This & That

 There is lots happening in the house but nothing that I can really show you on a picture! The plumbing is all done upstairs as well as the electrical. I think we are ready for our first electrical inspection. If we pass and don't have to change anything then we can finish insulating the ceiling. That means we can then put heat in the basement to thaw it out and do the plumbing down there. These pictures are of the entrance-way. They built the landing that walks into the house and the closet.

 Playing together, watching some cartoons.

 Mmmmmm rice cereal.

My loves.

Cheers!

Ashley

We're All God's Children - Alan Jackson

I heard this song on the radio the other day in my kitchen. It had me dancing and singing :) It is now one of my favorite's! It's the simple truth. Why can't we be? One. Big. Happy. Family?

Have a great night! I hope you are all safe at home and not venturing out in this nasty storm!
Cheers!
Ashley

My Thursday

My Thursday started off with this beautiful sunrise! I love love love seeing this in the morning. I have not seen one for awhile because I have not been getting up early enough to see it. Ali was up by 7am this morning which was great because it gave me time to go get groceries before the Hubby went to work.

 It looks worse in person. He was playing in the bath tub tonight, pretending to be a frog (seems to be his new thing lol) and his hands slipped and he bit the edge of the tub! Ouch! At first from the amount of blood that was coming out I was scared that we were making a trip to the ER to get stitches but it's ok. Thank Goodness.

I was really hoping that I was going to get the Hubby to work out with me tonight but it took forever for Tanner to fall asleep so he just went to bed with him. Oh well. At least I did it. And it was easier than last night.

Anywho, have a wonderful night!
Ashley

Jillian Michaels, Here I come!

Yikes. So I tried out Jillian Michaels Level 1 of the 30 day shred tonight. Actually I thought it would be worse than it was. It still was not a piece of cake that's for sure. I am determined to lose a good chunk of weight before Corey's brother gets married in July. So I can wear something nice....

I have wrote down the measurements of my waist, chest and hips and also my weight of course...which I will not divulge. lol. So I can track the change in my body. I am determined to stick to it. What I like about it is it's only 20 minutes of my day.

Although I am still nursing, so while I continue to do so I am not going to do anymore than Level 1 for now. Not to mention I am so out of shape it's ridiculous. Like how the heck do kids skip rope forever on end???? (I remember doing Jump Rope for Heart, not sure how I ever raised any money lol) That's one of the workouts and sheesh I just wanted to lay down. And not get up. My calves were screaming at me.

Anywho. I will keep you posted. My Hubby has no faith in me. He should be joining me.

Good night, I'm off to soak in the tub.
Ashley

Food for Thought...

 So there are a lot of things going through my mind today. Well everyday there is but I didn't know how to put them into words. Maybe this will help. I thought I would go through my Pinterest board called 'Words' that I pin quotes etc. onto to find what I am feeling/thinking. The first one stuck out to me because every day I am so happy to be able to stay at home with my children. I will go back out into the workforce one day but today my kids need me. I look at it this way, depending on how many kids we have I may stay home ten years before they are all in school, and that is a very small portion of my life. We made the decision to have them so I want to be the one to look after them. It just simply means doing without some things we really don't need.

 This one, well I just love it. For some reason it makes me think of conversations I have had with many of my cousins. Candice, Cheryl, Christina, Sonya and Joleene to mention a few. A current conversation on the topic of Freshette's comes to mind. Ha ha ha. I will save that for another post. I love that I come from a large extended family, it means I have so many more great memories to treasure. I miss the good ole days.

I do not complain about my Birthdays. This is mostly what has been on my mind this week. A young fellow that my brother went to school with was killed. Age 24. So young. He also has a young son. It just breaks my heart. There really are no words. I have been praying for his family and friends. Still on my mind are the families of those children who were shot and killed in the states and also of a mom/wife that died and left a Husband and three young children behind. They are all in my prayers every night.

This has been on my mind lately. When I was thinking about resolutions. I tend to be quick to judge a person. It's a terrible trait on my behalf. What can I say? I'm human. I'm trying really hard to not do that. You have no idea what everyone you pass on the highway, in the grocery store or gas pumps are dealing with. So I am going to try to remember to do some random acts of kindness sporadically. We just need more friendliness in the world. No one wants to go out of their way to do anything for anyone, we are quick to get mad when someone cuts us off on the road, or when someones kids are being brats in the store...We do not know what they are dealing or where they are trying to go. Let's just give people a break. Empathy goes a long way.

Anyways, I'm not trying to be a downer. Actually I am trying to be the opposite!
Have a great night. Please be safe on those roads.
Ashley

What we have been up to.

Christmas has come and gone. I was glad to see it come but am glad to see it go. This week I finally feel like we are back to our normal routine. I guess whatever you call normal. Last week Monday I was adamant on working on potty training with Tanner. So far with a week under our belts we are doing AWESOME! And I say 'we' because I seriously needed to train myself also to be consistent with putting him on the pot. Also just staying at home, it's not like I am always on the run because I'm not but I didn't want to put him in a diaper at all except for naps and bedtime. He has free rein with the gitchies. So the idea of going somewhere in the van and him peeing all over his car seat was very unappealing. lol. For the last two days we have had very few accidents. Happy dance. I am all about the bribery. He gets a sticker every time he goes and a couple candies. I have a sticker book that he can put the stickers in and he is very proud of it.

 Tanner fell asleep at 5:30 pm on the couch like this the other day. This is the result of no nap. Potty training is tough stuff!

Ali has her second tooth poking out! Sheesh. The first one took a little bit to get used to. She just wanted to be a little savage with it. Someone had told me to give her a little flick in the chin/mouth every time she tried to bite...that didn't work at all for us. I did it twice and then for two days I fought with her to take the boob because she thought she was going to get it again! Her feelings were quite hurt :( Anyways we have sorted it out and it's going great now.

The house. There are so many little decisions to be made now. What kid of faucets for bathroom/kitchen, how many lights here, what kind of light fixtures, where do i want my appliances to sit, where to put the TV cord in the basement (I could not believe I had to decide that?!?! sheesh.Just a tad ridonculous if you ask me), and on and on! Well plumbing is all done upstairs!!! The electrical is almost done. Once the electrical is done then we can insulate the ceiling so we can heat  the basement to thaw it out so it can also be plumbed. I can hardly wait. That is an understatement.

The attributes of our house trailer I will not miss:

-The rodents
-Cold floors
-Drafty windows
-Three pane windows, if you have never had the joy of cleaning those suckers you need to so you can learn what the definition of appreciation is
-The furnace BLARING in the living room while you are trying to watch a TV show
-Ice cold master bedroom and boiling hot living room...there is no happy medium
-No closet/storage space
-The bugs
-Feeling like we are blowing away when it's hardly blowing at all! (Try being in it when it's actually tornado weather....eep)
-Doing laundry and waking kids up!

Those are just a few. Don't get me wrong, we do not have it bad at all here. I have been quite happy and content in this trailer. It's just with a growing family the shortage of space is getting old in a hurry. I had planned on going to do my dishes when I was done this but now it may have to wait until tomorrow. As I type I can here something scratching around under my sink which is probably my pet shrew. Does anyone else have/had issues with shrews??? I have probably caught about 5-6 of them in the past 6 months or so. They are so small that I can never catch them in normal mouse traps, I put out the big thick glue traps. Seems kind of ridiculous to put out a glue trap that is at least 5x7, an inch thick of glue and cost me btw $4-5 to catch one miniscule shrew. But they are gross and not aloud to live here. There I'm sure I succeeded in grossing you out tonight.

On the weekend we finally finished Ivomecing the cows, tidying up the fall calves, dehorning and denutting. It was actually a beautiful day so I took Tanner out to watch while Ali was sleeping.

On Sunday a friend and I threw a shower for her sister-in-law. It was a great turnout and a very nice afternoon. I made a fruit pizza and cupcakes.

 Five months apart.

 C'mon...I know you are drooling.

 This cupcakes have Jello Frosting on them. SOOOOO easy and yummy. Jello Frosting Link

 Baby K.

Today was a busy day. The colts went on a truck to Alberta, we got a load of feed pellets, worked on the house and went to town first thing in the morning for plumbing supplies.

Oh yes and I forgot to mention that the elements in my oven quit today while baking buns! I think it was having a temper tantrum bc we paid for our new stove this morning. lol. 

Anywho, that's all for now folks.
Ashley

My Scrap-booking

I have been in the mood to scrap-book lately. So when I'm in the mood I do it or else it doesn't happen. I do mine digitally on Creative Memories program Storybook Creator. It is much easier for me bc I do not have the room to do the traditional in my house trailer. Plus I love my computer and I am on it after the kids go to bed. The only downside to the digital is the cost of printing 12x12's. CM is 3.99 a page! Currently for 2012 I have 37 pages done...and that is just to the start of July! That alone would cost me almost $150. Plus I have not bought an album yet. So I have been reaching out on fb and a friend has showed me another place to go. Sonya this may interest you...;) Or maybe you already know about it. Go to Scrapping Simply. They have prepaid plans that enable you to get 12x12's printed off for as low as 1.59/page. Way cheaper than CM. So I think I will try them out.

Anyways here is just a taste of my 2012 album so far. I can't wait to have it finished and printed so I can show it off!

Good night!
Ashley