Meet Connely

My sitter was out of town last weekend which meant I had school duty for my Brown Eyed Girl. I had to remember to pack her lunch, prepare a water bottle, grab her backpack... all out of my normal routine. I have to be honest, I feel a little out of place when I have school duty. All of the mom's visit and chat about their kids while wearing gym pants and running shoes. I feel like I stick out like the elephant in the parade. 

Part of me might be a little jealous. 

Instead, I rush into school, sign my daughter in, kiss her goodbye and tell her to have a great day, and then rush right back out the door. No chatting, visiting, hanging around as the class starts.

When I picked her up from school that Thursday, the teacher presented me with my Brown Eyed Girls backpack and a canvas bag. My first thought was that my sitter's daughter had forgotten something earlier in the week and she was just sending it home with me. I asked.

I was wrong.

The teacher smiled and said, "This is Connely. It's your weekend." Still smiling as if I should know who Connely was.

I am pretty sure I had the most clueless expression on my face as I asked, "Connely???"

"Yep! Connely. He's a monkey. The class has had him for nine years. Take him home have an adventure and document it in his journal. See?" She sang with glee. 

"Uh...o...okay. Sure. Connely. Okay." I tried to smile. No doubt fear in my eye overruled.

OMG! Our first homework assignment. 

Let the good times begin.

I made a mental note for the weekend - don't forget the darn monkey. I got this. This will be great!

Meet Connely.

Unfortunately Fortunately, we had a busy week planned since the sitter was out of town. Lots to do. Lots of potential for documenting.

Connely, we live on a small farm. Get ready for a cowboy adventure weekend! Starting with getting hay tomorrow morning. Hope you are ready.

In the morning, we drove to Plattville for hay. The kids and Connely sat in the car while I loaded 84 really heavy bales of Alfalfa on the flatbed trailer. Once we were done, we headed home and posed with some pictures with Connely.

Mr Blue Eyes had to be in every shot. 

We were off to a great start. Perfect material for the journal!

...and then Saturday slipped away. Out of sight. Out of mind.

Sunday Morning, my Brown Eyed Girl drug Connely out of her room when she woke.

Ahhhh the monkey! Shoot. 

Impromptu blueberry muffins for breakfast. Connely, grab a bowl.  

Documentation complete.

Excited again about Connely, my Brown Eyed Girl asked if we could take Connely out to ride PC. Good idea!

Jackets and rain boots on over jammies and out to the barn we went to feed the horses.

Connely got to meet Miss Kitty.

And Skip.

And the rest of the horses.

My Brown Eyed Girl was most excited to introduce Connely to her favorite horse, PC.

Connely was so excite to meet PC that when we asked him if he wanted to ride her he smiled big and jumped right on.

He even rode side saddle.

But his favorite horse was actually Henry - the burro. 

I felt really good about our home work assignment.

Then Monday slipped away.

God bless a snow storm on Tuesday because I completely forgot to get the pictures printed and document our adventure in Connely's Journal.

Then Tuesday slipped away.

Then Wednesday came and at 3:30 pm I freaked out at the office and realized I STILL had not printed the pictures out for the journal. I went online for an SOS option and jumped for joy when I found out you could email Walgreens photos and have them ready in an hour.

I picked up the kids, picked up our photos and headed home to complete our homework assignment.

A glass of wine and an hour later...

Ahhh nothing like a little procrastination!