Kyle is home!!!

Even though the title of my post is "Kyle is home!!"  You will not see any pictures of him in this post.  Yes,  I am behind in my blogging again!  These pictures are from this past weekend & Kyle did not get home until Tuesday morning.  I can't even put in to words how nice it is to have Kyle home. He had been rodeoing up in the northwest for the past 3 weeks.  He flew into Denver & Chip hauled the horsed out to him, picked him up & went on to Pueblo.  Thank goodness for Chip!!!  He has made several trips this year hauling horses to Kyle & often times taking the girls with him so they can see Kyle.  Kyle's time in the Northwest was a very frustrating trip.  He didn't draw the steers he needed to to make good runs.  Pueblo finally went well!  He was 4.9 on his first steer & 3.5 on his 2nd.  He won the 2nd round & split 3/4th in the average. It was a good note to home home on! It is so comforting to have Kyle around.  Whitney really wants nothing to to with me if she has the option of being with her Daddy!  It will not be long & he will be back on the road again, so we are going to enjoy the few days we have as a family. 

Friday was Kyle's birthday.  Kyle was on the west coast, but we celebrated without him!  Marilyn had us all over for supper & fixed a prime rib.  The kids had a great time with Cinnamon.  He is such a good ol' pony!  So calm & gentle. 

We had a really busy day on Saturday.  I stayed up until mid-night
Friday night trying to get all my house work done after my kids went to bed so I could just enjoy them on
Saturday.  We did some house work, mixed up some cookies & spent most of the morning close to home.  After we ate some dinner we loaded up & went over to Chip & Marilyn's so I could run the chute while Chip scored some steers on Rambo.  Trying to keep Rambo in shape to get back on the rodeo trail.  Kyle has been hauling with other guys this summer & they did not have room for Rambo.  Kyle feels like he bulldogs much better on his own horse & we are down to crunch time for 2012 rodeo season.  Jenae scored on the hazing side on Spud.  Wonder how long until Kyle & Chip get her trained to haze :-) The girls played with puppies a little bit then we went to visit my co-worker, Natalie, at her brother's gravel pit. They camp there a lot & it is only 7 or 8 miles from our house.  We had a great time walking in the sand & playing with all the clam shells.  From there we made our way over to visit the Blackmores.  It is so nice to have Hope & her family live near by so we can pop in to see them easier than before.  After our afternoon of visiting were all pretty wore out!  We made some homemade pizza for supper, rented a movie & called it a night! 

Sunday I got up & took the girls to Sunday School.  Whitney fell asleep right before Church so we ended up skipping Church.  Our only real project we did Sunday was cut out, bake & decorate our cookies we mixed up the day before.  Not a real fun project to do with a crabby baby!  Whitney is in major teething mode & was Miss Fussy Pants on Sunday! 

Trey & Aubree Joy having a great time!

Aubree working on her trick riding!

I love this picture.  So much activity around 1 little pony!

Jenae's trick on Cinnamon.

2 happy babies!!   I am thinking these two are going to be quite the pair!

Aubree, Jenae & Ross at the gravel pit.  Jenae was throwing a clam back in the water. 

Whitney at the gravel pit.  She was really thinking about putting that handful of sand in her mouth.

Jenae, Ryan, Ross & Aubree on top of the big pile of gravel.

Sliding down the pile!

Aubree & her clam shell.

Jenae & Ross looking for the perfect clam shell.

Ben giving Chase & Whitney a ride in the wagon.

Trey buzzing Aubree around the yard.

Whitney & Chase

Jenae & Aubree decorating hand cookies

We saw this idea on the Pioneer Woman's TV show that is on the food network.  It was a really fun idea & my girls loved doing it.  It was a bit of work & balancing that with a needy 11 month old was a bit of a challange.  We will make sure Kyle is home to help with Whitney before we make cut out sugar cookies again!

Aubree & her finished project.

Jenae eating her cookie.

Wednesday

Well Aubree was supposed to start preschool yesterday, but her teacher was sick, so they are now not starting preschool until Monday.  Aubree was so sad that she did not get to start.  She said to me "but Mom, I was so looking forward to starting!"  It is hard to explain to a 4 year old why school would not be starting when she thought it would.  I planned a very busy day to keep her mind off of "having" to spend a day with me!

We started by heading out to do our chores (feeding the horses, chickens, cats & Buster) then it was kitty time!  Whitney was so happy as long as she kept a kitty in her arms.  She did pretty good, not being too rough.  Sometimes Aubree or I had to pry the kitty from her tight little grip around the kitty's neck.

We went on a walk & found some milk weed pods & I snapped a few pictures of Aubree with the flowers in the ditch.  This is my favorite of year to take pictures.  I want to try to get some pictures of all my kiddos.  Maybe that will this weekend's plan.

It was starting to warm up outside so we moved to the house for the rest of our activities.  We did some baking  & some playing. 

Jenae got home from school around 4:00.  She had fun playing with Aubree & Whitney.  We spent the evening relaxing & getting things ready for the next couple days.  I actually made it to bed by 10:00.  More than I can say for tonight!  I do not remember the last time I got to bed before 11:00.  Anyone who knows me very well knows I am not a night owl.   Being sleep deprived is probably the hardest part of having Kyle gone this summer.  The other challenge I am having while being a single parent for the summer is juggling  3 kids different bed time routines.  I really hand it to you single moms!  It is not an easy task to raise children by yourself.  I am thankful that do have Kyle at least part of the year!

I am looking forward to another low key weekend.  They are calling for good chances of rain for the weekend.  We will continue to pray that we get a good soaking rain. 

Whitney holding a baby kitty.  She loves the kitties so much!!

Aubree Joy

My little photo subject

Aubree, my soon to be preschooler!

Aubree doing her part to help me make some homemade graham crackers.  Such a happy little baker!

Aubree rolling our the dough.

Aubree helping Whitney some yogurt.  I have a picture of Jenae feeding Aubree some yogurt at this when Aubree was Whitney's age.  I think Aubree feeding Whitney was a little more messy than when Jenae fed Aubree.

Aubree & Whitney were having a lot of with a crib full of babies!  They played in Whitney's crib for almost an hour.

Sunday

We had a very relaxing Sunday.  We went to Sunday School & Church.  I am not sure why I bother going to church when Kyle is gone???!  Whitney was not the most fun!  She was chatty to start with then got fussy.  I spent most of the time in the nursery.  Oh well, I am sure will do it all over again next Sunday too!

After Church we ate some dinner, did some house work then went over to Marilyn's house for the afternoon.  Marilyn helped me with setting my external hard drive up & also took up some pants for Jenae.  We also took puppy pictures so Marilyn could update our puppy blog.  They are starting to get so cute  The girls had a great time getting in some puppy love.

It was so nice to have a nice quiet weekend!  The only thing that could have made it better is if Kyle was home with us.  Another 6 weeks of the 2012 rodeo season left.  It has been a long summer, I am so ready to have my hubby home!

Aubree helping with the dishes.  I hope she will want to do them 10 years from now as much as she like to do them now!

Whitney crawling toward a puppy.

The girls getting in some puppy time!

Whitney getting some love from one of the puppies.  She is going to be sad when the puppies find new homes.

Look who is standing!!!  She will stand for a long time, but has yet to take her first step.

Jenae with three puppies on her lap.

Happy Birthday Chase

We had a beautiful day to help a special little boy celebrate turning 1.  Hope & Ben had us all over for grilled burgers & all the fixings!  Ben was on call & ended up getting called out so Chip was in charge of the grill.  Everything was really yummy & the weather was perfect to sit out & enjoy there awesome patio. 

Ben made it back in time to help Chase blow out his candle. The birthday cupcakes Hope made were so good!  I ate 2 of them :-)  We Skyped Kyle so he could be part of the day. 

The kids had a great time playing.  It is fun to see Chase & Whitney starting to interact with each other.  Hope & Ben were so kind & kept my 3 girls over at there house for the afternoon so I could get an  project in my attic done.  It has been a really long summer with Kyle gone for pretty much most of it.  There are some things around that house that are hard to get done without someone here to keep the girls out of harms way.  Poor Whitney is still wearing her 6-9 month clothes & they are looking a little short on her.  When I am here by myself when I need to get things down from the attic I have to throw them down & I am always afraid Whitney will have crawled over & be at the bottom of the ladder when I go to throw things down.  It was a big project, but so glad it is done!  Aubree spent the night with them & went to a birthday party for Ben's Aunt.  I guess she had a great time & made some friends. 

Jenae, Whitney & I had a quiet evening at home! 

The birthday boy!  Chase is 1!

Ben helping Chase blow out his candle.

Singing "Happy Birthday" to Chase.

Chip grilling the hamburgers.  Marilyn playing with the kiddos.

Whitney playing the cat.



Trey loves giving his cousins rides on his 4 wheeler!

Chase & Whitney were very entertained by their corn during dinner!



Whitney enjoying her corn on the cob.



I think it is safe to say that Chase is a fan of corn on the cob.




Grammy reading to the kids.

-

Chase:  "Hey Cuz, check out my new wheels"
 Whitney "Fun! I think I will take a ride with you"
Chase "I think Not!"
Whitney "ok, maybe next time"

First Day of School

Ahhh.... I am finally caught up with my blog!!!  I am actually posting about today!  It is 11:00 at night, but I am bound & determined to get it done!  We had a really good day.  Jenae is officially a 3rd grader & LOVES it.  When I put her to bed tonight she said "I love being in the 3rd grade, it is the best grade so far."  I am sure her enthusiasm will wear off, but I am glad she loves school. 

Aubree starts preschool next Wednesday so I wanted to make the most of this  Wednesday as I could with her.  We had a fun day. When we got home from taking Jenae to school I did a little bit of laundry, but the rest of the morning I was having lots of fun with Aubree.  We had a tea party, played old maid, went on a nature walk & played grocery store.  It is hard for me to take a break from house work to play, but I need to do that more often.  It is not that I love house work, it is just hard to find time to get everything done that I need to do & find time to play. 

When Jenae got home from school we went over to play with the puppies.  Hopefully this weekend we will get some pictures of the puppies posted.  They are getting so cute!!

My big girl 3rd grader.  Where does the time go??? 

Aubree gathering things on our nature hunt.

Aubree walking down the driveway with her treasures she found on our walk.

Our horses have a couple extras in their pasture.  The goats decided the horse pasture was a better place to hang out than their pen,.  I am so ready for the goats to go back to their owners :-) 

Whitney was a happy girl at breakfast :-)