Gracie time...

After months of refusing to use the potty at school, I had just resigned myself to letting Gracie hold it all day. Yesterday when I picked her up, she ran to the door and told me, "I four potty stickers!" We've tried all sorts of bribery in the past, apparently yesterday stickers were the magic weapon! Let's hope she remembers next Tuesday when she goes back!





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Family Camping 2013!

Thursday morning marked the beginning of O'Brien Family Camp 2013!!  We loaded up early and were on the road to Lake Shetek, Minnesota. By mid afternoon the girls were playing with Hailie and Connor and we were eating and playing and snacking and chatting and grazing....

We had the best time. Maggie and Gracie love having Hailie and Connor to play with. They all get along so well. The girls are both really missing them now that we're home.

Maggie made 2 trips to the lake to fish. The first time she said, "fishing is kind of boring." Duh! When I got there to check on them Arnie, Paul and Mark were all untangling and fixing fishing poles, it seemed something was always caught or broken. I think I'd rather just relax and look at the water. Her second fishing trip was a bit more exciting...

...she didn't want to touch the fish, but she was really excited to tell us all about it when she got back to camp.

For Maggie's Birthday, Hailie and Connor got her a new game. The object is to make the dog poop, it's totally disgusting, but the kids laughed SO hard while they played it, we had to love it!

Maggie had Arnie take her training wheels off a few times and she worked on riding
without them. She did pretty well.

Poor Elsie had a lot of big kids "helping" her with everything!

 

One day all the kids had lunch in Mom and Dad's camper and watched a movie. I went to check on them after awhile and Maggie was doing the dishes. (she can hardly reach the sink.) When I asked what she was doing she said she didn't want to leave all those dirty dishes for Grandma so she was cleaning up. I noticed there wasn't a dish towel and asked how she dried them and she said "I couldn't find a towel, so I just grabbed my blanket and dried them off." :) Bless her heart, she was SO proud of herself. She came out beaming to tell Grandma what she'd done.

One night Uncle Mike filled a giant bowl with shaving cream and gave it to the kids. Gracie wanted NOTHING to do with it, but the big kids had a blast!

COUSINS!!!

Oh Gracie!

Sunday night the kids wanted to have a sleepover together before we headed home. Connor was asleep about 5 minutes after I took this pictures. Gracie was mad because I actually made her go to bed (because she wasn't about to let the other kids lay down and watch the movie), and Maggie & Hailie stayed awake until after midnight watching a movie. We had tired kids the next morning but they had a great time.

Now were home, the camper is mostly cleaned out and we're getting back into the swing of things. I'm very thankful that everyone could make time to be there and that we all enjoy each other so much. We had 5 days filled with memories my kids and I will cherish forever.

Time to implement the post camping diet (have I mentioned we ate, pretty much constantly!) I can't wait to do it again next year!

Saddle

Maggie's new saddle worked like a charm!


Chevy is SO big and the saddle was pretty little....it looks a little silly!


Nice & tight!


Perfect fit!


I'm not sure if the new saddle really helped or if it just boosted her confidence, but she did awesome! Lots of trotting and drills.


Even Gracie wanted to get in the cowgirl spirit :)

Golf, the weekend and a saddle!

Friday was the last day of Jr Golf. Maggie was very proud of her certificate (she asked the pro to put Margaret on it instead of Maggie) and trophy.





Friday night we hung out at home. Maggie suggested a walk, because we all need some exercise.....I think Reagan liked hanging out at home better.





"Daddy too big!"








They are still painting our house, it looks great. I think they'll finish up this week.



On Saturday we made a trip to Omaha. We ran a few errands and then took Maggie to look at a used saddle we heard about.





She can hardly wait to see Chevy this week and try it on. It took a lot of work to get these stirrups short enough for her little legs! I'm pretty sure she'd have used it as her chair all weekend if we let her.








Arnie and I left the girls in Omaha and came home to spend today cleaning the shed. It was SO gross, I was embarrassed to let people see it. After a day of work, it looks great, I'll happily show it to anyone who'd like a look!

Tomorrow morning I have 4 pallets of mulch showing up....I better get some rest, sounds like a back ache is in my future!

Summer??

I thought summer was supposed to be a slow, relaxing time of year??  Yah right! It's been a busy week at our house. Maggie still has junior golf this week, yesterday she also had horses and softball. Poor Gracie probably feels like she's been on the Maggie tour. (I guess that's what being the youngest is all about.)

After her hit last week, she insisted on wearing pants for both of her games this week
so she was ready to slide!

Gracie found a lovely seat for her baby. Poor baby, she also spends about half the
game stuck through the fence!

Good thing she wore those pants. She had 2 hits and the she slid into 3rd base and home plate.

A video of Maggie's hit and slide into home plate.... (sorry about the loud yelling mom!)
http://youtu.be/6k0czJvtukk

I think Maggie's favorite parts of the game are giving the other team 5 after it's over and
team meeting/snack time!

After the game Gracie wanted to run the bases too.

 

Why do I even make my bed???

Look who's gotten tall enough to stick his head out of the stall?? Every time
he heard Maggie's voice he stuck his head out to check on her.

Little girl.....BIG horse. Her walking Reagan doesn't look so
strange anymore.