Missing Daddy

I can't believe I haven't posted anything on my blog at all in 2010! Oops! Sorry to all 2 of my readers-ha!

John has been away for 7 days today on a mission trip to Peru! The kids and I miss him terribly and the days seem to be crawling by.. He should be back late Saturday evening-Please be lifting him, the other guys with him, me & our children, and everyone in Santa Rosa up in prayer! From what he has told me, it is going great so far.

By the way, John is updating on his own personal blog from Peru daily with pictures and videos, so for anyone who might be interested go check it out at www. johnyatesblog.com (I am not cool enough to be able to link to that, so you will have to go type it in your address bar.)

Here is a picture for you, Daddy! We have them hanging up and ready to surprise you when you get home. (So be surprised)
Baby Ho-Ho even made one. He layed on his tummy, turned his head to the side and concentrated very hard while writing whatever he wrote!

This is what I have been waking up to in my bed instead of John..

And this, my friends, is one of my new favorite recipes! Our Starbucks has recently closed and I miss getting my yummy White Chocolate Mocha. We bought an awesome little machine that makes different drinks and steams the milk and everything, but I find it very difficult and too much trouble when you are in the mood for a drink right now!

So....here is an easy & fast way to make your own White Chocolate Mocha at home! It is very, very close to tasting like Starbucks to me-but that is because I made it. Try for yourself and let me know what you think.

White Chocolate Mocha

Coffee

2/3 cup milk

6-7 tablespoons white chocolate chips

Reddi Whip

~Make regular coffee

~Heat up the chocolate chips and milk on your stove until all melted together.

~When it is melted pour half of it in your coffee cup and put the same amount of coffee.

~Spray a cute little circle of whipped cream on the top (You must not skip this step!)

This should be enough for two cups of mocha. (Not that I drink two cups!!) ha!

It is not Starbucks, but when your husband is away for a week and you have 3 kids by yourself, it is AWESOME! Or...if you just love White Chocolate Mochas!

I will try to post more than three times a year from now on! :)

Hello, my name is "Moommmyyyy"!

Hannah Montana

Batman

Robin

I have been neglecting my poor blog lately! I am pretty sure that I only have 2 or 3 readers, and those people probably see me on a daily basis anyways....but on the off chance there are a few more of you out there who have been checking daily waiting on me to post, I do apologize!

I have been cleaning, doing laundry, organizing winter and summer clothes, playing with the kiddos and all the rest of that fun stuff that us stay-at-home moms do all day.

I heard this on a t.v. program at the start of this week and it tugged on my heartstrings all week and has really changed the way I think about some of the things that moms (esp. those of us with more than 1 or 2) take for granted throughout the day...the person that I heard said something like this, "If only moms listened and cared about what their child was saying to them as if it were the first time they heard "mama""

And, I am sorry, but that is so true! You try for months to get your babies to say "Mama", then when they do you can't get enough of it. But, fast-forward 4 or 5 years, and you add two more babies to your group and all throughout the day you hear "Mama, mommy, MOM, mama, MOMMYYY, mom, mommy, mama!..." you can easily get tired of hearing it and sometimes don't even wait to hear what they were fixing to say next before you tell them to be quiet, stop whining, etc.

So, I have tried to remember when Mackenzie & Spencer both first said "mama" and how excited and proud I was and try to not cringe when I hear it coming from the other room for the 205th time that day! Ha!

Besides, there will come a day when Mackenzie won't want me to read her five books before she goes to sleep. And, there will come a day when she won't want me to color with her. There will come a day when she won't need me to read to her what color she is supposed to use on her color by numbers. There will come a day when she won't want to come to our bed at 4 a.m. to sleep until morning. There will come a day when she won't need me to get her ready for school. There will come a day when she won't want me to walk her to class.

That will be a sad day!!

I love my 3 kids.
I love my husband, I love my family... I love life!

Tomorrow when you hear "Mooommmmmm!!", I challenge you to pretend like it is the first time you were called that and pay attention the way you would have then. Mom is my favorite name!

Wordless Wednesday/Brothers/BFF

I'm no 'supermom'

Follow my example, as I follow the example of Christ. 1 Corinthians 11:1

It is funny when you realize that your children are watching and listening to everything you do and say. I've seen Mackenzie repeat something she has heard me say while she is pretend talking into a phone or playing store..or more recently I have heard her speak up after talking about a current situation that we are dealing with that I had no idea she was listening to.

I am going to try to remember that my children are watching me today and every day.
I need to say please, thank you, treat friends, family, and strangers with respect, and most challenging for me is to try to remember that my daughter needs to see her mother have good self-esteem. I need to not compare myself to others or wonder what they think of me.

Fun to be ONE!

I have been slacking on my blog lately..sorry to anyone out there who may be checking on it and hoping for a new post! ((I know you lurking readers are out there!...right?))
This Friday, the 5th, was my baby Holden's first birthday. It is so hard to believe that it has been a year since he was born! I can remember the day so vividly...even down to the scrubs the nurses were wearing! But, according to the calendar, it has been a year so we celebrated!
I'm not sure why but we had a cowboy/western party for him..we are not a cowboy/western type of family at all, I just thought the decorations were cute and this first birthday is pretty much the last one that the parents have the ability to pick any random theme they feel like for the party. Starting with the second birthday, it has been my experience that the child will have a character in mind and pretty much demand what their party and cake be!

Here is the Cowboy Boots cake I made..

Holden is looking at his own little cake wondering if we were honestly going to give it to him!

He loved all his presents! During all of the fun I didn't even take a picture of his present table, which is a good thing because you would feel sorry for this little guy for only getting 50 presents on his first birthday...he and his siblings have no toys and aren't spoiled at all!

This is Holden's new thing he has started (I need a video) but when you get the camera out he looks at it and says "Cheeeesseee"...it is so very cute! It is one of the many things he has watched and learned from Mackenzie.

He had a blast digging in!!

Our family felt complete to me for the first time after Holden was born a year ago, and this last year has been great! I thank God for my 3 angels....the third 1st birthday party was just as exciting and fun as the first(& second)!

Flashback Friday

In honor of Holden walking, it is only right to flashback to that wonderful September day when he was born! September 5th @ 5:47 p.m. I love being a mommy!

Kindergarten & First Steps

Well, as of today, our family has survived 4 full days of Kindergarten! It has been emotional for me, but luckily I was able to hold in the tears on days 2-4...day #1 had me bawling from the moment my back turned from the little miniature table my baby girl was sitting at with her name on her 'spot'.
To everyone else, she just looks like any other little 5 year old sitting there, but to me-I see my little 5 lb. angel baby girl who has needed her mommy and spent the entire 24 hours of the day with me for the past 5 years (and 9 pregnant months) of my life! I have a very big & soft place in my heart for my little girl and milestones like these really get to me!
Not that I am not proud of the sweet big girl that she has become or want to hold her back from the learning and simple life experiences she will learn at school...it's just hard to let go and know that my days of having her home with mommy all day long are over, and from this week on I am now forced to hand her over to another person for 7 hours of every school day.

The great thing about the last 4 days has been how much Mackenzie absolutely loves school! She loves her teacher, the school, her classroom, her classmates, her water bottle, the books that are read, the fact that "computer lab" starts on Friday, the playground, and her Hannah Montana backpack. (I tried to convince her of other ones, but I pick my battles on these types of things and she got to get whatever backpack her little heart desired!)
She is going to be an excellent student and I get more and more excited as I see her little papers at the end of each day! I am trying to let these fun moments make the sad mommy feelings slowly fade, and it has been working quite well for me. It has turned out to be a great week and I can only hope she is this excited when Junior High starts!
Here she is ready for her first day with her backpack.. (Don't mind the begging pets.. if there is not a kid asking me to feed them or get them a drink, there is an animal!)
Apples everywhere..

Spencer with his card he made for Mackenzie. He said several times on the first day, "I miss my sissy, mommy." I have been extra-loving on him this week because I understand that just as I feel like my baby is gone all day, I know his best friend and playmate is gone all of a sudden, too. It is an adjustment we will all have to get used to...

Here she is at her table..

A great first day!

As if all of this school excitement wasn't enough news...tonight Baby Holden started walking!!

Mackenzie and Spencer both took their first steps and walked on their first birthdays...then tonight while we were celebrating my step-dads birthday, he just took off! It is 9 days until his first birthday! He took a few steps, we were all shocked so we would stand him back up and he would take off again. He did about 15 steps without falling!

This was him after all of his walking..he was so proud of himself and was trying to say "Cheese" for the camera. He learns so much just from watching Mackenzie and Spencer all day!

I know that I will adjust to this new 'school' chapter in our lives as parents, and eventually might even start to like it!

When Holden took his first steps tonight, it hit me that time is going to keep marching on...and it is not going to stop and wait on me if I am not ready!