Since there are so many pictures in this post, I am keeping the writing short and sweet. My horse loving mini-me daughter K turned nine last week. This year she requested an apple, pumpkin, horse birthday. So, we baked apple chips, made apple doughnuts, and apple cider. We played pumpkin tic tac toe (coolest game ever!) and whipped up some decaf pumpkin spice lattes, a pumpkin birthday cake and pumpkin soup for dinner.We drove a little over an hour for organic apple picking (totally worth it, by the way) and made new friends with the farmers there. Already have plans to go back for pumpkins next month.
The horse part of her request ended up coming in gift form. I originally planned on getting her a riding lesson for that day but then I came across an Intro to Horses homeschooling class that runs for eight weeks and decided that would be a million times better than just one lesson. Turns out I made a good decision - she is over the moon about it. Her horse quilt was custom made (because I couldn't quilt to save my life) and you can see more pics of it here. She got a horse as her birthday ring figure for this year, the horse toy I knit months ago (can you tell she loves it?! It hasn't left her side since she opened it), and I sewed a fabric bucket for her with some horse fabric from my Heather Ross stash. She is obsessed with Misty of Chincoteague right now so I picked up the book you saw above about Misty's real life as well as All About Horses, also by Marguerite Henry. Nana and Grandpa sent her a paper making kit and the book I mentioned in my last post. K even got a present from our kitty Geisha. Geisha is really my kitty, she was a feral rescue and she really only comes out of hiding for me, but on K's birthday she jumped right up in her lap and let K love her for a few minutes. What a sweet moment that was!
My, how the time has flown by so quickly I shall never know, but I am going to just keep hanging on and enjoy every moment with the amazing child that is my daughter. What a gift she truly is!
*I'll post pics of her birthday dress and sweater soon. I just didn't want to overburden you with so many photographs!