Thanksgiving!

I don't think I've ever had a busier Thanksgiving than this year. I am finally in my house and so I offered to cook dinner. I ended up feeding about sixteen people and started the day at 5 am after three hours of sleep. (Tyse is getting sick - poor guy.) With cleaning and cooking, I finally got everything done and sat down to eat at about 3. It was a great dinner and we had so much that food that I actually forgot to serve the stuffing! I had it warming in my roaster and kept reminding myself to take it out before I forgot - needless to say - I forgot. The funny thing is - no one noticed until after dinner was done because we had so much food! My refrigerator is now completely stocked for the next month. It was great being with family and being able to visit with them and to realize how many blessings I do have and can be truly grateful for!

(Thats my aunt and I trying to get the turkey on the platter (it was a fresh turkey too so it was really yummy) and in the background you can see the notorious roaster hiding the stuffing lol! and the other picture is of Lex with my niece Keelie.)

Harry Potter???

Ok, I know that I am a little odd and obsessed but I was thinking that the 6th Harry Potter movie was to be coming out shortly. I have been without TV for the last month or so and have been feeling a bit lost so I got online to read some news and decided to find out when the movie would be coming out. I can honestly say that I was disappointed to see that it would not be opening until July of next year and not in the coming weeks as originally anticipated. I've watched some of the trailers and it looks amazing - I guess I will just have to wait and wait and wait.....

Our Thankful Tree...

I got this great idea from my friend Brenda. For FHE, they did a Thankful Tree and wrote what they were grateful for on leaves and made a tree out of it. So I borrowed her idea and did the same thing with Lex and Tyse. It was so cute and funny to see what they came up with. With Thanksgiving being at my house this year, I thought it was a great way for the kids to start to understand what it means to be thankful for things, people, blessings, etc. It was so much fun to spend some good quality time with my kiddos and to see them and their personalities in full. Here are a few pictures.

My beautiful babies...

For the last couple of days the kids have been visiting with their dad - which is wonderful for them. They enjoy his visits so much and they are so excited when he comes to visit. I'm so grateful that they do have such a loving father that wants to provide so much for them and wants to be there for them whenever he can and more, but I miss them so much when they are gone. It truly makes me realize how blessed I am to have them and to be their mother. It also makes me realize how short I do fall at not spending the quality time with them that I aught. Work tends to get in the way by working 9 hour days and sometimes an occasional 14 hour day. I truly realize how blessed I was to be able to spend my days with Lexus for the first four years of her life. With Tyse I was able to stay home with for the first year to year and a half with only working about 1 or 2 days a week. I know that I am blessed to have the life I have and that my father has provided so much for me so that I don't have to work as much as most. My kids have made my life so fulfilling even when they may drive me crazy lol. Since being in our own home, they have been doing so much better with their little quirks and they are so excited to have their own rooms and space. Its so wonderful to truly feel like we are settled for the first time in over two years. I can't describe how truly blessed I am and how completely loved my children make me feel. I love them so much and can't wait to continue to see them grow and learn.

Potty Training Help!!!

I'm in desperate need of potty training help for Tyse. He seems like he is ready and he'll go in the potty with the incentive that he'll get a piece of candy when he is done, but he is so stubborn about it. Lex was so much easier, but I was also home with all the time too. I'm very frustrated that I can't be home with him like I was with Lex and be able to all the things I used to. Having to rely on daycare is difficult. Don't get me wrong, I'm extremely lucky and blessed to have the daycare I do have - they are great but its just not the same. I'm hoping to really work on potty training over the Christmas break - I won't have work for two weeks, but if anyone has any ideas - I would greatly appreciate them!

The Misfortunes of Home Ownership...

We are finally into our house! Sort of, I'm still in the unpacking phase. Last week however, we had some extremely cold weather (it got down to 8 degrees) and my little manufactured home has yet to be skirted. Which means that pipes are exposed, but the exposed pipes are heat taped and insulated. Unfortunately, it did not stop mother nature from freezing one of my pipes underneath the house encased in insulation. I thought I was fortunate enough to have had a frozen pipe without a burst or leak. For several days, I felt secure in this knowledge until Sunday morning when I was walking around my dining room table and my feet became soaked. I thought one of my darling children might have spilt something but I hadn't given them anything, so my fears grew and I went to look underneath my home. To my great dismay, water had started to pool and the plastic covered insulation was bulging. I poked a hole to help drain it and started to dry my carpeting. Needless to say my Sunday became a stress filled day of trying to find someone to help, but to no avail. Fortunately, the people that I bought my house from are going up today to hopefully get it fixed. The joys of home ownership....

The End of Riding Lessons

Lex had her last riding lesson last week and I can honestly say while I'm sorry to see that she isn't riding I'm not sorry to getting home late every week. She did great and loved riding and she wants to keep going when they start back up in the spring. Its getting too cold now to continue. Since Tyse wasn't feeling photogenic at Halloween I've added a few more pictures of him when he was feeling rather happy. His terrible twos are getting worse but his sweetness is also growing so its a Jekyl and Hyde kind of situation. Lex however is busy with so many school things and wants to keep even busier; she's is quite the social butterfly although thats the main problem at school that we are trying to work on.

Halloween

This year Halloween was a little crazy because of trying to get all moved into our house! So I convinced Lex to wear her Belle costume I made for her birthday last year and Tyse was easy - Scooby Doo (how can you go wrong). Trick-or-Treating was great, we did a short loop the night before in Rocker and Lex had a great parade. Sorry for all the pictures, but I couldn't resist.

Rodeo

Since I haven't blogged in forever, here comes an overkill of blogs. One of the things that I have been doing is photographing roping events. Its been really fun, so I thought I'd post a picture of one of the pictures I have taken. Its amazing how many you take. The very first event, back in May, I took almost 4000 pictures in 2 1/2 days! It was almost exhausting and in some ways I didn't care if I ever took another picture again. But I got over it, although I have been taking senior pictures and it seems to have thrown off the pictures I do need to take of my children so hopefully that will happen soon, since I didn't order school pictures.