So, we were in Jefferson, WI all weekend for the first show if the year. We took the RV and enjoyed some nice weather.
Sydney's horse, Snickers, has been in Texas since November with a trainor. Mike, a long-time family friend and world champion, brought Snickers home last week and was nice enough to hang around for the show and work with the kids. They love him!!
Here are pics of Billy and Mike in the Lead-Line class. This class is for the youngest of riders where they are asked to show basic riding skills, but the horse is kept on a leash with a someone leading the way.
Walking around the arena in front of the judges...
Billy is asked to "back" his horse...
Billy answering questions from the judge...
Billy wins 1st Place!!!
Sydney shows in several classes. We didn't get many pictures...but here are a couple. 
Saturday, Sydney struggled to find her rhythm. Sunday was a different story. She showed GREAT! In one class, though, her numbers didn't get put on her saddle blanket for her class...an automatic disqualification!!! It was such a bummer!! The judges told her she would have won the class! So, in her next class...after scrambling to get her numbers on...she kicked butt!!! Both judges gave her 1st place! She was THRILLED!!! (There's this one girl that she's competed against for the last 2 years and Syd FINALLY beat her!) It was the ego-boost that Sydney really needed.
Back in the fall, Sydney had to write a short story as an assignment in her English class. Her teacher asked her to make a few changes to it and wanted her to submit it in the Yahara River Writing Contest...a county-wide contest. We didn't think much of it, as several of the kids from her class were asked to do the same thing. Much to our surprise, of all the 6th-graders in her category, she got 4th place!!! She was invited to attend a writer's workshop, followed by an award ceremony and lunch. We are VERY proud.
Oh yeah, her story was about a boy and his horse...Go figure!
Sydney with a few of her friends that also received awards.
After a much needed spring rain...We noticed this BEAUITFUL double-rainbow across the sky. This was the view of it from our back deck. God has a way of stopping you in your tracks :o)
Okay...it's been FOREVER since I last posted. Here are some pictures from Spring Break...March 21-27.
This year for spring break we wanted to do something different. We rented a house on the beach in Cape San Blas, Fl...just off the coast of Port St. Joe. We drove the RV down...which made the LONG ride down a lot easier. Although the weather wasn't the best...we had a nice time. We found an excellent restaurant, a local oyster bar, and LOTS of sea shells. I mostly enjoyed spending time with family. AND...I FINALLY got to meet my new nephew Brody! He's a good baby and I can't wait to see Rylee and him again in May. (They're planning a trip to Wisconsin.)
Proud big sister, Rylee with Baby Brody
...Billy with Brody....
...and Dani with Brody.
Pop-Pop and Dani
Dad and Ann came over for a couple of days. They brought their granddaughter, Braeli. The girls had fun playing. In the evenings, on a couple different nights, we played games. WE had some GREAT laughs!!! 
Rub-A-Dub...3 girls in the tub!
Rylee, Braeli and Dani
Pop-Pop with Rylee and Dani
Braeli was being silly with her ring-pop
Isn't Brody handsome? :o)
We went to a State Park for an afternoon. The kids found several crabs and lots of shells. We saw a few snakes and there was a sign posted to "beware of gators"...so we didn't venture out too far
Braeli and Pop-Pop looking for crabs
Billy shows off his little blue crab
Dan shows off HIS blue crab
Rylee looking for treasures
Dani is ready for some digging!!
Relaxing in the shade...Fred, Dani, and Slinky
Even Slinky had fun in the water
We DID have one nice day on the beach. The guys did some fishing and even caught a few.
Dan with his "fishing buddy"
Fred with HIS "fishing buddy"
Dani kept trying to "rescue" the fish
Sydney and Billy
Rylee stops for just a second to smile for the camera
We took our dog, Millie, with us. She had fun chasing the sea gulls and the waves.
Dani and Brody
Stephanie was able to come home from the hospital yesterday. I only talked to her for a minute. She sounded tired but glad to finally be home. Ranger and Reagan are doing well. I'm itching to go up and see them. I don't feel like I have the cold that's been going through the house...but i don't want to risk it. Maybe just another day or two :o)
We are pleased to announce the arrival of our twin niece and nephew. Stephanie wasn't due for 11 more weeks...but these little stinkers had other plans. Doug and Stephanie thought they had a little more time...and are still trying to decide on names.
At about noon today, doctors decided to do an emergency c-section. (One of the baby's umbilical cord was pinched and the heart rate was dropping.) Twin A was delivered at 12:09...A little girl....Weighing in at 2 lbs. 6 oz....14 inches long. At 12:11...Twin B...A little boy...2 lbs 10 oz...14 inches long.
They are both doing well, considering. They are breathing with the help of machines and they are taking their own breaths too. (Those are the tubes on their face) They are breathing regular air...this is all good. They are receiving antibiotics as a precaution (because Stephanie's water broke early). They receive these and other fluids through the umbilical veins. Other than that, they aren't on any medicine. In about a week, these tubes come out and we can hold them. However, they won't nurse or bottle feed for another 4 or 5 weeks. They will stay in the hospital until (at least) mid-April.
Stephanie is recovering. When I left, she was still very groggy from the anesthesia and they had done a chest x-ray to check for pneumonia. I haven't heard anything since.
These are pictures of the little girl....so tiny!!! She has a lot of blond hair.
These are pictures of the little boy. His tiny foot is only slightly bigger than my thumb. 
I hope to go see them again tomorrow. Maybe by then they'll have names :o) Please remember them in your prayers. I'll update you all again soon.
As some of you know...my sister-in-law, Stephanie (Doug's wife) is pregnant with twins. We were all out on Saturday night for a school fundraiser when her water broke. She's only 28 weeks along. She's in the hospital until the babies' arrival. The doctors are trying to delay delivery for as long as possible, but they're running out of options. They will most likely be born in the next 48 hours. The doctors say that they won't be able to come home until their due-date...which is May 19th!!! I can't even imagine!!!! But so far, they seem to be doing fine...and Stephanie is hanging in there.
Stephanie also has an 11-yr-old son, Tommy. He is staying with us in the meantime. He and Billy get along great.
Please say a prayer for them that they will be okay. I'll keep you all posted.
By the way, Sydney's MRI on her ankle last week was normal. Thankfully, it's just a bad sprain that's going to take time.
Love to all...
Jill
Nothing much going on around here. The last two weeks have just been filled with the usual craziness.
My sister, Heather had a healthy baby boy on Thursday evening. Brody Tyler...6 lb. 13 oz. So far I've only seen a picture that she sent from her cell phone. I hope to Skype her later and she promises to update her blog in the next day or two. I can not WAIT to get my hands on him!!! Unfortunately, I'll have to wait until Spring Break :o(
When I've had spare time, I've been working on several sewing projects....stuff for Baby Brody, stuff to sell, stuff for a silent auction for Billy's school.
Sydney sprained her ankle back on New Year's Eve. It's still bothering her, so after more x-rays (that didn't give us any answers) she has an appointment on Monday for an MRI.
Dani had her 2-year check-up last week. She's doing GREAT!
We're all anxiously awaiting spring! We can't wait for Spring Break. We're not sure what we're doing yet. We won't be in the Destin area this year. We're going to try something different...and save the Destin trip for summer.
Well...That's about it! I'll try to touch base later in the week.
Two Fridays ago, Dani and I flew down to stay with Heather for a few days. (Dan stayed home with Sydney and Billy so that they didn't miss school.) Heather has been so stressed with baby Brody due in only a few short weeks and their home-remodel/addition isn't getting finished as quickly as she had hoped. Mom came up too. That was a HUGE help...She watched Dani and Rylee for us a lot and kept them out of our hair (and paint).
There was a lot to get done but we accomplished a lot during my short visit. We couldn't do much in the new part of the house because they didn't have the Certificate of Occupancy yet. We WERE however, able to shop for furniture and accents for the rooms... and in the meantime, managed to do some substantial damage to Heather's credit card :o)
We got right to work on Rylee's room. She LOVES to paint!!!...and she LOVES purple!
Almost finished...Except for a few decorative touches...Rylee's new room. Notice the little dressing table to the right...That used to be in mine and Heather's room growing up. Gamma (Mom) sanded, puttied holes, and repainted it. We added a new skirt out of left-over fabric. It was a fun piece to refinish for Rylee and turned out really cute!
Next, was Baby Brody's room. The bedding is warm tones with dinosaurs...Very sweet. So that would be the theme for his room. Damon is painting a mural on the main wall. He started it after I left, but I hear it's beautiful. I can't wait to see pictures.
The hall/kid's bath got updated too. The bathroom already had tile flooring. The builders installed new vanity cabinet, granite counter top, and new light fixture. We repainted and hung new shower curtain and mirror...added new towels and rug...and some accents...Too cute!
This is the front entry. While I was there they got their new front door. Wood floors had been installed. We shopped for new furniture and rug and hung new curtains. There's a corner- fireplace to the left. I took these pictures the night before I flew home. Sort of kiddy-corner to the couch, in front of the door, is a pretty brown and tan, paisley chair. It's buried under my laundry....You can see my turquoise suitcase with my pajamas hanging out of it...Nice!!
Continuing from the entry...Into the newly remodeled kitchen. The old kitchen is long gone! New cabinets, granite counter tops, and appliances (fridge and stove hadn't arrived yet). The large bar (pictured bottom-left) separates the kitchen and entry. The pass-through above the sink looks into the new, HUGE family room.
Passing through the kitchen takes you into the new part of the house. I'll let Heather post those pictures once she gets furniture in those rooms. It's been quite the project for them...But it's beautiful!! I know once it's all finished Heather and Damon will look back on the process and be glad they did it. I was glad to be able to go down and help!
I can't believe my baby is 2!!
As soon as I got home from visiting Heather in Gainesville...It was time to plan the birthday party. I was feeling extra creative for this one for some reason. Little Mermaid would be the theme. So I tried to transform the kitchen and nook area to feel like we were under the sea. I draped the ceiling with plastic strips, hung fish with fishing line, had small balloons floating freely all over the ceiling (for bubbles), sea animal balloons, and even a bubble machine blowing bubbles all over. It turned out really cute! Her cake had a Mermaid doll on the top with edible sea horses and shells. She had a great time! Unfortunately, Sydney now has high expectations for her party in June! :o)
