1st Day of School

I can't believe he is starting Middle School today. It doesn't seem possible that he is in 7th Grade! He's excited, but also very nervous about all the challenges that he will be facing this year. I know that he'll do great!

His younger brother isn't nervous at all. He is very ready to tackle 6th grade! However, this is the first year that big brother isn't on the same bus & that made him very nervous. I don't think he was expecting to feel that way, until the bus came and he got a bit choked up.

Here's an old picture of the boys & Haley, starting Kindergarten & 1st Grade, back in 2005. Wow, have they changed!

The girls were with their mom this morning, but she sent me a picture. Don't they look ready to take on the World? Go Girls!!

State Track Meet

Today was the Maine State Track Meet! The kids were so excited and nervous this morning, although a bit tired since we had to leave the house by 5:30 a.m. Ouch! They all did GREAT in their events and had a really, really fun day. We are so proud of them for not only qualifying for this big event, but following through and doing their best! What amazing athletes they have all become over the course of this summer. I look forward to many more years 'cause they are already anxious for the next season to start in May...

It's Finally Gone!

Now we can tear down the run-down shed that it was in...

Between Lily's Ears

Everything looks better from the back of a horse!

Playing in the water with Lily!

What FUN! I'm so glad that we sent Lily away for training. She's back to being the horse that I knew & loved so much before the crazy freak that she was this spring. Yesterday afternoon each of the girls had a fantastic ride on her - by themselves! No lead rope involved, although I did leave it on her neck so that I could grab it if necessary. It wasn't. She listened to their every command, but only when they cued her properly. Now they can really learn to ride. Yay! Plus, I enjoyed a ride through the woods on her too. As a matter of fact, I'm headed out to ride her right now...

Quick! Get under the umbrella!

It rained periodically throughout the Qualifying Meet, but that didn't slow the kids down a bit...it just cooled them off, which was a good thing considering how hot & sunny it was in between the showers.

New Friends

Qualifying

Oh, the drama! Today was the qualifier meet for the upcoming Maine USA State Track Meet. If you didn't make it into the top 4 today, you won't go to that meet. 2 of our girls had back-to-back events early in the morning, and both of them qualified by placing 2nd & 3rd consecutively. That left one more sister who hadn't even competed yet, and who was getting very worried about whether or not she would be able to go to the State Meet too. She cried several times throughout the morning, and I told her over and over again that it didn't matter because as far as we were concerned she was already a winner as long as she was having fun and tried her hardest in her upcoming events.

She came up to me again, just before her 800 meter race, wrapped her arms around me and started sobbing, telling me how she couldn't do it and how unfair it was that she wasn't going to be able to go to 'States' and her sisters were already going. I pushed her away and with tears in my eyes told her that I was done. I was tired of consoling her because she obviously wasn't listening. I told her that if it meant that much to her, then she needed to earn it and she was going to have to do better than her best. I am not the type of parent to push my kids to win, but in that moment I felt that's what she needed. I told her flat out that if she wanted to go to States that bad, then she had better remember how to count and if there were more than 3 girls in front of her, then she needed to pass them! She was shocked to hear this coming from me, but it dried her tears and hardened her resolve. You know what? She's going to 'States'...