Over the years I've started and stopped blogs. I don't think I really had my heart in it to keep one going. I made up my mind that I needed to keep track of things for Sprout's ( my dear daughter ) sake. She is in her 3rd year of 4H and just started club swimming. FarmBoy ( my wonderful husband ) works a full time shift job and farms our small farm. I for now am a full time programmer and hold down the house as well as make sure Sprout gets to the pool and meetings. We have a couple of wonderful folks who part time nanny and who will be helping with animal training this summer. Our life is full and crazy as we try to make sure everything gets done and we don't lose our minds in the process. I'm going to try to post the important things and lists that I live by to make sure we don't forget things and that keep my sanity and so I can try to use them from year to year.
4H differs from county to county and state to state. We are from Indiana and show in Boone County so most of my references revolve around here locally. FarmBoy is hoping that Sprout does a few shows locally this year for each of her animals so I might mention a few of those as well.
Sprout is also in a USA Swim club locally and meets could be anywhere in Indiana, but we usually only go to the local ones. Swim comes after 4H right now because that is Sprout's preference. It could change as she ages, but for now swimming is good exercise for her and she seems to enjoy it so we roll with it. She could swim 5 afternoons a week and Saturday morning, but she has chosen not to be that strict right now with school still in session. I don't want her to burn out so she doesn't swim on Wednesday nights, Saturday morning or nights that have a 4H meeting. Loads of my nieces and nephews have swam so she has been around this for most of her life. In fact the older ones that are out of school are slowly gifting her equipment like shammies, goggle cords and swim caps. I'm sure there will be more as she gets to that point in her skill level.
Let me give a little background to how I got to here. Sprout was born when I was an older mom. I have folks I went to school with who have grandkids that aren't that much younger than my kid. I was in 4H in my past but only did paper projects and cooking, etc. I didn't show livestock at all. My husband did do horse contesting, but not really livestock showing either. He grew up on a family farm and was around livestock most of his life. Sprout loves animals and it just seemed a natural fit for her to do 4H. We have other friends who kids show so we thought let's try it for a year and see if she likes it and here we are 3 years later still going strong. I've learned how to walk and shear sheep, walk and clip pigs, and how to handle a show stick and a steer. If you'd have told me that I'd be doing any of this I'd have laughed at you. It's not that I'm afraid of large animals I just didn't think it was my thing. I find I really like handling sheep the best. I might even open show one this year.
Well this is enough for now, but keep reading and I'll be talking more about what I do to prepare for a show and what FarmBoy and Sprout do to prepare for a show. We all have our job and they are very different.
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