Life School

This week, I decided that instead of doing "book school", we were going to do "life school".  My parents came in last Sunday night, so I knew the week would be full.  Very full.  And so it was....

 

My Mom brought us a whole schwack of apples from the Okanagon, including some baking apples, so we had to make up a few pans of apple platz!

 

Then, we had crazy amounts of snow..... (13 inches, I think!)

 

Which was beautiful, but it meant that we had to cancel some plans and have a couple of snow days!  Nana had brought some princess dresses for the Girls, so they had a tea party, complete with scones and hot chocolate.  They thought that was wonderfully fun!

 

 

All the while, the Girls continued to practice for the Canadian Dummy Roping Championship that was taking place at Farm Fair this week.

 

We ended up at Farm Fair a few days, and although we didn't have a chance to take in the CFR like we did last year, we did make it to watch some team penning, which was quite fun, as well as the Ranch Rodeo.

 

Finally, the Big Day....competition day!  Abby and Molly were quite nervous.  They started out the day by practicing roping out in the shop for about an hour.... in their pajama's.  I told them they had to practice with their hats, so they were quite the sight....

 

 

In the afternoon, we headed out to Farm Fair once again for the event.  We got there extra early so they could get some more practice in, and get a feel for where it would be taking place.  They were quite nervous, and rightly so.... I figured there was at least 300 spectators watching!  Molly's age category was second up, after watching the boys 5 and under - boy, were they ever cute! 

 

 

Each competitor takes 3 throws, and depending on how everyone does, they continue to rope off until they've placed everyone.  Molly missed all 3 throws, so she tied for 7th.  Then there was another boys category, and then Abby's category.  I'm not gonna lie - watching those girls practice, I thought that she wouldn't place.  However, I don't know if it was nerves or what, but she roped 2 of her 3 throws, and continued to catch until she ended up in 3rd place.  3RD PLACE!!  We were very, very proud of her her, and definitely surprised!  She won a nice halter with a leather nose band which has 2012 Canadian Dummy Roping Championship embroidered on it, and let me tell you friends, she wore that halter on her shoulder for the rest of the day like a badge of honor! 

 

 

What a great event it was, they had members from the Canadian Team Roping team on hand to help with ropes, give some tips, hand out prizes, as well as judge the event.  They had an MC, the rodeo princesses came to say hello....and parents and friends all cheered for our kids.  It was fabulous!  They said that this was their biggest event to date, with 76 competitors on hand. 

 

So there you have it... a great, exciting, busy, fun week of life school. 

 

And now, tomorrow, it's back to the book school....