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.

My kiddos!

The kids and were getting ready in the early morning hours (6:30 am) and I couldn't resist getting pictures because it was a morning when they weren't fighting me and were actually cooperating. Tyse is all excited to be dressed as a cowboy in his cowboy boots and cowboy shirt (which is growing smaller everyday). Lex was excited to have gotten up in time to have her hair done! She is getting so big and grown up - its sometimes hard to believe she was a baby at one point in time.

A Sad Day...

This week has been somewhat eventful in a sad way. On Sunday, Daisy, our jack russel puppy went missing and has yet to be found. It has been a very sad thing; she was such a sweet little thing and with the cold weather I have to admit that she may not return. We weren't that hopeful when Georgia disappeared, but the conditions were greatly different. Daisy is such a small little thing and yet she is amazingly aggressive and fast; both of which are to her advantage and disadvantage. She runs far and fast and yet the predatorial animals around here have been out in full force. The coyotes are very active and we think a mountain lion has been dwelling near by or visiting on a regular basis as two of my aunt's sheep have come missing. Its such a sad thing to think about.