Tansley Kaye has amazed me....

Caution: This entry may contain graphic details and may not be for all readers...Mothers excluded.

Yesterday after church we had choir practice, during which time my two oldest generally run around the now empty church. As we were in the middle of a song, Tansley comes running into the chapel holding her diaper and yelling "mom, my diaper fell off!". So I excuse myself and go to assist a half naked Tansley (at least she hadn't lifted her dress up to show the world that indeed her diaper had fallen off).  As I am putting a new diaper on her I say to her "Tansley, if you used the potty like a big girl you could wear big girl underpants and not have to worry about a diaper." Her usual response to a statement like this is "I not a big girl, I little" but not this time, her eyes lit up and she said "OK". By the time we had got home I had forgotten all about the underpants conversation until it was time to go back to the church that evening for a fireside and discovered that Tansley was poopy again and it was all over her clothes, and I had just finished cleaning up Kymberly after a similar scenario. I was angry, and again told her that if she would use the potty she could wear big girl underpants, again I got the same reaction, but this time refused to let me put a diaper on her, She insisted that she wear underpants. Lucky for me, I happened to have some Blues Clues and Dora underpants. I retrieved them from the box in the garage and we were all ready to head back to the church, Daniel and I with our fingers crossed that we were not asking for trouble. She did great. She went to the potty three times while we were there. When we got home it was bed time and I know that Tansley is not ready for the no diaper at night stage (she wakes up wet every morning), however Tansley absolutely refused to put a baby diaper on, I finally had Daniel be the big mean ol' daddy and forced one on her. When all had calmed down, I sat down with Tansley and promised her that if she used the potty like a big girl, that I would buy her some Big girl pull up diapers for night time. She gave me a big hug with a huge smile on her face and said "Thank you Mommy!". Well this morning, before I had yet got out of bed (my kids are early risers and I am not so much), Tansley had already taken off her diaper and put on her underpants. She has been good all day, except for our little outing to a park for a picnic, she was too far away from a potty and did not make it. Just now she told me she had to go poops, and did so in the potty. I am so proud of her, and so very glad that she has decided to be a big girl.

Random Thoughts

Have you ever felt like you had something to say or something to write but had no idea what it was that you needed to say or write? So it is with me this afternoon. Maybe it is simply that I do not feel like doing the dishes that are cluttered on my kitchen counter. Or maybe that I don't feel like folding the laundry in my laundry room. Or maybe because I don't feel like cresting the 7 jerseys that I told my husband I'd have done by the end of the month,  nor do I feel like riding my bike for 30 minutes, even though I really want to loose this darn baby fat that has been gathering with each child I bare. So maybe I'm just using this as a way to avoid doing what I really should be doing, or maybe I really have something to say, and just can't figure out what that is. This is what my husband would call my babble. This feeling of having something to write and not quite knowing where to start is not all that new to me I've just neglected it or ignored it completely. There was a time when I was a habitual Journal writer and felt like writing in my journal but had what I thought was nothing to write about, so I babbled. More often than not, those babbling entries actually turned into something worth while. It may have taken a while to get there, but there I got.

I have recently been full of all kinds of emotions and feelings and thoughts and ideas. Since buying our new house and moving to Milk River these thoughts and feelings are at times overwhelming and continuous. There isn't a day that goes by that I don't think about how much I love it here, everything about it, and if I haven't yet thought the thought, somebody is bound to ask me how things are, if I like my house, if I like Milk River, if I like our new ward, etc. Just like that I'm full of all those thoughts and ideas and feelings and emotions. It's actually quite nice to feel so good, it certainly helped get me through the long days of basketball. Now that spring is here, the ideas are flourishing. I long for the nice days when I can be outside working in the yard. I love that stuff. I want to dig up my garden and plant some vegetables and go to the green house and buy some flowers to plant in my plentiful flower gardens. I want to sit in my yard by my fire pit at night and enjoy the sounds of the big owl I can often hear hooting at night (even with the windows shut) in chorus with all the other night sounds one can enjoy when not living in a city. The real only night sound I ever heard in Lethbridge was the sound of sirens from the firetrucks from the near by fire station.  Really, there could not have been as many fires or emergencies as there was exits from the fire station, if it were so, all of Lethbridge would be in ashes just from the three years that we lived in that house.

So that is it, my girls have moved from downstairs to the living room where I sit typing this. The silence is gone and the flow of my thoughts is interrupted. I had hoped for a little more time, a little more silence to let this need to write develop into a little more....But alas it has been brought to an abrupt halt.
Farewell until the next silent moment...whenever that might be.

Easter Fun

We had so much fun rolling Easter eggs at Taber Provincial Park with the Forsyth clan. The weather was fairly decent, even better when the sun shone through the clouds.

Tansley rolling her egg.

I like her method, although I am surprised that she is able to make it get as far as she does.

Kathryn rolling easter eggs

This is so Wonder Years, and you really have to love the quality of the camera work. Way to go Daddy!

About me

A. The rules of the game are posted at the beginning.

B. Each player answers the questions about themselves.

C.
At the end of the post the player then tags 5 other people and posts
their names and leaves a message on their blog letting them know they
have been tagged and asking them to read your blog to get directions.

1. What was I doing 10 years ago?
I was living in Victoria, BC with my Aunt Erika and Uncle Marvin and their three kids. I was working at the Cloth Castle, nearly full time. I would drive my cousins to early morning seminary every morning and sleep in the van while they were at seminary and then take them to school. I was serving as the Relief Society President in the Young Adult Branch and really having the time of my life. I had made some amazing  friends that I will consider friends for life. Through them I learned new things about myself and about what the world outside of Southern Alberta is like. I grew leaps and bounds beyond what I had been and I was able to get myself out of the slump I had been in before moving to Victoria, and that made all the difference in the months and years to come.

2. 5 things on my to do list:
a) Sew the curtain sheers for my living room
b) Finish the last coat of paint on my blue living room wall
c) Crest about 15 Jerseys for Bert and Macs
d) Get started on the Court and Reese Genealogy, so that I know something about the Court side of the family
e) Lose 40 lbs

3. What snacks do I enjoy?
Chocolate, Cheese Cake or a big bowl of fruit salad is also really nice.

4. What would you do if you were instantly a billionaire?
Travel everywhere

5. 3 bad habits
a) getting so engrossed in what I am doing that I let my kids simply watch TV all day.
b) Eating too much chocolate late at night
c) Staying up way to late

6. 6 places I lived
Lethbridge, Alberta

Victoria, BC

Waterton Lakes National Park

Saskatoon, Saskatchewan

Edmonton, Alberta

Milk River, Alberta

7. 5 Jobs I've had

A: Secretary at Mo Tires in Lethbridge
B: Gas Jockey at the West side Shell Station
C: Sales clerk at the Cloth Castle in VIctoria
D: Sales clerk at Fanny's Fabrics in Lethbridge
E: Manager at Bentley Leathers in Saskatoon

8. 5 things people don't know about me
a) I've been in love with or had a huge crush on my husband long before he was ever really dated
b) I said no to the invitation to be my husband's date for our grade 12 grad, even though I had some what of a crush on him and ended up going alone(my date canceled on me)
c) I've never seriously dated or kissed anyone but my husband
d) I have two friends that taught me that I could love and care deeply for them in spite of their alternate life style, that I didn't approve of.
e) I played the Viola when I was in grade 1(I think, maybe I was older)

All right now its someone elses turn:

Daniel Court

Amy Hubbard

Jaime Robberts

Heather Lyon

Vicky Forsyth

I tag you, and anyone else who wants to share personal information.

Friends Forever

I find it absolutely amazing that I feel the way I do about living in Milk River and being apart of the Coutts ward. From our very first Sunday in the ward two months ago I have felt so much love for and from the members of the Coutts ward. And it's not just me, our girls have taken to everyone without hesitation. But tonight I went to an Enrichment activity for the first time since we have been here. I am now the Enrichment leader, though that is not the reason that I went. Daniel was able to be home and we were exchanging quilt squares that we had made to make a friendship quilt. Because it was my first night out of the house with out husband or children I wanted to take advantage of it. We were done exchanging quilt squares and playing around with them to make different quilt patterns by 8:15pm, so Toni Reese (who is married to Daniel's cousin) suggested that we go over to Ross's for a pop. So seven of us headed over to sit and talk. We ranged in ages from 30's to 60ish. We sat and laughed over ridiculous topics for over an hour. We laughed so hard that our sides split and we nearly peed our pants (I speak only for myself, some may have actually peed their pants). When we decided it was time to call it a night, I left feeling like I had known these sister for much longer than the two months it has been. It has been quite some time since I have felt that way with one person, let alone a whole group of them (two of whom I had just met tonight and are not members of the church). I have longed for this camaraderie for a very long time and it is amazing to have found it in the small towns of Milk River and Coutts. A huge thank you to the sisters of the Coutts ward. You are my friends forever already.

Help from an almost 3yr old

So I finally get the energy to go out and shovel the heavy wet drifted snow off of my driveways (yes 2 of them) and the sidewalk and because it wasn't too cold out side, I invited Tansley to come outside and play in the snow while I shoveled. Tansley says that she wants to help. We happen to have two shovels, so Tansley picks up the smaller one to help. At first she is doing an OK job pushing the snow off the patio onto the grass. But then we move to the driveway. I've started to clear the snow off, and Tansley comes behind me with her shovel full of snow from off of the grass and dumps it onto the area I just shoveled off and says "there you go mom". Thanks! This continues all the way down the driveway and onto the sidewalk despite my best efforts to explain to her that I want the snow on the grass not on the sidewalk. Once we get around to the front of the house to the front driveway, which is sloped, she proceeds to crawl up the driveway "Look mom I'm climbing a mountain" and once at the top she lays on her side and rolls all the way to the bottom. Slowly I shovel the snow away when I'm done she says "now I can't slide anymore" and sits and pouts on the driveway only to be quickly distracted by me shoveling more snow off of the back patio, to which she helps by crawling around on her hands and knees pushing the snow that I haven't yet shoveled all over the area I just finished shoveling. Oh the fun. I wanted to take pictures, but I had left the camera in the van that Daniel had taken to Lethbridge.

Sweet Success!

I said No Thanks!

No thanks mom

I have been trying for a month or so to get little miss Kymberly to eat baby cereal, drink formula and eat baby food, without any success. She is willing to drink from a bottle, but has never continued to eat once she has realized that it is not what she wants. Every time I have tried to feed her baby cereal she accepts the first bite, but then quickly purses her lips together and wont let the spoon in. If I do manage to get a bite in when she's not expecting it, she spits it all over me. We had quite the adventure yesterday with sweet potatoes...it was everywhere!

Mom, you are not listening.

NNNOOOOO!!!!!!

Well this afternoon when she woke up from her nap, I decided to try the bottle again. I made 2 oz of formula, sat in the rocking chair and first offered her the bottle, she wouldn't open up. So then I nursed her on one side, when she was done I gave her the bottle...and she drank it, almost all of it...with out any complaints!!!! I would have done the happy dance but I was to stunned to do anything but smile a big dumb grin! I may have actually one the bottle battle. Now on to the food battle.