Happy Birthday, Susanna!

Yesterday was my 3rd child's 9th birthday.  She enjoys her birthday so much, it's funny. Hannah had classes at college that day, so she had to leave early, but this is what she wrote on fb, which was really cute:

 Happy ninth birthday to the best blonde,blue eyed, goofy, silly, funny, gorgeous, bareback riding, rodeoin' little sister there ever was! Love you, Susanna and I'm so thankful we're sisters, you inspire me and make me laugh everyday!

 She wanted to make a box cake, so she made that and then decorated it.  

 She wanted apple cinnamon scones for breakfast, so we made that together, except we forgot to put in the salt because my 15 yr old son called saying he shot a buck with his bow.  He's never gotten a deer with his bow before, so he was pretty excited & Susanna went ballistic.  I said to her, "you know what this means, right?"  She was beet red, spinning in circles, clapping her hands & laughing what we call her "evil laugh."  She shouted, "yes, venison!"  I said, "No, it means tracking the deer, gutting it, hanging it, skinning it, quartering it & butchering it...on your birthday."  She jumped up and down and yelled, "I love helping with all that stuff! Can you finish the scones so I can get dressed to help track it? I'll be able to find it with my eagle eyes searching for venison!"

This girl is something else.  She's going to be a hunter and wants to marry one, too.  She is a lot like me, but not in this aspect.  My husband hunts...but I'd never go with him, unless he wasn't going to shoot anything. I respect hunting, love that my husband is so careful & respectful of the animals he hunts & we eat them...but, I don't want anything to suffer.  I can't stand thinking of animals/people suffering.  So...my concern was: did Jonah get a good shot & did it die right away?  Sometimes it's hard to find the deer after they're shot with a bow...they hide to die. He said it was 20 ft away, & he thought he hit it in the lungs & he had a clear shot, so it sounded promising.
So, she sets out with the guys to look for the deer.  They couldn't find it, so they called a friend who has a dog trained to track deer.  
Meanwhile, Susanna & I go out for her birthday lunch.  We went to Friendly's and she asked all kinds of questions about when she was a baby and a toddler.  She laughed delightedly about the things I told her.  She was such a mama's girl when she was little...my only one that was like that.  She was my only one that nursed really well...for 3 years-lol.  She's still my girl, but boy, did she break out of her shy self & turn into a precocious, funny, tomboy-wild pony.  She loves animals & really seems to have a way with them.  She plays with animals more than people.  She can now ride 3 of our horses bareback at a lope, one of them at a run.  She amazes me all the time.

When we got back, Alyssa (5) informed me that she had run all over the countryside with Daddy, Jonah & a lady with a dog looking for the deer.  She was covered in little scratches, stick-um seeds, etc & described falling over branches, rocks, falling into mud holes, etc.  She's a bit of a princess compared to her other sisters, so I asked her how she did with all that & she straightened up, looked proud & said, "well, I kept up with them!" LOL

Unfortunately, the deer was not found :(  I was kind of upset about that & had been praying for that poor deer all day. Jonah was upset about it, too.  He got his first deer last year with a gun, but this one was his first buck.  With a bow.  

Then the farrier came to trim 2 of the horses & shoe 3 of them.  Thankfully, my 2 older children help pay for their horses's needs.  We have our last rodeo in a week & a half, so after that, they don't need shoes till next spring.  The rodeo series this summer is a whole 'nother post I need to write. :)

That night we had Susanna's requested dinner (sun dried chicken & tomatoes with pasta) and my MIL was over.  My husband really gets into the singing.  Here he is next to Susanna.  He gets so crazy with the singing that the rest of us laugh more than sing.

After dinner, cake & presents, everyone had outside chores to do & we had to round up the beef cows.  4 of the cows are going to auction today.  A cow-calf pair, 2 heifers, so they'll probably go for breeding stock, I'm hoping.  We kept 3-our sweet Mama Cow, a steer that is ready to butcher this month & a steer will be ready next year (Mama Cow's calf from last year).

At the end of the day, I read Caddie Woodlawn to the little girls.  Susanna says Caddie is just like her.  Yes, I think so, too.  Which is why I chose that book. :)  Then she had another surprise on her special day...she lost a tooth!  
What a day. :)