.  He had not.  I called one of her friends to check on her and she was found on the kitchen floor, right next to the place where she sits.  The paramedics said it was likely something like a heart attack, something really sudden.  It pains me to think she was alone.  It pains me not to talk to her every day.  I miss her something fierce.  Days aren't the same when I can't talk to her or have her beat me at Words with Friends.

My mom

We went to her services and had a petsitter watch the animals.  The guy watching the dogs contacted us to let us know Boba ate the pills I laid out in plastic bags for Kae.  Thankfully Boba was fine.  The petsitter watching the cats let us know Noelle was not eating but didn't seem to be in pain.  Steve got home a day before Sophia and I did.  He said that Noelle did not look good.  When Sophia and I got home on Tuesday night we saw the change in her.  We put Noelle down the next day.  The vet feels that is was some type of intestinal cancer.

Sophia lost her grandmother and best friend in just eight days.  It was very difficult on all of us.  I am thankful for all the times Sophia and I visited my mother.  Steve would come up every Christmas but Sophia and I went up every fall, spring and summer.  Our most recent visit was less than a month before she passed.  Here are photos of the day we were leaving from our July trip.  Our last photos with her.

We had to turn things around.  A little over a week after we lost No No we let Sophia pick out a kitten.  We went to three stores that had rescue cats before she fell in love with a brown, four month old tabby.  She named him Mr. Twinkletoes.  He is bringing much laughter into our home.  Our resident cat, Shadow, isn't thrilled to have the bundle of energy running around but I am sure in time things will improve.  Our older dog, Kae, loves him.  She whimpers at the top of the steps wanting to play with him. Boba is too full of energy and we haven't introduced them yet.  We don't think Boba would hurt him on purpose but he is pretty rough.

Mr. Twinkletoes is filling in for No No

Sophia started 3rd grade.  She loves her teacher and is off to a good start.

Steve, Sophia and I went to the county fair at the beginning of the month.  Sophia and I joined her friend Katlyn at the state fair at the end of the month.  Sophia rode a mechanical bull for 28 seconds.  The record that day was 29.  Pretty impressive.

On August 14th we "celebrated" family day.  It was hard to celebrate just losing my mother but we went to the science museum and then had Chinese food for dinner and desert at the Melting Pot.  I can't believe have been a family for nine years.

My mother meeting Sophia in 2006

 Lets hope for a happier September.