Weekend

We had a really good weekend, it was so nice & quiet.  We got a lot done around the house & managed to have some fun too!  It has been a while since I have picked up my camera & just caputred everyday life.  When I look back at my blog over the years it is pictures from our everyday life that I enjoy looking at the most. 

I am reading a book right now called "Cleaning House" by Kay Wills Wyma.  It is about a mom's 12 month experiment to rid her house of youth entitlement.  I am not too far into it yet, but far enough to know I need to make some changes  in my house if I want my girls to grow up to be self sufficient, responsible children.  I am guilty of being the Mom that does everything for my kids because it is easier to just do it myself than to teach my kids to do it.  What I am realizing is that I am not doing my kids any favors by being this way.  SO I am trying real hard to do less & have my kids do more.  As of right now, things are going great.  I really hope I can stick with this!  One thing I am doing is that I am making Jenae make 1 meal for our family a week.  She get to pick what she wants to fix (as long as we have the ingredients on hand) & I will be right with her every step of the way for now until she is experienced enough to do it on her own.  For her first meal she chose that she wanted to fix Prime Rib, however, we do not have any prime rib so that idea not nixed right away.  Her second choice was homemade pizza, so that is what we went with.  We made it a fun experience by doing pizza & a movie.

Sunday was a nice day to just be around the house.  We got some much needed rain & some warm temps for January!  It is giving us all spring fever with the nice weather we have been having.  Aubree asked me when we could go swimming in the creek??  I think it is going to be awhile before that!  Actually Thursday I think is a high of 12 degrees, so that will send our system's into shock!!! 

Jenae mixing up the crust on her first ever homemade pizza.

working hard to get the crust all flattened out

Adding the toppings

The finished product!

Aubree enjoying Jenae's cooking!

After spending some time outside on Sunday, Aubree was ready for some hot chocolate & a cup cake :-)  I love her messy hair!!

Whitney trying the beef jerky.  It is a little on the spicy side, but she does not seem to care!

Whitney was not a happy camper this weekend.  Kyle & I are hoping she has some teeth coming in that contributed to her mood for the weekend.

She wants to be outside all the time.  She gets her stocking cap & wants to "go, go, go" & when she does not get to go this is the result!  Summer can not come soon enough for our household!!

Past blog posting I have posted about Jenae liking to make "mush" for the horses.  She loves to give them treats of any kind.  She found a some horse treat recipes online & wanted to make one on Sunday.  It was apple & carrots dipped in molasses & rolled in cracked corn.  Then baked until warm.  She & Aubree had a blast making them.

Trey was over at our house while Ben was cutting wood.  He had lots of fun helping feed treats to the horse.  He followed Jenae around with the plate of treats with that big ol' smile on his face the whole time!

Jenae feeding Poncho a treat. 

Whitney taking a spin on Rambo with Kyle.

Haying the cows

The Whitaker grand kids love getting to go out & hay the cows.  Usually Chip comes over & gets the tractor to do the haying, but on Wednesday Kyle did the haying. Whitney gets so excited when she see Chip driving down the driveway as she is sure he is coming to get her to go put out hay or if she sees Kyle getting ready to go outside she immediately goes & finds her stocking cap & coat and starts to chant "go, go, go"  She is usually heart broken if Chip does not come get her or Kyle leaves with out her!  They both have a hard time telling her "No".

Wednesday we had Trey with us for most of the day.  Kyle took him & the girls out to feed.  I have to admit I enjoyed the hour I had to myself in the house.  It was a great way to jump start a productive day of much needed house work. 

Trey & Aubree had a great time playing.  Aubree got him to play house with her.  They had a baby & I heard her saying "Hey Husband...."  It was so cute.  Trey seemed as happy as could be to be her husband     :-) 

Kyle & his haying crew. Trey, Whitney & Aubree

Off to hay the cows

Fun weekend.....but missing my Grandma

 A year ago yesterday my dear sweet Grandma went to be with Grandpa in Heaven.  Hardly a day goes by that I do not think of Grandma for one reason or another.  I love & miss her so much.  I love the song by Justin Moore "If Heaven Wasn't So Far Away"  It makes me thing of all of my Grandparents that have passed. What I wouldn't give to get to spend just 1 more day with each of them. 

My Aunt Linda planed a super fun weekend for us all to be together.  We all met up at Divot's Lodge & Suites in Norfolk.  It was the perfect get away weekend.  All but 2 of my cousins made it for a least part of the weekend.  The kids had an absolute blast in the pool.  The oldest set of kids ages 10-8 swam until 10:00 Saturday night!  The middle set of kids ages 6-3 were not happy they did not get to get back in the pool after supper, but they had fun playing in the rooms anyway.  We had a great time visiting & playing games until late at night.  My Grandma really enjoyed playing board games, so it was only fitting that we play them in her honor :-)  My Aunts/Cousins are a fun bunch of game players.  Lots of laughs & great time was had by all! 

This is a picture from a few years ago of me & my Grandma Forre.  It was taken at my cousin, Heather's, wedding. 





The Forre Grand kids/Great Grand kids that went swimming.  Whitney was not much of a fan of the pool.  The water was not as warm as we would have like it.  The cooler water did not stop the bigger kids from enjoying the pool!

The jets in the hot tub were not working so it was more like a giant hot bath tub.  I know the adults were a little disappointed, but it was nice for the kids to play in !

My Mom & cousin Heather trying to entertain all the little ones.





Supper time!  Linda had organized a prime rib supper for everyone!  It was really good!



The Great Grand Daughters of Sidney & Phyllis Forre.  They also took pictures of the Great Grandson, but as you can see by how Whitney was acting in this picture, I had my hands full when they were taking that picture so I did not get it.



Jenae & Whitney after a swim.  These are my 2 twins, just 8 years apart in age :-)

You can see in this picture how much Whitney LOVES her big sister!  I need to print this out for Jenae to remind her as how both her little sisters look up to her & she needs to set a good example for them :-)




Ahhh...the card ride home!  We hit a drive though & headed home when we checked out of the hotel.  Whitney was asleep before we even got to the drive through & the big girls crashed as soon as their belly's were full.  They were exhausted!  All that swimming really wears a girl out! 





A break from blogging


I am back to blogging!  I have been having some issued getting my PC to upload pictures on my blog. Not sure what the problem is, but it does make it difficult to update my blog.  Hopefully it fixes itself soon!  I am sorry for the lack of postings! 

We finished up our Holiday Season with the big Whitaker Christmas January 6th.  Hope & Ben hosted the day.  The kids all had a great time playing & it was nice enough that they could even get out & get some fresh air!  It nice to see everyone one & catch up!  We had the annual White Elephant gift exchange & that is always a great time! 

Since then in my break from blogging our family had a little run in with Influenza.  Well at least I think we had influenza.  Fevers, coughs, aches & chills were the symptoms.  We had a round of Influenza 2 years ago & took the girls to the doc, got tested, put them on Tamiflu spent a lot of money in doing so.  My girls could not handle the Tamiflu so ended up just letting it runs its course.  This year when Influenza paid its visit I figured there was no point of going to the doctor & doing the Tamiful thing again if I could keep the girls comfortable & keep their fevers under control.  Jenae probably had it the worst, she missed almost a whole week of school.  Whitney breezed through it the best only running a low fever for 2 days.  Aubree & I were both pretty sick, but didn't have it quiet as bad as Jenae.  Kyle, managed to escape from the bug all together!  So glad that is behind us!

Whitney & Chase having fun!



The Whitaker Kids

Paul, Lana, Elaine, Kyle & Whitney

Ben, Rory, Amy, Marilyn & Adam

The Zutavern Boys & Jenae eating their dinner.

New Years Eve

Hope & Ben hosted us for a New Years Eve Party.  The kids had a great time all hanging out playing.  I think the adults were far more tired than some of the kids.  Our goal was to make it until the ball dropped in NYC.  We made our goal & headed for home! 

Hope made sure none of us went a way hungry!  She had lots of yummy food & snacks.  It was a nice relaxing NYE! 

The kids having fun.

Time for a game of apples to apples

Chase just chilling! 

A quiet Weekend

Last weekend did not go as planned.  We had the big Forre Christmas in Newman Grove on Saturday.  Well Aubree & I both woke up Saturday morning with a touch of the stomach flu so needless to say, we stayed home! 

Sunday we felt much better, but thought we would stay home from church to try to keep from spreading our germs. We stayed  close to home & enjoyed a nice quiet day on Sunday.

Jenae Christmas 2012

Aubree Christmas 2012

Whitney Christmas 2012

Having fun on the frozen creek!