Finding Their Passion

Never say never...isn't that the old adage? Well it's popped up again in our mission to try and find Anna's passion. Mary Mac's passion has always been known...horses, not a cheap passion, but plain and simple.

 In a struggle to not let Anna fall through the cracks of being a middle child, I've made it our mission to try and find her passion...whatever that may be and wherever it takes us. 

And that brings us back to Never Say Never. Today I find myself sitting watching her at her first cheer practice. Oh the many, many hours I spent on a cheer floor endlessly counting 8 counts, breaking ribs, constant soreness, but a love for cheering that no one could break. Now cheering has morphed into a completely almost unrecognizable sport but it's basically the same thing I did, only at a much younger age and much more competitive than I ever imagined. 

As I write this I am watching her smiling ear-to-ear and already loving every minute and soaking it all in. I get the feeling that we just may have found her passion...or at least this a passion I have never seen from her. It makes my heart swell to see this side of her. And maybe just a tiny bit excited that she and I may have this special connection that none of the other 2 kids have. 

So why not let her find her passion especially when it might possibly be the same passion I had? I loved this world of cheer and made some great friends had it paid for my college education...Never Say Never, right? I'm slowly learning that the things we don't want our kids doing are usually the ones they have a passion for. I think it's just a little bit of His humor in life...5,6,7,8 Yea!

First Horse Show In The Books

After a busy week back to school, Alabama gymnastics meet Friday night, birthday parties and basketball game Saturday, Mary Mac was super pumped about her first horse show in several years and on HER pony! It's just a local barn schooling show...good practice for sure!

Thankfully it ended up being a gorgeous day to spend at the barn. Mary Mac did EXCELLENT! She was a tad bit nervous but overcame the nerves and received a Champion ribbon overall in the walk trot division. Her trainer wanted to push her a little too and convinced her to enter the cross pole class. Her first past was great and she placed 2nd but on her 2nd pass she fell off! She was fine but I think my heart stopped for sure! She got back on her and finished her course. 

Ah the quiet house

After canceling the first day of school after Christmas and delaying starting Wednesday, all the kiddos are finally back in school. Don't get me wrong...I love these 3 stinkers more than life, but this has felt like the longest Christmas break EVER! If only they felt this long when I was a kid hmm. Between the girls fighting most of the break and trying to potty train Kirby...this momma was ready for school routine again! Now maybe I can get back to my regular routine of crossfit, tennis, and working. IT'S BEEN 3 MONTHS!

So now that the holidays are over, who else is ready for spring and warm weather? ME! 

FBF (that's what I'm calling Facebook free time) 1 WEEK IN THE BOOKS!!! So I asked my BFF if I had missed anything on Facebook since last week and her only comment (totally in jest) was that someone had learned to do a back bend...exactly my point in giving it up. Is this really what I was wasting hours each day reading about? The best part of this is that I've changed from wasting time on Facebook to using that time to be God's Word and reading more scripture, as well as "hearing" my kids instead of just nodding my head saying "Yea, uh-huh!" because I was too busy reading my News Feed. So no offense to any Friends of mine on Facebook, but I'm super happy with my change and super proud of myself! 

Speaking of saddles...

Other than the usual things that all kids do over several years, you know, grow...the biggest addition in the past several weeks has been the addition of a family member of the 4 legged kind. Yes, we are now proud owners of a pony. Yes, I said a pony! A real live pony named Rosie, or Ring Around The Rosie as she's known in the show circles.  I guess you could say that this was something we've been trying to put off for years and we finally took the plunge.  The best part was being able to surprise 
the kids on Christmas morning.  I mean what little girl DIDN'T dream of getting a pony as a kid? I know I did and I didn't even really like large animals! 

On another note, we are currently in the potty training process with Kirby...ugh! Isn't that all that needs to be said about that? I think so.  I actually had no intentions of even starting the process until the spring when we can just go naked...yes, I said that too! But Kirby had higher aspirations and decided to start training himself so we figured we better jump on the boat or else we would regret it later. And who can't blame us for looking forward to a diaper free house and a little raise? "They" say that boys are harder to train than girls but so far Kirby is proving us wrong, or else he was just ready before mommy and daddy! Didn't I say that nothing needed to be said about potty training...oops! 

FACEBOOK FREE DAY 3 IN THE BOOKS! I can honestly say that not being on Facebook has been a little bit of a relief. I'm not going to lie and say that it's been super easy because it was obviously an addiction of sorts, but I really haven't missed anything...or at least I don't think I've missed anything! 

Enough for tonight. It's time for bed and to get bundled up for this cold front coming through tonight and over the next couple of days.  I am soooo ready for school to start back but with the bad weather coming through it looks like we will have a delayed start, if not longer, on Tuesday.  And here's just a couple of fun pictures from our trip to the beach in the fall.

Back In The Saddle...

Happy 2014!!!! I cannot believe it is 2014!!!! And my last post was in July 2011...where in the world has all of this time gone? All of a sudden we have a 9 year old, a 6 year old, and an almost 3 year old!!!

Well I feel like I'm a blogger beginner all over again, but I am determined to get back to blogging.

Sadly and/or honestly, I'm not sure which, I admit that the social networking world has totally taken me over and in an attempt to pull back from it, I have landed back in the blogging world. I've been wanting to scale back my time on Facebook, but the honest truth is that Facebook had become my "scrapbook" for the kids...the only reason I could see of staying "in" it. No more.

New Years Resolution 2014...no more Facebook (except to post blog updates - that's my only connection I will allow right now) and MORE blogging! The whole reason I started blogging to begin with was to create a virtual scrapbook for my family! So I'm back...

While I will attempt to catch us up to where I left off (if that's possible after 2 years), my main focus is to spend more time "hearing and seeing" my kids instead of  reading news feeds of people that I otherwise wouldn't hear from. I would also love to start adding some of my favorite recipes so who knows where we go from here...