Tough Mommy Days . . .

  Some days are harder than others as a parent (obviously). But the days I struggle with the most are the days when I have to become "Mean Mommy" instead of a buddy to Austyn. It's so hard and breaks my heart when I have to seriously discipline her. There have been very few times when she has needed a major attitude adjustment. In the moment I don't have a problem disciplining her because she has pushed me too far, but it's so hard to follow through when she is so upset with herself and just wants me to hold her and love her.  When she is telling me how sorry she is and how much she loves me, and pleading with me "NOT TO TELL DADDY!". I just want to hold her and tell her it's ok, but I know she wont learn from her actions that way. I know how lucky I am to have such a wonderful, caring, smart, helpful daughter. My heart melts every time I see her playing with Quade. There isn't a better big sister in the world than her. She is so kind to him and loves teaching him new things. I can't get over how amazing she is in every way. I just am so thankful and blessed that I don't have to get her in trouble very often. It cracks me up how leary Austyn is of Jordan when he never has to get ornery with her like I do. I can't remember the last time he gave Austyn a whipping. She is so scared of "Daddy talks". She would rather take a beating instead of getting a "Daddy talk". But I remember feeling the same way growing up. I would much rather get in trouble with my Mom instead of my Dad. If we ever got in trouble with my Dad it was more of the "I'm disappointed in you talks". Those sucked. So I can totally relate to how she is feeling. With that said, I may or may not use Jordan against her when needed. It's the only leverage I have with her. 

  Now Quade is a different story (as usual. I'm beginning to see a pattern here). This probably sounds terrible but I could whip Quade all day long and not feel a bit bad about it. That little fart deserves every whipping and time-out he gets, plus some. So I guess the disipline equals itself out between both kids.

   

Pictures on the Blog ...

Whenever I post the blog from my iPad it cuts off the pictures. If you click on the pictures you can see the whole picture. And for some reason it messed up and didn't post some of the picture I chose. Sorry, I'm not good at computers so you get what you get. 

Busy Fall Days...

  Now that October is here we are living on Lone Pine time. The kids and I are loving it. Every Friday, Saturday, and Sunday we head over after nap time and ride the cow trains, take hay rides to the pumpkin patch (and of course get a pumpkin every time), eat dinner, and put the goats "to bed" (close them up in the barn), and then play at the maze for the rest of the night. Austyn likes to take tickets at the gate and Quade and I just hang out. Everything seems to be running smoothly for my Dad and Jordan in the maze. And the weather (knock on wood) is amazing. Hopefully it will last all October. 

  We were able to take Austyn through the Mountain Trail Course at the Oregon Horse Center. Her cousin Kate got to ride in it too. Austyn did so good I was just blown away. She went over a bunch of different bridges, rock piles, over logs, up on table tops, in ditches, through water, and on a teeter totter. She rode through the course for an hour and a half. Chocolate Chip is the best pony ever. 

Kate and Austyn 

Thanks to Lisa for thinking of the girls and getting everything ready and put together for them. Austyn has started to trot a bit at home on Chocolate Chip. She's getting better, still a bit reluctant. I've been putting fly masks on the fence and having her walk up to them and grab them and put them over the saddle horn. Then put them back on the fence. It's really been working good for her. And she is really learning like crazy in school this year. I'm impressed at how she can recognize her letter and numbers. And she knows the sounds they make. I love that little girl. She had her first dentist appointment the other day. She had been complaining about a tooth hurting her. So it turns out she has the most sever cross bite the dentist has ever seen at her age. It will take extensive orthodontics to correct the problem. If she continues to be in pain we will fix it now, but he would like to wait for her permanent teeth to start coming in at 6ish. Poor girl. 

  Jordan renamed Quade. His new name is LB (little bastard). That kid is just determined and very head strong. You really have to think ahead and distract the hell out of him if you need him to do anything. Or stop something he is doing. Redirection and distraction is so exhausting. He is a complete fit thrower😒 and nothing will end a fit. I'm at the point where I literally forget why he is STILL throwing a fit. That's how long his fits last. Yay us! But we love him and I'm telling myself this stage will end and we will move onto something else. BUT WHEN?????? 

Quadehelping me blow leaves

Quade being Quade

  Jordan built the kids the most adorable swing set off their playhouse. He used old firehose. They are so perfect.

 He is now onto building a goat barn. We are breeding the goats now and will be kidding in spring! Should be fun. We're hoping for twins from all of them. After the goat barn he is going to work on a slide on the other side of the playhouse. I'm glad he is so creative. 

  We finally got a mediation meeting with the CCB for the damage to our trim after we had our flooring fixed. We've been fighting this since March. Needless to say it's great to have the walls fixed and to be able to use the bathroom in the garage again. It pays to be the squeaky wheel sometimes. We still need to replace some trim, and fix a transition piece in the floor, but that can wait for a little bit longer. 

  I'm so excited for this Halloween. The kids are going to be Little Red Riding Hood and the Big Bad Wolf. I made Austyns costume again and then altered one for Quade. They will be so cute. 

Sneak peek. They aren't completely done in these pictures. 

  That's about it for us lately. After corn maze Jordan is off elk hunting for a week. Then the Holidays start!!!!!!! Hope everyone is enjoying this beautiful Fall weather.