Barn Cleaning and Potty Training

This weekend was anything but relaxing. Saturday morning came and we decided today was the day to help Josh out with the barn. Ok I was going to help Josh with the barn, Bella played.  We were working to clean up the barn before our state and federal inspection that is due anytime now. I got the ground and Josh got the ceiling. We have a major cobweb problem.  Josh also worked on scrubing down the pipeline. Flies love it and love to poop on it. so it was really in need of a cleaning.  We got a lot of it done before coming in at 1 for lunch. We did a quick lunch of grilled hot dogs. I”m so glad the weather has warmed up a bit to let us grill out. I didn’t have to bundle up to work in the barn, so nice!

After lunch Bella went down for a nap, in her underwear. I was a bit worried, but she slept for 2 hours and then got up and used the potty! This meant she filled up her potty chart, so we headed off to the store. Thank god things stay open until 5, since it was already 4;15 when we left home.  We went to the store to get Bella an animal. I suggested the Daddy Lion to get with her Mama Lion and cubs, but Bella said. “no too big” which is her answer to most suggestions btw. She went through all the animals that she could see, which was 6 shelves and ended up with the Daddy lion. Mommy’s know best :) We also got a balloon, which the lion had to be tied too. Worked out well! 

Got home in time to start supper, Pizza burgers via the grill! Bella then went out to milk with Josh. Bath time once she got in and off to bed for her. Once she was finally asleep I was out cold too!

Sunday, Josh had decided to make 8:30 mass. So when Bella got up at 6:45 and wanted TV on, I gave in and got up. I showered and got myself ready. Then headed Bella to her room to get ready. She sat on her potty, to see if she could go potty to wear underwear to church, while i did her hair. Did you just read “while I DID HER HAIR” that right, Bella had cute hair for church. Can you tell I'm excited? It worked out well, except she didn’t go, so pull-ups is what she got to wear.  She got dressed, Josh made it in for a small breakfast, but we all headed out for church.

Bella did great in church other than wanted a snack the minute we got to our pew. Then we came straight home from church and headed back to the barn. I had to go over part of what i cleaned due to the cows being in the barn . Then i finished up my part. Josh still has to work on the pipe line yet.  We came in around noon for lunch and Bella’s nap. Josh’s dad and Judy stopped over to see her pony and said hi. Unfortunately Bella was already napping.  Josh took a short nap after they left.

I decided to get some computer time in and was to wake him up at 2:10. well at 2:13 I hear Cole bark. Well look out the window and here are about 10 cows walking up by the calves and the garden. So i quickly wake up Josh, who goes out to try to chase them back to the barn. I helped him a bit get them back in, but I couldn’t be out too long since Bella was napping and I had no idea when she would wake up. Then I worked on stuff in the house awaiting Bella to wake up. She got up and I let her have some downtime of watching some TV, while i started Supper.

We had a yummy supper of country style ribs and baked potatoes. For dessert was rice crispy bars! Then out to the barn Bella and Josh went.

I didn’t take too many pictures this weekend, but here are a few:

Pig tails..she let me do them again. Totally going to do them every day until i can do something more with them.

 

This is her really big house she made

With her balloon..and you can’t see the lion tied on the bottom

Mommy and Bella

 

All ready for church

 

She discovered how to get in by Baby Airie..so now we have to watch to make sure she doesn’t climb in.

 

An almost clean barn

 

Running in the barn

 

Josh clearing away the snow since we will need to use some huts that are snowed in right now, soon.

  

playing outside without all the extra layers!

Picture update

Click on the day of the week to read what happened during our week.  Monday’s post was a whole weekends worth since we had an extended weekend :)

Monday

Mom and Bella outside the Weinermoblie

 

playing around in bed

 

Cheering on the Packers to their big win!

 

Tori and Dylan came to visit us. We had a lot of fun with them!

Tuesday

If daddy lays down, Bella does too.

Crawling around in the cow bunk.

 

Bathtime fun!

Wednesday

 

Our shadows

watching me in the milkhouse

 

Baby Sue

 

Working on earning stickers

Thursday

 

Shoveling is fun when you are a kid

Playin in the snow

Friday

playing “memory”

Sitting on the potty can be fun

She “shoveld” all the way to the barn

 

Baby Airie and her Mommy

    

PIGTAILS The highlight of my day is Bella asking for pony tails in her hair and letting me do it. She also kept them in until Bed time!

 

Mommy Bella picture :)

Potty Training ?!?

So our morning started out with Bella waking up at 6am and by 6:30 wanted to use the potty. She sat on it for 15 mins and didn’t do anything, but she has showed a lot more interest in the potty, so i decided to go for it.  So after breakfast Bella got dressed wearing big girl underwear. She sat on the big potty and her froggy potty.  She had two accidents in her underwear, one success in the big potty and one time going in her pullup that was over her underwear.  The pull up one was partly my fault due to we went outside and I didn’t push sitting on the potty when we got in.  Thought we didn’t have a lot of successes I can see more caring and wanting to go on the potty.  So we are going to keep on trying!

The rest of the day we had fun. We did a bunch of puzzles. She really getting into them.  We read all of the Llama, Llama books that we checked out from the library. We had a picnic lunch in the living while Bella was attempting to go potty.  We went though pictures to update the frames on the wall. Next up is the collage frames.  i love/hate updating picture frames. It’s sad to take down the old pictures, but fun to add new ones.

After naps and lunch, we loaded up and went outside. Bella stayed dry for the hour we were outside :)  We first went to the barn to check on the pregnant cow. Guess what..she wasn’t pregnant anymore. The calf was in the middle of the walk way and no where near it’s mom. I unhooked the mom but she didn’t seem to want to move, so I had to pick up the calf and carry her around to her mom. I then called Josh to let him know. Turns out it was a heifer calf, who is now named Baby Airie. Bella got to name her.  After picking up Baby Airie to take her to her mother, i was covered in cow afterbirth..it was NASTY!!  I did manage to do my barn chores while Bella played outside. We came in and quickly made Meatloaf for supper. Bella got to help make the bread crumbs and get the cheese.  Josh arrived home and we all headed back outside. josh had to milk the fresh cow, while I worked at making a spot for Baby Airie. Once she was moved, Josh took Bella on a tractor ride to haul the manure and I fed Airie her first bottle. She was hungry!

We all went back to the house and ate supper. Josh and Bella went out to milk and I worked on finishing up getting our accounts in order for the Tax Guy. I actually managed to reconcile both of her checking accounts. I was very proud since one account I stopped in Feb 2010. It was snack time for bella and then bed.

HOpefully next post will be an up todate picture post :)

Snow and cookies

Today was a good day. I was up a bit late due to Josh getting in late, my cold and reading a good book, so when Bella got up at 6am, I was worried it was going to be a bad day.  I finished my book while Bella got to get in some important PBS kids TV.

Josh came in and made breakfast. We then all got ready to go outside, him to go to work and Bella and I to just play. It wasn’t too cold and only lightly snowing, so Bella and I played in the “back yard” by her playhouse and outside climber thing. She had a blast with that. I had fun playing with the cats and Cole. He loves when we get to play outside. We eventually made to the barn for me to do chores. They went quickly for once. Of course since I did them so early in the morning, i couldn’t set up the milk house yet.  next stop was up to see the calves. One of them is sick and didn’t make it. Well she was still alive when we went up.  We also checked on Baby Sue.  Bella misses her in the barn.

After we got done with the calves, we started to head back to the house. I decided to shovel the cement part of our driveway. Bella even got in to it. She had a blast with her shovel. Then she figured out that the big snow pile in our front yard was hard packed snow she could climb. She had a blast.

We came back in and it was nap time. Bella went down pretty easily. While she napped, i did some pick up and then decided to work on organizing my pictures. I got all of 2010 sorted out by months :) Now i can hopefully start setting out some scrapbook pages.

Right before Bella woke up, I put lunch in the oven to cook, so when she woke up it was almost ready.  So after a bit of playing(to let her food cool down), we had chicken nuggets and french fries. Then after we were done eating, we decided to have some fun.  We made oatmeal chocolate chip cookies. Bella had fun. We used the kitchen aid mixer and she thought it was the coolest thing. I let her even put the cookie dough on the cookie sheet.  I love watching her figure out new stuff. It also reminds me of being a little kid and cooking with my mom.

By the time the cookies were all done, Josh was on his way home.  We then spend some time together while Josh and I checked out the mail. Bella was all over Josh. She really misses him when we are home all day and he’s gone to work.  He had to go out and do some stuff on the farm while I cooked supper and Bella got to watch a little afternoon Diego.  After supper it was out to milk and me to clean up. I got the all the rooms vacumed and picked up the kitchen.

when Josh and bella got in, we decided to watch Wipeout as a family while Bella’s bath was getting ready. She really enjoyed it. Probably not the best show for her, but it’s still fun.. Then it was bath and bed. Josh put her to bed and she went down way quicker than when I do. Praying for her to sleep all night!

back to normal

Today felt like a normal day, something that I haven’t felt in a long time. Bella didn’t alert us to her being up in the middle of the night, so Josh and I got full nights of sleep. She did wake up and eat some candy in bed and clear off her bookshelf. 

We had breakfast and then got ready for the day.  Josh was heading off to work, so we headed off to the library early. I took my netbook with. I didn’t think anyone would be early too, so I thought i could get some internet time in. Bella had fun playing on the computers.  I was able to upload my pictures from the last week and half and finish up a blog post. It was great. i think I might have to visit the library more often with my net book. :) A few of our friends were at the library too, so we got to hang out too.

After we left the library with some new books to read, we went to Kwik Trip to fill up the gas tank. We also ran inside to get a snack. Bella loves getting string cheese and i got a Grilled cheese.  Then it was off to home. Bella of course wanted a snack, even thought she had fallen asleep on the way home. So I left her finish her breakfast and off to bed she went. Naturally she wouldn’t go to sleep. We keep trying and finally about an hour and half later she went to sleep.

while she slept i was able to get some work done and have a bit of time for me.  I decided to go to a cleaning schedule in hopes to keep up better with the house work. I worked so hard to de-clutter most of the house(still not done yet) so now i want to keep it clean. So my goal today was to clean up the bedrooms. I got my room and the office done. Then i managed to get the rest of the laundry put folded and put away, and cleaned up the kitchen. While doing this i caught up on my DVR and read for about 30 minutes before Bella woke up. 

Once Bella got up, she got a snack/lunch.  Then it was time to head outside to do barn chores. I quickly threw chicken to bake in the oven while we went out so that way it would be done in time for Josh to be home.  Bella had fun playing outside in the snow while I worked on pushing up feed and scraping the walk. We then went for a walk up by the calves to see Baby Sue, who managed to get out of her hut.  Bella  had fun playing in the snow up there, since it’s so untouched.  Next i moved on to setting up the milk house. By the time i was done with that Bella was ready to head in the house.

We got in the house and Josh arrived home a few minutes later. We sat down for supper and decided that i could run to Aldi’s to get some food staples. Bella and Josh went out ot milk and I went to the store. I had a budget and stuck to it. I got a bunch of food in about 20 mins. Then i decided to run to Dick’s and get some meat and a couple other things that were on sale and stuck to my budget there too! I was really impressed with myself.  Another goal for 2011 is to get a budget and stick to it!

On my way home I got stuck behind the fire department and by an accident so that slowed me down getting home, but worked out in the long run, since Josh and Bella were just finishing up milking.  Together as a family we unloaded and put away all the new food. Bella was so excited to see the new foods i got her.  She got a bunch of snacks, but hopefully it will keep her sleeping all night. 

Bella went to be pretty easily then Josh and I watched a bit of tv before he went out to fix feed.

It was a great day and i hope to have more like it!

potty training revisited?

Well today has been better than i thought it would be. Josh slept from 8:30pm-4:00am and when he woke up he was doing way better! So Jealous as i’ve been dealing with this darn congestions on and off for the last week or so.  Bella was only up at 1am(stayed in her bed) and 3:30am(came to our bed). She went back to her bed until 7am.

Our morning we were all sort of iffy in terms of health, so we stayed home from playgroup. Trying to burn some energy, we went out to the barn. The weather wasn’t too bad, so we had fun in the barn and the snow. I worked on barn chores, Bella played. She loved when she got to play in the bunk.

After awhile we headed back in the house. I was hoping for her to go down for a nap, but she had other ideas. She demanded to go the potty. normally it’s just the a stall tatic to avoid naptime. Well this time she really had to go. She peed twice and pooped. I was so happy with her and she was happy too. I hope for some luck in the future.  We are slowly working at it. I think we are going to continue to try at least once a day for a success.

She then took a 2 hour nap while I vegged watching tv. Josh finished his chores and then we had lunch.  We had to eat quickly since Josh had an appointment in town and we had to run to the store to get an animal. We dropped off Josh and then ran to Gassers to get Bella an animal. Naturally the first animal i picked out is the one we ended up with after Bella had to pick all the other animals first. She ended up with a mama lion.  Then we ran to Pamida to get some stuff, and found some great xmas clearance.  Then we went back to pick up Josh and head home.

Once Home, Josh took a nap while Bella and i made cookies. Then I started supper.then went to play with Bella until Josh woke up. We had a yummy supper and then all went out to the barn. I helped Josh move Baby sue from the back of the barn to the huts outside. This kind of confused Bella, so she was a bit cranky for Josh in the barn, but slept in her swing. They both came in early and so it was bath time.  We dyed it Green and Bella had a blast.  Then it was bed time, where Bella actually went to sleep right away!!!

A long weekend

Since this weekend was a bit crazy, I’ve thought of it as a long 4 day weekend. It all started bright and early on friday morning. It was a slow start thought and I’m not sure how we made it out the door by 9:30ish. We had made plans to meet up with my mom and aunt in Johnson creek for lunch before heading to watertown. Well I got to Creek earlier than planned, so we all met up at Kohl’s. My mom was looking for something to wear.

I found some good deals at Kohl’s for Bella. I didn’t really look for myself since I really need summer clothes, not winter. I did browse the clearance for me, but nothing really jumped out at me. Bella did pretty good in the store, so that made me happy. She got one of 5 dollar stuffed animals, the chameleon. She is in love with it! Lunch didn’t go at well, Bella really didn’t want to eat. But naturally she drank her milk and ate ice cream.  Then we headed for home.

I really thought she would fall asleep on the way home,  but it was a no go. :( We hung out at my mom’s until a little before 3, when we went over to Hannah’s. Thankfully Hannah was able to watch Bella while I attended my Uncle’s funeral. I got to visit for a bit with Hannah before I had to leave. I was glad to be able to visit for a bit.

The Funeral went ok, I guess. I”m not really sure how it should go. I met up with my mom and aunt Dar. We arrived and not too many of the Allen family was there yet.  We did a lot of visiting. It was a bit surreal, and just seems like an odd place to have a family get together. It still doesn’t really seem real that Ted is gone.  My cousin John, spoke a few words on behalf of the family and read a poem that my mom found online.  It went really well. Then things slowly started to wrap up.   I went to get Bella from Hannah’s and headed back to mom’s.

Tracey and the family were there, so we had a light supper with them. Bella really enjoyed having her cousins there.  We have been lucky enough to spend a lot of time with them in the last couple months.  They couldn’t stay too long, and Bella was tired, so it was suppose to be an early night. Only Bella had other ideas. She couldn’t handle a new location without her nuk. Also due to her lack of wanting to healthy food, pretty sure she had a stomach ache. This lead to a rough night. I ended up putting her to bed in the 2nd bed in my room. She slept there until around midnight and then slept with me. But it was a restless sleep.

Saturday morning didnt’ start out well. Bella and i were both tired, but somehow we got moving. We did breakfast and then got ready for the day. I packed us up and then ran to St. Vinny’s and got some clothes for Bella and an old Fisher Price train.   Then i ran to Papa Murphy’s to pick up some pizzas for supper and the Packer/Bears game.  Once I got back to Mom’s we loaded up and heading to East Town with Bella.  Mom and Dar followed us in thier car.

The mall was a bit busy and Bella was so so on being in the stroller. There is no toy store in the mall, so that kind of bummed us. They did have a grand opening for an indoor play area. So Bella got to check that out. Then we also got to see the WienerMoblie.  We then hit up the food court, before going to Barnes and Noble.  There things went down hill. Bella found the train table and refused to leave. I carried her out kicking and screaming. She screamed in the car to Half Price books. Then was so crabby while we were there, that I didn’t even get to look around. It was very frustrating for me too, since I was tired and getting a cold.

We got home and I got Bella to nap, she was awake the whole way home. I started supper for me and Josh and just let Bella sleep until she woke up. She got up around the time Josh headed out to milk. that night Bella had problems going to sleep but didn’t pretty well once she was asleep.

Sunday Both Bella and were slow to move but we had to get going to church. We had to take both the car and the truck for Josh had to work the KC pancake breakfast.  Bella did great in church, but by the time we got down the pancake breakfast she was in a bad mood. Thankfully she ate least at the applesauce.  Then Josh helped us get into our car and we headed home. Josh had to work until 12:30.  While he was gone, Bella went down for a nap.

Once he got home, Bella and I loaded up to make a quick run to farm and fleet and walmart. We got some last minute stuff, before racing home to enjoy the Packers/Bear game.  We enjoyed our 2nd pizza during the game. Bella enjoyed hanging out downstairs with us and watching parts of the game.  The game got done just in time for Josh to milk. He and Bella went out while I stay inside and got ready for Tori and Dylan to come visit.

Tori and Dylan arrived just as Josh was getting done with Milking. Bella and Dylan got to play for a bit  before it was her bath and bed time. Then Tori, Josh and i visited for a bit before Josh had to get ready for bed. Dylan went to bed and then Tori and I stayed up talking a bit. Bella woke up twice and then I decided that was my cue to head to bed. I took some cold meds and thus didn't realize Bella was up most of the night. My poor husband was up most of the night because of her.

Once Bella and I got up for the morning, Both of us were kind of awful. I’m watching Bella’s cough as she’s starting to sound croupy and I pray she doesn’t get it again this winter.  When Josh came in, I hoped in the shower, while our guest woke up and josh started Breakfast. Josh brought bella in the steamy bathroom to try to help her out a bit. NOt sure if it helped or not. 

After breakfast Josh went out to do his chores and Bella and Dylan started to play. The two of them did really well.  Tori and I had a good time chatting.  IT was nice to not have the interruption of other people, phone, or waiting for a reply via email.  The kids got into the trains, wii, legos and just about every other toy Bella had. I even managed to get Bella down for a small nap before lunch. We had sandwiches for lunch.  Then the kids played some more until around 3:30 when Tori relized they should probably head home. Well Josh called while they were packing up saying he was on the way home, so they waited for him.

once they left, Josh finished up some barn chores and came in for supper. We ate quickly and then he and bella headed out to milk. My poor husband is now sick too. What a great family we are. This happened last year too, I always tell him to not get to close to me and bella when we are sick, but he never listens.  So i’m praying everyone can go to be early and stay sleeping!!!!

I totally did take pictures, but I haven’t even looked at any of them yet or pulled them off the camera. Hopefully soon i can do that. :)

Chilly outside , warm on the inside

Our day was a little bit of everything.  We started out with Bella not waking up very well. So it was a touchy morning. Once Daddy came to the house, things got better.  Chocolate Chip pancakes make everything better. :)

Due to the fridge temps setting it this afternoon, we headed outside right away. Bella was very excited to be outside.  I went to work on barn chores while Bella went to work on playing with the cats, Cole and in the snow! She runs all over and has a blast!

When i was done with my chores, we went upstairs of the barn.  Josh was working on the skidsteer. He was trying to get the bale squeezer to work. Bella had a blast climbing all over that bale squeezer. I see, in the future, Bella working along side Daddy on fixing all the equipment.  By the time it got fixed it was time to head back to the house. The barn had sheltered us from the wind, but on the walk back to the house you could really tell it was chilly!

We attempted to nap, but Bella had other ideas. She finally decided that she had to go potty and was going to go on the potty.  I was so happy that she wanted to go. I hope she continues this tread.  She got some special treats for going to the potty.  SO we forgo the nap for while, and waited for Daddy to come in for lunch.  We got a semi load of hay today and Josh was busy unloading it.

We had lunch and then Bella went down for a nap. She had a great nap and i attempted to get some stuff done.

Bella woke up and we played Legos, read books before I started supper. I made a new creation to use up some of the food in the fridge since Bella and I will be gone friday and saturday.  It probably would have tasted better if i would have cooked it at a slower rate and paid attention to it a bit better, but it turned out pretty good. Well the husband and i liked it. :)

We had some family fun time before Josh and bella went out to Milk cows. Josh brought Bella in just after 7. Together we read more books and got her bath ready.  Josh came in to help with bath and then it was bed time for her. Of course it took until almost 9 to get her to sleep. I”m glad that the nuk is gone, but i’m praying that the sleeping thing changes soon!

Friday we are off to Watertown to attend my Uncle funeral. Sad day, but comfort from the family.

The Picture post

Here’s just a small taste of what we have been up to this week.

Legos have been a big part of our week. We got some more from my mom’s house and Bella has been in Heaven!

 

We made haystack cookies when she didn’t nap

 

My little Ballerina

Outside fun

 

She needs her laptop when i have mine :)

 

She carried her chair from the house to the barn. Still not 100% sure why, as she wouldn’t sit in it

 

Getting icicles

 

She climbed up a big snow pile

 

Playing on the bale squeezer. If she can climb it, she will!

Play date, packers, basketball and foxes.

Our weekend was busy but fun. We started out the morning at my mom’s house. We hit up some shopping at shopko and JoAnn’s. We stored some major deals :)  We got lunch to go and brought it back to my house.  My mom left and Bella and I ate and hung out until it was time to go to Nikki’s house for a playdate/girls day.
Bella had a good time play with all of Ronin’s toys and with Ronin.  She is did have some troubles with understanding that he was younger than her. Most of the kids she plays with are older or her age.  No nap also make some listening very hard too.  it was nice for me to get some adult conversation in too!

We had to leave around 4ish to get to my sister’s house.  We stopped at my mom’s to load up my car, since I didn’t want all my stuff to sit in the cold car.  Once we were loaded up, Bella fell fast asleep in the car.  The trip to my sister’s was an easy one. I miss the days of only being 40 mins away.  Once we got to my sister’s I took bella in the house and she was excited. She took off with Elly and Drew that I didn’t even see her while I brought our stuff in.  She loves the trains there. Also Elly and Drew’s rooms are loads of fun too with all the little toys!

After supper, we all settled in to watch the Packers vs Falcons. Bella really got in to the game with her “go pack go” and Touchdown! It was too bad that the game was so late that she had to go bed at half time.  I spend the rest of the night enjoying my sister’s wireless internet and uploading a bunch of pictures and videos!

Sunday Bella was the first one up at 6:45. She didn’t sleep the greatest so she was hard to convice to stay in bed. Then she wanted everyone else in the house to be awake. Lastly she wanted to wear her pack shirt.  She starting to care about what she wears.  Anyhow we got up and went to watch tv while we waited everyone else.  Then Tracey got up and told us that we had 30 minutes until we leave. So it was a race to get everyone ready and out the door on time. We were off to Elly’s basketball game.  Which were were totally ontime for. :)

Bella did really well during the game. She played with some of her toys, colored, ate snacks and watched “tv” Tv being Drew’s leapster. Elly did great in her game. She had some great attempts and is a great blocker.  It was fun to see her in action and to take pictures.  Bella got antsy by the end the game, but manged to hang on until the end. Once the game was over, Elly decided to stay with a teammate, as she had another game in an hour and the rest of us headed back to my sister’s.

I worked on packing up and and we made lunch in time for Elly and Andy to get home. After lunch we loaded up and Bella and I said our goodbyes to head home. She slept the WHOLE way home. I was very happy to make it home and be home. there was a lot of unloading to do, but I got most of it done while Josh was in the house with us. It was nice that he could hang out a bit with us.
We had a great weekend and were happy to be home again!