Here chicken...chicken...chicken

Aubree's latest obsession along with fashion is our chickens.  If Aubree is not in the house, you can bet we will find her in the chicken pen, chasing the hens around.  These pictures were taken over the course of a week.



I am thinking the hens dread seeing her walk in their pen.



Aubree trying to catch a chicken by the tail feathers in her purple high heals.

Aubree & Whitney being entertained by watching the hens.



One rainy morning before I left for work, I found Aubree outside with the hens. 

She didn't mention that she was going outside, just got herself dressed and made her way out. 

She was so happy she caught this hen!



A Wonderful Wednesday!

We had such a great day yesterday.  It was a day full of sunshine & not much wind.  Kyle is on the road so it is just us girls holding down the fort.  I got so much done around the house & was even able to get outside and soak up some of the sunshine.  
It is such a good feeling to have my house in order (well some sort of order), bedding washed, laundry caught up, cookies made for the weekend & even had time to make some peas & sweet potatoes for Miss Whitney. 

When Jenae got home from school we loaded Whitney up in the stroller and went for a walk.  It felt so good to get out and enjoy the weather we have been so blessed with.  I was wanting to get a few things organized in the garage so I parked Whitney in her stroller next to the chicken and she was very entertained by watching the hens mill around their pen.  For those of you who do not know, my chicken pen is right next to my garage so I could keep a watchful eye on her while working in my garage :-)

Jenae & Aubree have been getting to help Chip cake the cows since Kyle is gone.  Jenae drives the pickup while Chip puts the cake out.  I am really would like to go along just to watch sometime :-)  The girls really look forward to Chip coming over to pick them up to head to the pasture.  According to Chip, Jenae does an ok job driving ;-) Thankfully it is a manual pickup so she can not get the pickup going very fast in 2nd gear ;-)

We have a busy day tomorrow.  Kyle is having a bunch of guys help him break in the steers for the Barn's Rodeo crew.  I think several guys are coming into night to stay the night & some will not be going home until Sunday.  It should be a nice day for it.  I am hoping to not spend the entire time in the kitchen & hope that I can get out and enjoy the sunshine for part of the day :-)  They are forecasting 80 degrees for tomorrow :-)

My little helpers!  Aubree & Whitney "helped" me make cookies. 



Boots, skirt & a purse!  We never know what Aubree is going to come up with wear for the day :-)



Jenae pushing Whitney in the stroller.  This is Whitney's first actual stroller ride :-)  She loved it!
 Jenae is so much help with Whitney



Aubree picking some cat tails! 

The past 3 weeks

The past few weeks have flown by!  We have been busy!  I will try to recap the past 3 weeks the best I can.  On an exciting note, Kyle did really well at San Antonio and it has jumped him to 8th in the PRCA world standings.  I am so very proud of him :-)  It was a progressive rodeo so he ended up being gone a little over a week.  It was hard to have him gone that long, but since he was doing so good it was worth it!  I do have to say I felt the difference with having 3 kids as compared to just 2!  This was the longest Kyle has been gone since I went back to work after Whitney was born.  I thinking it is going to be a long Spring/Summer rodeo season this year!  Jenae is really a lot of help, thankfully!  

2 weeks ago we went to my parents house for a long weekend.  We were going to go the week before, but Aubree came down with the stomach flu on Friday and Buster had gotten really sick the week before so we thought we better stay close to home.  We were able to go down to my parents house on Friday afternoon and we stayed till Sunday.  It had been a long time since we had been there for the entire weekend, but we had a great time!  We got to see Danielle and her family.  Whitney started to develop a cough while we were there and by Sunday she was not sounding very good.  Erin and her kids were planning to come hang out with us on Sunday before we headed for home, but didn't want to expose Jace to what Whitney had. 

Kyle took Whitney to the doctor on Monday morning.  She tested negative to RSV & Influenza.  They sent them home with nothing and said to bring her back if she started running a fever.  I was not too happy that they couldn't give her anything to help make her comfortable.  I understand that she is only 5 months, but it is so hard as a parent to sit back and watch your baby be miserable.  She did not get any better, however she really had not gotten any worse.  I called the clinic back on Thursday and said I needed something for her & they did prescribed breathing treatments.  They made a world of difference!  It makes me mad they did not prescribe them on Monday.  I can't see it would have hurt a darn thing!!  We spent the weekend at home trying to get her well. We did get out of the house on Saturday for a little bit to go visit the Blackmore family.  Now that the live closer, it will be so nice to have more opportunities to spend time together!  Jenae & Aubree LOVE to jump on their trampoline. Ben was a good sport and jumped with them as well.  It was a welcome break to get out of the house.   By Tuesday Whitney had quiet coughing and was back to my happy & healthy baby!!!  PTL!!!!!

Calving is in full swing at the Whitaker Ranch!  I have yet to go see the new calves yet, but love this time of year!  Jenae has taken on a new job this season.  When Kyle is not around to help Chip cake the calves, Jenae goes a long and drives for Chip.  Yes, my 8 year old drives!!!  She is pretty proud of her driving abilities!  She told me yesterday that she was driving 50 mph!  I was pretty sure she wasn't since it is a little difficult to go much past 20 in 2nd gear ;-)  So far calving seems to be going well.  The weather we are having is awesome!!!  Today it is almost 80 degrees & the forecast is mid 70's for the rest of the week. 

This past Saturday we made a quick trip to my parents house. Kyle was up at the Valley City Rodeo in North Dakota so thought it would be a good day for a road trip!  My Dad had accumulated some things of my Grandma's that he was wanting to pass on to use kids.  Some of the things brought back a lot of memories.  Erin had me take 3/4 month pictures of Jace.  He was such a happy little guy! 

I think we got a couple good ones!

The girls & I went to church on Sunday.  Kyle pulled down our driveway as I was walking out the door for church.  I am not a big fan going to church with the girls and not Kyle.  This week went well though.  Aubree hung out in the nursery with Sue & some other kids.  Jenae sat real good and actually took notes during church.  Whitney was a bit of a chatter box, but she was happy the whole time.  I think she had her own message she was preaching :-)

Jenae sporting her new haircut and the halter that my parents gave her for her birthday.  It has her horse's name embroidered on it.  She loved it ;-)

Whitney's first haircut

Two weeks ago, my cousin Heather came over and gave Whitney her first hair cut!  She was not even 5 months old, but you can see from the picture that she was in need of a little grooming! 

She sat really good for Heather & didn't mind the haircut at all!

Before the hair cut from the front.

Before the haircut on the side.  She had a bit of a mullet going on!

All smiles during the haircut. 

Whitney's new look :-)  Heather did a great job giving her a trim while still keeping as much
length as she could!