Passion

Passion. It is described as 'any powerful or compelling emotion or feeling.' When I hear the word passion, I think about the things that I believe in strongly or the desire to umm... shall we say 'get busy'. (Close your eyes if you are one of my brothers.) I don't know if my loved ones would describe me as passionate. There are a few things that I believe in strongly, but for the most part I think people are and should be allowed to think for themselves. These are a few of the things I am passionate about.
1~ My Kids. I know I have said this 100 times but I really mean it. I have always wanted a big family. When I was little it was all I dreamed about. Getting married and having babies. How many I would have. What their names would be. How many boys and girls I would have. It's always been part of who I am. And I love newborns. There is NOTHING in the world like a newborn. How they smell and feel. And how they make me feel. There is no other love in the world like that. Spencer, Adam, Lily and Sara have made my life whole. They make me complete. I can't imagine a word like passion, without imagining my kids.
2~ My Husband. Todd. There aren't enough words to describe this amazing man that I get to call mine. I was a lost soul when I was a teenager. I never knew who really loved me or where I belonged in life. One night I prayed. I prayed my heart and soul out. I asked God for a guy. I guy who was a little order than me. Who was smart and calm. A guy who would love me. Who would want to be with me. Who would always believe in me. I don't know exactly the time frame, but it was fairly quickly, this wonderful guy, driving a little green car started coming to the Drive In. A friend told me that he only showed up when I was working. So pretty soon I started making his oreo shakes full of oreo's and his ice cream cones a foot tall. (He claims I am the reason for his diabetes.) Soon we were talking, and finally we went on a date. We have been inseparable from that point on. I am thankful everyday to God for answering this prayer. I have been blessed to be Todd's wife and share the passion we share.
3~ Tolerance. I know, I know. I preach and preach about this. But it's something I try very hard to live my life by. Todd and I try very hard to teach our kids about diversity and loving someone based on their soul, not on their outward appearance, race, creed or sexual orientation. It's hard sometimes to truely instill these values in your kids. There isn't a lot of diversity where I live. My kids don't get to experience any other cultures. But we are trying teach and instill tolerance for all others in our babies. Maybe they can help with weeding hate out of the world.
4~ Breastfeeding. This has been a big one for me. I love breastfeeding. I love the bonding experience you get to have with your babies. Plus there are so many benefits to nursing. I nursed Spencer until he was 10 1/2 months old and only stopped when I did because he got a really bad stomach virus and didn't eat much for almost 2 weeks. When he was feeling better he had no desire to nurse anymore:( Adam and Lily nursed until they were 2. I probably would've nursed them longer, but I ran out of milk. Sara is a nursing champ. I'm hoping to make it until 2 with her also, but if it goes longer then, well then, we'll keep on nursing. Now, when people know that I am still nursing, I get lots of strong opinions. Some people seem disgusted, others look at me like I'm insane, others say things like "Hopefully they'll stop before they go to Kindergarten!" People seriously say that. I just think 'whatever'. I love it. My babies love it. My checkbook loves it. And it's something only I get to share with my babies. It's a big deal to me that I get to do this and I am very passionate about it.
5~ My Country & Politics. I have always loved my country, politics and government. I was fascinated with it when I was in high school. I had a phenomenal teacher that taught me so much about it. Off and on through the last 10 years I would find an issue that I was passionate about, but it wasn't until after 9/11 and the Iraq and Afghanistan wars started that I really paid attention to what our government was doing. I started watching, reading and researching what was going on, what the government, especially what our President was doing. I was becoming more and more discontented with what was going on. My view of our President changed. My view of our government changed. I didn't like what I saw. So, I became passionate about politics. About the state of our country. How our country treated others. How the world viewed us. I became passionate about searching for who I thought would be the next President. And when I decided who I loved (I actually loved him from day 1) I set forth whole heartedly supporting him. Obama '08!
6~ Diversity of Religion. I was raised Mormon. Todd was raised with a basic belief in the bible, but no specific religion. As a child, I never really believed in all that I was being taught at church. I just didn't get it. As a grown up, I have learned to love all religions. Study and research all religions. I believe God (whomever he or she might be) is above all religions. That there is no 'true' religion. Just lots of different messengers that all have a message of true humanity. Love and kindness. And unfortunately, not all religions practice love and kindness. And some even practice hate and discrimination. So, Todd and I decided early on, to not choose a religion for our kids, but teach them the values that we hold dear and let them choose or not choose for themselves. (O' the opinions on that one.) Having my kids appreciate all religions is some thing I am very passionate about.

What are the things that you are passionate about? I would love comments telling what passion means to you, and what things you are passionate about. And please, feel free to 'let me have it' if you have an opinion about the things I am passionate about.

It's Saturday, Party at the Bates'

 Today was family picture day. We headed off to Heritage Farm, it's a local park that has an old fashion charm. Complete with a refurbished barn, out door fireplace, silo, haystack and a crap load of leaves. My friend and distant cousin, Mandy Reger was running around snapping a ton of pictures trying to catch the cutest moments of the day. The boys were sword fighting with sticks, and Lily was running around with Mandy's girls. Valerie is home for the weekend and was with us for pictures. She and Sara were hanging out, just walking around checking things out. Sara was making sure she saw
 every leaf and stick in the whole dang place. It was so cute to see her investigate and explore.
 Then, tonight, because Todd is such a great Daddy, he and the kids carved a pumpkin. They picked out a skull and cross bones design. Todd cut the top open and the kids dug in. By the looks on their faces, they thought it was pretty weird feeling.
 Todd has patience like no one else. He carved and worked on that pumpkin for a hour. The pumpkin looked great and the kids had a great time watching Daddy work his magic. It's going to be a fun Halloween. The kids are so excited to dress up and go trick~or~treating. Mom and Dad can't wait for the treats!

 

 

Charlie Bit Me

Cute, Cute Video. I love it.

Mr. Smarty Pants

 I know I don't write near enough about my boys. I feel guilty about that. I adore my boys. Adore them. Anyway, Spencer has a teacher this year that he absolutely loves. Spencer has always been a really good student, but this year he has shown some massive promise in math. The last few years he has scored in the 95% of all kids his age in Wyoming, according to the state whatever-whatever exams. However, he has always complained that he didn't like it. I think it might have been because he wasn't challenged enough, because this year he loves it. He was making up his own math problems to work on. What? And he has fallen in love with reading these silly books called 'Diary of a Wimpy Kid'. There's a series of them and he reads at night until he's in trouble for being up past his bedtime. Seriously. I can't believe the transformation in him. What a genius. He is doing so well. Harvard might not be out of reach after all.

Isn't She Lovely

 Little Miss Sara Rose is 13 months old. Sweet Baby. She is letting her red hair shine by being just a little bit sassy. In fact, her new nickname is 'Tiny Sassy', because we all know that Lily is the original Sassy. Anyway, Sara is running everywhere and is amazingly fast. She can sense when the bathroom door is open and the toilet seat is up. She is instantly wanting to play in the toilet. What the heck is the fascination with the potty? O' and she is so snoopy. She wants to check out everything. She also has learned how to 'cuss' at the kids. She kind of raises her eyebrows and jabbers in the general direction of the kids. She is now saying 'Mama'. Anyone that she loves is Mama, including her babies. Todd tries to correct her and say Dada, but she still calls him Mama. It's so cute.
Now I wanted to show this whole picture because it looks like Lily's barbie is drowning. I don't know why it's funny, but it made me giggle. The other funny thing was, Arlene has always said that my kids are so white, you could see them from space. In this picture you can see that Lily has a darker complexion that Sara, and Sara is sooooo very fair. Red hair, blue eyes, fair skin. This baby is going to sunburn in front of the TV, just like her Mommy.

Mom My Ride

Wow, this feels like they invaded my life and stole my idea's for a Mom car. To funny.

Amy Poehler Rocks the House

Amy Poehler is the funniest person I have ever seen. I LMAO! To funny. Sarah Palin was jammin' right along with the beat.

Presidential Silliness

This picture cracked me up. I know there are a lot of you that don't agree with my politics, but you have to admit, this is some funny stuff right here. There is a link below that you can go to and take a short quiz that will help you see which candidate you agree most with on the issues. Have fun with it. And just in case you were wondering, I agree with Obama on all but 2 questions. One is immigration and the other was energy. The energy one was because I didn't understand what the heck the quote was actually saying, I'm a dork.
Presidential Issues Quotes Quiz

Strep Throat Sucks!

 My sweet little Adam came home from school yesterday with a bad headache. He is never sick, never complains about being sick, little lone has a headache that slows him down to the point of being a couch potato. But he was sick and he had a fever to match his headache. Then later in the night he started complaining about a soar throat. I thought he might have strep, but the Doctors office was closed and the next place to take him would be to the emergency room 30 minutes away. So I gave him Ibuprofen and he crashed out on the couch. Poor guy. Anyway, he was still feeling crappy this morning so Todd took him up to our local clinic and sure enough, he had strep. So we cancelled our family plans for the day and decided it would be a good day to watch all 6 Star Wars movies. That will totally rock. And he gets to load up on Popsicles and Gatorade. He will be feeling better AND have a sugar rush soon. Sweet little man. On the bright side, he wants to snuggle with his Mommy. Now that, I don't mind at all. It's hard to snuggle a non-sick wiggly 7 year old. So I am going to take advantage of that.
Anyway, I have yet to find my ambition that I was looking for yesterday. I think it's lost. I am catching up on laundry, just in time to have a round of sickies and need to do all the bedding. That's fun. I did manage to fix dinner. And I am happy to report, there was very little bitching about BBQ spare ribs and corn. That was also fun. But the rest of the house and tonight's dinner is still up for debate as to if and when it will be completed. Right now, I'm going to snuggle my sick little man and 'enjoy' Star Wars with him. The house work will be here tomorrow when he is feeling better and doesn't need/want snuggled.

Thurday Laziness

 Today, the girls and I have been total slugs. More so me than the girls, but they are involved in my laziness because they are home. I mean there is so much that I should be doing and yet I don't have much ambition. The house desperately needs cleaned, there's about 10 loads of laundry, we've had PB & J's more frequently than I care to admit and I just feel like hanging out with my girls. As you can see, they are to much fun to do anything else. Besides, Sara is a huge helper around the house and she loves to undo what little I have done. She loves Lily's nightgowns. (That is what she is playing with.) They are silky and soft and she loves to pack them around and munch on them.
 I guess I now need to stop bitching, get off my behind, fix a healthy dinner, and some how muster up the energy to clean my sty. Let me know if you have any words of inspiration. I need them desperately.

Fire Safety

 Today was a fire safety day for Lily at Miss Holly's. The local Fire Department has a 'Freddy the Firetruck' program for kids. There's a little fire truck that sings to the kids and helps them learn about what to do if there is a fire. The kids are so cute. Lily just stood there and stared at the little truck who seemed to talk to the fireman that was there.
 The fireman showed the kids what he would look like if he had to come in their rooms to rescue them. Most of the kids looked a little scared at first but eventually warmed up to seeing him in all his gear and they all gathered around him to touch his helmet. The fireman also taught the kids about 'Stop, Drop and Roll', what to do if there you were to get a burn and the ever important 911 phone call (to which he added that you only call 911 if it's an emergency.) That was funny. I think there might be lots of little kids' false calls.
 Look at Miss Lil' sitting up in the firetruck. She was so excited. Most the kids wanted to get up there and see what it was like so they only got a few seconds per kid. There were big smiles everywhere. The kids loved that part.
 So anyway, through out the morning I realized that we, as a family, do not have much of an emergency escape plan and we sure as hell don't practice one. I have not taught my kids very much fire safety except for the obsessive hovering when they are around fire or anything that can cause a fire. We don't have a 'meeting' place, we actually have a whole lot of nothing in the way of being prepared. I feel like I've totally dropped the ball on this one. I am going to try harder and get organized. My kids should know so much more than they do. Cuz as we all know life has a way of throwing crazy curve balls at us. Whether we hear it or not!

Friday at the Bates'

 Today was a busy day. Lily, Sara and I had a lunch date with friends and my girls were
'helping' me get ready. They were mostly into my make up bag. Lily loves to find
 lipstick and put it on. It reminds me of sitting with my Nana when she would get ready to go somewhere. She would dress up, from head to toe, to go almost anywhere. I loved watching her get all gussied up. And even though there are days that my helpers make it difficult and a little more time consuming when primping, I wouldn't trade it for anything. I enjoy having my girls to do 'girly' things with. My boys aren't to shabby either, they just don't share my love of make up or getting gussied up like my girls do.
 My reasons for posting the sweet pictures of Sara are because I was finally able to give her piggy tails. How cute huh! I'm telling you, it was no small feet to be able to do this. She is wigglely and busy. She doesn't sit still very long, until she needs to be off and running. Then after her hair is all done up, she tends to pull her pretties out, especially when she's nursing. She is constantly removing her Mama's handy work. I truly don't always know why I try, it never lasts very long. But still, it's so cute while it lasts. This is my piggy tail baby and she is a stinkin' doll.
 The last few hours of the day, (I say hours because my babies were giggling to much to go to sleep) were spent at a slumber party in Lily's room. I feel like they fight all day, so when they are together like this and giggling (and it wasn't a school night), I didn't make them go to sleep right away. They had a great time hanging out together.

Happy Birthday

 Happy Birthday to You, Happy Birthday to You, Happy Birthday Dear Lover, Happy Birthday to You! I love and adore you honey. I hope you have a fabulous day, filled with all the things your heart desires. You are awesome and wonderful and I can't wait to celebrate with you!
(This picture is Todd with his sister Becky. It's so cute.)

SNL Totally Rocks Take 4

You knew I was going to do it. Enjoy!

A Game of Tag

 I was tagged my my childhood friend Stephnie. What you do is find your 6th picture in your 6th folder. Mine just happens to be my beautiful daughters from last winter. To cute.

I tag Becca, Misty and Collette.

Ms. Helpie Helperton

 Everyone with a 1 year old knows how very busy they are. O' my goodness. Sara is a massive helper. She wants to be everywhere we are and do everything we are doing. That means doing dishes, laundry, and anything else we are
 doing at the moment. She mostly tries to climb in and out of things, but still, she's helping.

Basement Update and Dancing Princess

 So, the basement is now to the painting point. And Miss Lil' was helping her Daddy. She came home from preschool ready to help in anyway she could, but Todd was spraying the paint on the main walls of the family room and she couldn't be down stairs. It upset her a little bit, but she got over it.
 AS you can see, Spencer's room is going to be a military green color. The rest of the downstairs excluding the bathroom is going to be tan. I was thinking it would be a little darker, but I really like it. Tomorrow Todd will finish Spencer's room. And then Jim will come in and finish the ceiling, doors and trim. Then we are going to put wood laminate in for flooring and Jim is going to teach me how to do tile for the bathroom. Then is will be finished! Whoo-Hoo! Four years after we moved in, it will be done. We will need a couch, big ass TV and some video game playing chairs, but that will come in time. For now we are going to fill it up with what we have and move all the 'boy' stuff down stairs.
 Today, Miss Lil started dance class. She will be learning hip-hop dance and clogging. Along with more tumbling. So Tuesday's she has tumbling from 4-5 pm. Then dance, clogging and more tumbling at 5:15 to 6:30. I thought she would come home exhausted, but she just ate like a horse, had a bubble bath and played with Sara. We also had to read stories about Princesses and talk to me about her dance shoes. She is so excited to be in dance class, and I'm hoping some of her hip wiggling will be tamed. She rivals Elvis. Man that girl can tear up some dance moves.
 Anyway, our day was busy, from the time the boys got out of school we were running. Like Forrest Gump running. We were everywhere. (As I'm sure most of you are.) O' and the boys have Taekwondo also. But we enjoy it. Life totally rocks with my kids right now. I can't imagine anything better. I enjoy them so much. Life is crazy, Tuesdays are insane and everyone other day is loco, but it's ours and we love it. Insane Tuesday's and all. Life is good.

Jim the Builder

 Here's a picture of Jim priming the basement. He looks so handsome with his gas mask on. Anyway, he has primed the whole basement and now we are going to paint it. I think we are going to paint it a color called 'cup of cocoa'. It will be a dark tan or a light brown, however you want to look at it. I'm hoping to do browns and blues. Todd wants it dark and manly. I always call him Dracula because if he a had a choice the house would always be dark. Not just dark with lighting but dark with color also. That drives me insane, but I think we can create a manly dark room from him. It will also be our family room, so it will
 have all the video game crap and movies down there. There is already a closet just for that specific reason. It will be so nice to have it done. And have all of that stuff out of the living room. Hopefully the mess will be cute in half upstairs and organization shall prevail. We are so excited to have this done. Whoo-Hoo! The end is in sight.

SNL Totally Rocks Take 3

Once again, perfect impression. Tina Fey totally rocks. So does Jason Sudiekis as Sen. Biden and Queen Latifa as Gwen Ifill. Funny stuff, I'm telling you.

Star Student Adam J. Bates

 Adam was star student of the week at school. Mrs. Hickey gave him 2 big green bulletin boards to fill up. I filled one of them with pictures of him and he drew a picture of a town on the other one.
 Adam drew a huge town. Most of it had things similar to our little town. He's so creative. He sat there for hours drawing and adding new things to it. He had a cemetery and a jail. Along with a whole bunch of bugs. So cute.
 Then after all the drawing and putting pictures together, he did a small presentation in is class about himself. Like the things that he loves to do, and some of his other favorite things.
  He also explained, by showing the class what face he always pulls in pictures. Somehow he can make one eye stay straight while the other one massively turns inward. He has a natural ability to be a comedian and make people laugh. He's so quick witted and can make you laugh just by being his silly little self. Anyway, he is the star student this week and my star student always. Love ya, my funny little man.

Sarah Palin & SNL Totally Rocks Take 2

A Heartbeat Away Guys, A Heartbeat Away!
As I watched the Sarah Palin's interview with Katie Couric last week, I honestly thought she was a total joke. I was surprised she didn't know some of the things Katie was asking her. I thought man, this person could be a heartbeat away from the President of the United States if John McCain is elected. AAAHHHH!!!! But she did prove herself tonight, during the debate, not to be a total idiot. Shock and surprise. I still think it's so funny to hear her say she and her running mate are Mavericks and part of the reform party. Does she know who has been running the country? Our fabulous President is republican. And as far as I can tell, John McCain seems to vote along side party lines A LOT! He is definitely not the Maverick reformer that Ms. Palin would have us believe. But still I was hoping for a train wreck and she didn't totally suck. Although her views are a little misconstrued in my humble opinion.

Tina Fey still nails her. Too funny.

My Daddy

 One year ago today my Dad passed away. It was 8 days after Sara was born. I clearly remember all the small details. I got a call the day after I had Sara. My Dad's wife at the time told me that he had gone into the hospital with a bout of pancreatitis. My instant thought was that this wasn't good. Most people that have parcreatitis recover, it's just a really painful illness. Well, call it my drama queen side, the fact that I was emotional from just having a baby, or just instincts, but I knew, for some reason that I wasn't going to get to see him functioning again. I had talked to him a little on the phone over the next few days. (Remember, I just had a new baby.) Anyway, on Sept. 27, I got a call from my little brother John who had just gotten a call from the hospital that my Dad was in that said he had went into cardiac arrest and had been without oxygen for about 5 minutes. When we finally got a hold of my Dad's wife, she had the nurse explain what had happened. He was really sick. He hadn't eating so the doctors had placed a feeding tube and he hadn't been digesting the formula stuff correctly. He ended up massively vomiting and aspirating on that vomit. Which means he had taken a breath and it went into his lungs. When stomach acid goes into your lungs, you're in trouble. From that point he went into cardiac arrest and all of his major organs shut down. He had an anoxic brain injury that the Doctors said was irreversible. He was in essence, brain dead. As a family we made the decision to take him off life support 3 days later. When we were all there, we said our good bye's and watched him struggle for breaths for 6 hours. It was a horrible thing to watch your Dad, a man that always seemed so strong to fight for every breath that was in him. It sucked. I hope to never have to see something quiet so difficult again.
Anyway, my Dad was not a soft man. He had a hard life. He was a quick tempered man who didn't always see life clearly. But he loved me, me loved my brothers, he loved my Mom. I miss him terribly. I miss him calling saying "Whatcha been up to dinger?" I miss his crocked smile and the way his face lit up when he saw me or my kids hugged him. I wish, with everything I have in me, that I would've made him more of a priority , made sure I called him more frequently and spent more quality time with him. I honestly thought I had a life time to be with him.
I think about him daily and hope he is singing and dancing with my Mom in heaven.