Back from a blog break!

I'm back! Did you miss me? Probably not ha!

We've had lots going on in the last month - most of it horse related for Hannah. We are looking for a pony to buy for her, which is proving time consuming, and she's been spending time with Cracker and time at the riding school.

lesson on Murphy

Cracker love

Learning bareback

smart boy

helping out with baths

We went to Gaston Farm for their lambing event with some friends, Hannah was so happy to see a lamb being born, and had a fantastic day.

the lamb the girls saw being born

She went to her friends book themed birthday party as Pippi Longstockings and had a really fun time.

Pippi on the train!

Hannah's friend Izzy slept over at our house one day. They girls were soooooo excited, and had a lovely time. They dressed up, danced, played horse games, watched a film and slept in the lounge! The next morning I managed to get them both up and at the stables in time for their ride, there was even time for some impromptu gymnastics on the way.

All dressed up!

impromptu gymnastics 

 Hannah came home from the stables and caught up on all the sleep she had missed during the night!

floor bed

And we've had Easter!

Hannah had an Easter hunt at grandma's house before we all headed to my sister's for a lovely roast lunch. It was the nicest Easter Sunday, and we all really enjoyed it.

Hannah and Grammy

Then to round Easter off nicely, Hannah went to the (riding school) stables yesterday for gymkhana games and an Easter chocolate hunt.
She had the best time! They are such a nice group of children (and adults) and Hannah loves being there. She came home with a rosette and a bag of chocolate and lots of happy memories 😊 .

Halloween At The Stables

Hannah had an awesome day yesterday at the stables. There was a fancy dress competition, gymkhana games, games on foot, a treasure hunt, and Halloween activities for the children.  Hannah loved it all and didn't want to go home.

Fancy dress

                                                                     Gymkhana Games

She had really wanted a Halloween party, but a stables party was even better, she even made herself a riding friendly cat costume complete with ears on her riding hat. I think she is going to be wearing it until Christmas!

Home-Schooling, Dancing, Riding and Pianos...

Hannah has been asking for a while now if she can try ballet classes. It's been 7 years since she had a term at ballet, but she really does love to dance so I've been looking at the local possibilities for her. We found three classes, we watched one, made an appointment to watch another, and the third (Hannah's favourite choice) invited her to try out a class last night. She loved it! She came out of the class so excitedly and couldn't wait to tell us all about the class, and the lovely teacher and how she even knew how to do some of the exercises. According to Hannah she is absolutely, definitely, no question, going back every week for ever!

Nervously waiting to go in, they were excited nerves though so all was well!

After the excitement of dance, we headed over to West Wittering to collect a piano that we had been offered. Hannah has had piano lessons, but we've never had a piano for her to practice on and she really does want to progress, so being given a piano is a fantastic opportunity for her. She is absolutely thrilled with it, and even happier that she can still remember everything she learnt in her lessons.

School-wise, we've been doing a lot more at home instead of going to classes, and that has been working out well. Hannah is using Khan Academy for maths (she previously hated maths - now she even quite likes it!), we are carrying on with the science and geography books we've been using, as those are working well, and have plans to do some lap-booking with a small group of friends after half term. Hannah is practicing her writing skills by making up her own mythical creatures project, inspired by Harry Potter, and with the new piano we have music covered as well.

On Tuesday Hannah had a pony morning at the stables. She had had a bad night (nighttime anxiety), very little sleep, and morning transport issues with a train strike and long bus journey. She was at about breaking point when we arrived, and I wasn't sure she was going to cope. But her riding instructor is so great with her, she got her started with her favourite pony straight away and all was well.  She told me afterwards that she went into Murphy's stable, put her arms around him, and it all melted away. I am so glad she has the stables. The people there, and the ponies are so good for her.

Riding Coco

Hannah had a lovely lesson on Coco today, she hadn't ridden him for ages so it was good to have a change. He is the most adorable pony!

Another Week

Hannah had her first ever sleepover away from home this week. She had such a lovely time! She hasn't stopped talking about all the fun she had ever since she got back!

She has also had a riding lesson and had fun doing some races and small jumps.

We have been doing lots of math at home and science. Hannah has been working her way through the human body and has looked at the digestive system and the brain. She has also been making up her own lapbook on mythical creatures which i will photograph when it's finished.

We had some new friends over yesterday which was so nice. We are planning to see each other again soon. Hannah was really happy to find someone new to share her love of American Girl dolls with as they are still a big part of her interests. Her collection is up to 7 dolls now and she still has plans for more!

Dressed for dancing!

Ponies, Puppets and Projects

Hannah had a riding lesson this morning, She rode Tilly again who is fast becoming a favourite.

When we got home Hannah wanted to make something on the sewing machine. She decided on a quilt for her Emily Button rag doll. She chose the pieces of fabric and cut the squares, then together we sewed them. Hannah chose the backing and stuffed the quilt and then I made a little pillow to go with it.

                               
 Here is the finished quilt.

The quilt with the pillow,

 and here are Emily and her friends enjoying the quilt.

Hannah is so pleased with the way it turned out.

Also today we used an old drawer to make a puppet theatre. Hannah wanted to make up a winter play using her Folkmanis puppets , so we used the outer drawer frame as the theatre surround and Hannah used wool stuffing for snow. We made some cardboard pine trees and Hannah made up the story.

The puppets are a bear, rabbit, raccoon, moose and an owl

It was such a sweet play, the animals all built a snowman together in the forest.

Finally, still on a wintery theme, Hannah made a Christmas picture!

and that was Friday!