SNOW

(the fat lip was much better the next day, sorry no picture)

So how about this snow!! It wasn't a white Christmas but it's been white ever since! There have been several snow days, a couple delayed openings and one early dismissal and we aren't even in February yet! We weren't hit as bad as some places but we are running out of places to put the snow.

Emily and I had a battle of wills today over clothes! I didn't let her wear her Hello Kitty shirt and skirt AGAIN to school today (she wore it yesterday(because it was dirty) and she could NOT pick anything to wear. She kept getting dressed and then changing her mind! Three changes and I had it! I made her wear her last choice but it wasn't easy. I am in big trouble when she is a teenager!

The first week

I can't believe a week has already passed since losing Casino. It has been very quiet in the barn. Usually Casino did all the talking in the barn. His turnout buddies must have known he died that night because they never called for him. And normally if one of the group wasn't there for any other reason, there would be calling back and forth. I am still sad. I'll always miss him the same as I miss Artos and even my pony, Tara.
In other news, Emily has a fat lip! I'll try and get a picture tomorrow, because I'm sure it will still be big. She went running around a corner right into Tyler at full speed.

R.I.P. Casino

I lost one of my favorite horses today. I've know Casino since 1996 when he was first imported to this country from Europe. He was bought by Mark Leone to try out for the 96 Olympics (he didn't make it, but his brother Peter did). I was Casino's groom from then until the day I left Ri-Arm in 2001. I clicked with him right away and he was a very close second to my other love, Artos. I got to ride them both a lot and one of my favorite times was when we were doing the trials for the World Championships and I got to go off to horse shows with just the two of them! Casino didn't make the World Championships either but he was close! He was the top horse going into the last day! But he had a couple rails and dropped out of contention. He did however make a European summer tour where he was consistantly putting in clear rounds and got the nickname "Clear round Casino"! He was even picked to be the anchor for the Nations Cup Final that year, bless him. He did win several Grand Prix classes, the biggest was probably the World Cup class at Toronto. He won me an nice Tag Hauer watch and a lovely Volvo cooler (which is probably still in the upstairs closet at Ri-Arm!) When I left Ri-Arm it was extremely hard to go, knowing I was leaving him behind (Artos was already sold back to Zangersheide by then). But as luck would have it he was sold to Evan Coluccio about a year after I left. Which was great for me! He was good friends with my friend Cathy Martin, who told them to call me because I knew everything about Casino. (He had a few quirks, but they didn't bother me!) So Evan's mom called me and we stayed in touch, and when the time came to retire him she asked if I wanted him. Of course I wanted him but to be fair I thought Mark should get the offer first. So she tried Mark but he wasn't interested and he became mine!


I had him here for over 6 + years and I loved every minute of it. I rode him a little but between having kids and his age it wasn't a priority. I was just happy to see him everyday again and know he was happy. He started getting grey hair all over his face and in his mane but he still acted just the same and from a distance (without seeing the grey hairs) you would swear he was still a show horse. He kept himself very fit and even with his big belly! I got on him this past summer just for a couple photos because I didn't have any of me on him and it had to be atleast 2 years or more since I sat on him. He felt great under me again! He was looking for my hands and coming round instantly, bless him! All I did was walk and get a few pictures, but I'm glad I got on him one last time.



Rest in Peace Casino, I will miss you asking for hay, grain, and to go outside, the barn will be so quiet with out you. :(

Hello Kitty

this is the outfit she has been wearing daily. The tights change, in the house usually she wants no tights!

Oops

Another long gap between posts! Whats been happening... Emily had "PJ day" at school and that goes against her nature! She normally wants to get out of her PJ's as soon as she is awake! But she got into it and was having fun with it until I picked her up from school and told her we had to go to A&P on the way home. I made the mistake of asking her if she wanted to go in her PJ's or change into clothes. I always have a backpack with her at school and/or in the car with a spare set of clothes. Of course she wanted to get dressed, until she saw what clothes I had! She didn't want THAT shirt or THOSE jeans! Let the meltdown begin! She didn't want the PJ's or the clothes! She wanted me to go home first so she could pick her clothes THEN go to A&P! In the end I just got her to stop crying and we went to A&P in PJ's. She didn't mind then, but she did wonder why no one mentioned that she was in her PJ's!
Lately she has been wearing the same outfit EVERYDAY! Lord help me if it is being washed when she wants to wear it! It is her dark pink Hello Kitty shirt and Hello Kitty Skirt. I'll have to get a picture of the clothes before she wears them out! They are not even new, I don't know why it has suddenly become a favorite! But it is all she wants to wear!
Last night she got out of bed about 20 minutes after I turned out the lights. I was still down stairs and she was at the top of the stairs (I still have a gate up there) calling me. I go up and she asks me if there is a little hole by her nose because it hurts. I see nothing but guess she's been rubbing it on her sleeve and now it's sore. I put her back in bed and give her a pile of tissues on her nightstand. About 5 minutes later she is at the top of the stairs again calling me. This time just to say it feel better! So I put her back in bed and this time I think that is the end...until 3:30 in the morning when she wakes me up by saying "Mommy" right next to my bed! This time she has no real reason to be up (sleepwalking??) I make her take a quick trip to the potty and then back to bed. Now I am lying awake waiting for it to happen again! Thankfully it doesn't and I hope it doesn't happen tonight!

White (after) Christmas!

Well it is two days after Christmas and we are loaded with snow! But lets back track, Christmas Eve was spent at Grandma & Grandpa Coopers. (My kids get Christmas three times! And Emily gets an extra dose with Birthday presents!) It was a nice evening and the kids behaved, but also hid in the living room with their new toys most of the night. Then Christmas morning Tyler woke up about 7 (Curt got up at 6 to feed the horses so he could see the kids when they first woke up) and Emily was right behind him. They are not yet to the point of waking at 4am for presents! After getting through all the presents they emptied their stockings. I put a bag of coal (really chocolate candy) in each of their stockings and Emily found it first.

Emily: "Look, I got my own bag of rocks!" me: "No, that is coal!" Emily dropping the bag, "What!!"

I thought they could use a little reminder that they weren't exactly off the naughty list!!!


So next Cindy and I were getting everything ready for the MacMillan side of Christmas (Curt was doing the barn, thank you Curt). We had planned on putting out appetisers at 12 (when people were supposed to start coming) and then lunch at 1pm. But everyone came late and didn't get here until 1pm, but oh well, there was plenty of food! So we also did round number three of Christmas presents for my kids, yikes we are getting over loaded! Then after lunch, Birthday for Emily.

She was so excited for her party! She chose an "iCarly" cake.

Notice the girl on the right.

So now Emily started round number 4 of gifts!! But I have to say all in all, they behaved very well both Christmas Eve and Christmas day, considering the toy overload!

Now to the snow storm! The day after Christmas they were saying the snow would start, but not until the afternoon. So after getting the horses out and the barn done (Curt had to work), Cindy and the kids and I, ran out to Walmart. I wanted to get snow boots for Curt and I because neither of us had any. I was grateful the snow wasn't coming just yet so we could go out and get them! Oh and Emily got her first ride in a booster seat! No more 5 point harness/baby seat for her!
By the time we got home the snow was just barely started so Cindy thought she'd make a run for it to get home before it got bad. Curt was also on the way home. But the weather got bad very quickly. Cindy saw a number of accidents on the way home but thankfully made it home safely. Curt also said the ride was bad, but made it home safe. And then the snow really was coming down all night. It has stopped now but it is about a foot of snow maybe more but very cold and windy. Poor Mulch was snowed in her house! I had to clear the snow away from her door so she could get out! But then when she could get out she panicked about the snow and ran up under a bush by the garage! She did this last year too, I don't know why she gets so scared. Last year she ran up in the woods after a big snow and didn't come back until nightfall. At least the sun is coming out maybe it will warm up?

Christmas in the City

We ventured into New York city yesterday to see the big Christmas tree in Rockefeller Center. We went on this particular day because Curt was not working and neither of the kids had school. It happened to also be an extremely COLD day!!! But we didn't spend too much time outside. We drove to my sisters house (we could never find our way around the city without her!) in Garfield, NJ then walked a couple blocks to the train station, We took the train to Hoboken and stopped by Carlo's Bake Shop (aka The Cake Boss) for a little pastry treat. Then to the Path train into the city and from there the subway. Once we got off the subway we were able to stay underground and walk to the Rockefeller Concourse and then venture outside to see the tree.
I tried to get a good picture of the kids in front of the tree but they were in no mood to have their picture taken.

My second try

My sister didn't fare much better

Curt really wanted a family picture and that didn't work much either

In the end I setled for just the tree


All in all it was fun, we also went to the Lego store, the M&M store and finally Toys R us and there we took a ride on the indoor Ferris wheel. Then is was back to the subway and trains and then a quick stop at my sister's house to see her tree and use the restroom. We were tired (well Curt and I were anyway, the kids, not so much!) and we stopped for a quick dinner on the way home. It was a long day but it was fun and the kids did pretty well, Tyler only got a little cranky and Emily was very good and she also kept her underwear dry all day. So that was good! :)