Lotioned Up

It got very quiet one day. A little TOO quiet. Some investigating was needed to find where K had gotten into that made her SO quiet.

This was what I found:

She knows I keep lotion in the bottom drawer in the bathroom, because we use it after every bath on her. She happened to pick a bottle that had turned rather soupy because it is 8 yrs old. The smell brought me back to first being married in our quaint apartment, since it was a gift from a friend when we got married. So note to self: Lotion does not last forever. K believes that if it's good for skin, it's got to be good for the lips too, hence the lotion on her mouth.

Potty Training

I finally decided that I was going to buckle down and really start potty training. The first week in June was upon us and I had been warming K up to the idea by making her sit on the potty and trying to get her to go on there. Sometimes we hit at the right time and other times we would miss it. So we went straight into big Girl panties and we haven't looked back, except at nap time and bed time are the diapers still in place.
I do have to say we've been pretty successful most of the time. We have had a few accidents, or should I say many at home, but so far only twice in public have we had a serious accident. It is the oddest thing, in public she will tell me she has to go, like 4 times in a row we went at the quilt store. It was kind of bothersome because sometimes nothing happened, but she was telling me right? So I would rather go than wait and see a puddle on the floor. Now that would be embarrassing. At home is where we have the puddles. Just to get the point across, she did get a spanking for doing it on the floor and just watching, and we did put a container of Canadian smarties in the cabinet in the bathroom to make giving a reward easier to remember. Sometimes she tells me she wants a "pea" and we have to differenciant between a "piece" of candy or we really have to "pee".

This is probably more than anyone wanted to know, but this is what we have been doing. So if you come to our door, just be warned that clothing is sometimes optional for the 2 yr old and you may see more than you bargained for. :)

My Horse

Emma, or "Ima MoonBar" is a 10 yr old Registered Paint mare that is for sale. Unfortunately. She has been a good horse, but sometimes a not so good horse. Chalk it up to the female factor sometimes. Her pen mate, Saber has found a new home in Meeteetse on a ranch working cows. I hope everything is going well with him.

We really have hated to get rid of our animals, but we haven't been fair to them either. We don't own pasture so they are fed year round, which right now thereis no hay to be found. We haven't used them in the last two years like we have previously, due to a new person joining our family 2 years ago. And we don't live with our horses making access a little more work to get out there. So we will look for other homes and wish them well and we will fill the horse holes in our hearts with our friends horses, for now.

We ventured out as a family on May 7th to take some photos of K with Emma or better known as "Ride". This girl can spot a 'ride' or a dog miles away. Horses are known as ride in her little mind. Maybe she just knows that that's what they are for.
The bellowing cows in the background were a little frightful for Miss K. So we had to have a closer look to quiet the fears.

Meeting the horse was another fear that was quickly overcome. Giving Emma some treats helped. K would have fed her the whole bag if we would have let her. She wasn't too sure about her eating from her hand so she ended up dropping most of them. Once Katelyn gained confidence around the horse, I had to really watch her because she would go trucking behind her or around her. She loved to groom the part she could reach which was about belly high, so Emma got a belly scratch.
Then it was down to the round pen for a ride.
Miss Independent, once she got the jist of what was going on, she had to do it herself. I wasn't allowed to touch the reins, but I snuck my hands in there when I needed to.

Look at the determination on her face. "This horse will follow me!"

(I would upload video but they aren't working right now)

So after a couple of rides it was time for a snack. It was kind of a last minute decision to head out there so I grabbed what I could. I cucumber, grapes and wheat thins. No one complained.

It was a good day!

Where did May go?

So it's been a month since I've blogged. I'm sorry that I haven't had much to report here, so I'll do my best to try and catch up on the last month.

Rain. That's all I've got to say. Wyoming has had rain for most of the month of May. Many of the locals have said they have never seen so much moisture in the spring. Flood watches are out for a lot of places. The spring run off took a lot longer to get here, but the dam has been letting out water to make room for the runoff. Water for irrigation has been flowing since the beginning of May but no one has had to irrigate with all of the rain. That is a blessing. I love the rain too. But, it did delay the garden going in until yesterday. Oh well. Now the wind is battering the tiny plants I have sitting on my freezer since the 2nd week in May. Yes, I was anxious to buy some greenery. The Cucumber plants have twisted their stems in the wind, causing me to buy two more replacements today. These will be planted after the wind goes away and lets them grow. The flowers went in a couple of days ago and they don't look too good. The new ones I bought a couple of days ago look great!

We acquired some debt over the last couple of years which we have wanted to see gone. This is the year of no more debt! We've sold a few big ticket items that have helped us pay off what we owe. It wasn't acquired due to a want, it was due to the rollercoaster of work that is called construction. It has been so nice these last couple of months to have a paycheck coming in every two weeks with Jason's job at the hospital, minus the huge expense of fuel! The last 2 months, he has been getting smaller jobs to do in the evenings which has gotten us ahead! We sold his tool trailer, horse trailer and his horse. Mine is up for sale and needs to go. Not that I want her to, but we haven't been utilizing them since we've had Katelyn and we can't keep them where we live. So with the rising cost of hay and right now the shortage of hay, we are letting them go. I am sad to see that part of our life disappear for now, but God knows our hearts and our desires and maybe in the future we will have horses again. For Katelyn's sake, I hope it's sooner rather than later.

I'm really drawing a blank as to what we did in May. It doesn't help that I haven't taken many pictures to refresh my memory. I forget to buy batteries and then I look at the price and pass on them. Yes, I'm cheap, but I must remember some time soon.

2 Yrs Old!

My baby is now a 2 yr old! The past 2 years seemed to have flown by and a little girl has emerged from the bundle we brought home.

We were blessed to have my parents come down Thursday - Tuesday for the special occasion. Jason's parents came down Saturday-Sunday. So we celebrated Katelyn's birthday on Saturday with LOTS of gifts. We bought her a little kitchen set, so that was our Saturday morning project of erecting the plastic structure made of a million pieces. Oh the joys of being parents, the assembly! Thanks to the handy dandy hubby, complete with cordless drill, it didn't take long at all. Nana and Papa Derksen got her some colorful dishes and my sister Gina sent a set of stainless steel pots and pans with baking sheet and rolling pin. Quite set for a 2 yr old! Auntie Janesa sent lots of cute clothes for summer, which is always appreciated by me. Grandma & Grandpa Pellegrino got her some Veggie tales movies and Clifford, a felt flower purse that we had to sport on Sunday, and a pink spikey ball that squishes. It's her new favorite thing. There were sticker books from her 2nd cousin Sephira and money from her great grandpa Peters. This girl made out in the gift department. There were other clothes and books from some friends here as well. She was definitely celebrated.

She became a pro at ripping off that paper!

Sporting the new ball. She takes this thing everywhere now. She sleeps and eats with it, and yesterday it went to the post office with us. It kept her occupied for as long as it took me to send off a package, which was nice. She was quiet and stayed right next to me without holding my hand. We're making some progress in that respect.

I thought that cupcakes would be a simple birthday cake with not a lot of left overs. So black bottom cupcakes with chocolate icing were in order and were a big hit with K.
She could even blow out the candles on her own!




Happy 2nd birthday Katelyn, We Love You So Much!

Alberta Bound

This has been my Canadian Anthem lately. I've always wanted to be a western girl living in the West and Alberta was always my dream. Little did I know that God would have me in the west just south of Alberta. One day I'll be Alberta Bound too, to the Calgary Stampede! Another dream on my "bucket list".

April

Wow, where has the time gone?

I don't have, or so it seems, any new pictures of Katelyn. Maybe I haven't downloaded from the video camera, but she is just a busy ball of fun! Last Saturday it was so nice outside, that I sent her out with her daddy to play in the backyard so I could get some cleaning done. She spent the whole morning outside and didn't want to come in for a nap. She loved it! And it was nice enough for a light jacket and then no jacket. She totes her pail and shovel around, picking up rocks from the garden or dirt from my flower boxes. I was in the front yard and could hear her singing behind the house. She was just loving it. It's so nice that the yard is fenced and we can let her run around, of course someone is always with her. I packed up a simple lunch and had our first picnic outside. Just didn't want to mess with having lunch inside when everyone was outside already and the clean up is so easy. She loved the idea of sitting on the blanket and sneaking our dog Tucker some morsels of bread. When the dog is around food, she knows he'll eat it if it's dropped, which is just a thrill for her. She loves her dog, "Ducker". She's caught on to how we talk to him when he's being annoying or he barks outside. She's taken on that commanding tone of voice with him too. It's kind of funny! If any dog barks, "dog, no" or some other babble. We've definitely got a talker on our hands.

Last week, I started helping a girl from church with her daycare, in Cody. It's only for 3 hrs a day and it means that both Jason and I are going to Cody. Jason has been driving with our Pastor's wife, Diana, since she has to drop her son off at the high school which is across from the hospital, so jason can walk. But that means I'm getting Katelyn up early to drop him off at the pick up spot and then heading back home and then driving to Cody at 12:45pm. I'm doing it because we need the extra money. Even though everything I make is going towards the fuel that we use. It's nice that Jason has steady income, but with our bills, everything is pretty much gone with no money for fuel. So hopefully this is going to help. Sometimes it doesn't really feel like it and I'd rather just stay at home, but is has gotten me out of the house which is something that I need and Katelyn can learn to interact with some kids. She's not charging me to bring Katelyn, other wise it wouldn't even be an option if I helped her or not. I'm just sick of the runny noses of the younger ones. And I'm so anti-daycare. Germs are just crossed way to easily and no one gains in it. I've been reading a book called, Home By Choice, and it's a psychotherapist who talks about the needs of children in the first years of life and how they bond to their caregivers, which relates to how they may perceive their relationships with the parents. It's from the 90's but it makes so much sense. Our society has gotten it backwards, putting children last and job first. Of course there are those cases where there is only one parent, but I'm saying in a healthy 2 parent family, why can't the mother stay home and do what God has designed her to do? We've gotten into the selfishness of wanting more things or bigger homes that we think we need to incomes, but the children suffer from lack of parental attention.
I'll get off my soap box now.

Other than that, it has been a quiet month. We've got a few things we're trying to sell, with some bites but nothing has been sold. Jason had his tool trailer sold, but the other party couldn't get the money they needed to buy it. So that was a blow and it's sitting for sale again. We just need to get out of a hole that having no work has put us in at different times. We are so over debt! Debt or mortgage, I can't remember, means "in death's grip". And yes it is. God knew what he was trying to protect us from when he told the Israelites not to owe a man anything because they own you. That's my paraphrase.

Thanks for reading this novel. Sorry it's not much but that's where we are at.
Have a good day