SLOW down calendar!!!!

Another several months have passed which means it is way past time to get you updated on the Boutte Clan.  November started and ended with a lot of fun stuff!  Maddie rode Batman at Pine Hill for two schooling rides and they both had a blast.  Batman took every jump honestly and Maddie handled herself like a pro.  It was great fun!  Meg and I were support staff and photographers and she now also has the itch to get out there and school.  Maddie had the opportunity to compete at a schooling horse trial in January at Pine Hill.  Considering it was her first horse trial, first dressage test, first jumper course, and first cross country course, she did awesome!  She rode very conservatively as Batman had a bad case of nerves, was super spooky, and has never finished a cross country course at Pine Hill which was a great choice despite time faults.  So proud of both of them and all that they are learning together!

Megan has come quite a ways on Lyric and is jumping very solid heights quite well.  Her confidence is growing and she's really developing a nice confident seat.  While she doesn't feel ready to compete yet, she's feeling like it will be later this year.

The holidays were a bit of a blur with lots of family and friends coming in to visit including the Pam's parents, Dave, and Lynette & David.  We also have visits from the Martin's and the Comeaux's which was great fun.  It has taken quite a while to get Christmas put away, but it finally is almost done (and yes, I know it is now mid-February!)  It is time for Easter decor, but I kind of have to find the house first.  We've been having good school days and barn sitting which means it is impossible to keep up on the house despite the best efforts of this cleaning-challenged momma.

Boutte Academy is chugging along and we have almost found our groove after over a year of chaos and whatnot.  We aren't fully there yet, but we are getting close.  Homeschooling is a hard gig anyway, but add a move and some emotional instability in and it gets super hard, but we are finally all feeling like we are on the upswing.  Park days, PE classes, pilates classes, barn days, and errands fill up our weeks, but we are still getting 4-5 days of school done each week.  95 days down and 55 left to go!  In some ways it feels like the days are crawling soooo slow and in others it feels like they are going by so fast!  We will likely be involved in BACH co-op next school year at least for a few classes.  Just enough to get some socialization with that group as that is the most local group.

In a blog, our few months feel really boring, but in real life, they are busy with errands, planning, school, and such.  Many days it has been hard to overcome our own inertia, but so much planning has been needed as well as books we want to read that even those "less active days" are fairly active with getting things done.  We are making weekly trips to the library which is great fun as even though it is a tiny library, they have a great staff and really do a lot with what they have.  We've had beautiful weather this week so it has been great to get outside and play again.  The yard needs some serious attention, but with Matt out of town with Dave this weekend and rain forecast for during the week, it will likely have to wait.  There is still areas where the grass isn't crazy tall so we haven't lost the dogs yet :-).

Well, speaking of being busy, I have three kiddos who need me.  Until next time....