Cowboy Day at Pre-School

Mesa has been waiting FOREVER for Cowboy Day at Pre-school. She got to bring Pepsi last year and the kids got to ride him around. This year Pepsi and Alkali Beauty (our 14 year old mare) got to attend cowboy day and let a bunch of kids ride them around in circles. They were so calm. It was like they knew that their lot in life was to be a patient kid horse and pony. They even had real live cowboys there!! The little neighbor boy told Matt the other day, "Pepsi the Pony is coming to pre-school and so is a REAL LIVE COWBOY!!!!" The real live cowboys were Matt and Mark (his dad). HA! It was too cute. After the horse rides they had hot dogs over the campfire. Mesa has only 3 more pre-schools left. I can't believe it. How am I going to stop this girl from growing up!?

Speaking of growing up, I am amazed all of the time by how Mylie is a full on toddler going on pre-schooler. She'll be two in 12 more days. Tonight she started playing hide and seek and wanted us to play. Mesa and I were going off to hide and Mesa in a frantic said, "HURRY MOM! SHE ONLY KNOWS HOW TO COUNT TO 3!!" I laughed so hard I almost gave my hiding spot away.

Anybody got any great potty training tricks up their sleeves that really worked on your own kids? Mylie goes sometimes on the potty, sometimes on our brand new carpet...she's broke in everyroom, but mainly goes in her diaper, then takes it off. (It may start getting too expensive--it's a one time use diaper now because she refuses to "recycle" them!) We'll keep at it, I know she'll get it, it takes time, but if there is a better way, please let me know!

Congratulations to Mandy and Shawn and family!! They had a baby girl today. Yeah! 8lbs. 8 oz., 22 inches long. She is tall! We are excited she is here now and can't wait to meet her.

Sunday Paper

This was an article in the Sunday Paper today on Matt. I thought it was a very nice article about him and his life. What an honor it is to be married to him. He is a very hard worker. He is a wonderful Christian father and loves his girls more than anything. He is living out his life long dream of training horses. For years he told me that is all he ever wanted to do in life. I am proud of him for chosing that road and I know he is living in God's will by doing this job...and he has been immensely blessed because of it. Here it is....

http://www.argusobserver.com/articles/2008/04/27/news/us/doc481475e3cd3a1549916303.txt

It's About TIME!

The other night was one of those rushed nights where you have much to do and the bedtime routine was one of the things on the list. So it was off to bed...diaper change for Mylie, brush the teeth, look for the bottoms to Mylie's pajamas (might help if the room was clean), tuck the girls in, a quick kiss and hug, then threats if they get out of bed (ha), followed by a promise that I'll be back to check on them after the dishes are done...yada yada yada. Even bedtime can be so rushed. After many dishes later I did go back to check on them assuming they were asleep. I found Matt in their room reading to them. At first I gave him the look, you know the one, I just got them to bed, lights out, it's way past their bedtime. He sweetly looked back with that other look, you know the one, I don't care what you think and whispered, "We have time." So I sat down on the bed for the story, too, and thought about the word TIME. It ticks away so quickly. As I sat there and enjoyed my TIME, forgetting everything that had to be done, and watched my girls get dreary eyed. They will only be 4 and 1 for a little more and then it will be TIME to be 5 and 2. Oh that sounds so much older. How precious this age is and with our life full of a giant to do list, I don't take a lot of TIME to enjoy these moments in our lives that won't be around forever. I've been trying harder to appreciate the little moments in TIME for example the Dora Memory game we play, the stories about pre school and dreams about Kindergarten, My Little Ponies, the strawberry cake we made together--despite that it turned out hideous looking--the point is I cherish the TIME we are spending together. And slowly we get our to do list done.

The sprinkler system is the project this week. Thanks to my parents and 2 of our neighbors we have everything trenched, the main water line in, and now are working on lines for the underground water system for the lawn, garden, arena, round pen, and corrals. Yea!

Night at the Grocery Store

Yesterday I HAD to go grocery shopping because we were out of everything...one egg left, 1 glass of milk, even the rolls on our toilet paper holders were the last we had. So after work, Matt, the girls, and I ventured to town a 1/2 hour-45 minutes away. Of course we had to hit D&B for horse supplies, then Costco for a cheap dinner and a few more supplies(...toilet paper!). After we closed down both of those stores, we headed to Winco to fill up the shopping cart.

I have to admit I was a slightly annoyed with how slow the shopping progress was going. It was late, we had to work the next day, I just wanted in and out. But my "three" children didn't seem to care. They were bouncing a $1 ball up and down the aisles, yes Matt included, and walking slowly some of the time. It was after 9 and hardly anyone was in there so I guess it was okay--even a little bit relaxing.

We were about done shopping, I just needed Parmesan cheese and we were going to go. Well, right about the processed deli meat Mesa did a 180 on us. She went from giggling and throwing the ball to Matt to THROWING UP! It was that quick, "Mommy, I don't feel good---WHAM!" Well, what do you do? So I caught all I could, Matt caught all he could, and so did Mesa. Needless to say it ended up on the floor---yep...that Costco hot dog that cost a cheap 75 cents. Ironicly we were in the hot dog section! A couple of people slowed down and stared like you do at an accident scene, but no one offered to go get someone with a mop, even after I asked for help. Quick enough though a nice man about our age came up with the paper towels and hand sanitizer from the meat department. What a blessing he was! All he said to me was, "I have kids, too...here." HA. I was shocked that Mesa took it well, didn't cry even though she was embarrassed. We were half way done cleaning up the mess and we noticed Mylie (who had been watching this process in a trance and couldn't look away). Well, SHE STARTED THROWING UP, TOO! She has a weak stomach and couldn't take it. At least she threw up just a little bit. Matt and I just looked at each other and it was one of those pauses I didn't know whether to cry or laugh....we both just busted into laughter. What else could you do? Finally the "maintance fairy" came with her magic mop (we had gotten all of it--it just needed sanitized) and I swept Mesa off to the bathroom. Luckily I had packed their pj's for them to change into on the ride home. What a night!

Sunday Drive

Our Sunday was a different kind of Sunday. Mylie was sick most of the day, running a temperature of 101. I convinced her to take the "yummy" liquid (children's tylonel) and she loved it. If I would have said it was medicine we would have been in for rounds. She felt better as the day went on and slept most of the day. We stayed home from church because she was so sick and had church at home with just the four of us. It was fun. With Mylie being sick and sleeping, we got some things done around the place. Matt and I finished up the catch pen for the horses. All it needs now is a gate. He says he appreciated my help, but I work so much slower than him. I think he just appreciated free labor! I watched him work and called him John Henry then I kid you not, a couple of seconds after that sparks hit the nail he was hammering in. I laughed!

At sundown Matt decided we should hop in the pick up and go ride in the hills behind our house. He does this a couple of times a day on horses, so it was nothing new to him, but it was fun for all of us to go with him and see new ground that we don't usually see on our hill drives. Plus it got us out of the house and we could still keep Mylie warm. We searched for all kinds of animals but mainly saw birds. Mesa's highlight was the jackrabbit who thought he could out run us. I seriously don't know why he didn't turn around and run the other way instead of staying parallel to us. Why do they do that? Mylie loved seeing the occasional range cows, especially the calves.

As we were out on our "Sunday Drive" I couldn't help but think how massive unsettled areas are. Have you ever ridden on an airplane, looked out the window and saw nothing but hills, mountains, flat land, or the OCEAN? We are just a speck on this gigantic earth. To me it just proves how uniquely designed our world is and how much "power" man really does not have...even though he thinks he controls it all. Any natural disaster can wipe out man-made things or even man so fast. I think of God and how He created it all. All I can say is: Wow, He's the best designer and artist I know!

First Post...

Is your "first post" kind of like your first steps? You get better and better at figuring out this blog thing as you go along I assume. I decided to start keeping a blog so that I could keep in contact with family and friends without sending the mass e-mail to everyone. Now our friends can check in with us if they want to. I couldn't come up with anything creative...I don't like it when I am not creative...so I came up with the blog address of M and M Mama because of my sweet little girls Mesa and Mylie.

Mylie has sure been growing up lately. She is almost two and is really starting to talk in full sentences lately. Just yesterday the girls were riding Pepsi the pony down the lane to get the mail and she told Matt and I, "I want sissy to walk." (so she could ride the pony alone). I couldn't believe how clear it was. She also told me in a very clear complete sentence, "I need my coat, it's raining." She's getting too big! She is also very into wearing pajamas, which she calls "nammies." She throws giant fits about changing out of them in the mornings. Occasionally I can trick her with putting on sweat-suits and call them jammies. I find that a little funny, yet odd, that she loves to keep her pj's on all day. Sometimes, she'll go back to her room and change into them during the day.

Mesa is almost five. I can't belive it. Five! She is very into horses. Just tonight during her bedtime prayer she thanked God for appolossas, roans, paints, and the list went on. She is really learning about her world lately, of course all kids are sponges, but she's starting to really focus on things that are not just about her and her environment. She'll say things like, "Well, I didn't know that." or if you explain something to her she'll be reminded about some prior knowledge she knows. It will be fun to see how excited she'll get to learn things in Kindergarten.

Matt has been busy with training horses. This week my best friend came up with her 3 kids and husband for the whole week. Matt and my friends husband got the round pen built and also another pen. We have a lot of work ahead of us with moving into a place that was bare ground, but we'll get there. Maybe by this time next year we'll have a facility for all of the horses, a lawn, garden, the garage organized, and a painted house. Oh and all of the boxes unpacked of course! Someday......