Leo & Buttercup

 So both of our girls have a serious love affair with horses-and dogs too for that matter-and any time we are driving or walking and see one of either kind I hear about it.  Alli will tell me all about them and Ilene just makes sounds-giddyup for horse or oo oo (woof woof missing some consonants) for a dog :).  They are not afraid and love petting and playing with animals.  Lucky for us our neighbors behind us and across the street from us have Shih tzus (sp??? all I know is hearing Alli say it is comical-think proper pronunciation with a giant gap between the spaces resulting in a mix of a swear word and a sneeze) and Doug across the street is a widower so he is happy to have visitors and Shea (his dog) loves the girls almost as much as he does and our back neighbors are seriously like an additional set of grandparents! They both work and their daughter moved out so they asked if they could hire Alli to take Leo out during the day.  Umm pretty sure she doesn't need to be paid (which is what I told them) but they were insistent that she be paid since it is kind of a pain at times.  But she is probably one of the most content employees anywhere! Ilene looks out our kitchen window and starts "barking" and pointing and trying to get me to take her to get Leo so she is thrilled with the arrangement as well.  And as for me it works great because they have the perks of a dog without all of the responsibility and I don't have a dog in my house! He is a cute little dog though for the most part. 

We are so lucky with our neighbors, seriously behind us and next door Alli and Ilene have two extra sets of grandparents that probably love them almost as much as they love their own grandchildren! These last few weeks Alli and Ilene have had quite a few opportunities to ride horses as well which they have both loved.  We went to a horse show at the fairgrounds a few weeks ago and the next week went to a high school rodeo there (yeah we are pretty bigtime, but they love it and it is free so it is great entertainment!).  The lady sitting next to us had us watch her Italian Mastiff (GIANT dog!) for a few minutes after we become friends and it ended up her daughter was participating in the rodeo (I know, odd that most people at the rodeo were actually watching a certain person...haha) and she offered to let the girls ride her horse.  Well obviously Alli was super excited at the chance so out behind the barn we went.

 Last fall we went to a fundraiser for some of the girls in our neighborhood who are cheerleaders.  They had a silent auction (and it wasn't quite like the recent Office episode with Dwight and the silent auction :)  ).  and we got some crazy deals on stuff! We got a dental visit (cleaning, exam, x-rays, and whitening) for $11 and Alli a horse riding lesson for 12-15$.  I finally got it all set up and last Saturday we took her for her lesson.  She LOVED it, a whole hour just being around and riding a horse! First they got the horse out of the pasture and brushed it, picked its hooves, and put the saddle etc. on.  Then Alli helped walk it up to the arena.  Her teacher was super nice and the pony she was on was fabulous.  Alli got to ride her (Buttercup) all around the arena and the teacher taught her how to "steer" with the reins and about half way through she was riding the pony all by herself telling it where to go.  Her teacher would point a direction or walk and have Alli go there.  Then Alli walked it around the other end of the arena around a chair and different "routes" while her teacher stayed back by us.  Alli was just so attentive and was loving it.  Ilene just loved being able to pat the horse often throughout the time :).    Then Alli walked Buttercup back down to the stable all by herself.  I was so proud of her! At the end she told me they should leave the house so we could live there with the horses.