Potty Training…

To start off with… I’m okay with changing diapers.  I know some people aren’t, but I am!  It’s easy!  I don’t have to search for washrooms or stop on the side of the road with little ones!  I can drive for hours and not worry about how many sets of clothes have been peed through!  Having said that, I am going to attempt to potty train Ben.  I know, my enthusiasm is just overwhelming!  Sunday night we ran out of diapers… I think that is the only reason I’m even attempting this.  I have been completely spoiled by Emma basically potty training herself overnight and I KNOW that Ben is not going to be that easy.  Why do I know that?  Trust me… Ben has a stubborn streak in him!  Anyways, the morning actually went surprisingly well!  I made him a sticker chart and every time he went on the potty he would get a sticker.  Of course, that didn’t go over so well with Emma and so I had to quickly make up a sticker chart for her as well!  He went about 4 times and only had 2 accidents.  I can only hope it continues to go well!

Busy, Busy, Busy

It’s been a bit of a crazy week and I haven’t stopped to take any pictures… I know… Gasp!  Here’s a quick overview of what the week has looked like:

-  Emma has had swimming lessons every afternoon.

- Lennard is busy coaching rugby from 4:00 to 6:00 every night.

-  I went crafting with some friends on Tuesday night.  (Such a fun evening!)

- We had our annual Relief Society party on Wednesday night.  We also got our income tax stuff submitted and signed on Wednesday. (Yeah, for rebates!!)

- We went to Stay and Play on Tuesday and Thursday mornings.

- Lennard had a Flying Club meeting on Thursday.

- We went to the Home & Garden Show in Lethbridge on Friday.  Thank you, Mindy for watching the kids!!! 

And – to top the week off – we went to Airdrie today to pick up our trailer!  My mom watched the kids for us (THANK YOU!) and it was a good thing too.  The weather was bitterly cold in Airdrie and we ended up having a few ‘bumps’ in the walk-through.  The first indication that things wouldn’t go nice and smoothly was when they couldn’t get the main door to even open.  We think the lock was probably just frozen shut, but they ended up replacing the entire lock mechanism!  Then the outside door to access all the parts for the hitch was frozen shut… literally!  We ended up getting the other door that goes into the master bedroom opened and Lennard crawled under the bed and handed out all the stuff for the hitch!  It was quite the sight to see him under the bed and me holding the entire thing up as one of the clips came off the gas spring(?) and wouldn’t hold the bed up!  Finally, we got the doors opened and we started to go through things.  Then we discovered that we couldn’t open the slide because it was frozen shut too!  (Are you sensing a theme here?!… It was SO cold!)  As they worked on getting the monster hitch installed, I finally gave up and sat in the truck with the heat blowing full blast trying to get some feeling back in to my hands and feet!  Brrr!  What a day to pick up a trailer!  Finally, we managed to get back on the road.  It’s a bit heavier than the 5th wheel to pull, but it wasn’t too bad.  Thankfully, the weather improved the farther south we went.  We unloaded the trailer at home and then headed out to mom & dad’s to get the kids and have some supper.  What a long day… but definitely memorable!

Good Neighbors

We are very blessed to have a neighbor with a quad that comes and plows us out after almost every snowfall.  We have never asked him to do this, but unfailingly, he is there every time the snow falls.  The kids love watching him!

Here is Brother McGill plowing out our next door neighbor’s drive way before he comes to do ours!  What a wonderful man!

Like Father, Like Son

I think Ben has seen his dad reading the paper a few times… this is what I saw when I turned around from getting lunch made today.  It looks like he’s scanning the classified ads… job hunting already?!

New-to-us Trailer

For a number of reasons (which we won’t list), we sold our 5th wheel trailer.  We’ve been searching for something else that would work for us – i.e. bunk beds, slide, larger kitchen, etc. and after a bit we found a trailer in Airdrie that we thought would work for us.  Lennard took the day off work and we headed up to look at it.  We had a bit of fun with all the fog on the way up, but we found the dealership without a problem.  The kids thought it was great as they remember us going to the RV show in Lethbridge and getting to climb into all the different trailers.  There had been a huge blizzard on the weekend, so the aisles in the yard were still snow-packed.  We trudged through the snow drifts and made our way to the trailer we were interested in seeing.  From the pictures we knew that it was the layout we wanted, but seeing it in person just made it even better.  The kids loved running around and checking everything out.  It’s definitely not a brand new trailer and has a few things that will need to be fixed, but we couldn’t pass up the combination of layout, price and weight… all which were within our parameters.  We went back inside and signed a tentative agreement and put a down payment on it.  We just wanted to give ourselves a day to make sure we both felt good about it.  Here are a few pictures of the trailer that were sent to us (I didn’t bring my camera with me).

   

The decals are peeling and we will probably just take them right off.  The door next to the slide is into the master bedroom.  The other side of the trailer is the main entrance with a big awning.

     

The kitchen has LOTS of storage!  The fridge is probably double the size of the one in the 5th wheel.  I love the huge pantry/wardrobe!

  

This is a funny picture of the bunks as the mattress for the top bunk is on the bottom one, but it gives you an idea of where the kids will sleep.  Emma loves the idea of getting to sleep on the top bunk!  The other picture is a general view of where the dinette/couch slide is and master bedroom.  We are excited to get it home and get some better weather to head out and use it!

Rugby Season

Well… for the next few months I will consider myself a ‘rugby widow’.  Lennard is the head coach of the Cardston Girl’s Rugby Team this year and practices start today.  Having said that, I know it is something that he loves to do and I fully support him in sharing his knowledge of the sport with others.  I did have to laugh when I looked outside this morning though… this is what I saw…

Yup… lots of lovely, freshly fallen snow!  Good luck staying warm!  (Good thing they have the gym to practice in a couple times a week!)

Big Helper

I spent a part of the morning making bread.  I had them sitting out to cool down and decided to go get dressed (finally).  Emma came racing in to my room yelling that Benny was playing with a knife, so I booted it out to the kitchen to see what was going on.  Sure enough, Ben had decided that he wanted a slice of bread and took it upon himself to get one… this was the result!

Every single loaf had holes in it… though the one on the end got the most ‘love’ of all.  The entire center was hollow by the time he’d got through with it!

Don’t let the innocent look fool you!  What a little imp!

Another view of the mutilation… at least it was just the bread and not a body part!