Fall Pictures and Olivia's Fourth Birthday

I took the kids' fall pictures a wee bit early, so the vibrant leaves aren't as spectacular as usual, but I'm very pleased with some of the actual pictures. Also we celebrated Liv's fourth birth anniversary.

Fall Pictures

I took a lot of pictures of the four of them, but the one above is my favorite.  I like the one below quite a bit, too.  The one above will be the one I use as the new cover photo on the blog and what I will eventually mail out to everyone.

Then I took some individual shots:

Trusten, 6 years

Jaden William, 10 years

Olivia, 4 years

Elizabeth, almost 2 years

Some later shots of our property, the one on the left taken by Nathan and the right by me

Olivia's Fourth Birth Anniversary

Liv has talked for months about riding a horse for her birthday.  Not only that, she wanted a toy horse for her birthday (she'd probably much-prefer a real one)...and a cowgirl.  She loves horses (followed closely by dolphins).  She absolutely loved her birthday.  Her daddy set her up an appointment at the Rogers Equestrian Center.  She got an hour's worth of instruction on caring for a horse and riding.

I got her a set of twelve fuzzy horses in a wooden barn-shaped collector's case by Melissa & Doug.  That way she can share-play with Trust and Happy.  She also got a cowgirl, a book, and a cool wooden dolphin that moves it's body and tail back and forth.  She's gentle with it and keeps it on her dresser.  Oh!  And a pink flashlight to keep under her pillow at night.  I got Trusten a blue flashlight.  (Jaden has one already.) 

 It was funny.  We got to watch from the judge's booth, and we heard Liv say as she went by, "I want to go fast!"  (Or something to that effect.)

Before riding, Liv learned about brushing a horse, saddling, bridling, what side to get on the horse and to get off (I should have asked about that, because wouldn't that depend on handedness?  I don't know, but I know who to ask, as I've got a friend who is all about horses, but I bet I won't even have to ask, because he'll probably read this and tell me!  ;-), how to pick out the horse's hooves, and I don't know what else.  Then afterward, as shown below, Olivia was introduced to what Mike called "Around the World," so as you can see, she turned all around the horse. 

After we got home, I made Liv a strawberry cake with strawberry icing, and we enjoyed it with some Alden's strawberry ice cream. 

She was a happy girl!

I'm planning another "What We've Been Doing" post with individual child updates, and then I've got another post planned about recent specifics.  I've gotten behind again. 

Until next time...