Boxes, Boxes, Boxes

I know I said I'd update you all a bit more often, and that IS the plan.  Right now I seem to be digging through the trenches of many years worth of boxes simply to walk around my house, and the thought of sitting down and updating you all on the madness...is kind of daunting!  Such is life when you move, and when you downsize for that matter.  We went from a house with attic and basement storage (each full to the brim, mind you)... into one with neither.  The amount of STUFF we have is ridiculous....R-I-D-ICULOUS!  I'm strongly considering putting all of the boxes in the yard and lighting a torch.  We will never miss the stuff, I'm fairly certain!!! 

It isn't as bad as it sounds, don't let me complain too much.  We do have a large barn/shop on the property that we will store some of our things in until we build the house...but that's a process in and of itself.  Unload boxes in the house, then repack what we don't think we'll need on a daily basis into Rubbermaid totes to try and keep the rodents out, and stack them in the shop.  Quite the process.  I'm a "get in and stay up all night until you're unpacked and it looks like you've lived there for years" kind of gal...so not being fully moved in after almost 2 weeks is REALLY hard!  I will be done, one day, and I'll post pictures of the pad for you all to enjoy!  Until then...go to your closets, and start throwing things away that you never use.  One day you will thank me.  Stuff collects in places you never think about until you are forced too and then you just want to cry thinking about all of the hundreds of dollars worth of things that have sat tucked away in cupboards and closets, and sucked the life right out of ya;)  Okay...maybe a bit dramatic...but I think you get the idea!  If I never see another box after this move, it will be too soon!!!

Alive and Kickin'

Well hello.  I nearly forgot how to post anything on this here blog, as it seems to have been months and months ago that I actually did such!  So...

This is us, the Albin's...Just in case you forgot who we are, or what we look like!!!  We've been working, playing, and living like crazy!  While I'd love to update you on everything we've been up to these past few months, I just don't have the time.  Instead, I'll leave you with the biggest news and update of them all....................NO, I'm not pregnant...There are 4 of us, and that is how our clan will remain, so don't get any ideas!!!  Instead, we are moving!!!  Yep...We've ventured out, a whopping 4 miles further out of town onto 2 acres.  There is currently a manufactured home on the property, but we have plans to build our forever home, and can't wait for that process to begin!  We are crossing our fingers that we will actually get the keys this Friday, but it's looking like it might not be until the first part of next week.  Are we CRAZY for moving at Christmas, YES, but excited at the same time, YES!  So...be praying for our family this Christmas Season.  For patience and understanding as things are slightly chaotic, unorganized, and a bit up in the air.  Merry Christmas to you all, and I hope to be able to update you all a bit more frequently as we begin this next chapter/adventure in our lives!

Pizza Night

My sister and her "other" family, have a tradition of  family pizza nights on Fridy Nights...I always thought it was a fun idea, but never followed through with with making it a "thing" in our house too.  Anyways...I had a wild hair tonight, to have family pizza night.  While Dani and the other fam actually make their pizza dough...I took the easy way out and went with good ol' fashioned Boboli, but the kids LOVED it! 

This OCD mamma had a hard time letting them get started until everything was perfectly laid out in front of them...they waited patiently though!

 Miss Concentration never lost her focus

 ...While Kal was rather distracted and would rather eat the topping than actuall put them on his pizza

They were both so proud of their final product, and requested "Pizza Night" every night!!!

It was fun indeed...and we may just take after the Easley's and have our own Pizza Night Fridays from her on out!!!

So Stinkin' Excited!!!

It's no secret here, that our lil' miss has a bed wetting problem.  I know, I know..."She's only 3" you say!  The thing is...she's been potty trained since before she was 18 months old (all on her own mind you), has had few and far between accidents during the day, and refuses to wear pull ups/diapers at night.   "She's a big girl and only babies wear diapies", after all.  There again you may say "she's only 3, make her wear the pull ups".  Well that's all fine and good until she wears them to bed, only to remove them once we leave the room and put on her beautiful princess panties!  We then wake up to a sopping wet little girl, and daily loads of bedding to wash. 

Anyways...I've tried everything I could think of; to no avail.  She doesn't get any...ANY liquid after 6:30pm...we take her to the bathroom when she goes to bed, then when we go to bed a few hours later.  We've tried reward systems, prizes, ignoring it...yadda, yadda, yadda.  There are some nights that she is wet 3 times throughout the night...those are fun nights! 

So...after changing bed after bed after bed, EVERYTHING in her room smelling like urine on a daily basis, and one frustrated momma and lil' girl...I got fed up and ordered a bed wetting alarm system! 

I am SOOOOOOO excited, and hope this darn thing does it's job.  I realize that it may take several weeks/months/good lord hopefully not years...but it's a start, and something she's as excited as I am about! 



Purse Pics

Finally downloaded a bunch of pictures from my "purse camera", and found this!

Love these girls!!!

SNOW!!!

New Years Weekend:

Snow

Sleds

Cousins

Rooftops

FUN!!!

Merry Christmas

I know it's been a couple of months...but what better way to jump back on the "blog train", than to wish everyone a Merry Christmas!!!

"Hugs and Kizzie's"

Well, her official name is now On Tyme Robin, after a previous owner had it changed, but Kizzie stuck as her barn name...so she's Hugs and Kizzie's to us! 

Meet Kizzie.  Our 11 year old Grulla Buckskin Mare!  She's a sweetheart and we couldn't be more happy!

Here's how we came to find Kizzie! 

As I mentioned in the last post...I've been scouring websites and looking day in and day out to find the perfect horse.  My neighbor Mindy has been really instrumental in helping me know what to look for, and what to stay away from.  It's been so wonderful having her non-pushy, but educated opinion on various horses that we had seen pictures and videos of, and ones we were planning to go look at.  We spent countless hours looking at horse after horse on www.Dreamhorse.com, went to look at one together (who turned out to be, well lets just say...not the horse for us), and had plans of looking at a couple of more this last weekend as well.  It's been really fun!

So...through all of that, Mindy had also been talking to some of her other friends in the "horse world", getting their opinions, and seeing if they knew of any good horses themselves!  In comes Staci!  I've known Staci for a while, through her husband, and soon after we moved in, realized that Staci and Mindy were good friends as well...sorry...side story.  Anyways...Staci new of a horse that one of her 4-Hers was selling, and thought she'd be perfect for us.  She had been doing Western Pleasure, and trail shows, she was smart, well broke, and beautiful...a nice plus!  Anyways...she was quite pricey, and I told Staci she was way out of our price range, but thank you for sending leads my way, and let me know if you find anything else!  I moved on, kept looking, and made plans to go see a couple of horses down in Eugene that I knew would be a far cry because of one's young age, and the other's cost...but if nothing more, I'd gain experience while looking!  Fast forward to Friday, when I got an email from Staci saying that her friends would consider lowering their price for me if I liked her and found her to be a good fit!  They really needed to sell her, and wanted her to go to a good home.   

So...Mindy and I woke up bright and early Saturday morning so we could ride Kizzie and get a feel for her before we drove down to Eugene.  That way we had something to compare the Eugene horses too.  The weather was nasty, the cold rain was falling, but the horse was wonderful, and I instantly fell in love.  So much so that I went right home, called and canceled the Eugene appointment, and started making arrangements for a second ride/placement in her new home.  I was that confident!  I had her family drive her to the barn we would be boarding, so we could have a second trial ride in the arena, in hopes of just leaving her there when we were done...all the while making her ours!

Well...that's exactly what happened.  They brought her, and not only were my feelings about her confirmed, but Kevin agreed as well.  The kids LOVED her, and Kizzie was fantastic with them.  Being 3 and nearly 5, they are still a bit young, and unaware, but Kizzie did great.  New people (little people at that), new (literally, brand spankin new) barn, and new horses all around...and she remained unphased!  I saw no reason to let her pass us by, so we bought her!

So there you have it.  Our new addition to the family!  We love her and can't wait to see where life will take us now that we have another adventure thrown it's way!  I'm such a beginner horseman, it's not even funny, but I'm excited to learn all I can about horses, and myself along the way as well!!!  I'm sure you'll be hearing more and more about miss Kizzie...so stay tuned!