Happy Father's Day!

*** In honor of Father's day we put your favorite current song on the playlist as #1...

Dear Dada,

Happy Birthday Father's Day! ( that is what Luka said to his Daddy this morning)

 Top 10 reasons why you're the best Daddy in the world:

1. You are the greatest when it comes to bedtime- you scratch our backs, you sing, you lay there with us even when it takes hours....
2. You know how much we love to "lawn" and you do it even when you don't have to...
3. You give the best hugs/kisses- we just love your snuggles
4. You teach us cool stuff all the time
5. You always go with us to our friends' birthday parties and we have so much fun together
6. You let us interupt your shower every morning to answer all kinds of goofy questions
7. You are not too cool to sing/dance to your own version of Yo Gabba Gabba songs just to make us laugh...just don't do the dances in public...okay, Big Guy?
8. You are the master "poopy diaper cleaner" because you manage to clean us up without using as many wipes as Momma
9. You crack us up with your silly triathlon gear...we love you even though you wear those goofy tight shorts...
10. You are one awesome "bubba (fly)" killer - we especially love when you get in your "gangsta" talk mode
11. You play with us and you get quite silly sometimes
12. You know all the characters from our favorite shows
13. I NO LIKE 13 Dada!
14. You let us help you with your medicine
15. You teach us good manners and how to make up our own grace before meals
16. You cheer us on and get so excited when we learn something new
17. You let us play with your blackberry
18. You are an awesome singer- our personal favorites "The Campfire Song" by SpongeBob or
    "C-h-r-i-s-t-i-a-n" = you seem to do well with "spelling" songs
19. You stay with us at church because  we have such a hard time being around strangers
20. You share your food with us even if it means we will waste some good stuff on your plate
21. You work so hard so that Momma can stay home with us
22. You are a TALKER- you talk to us about everything...Momma sometime thinks you talk too much when you take us to our timeout spot...but WE love that you explain everything to the tiniest detail ( more time for us to distract you and use our cuteness to get out of it quicker)
23. You are never too busy to play any sport we want, play our guitars, be silly, take walks, read books...you do whatever it takes to make us happy and we adore you for it!

Okay, okay...we got carried away with the TOP 10 because you are pretty stinkin' awesome! We could have kept going but Mommy told us that we can continue  listing the reasons why you are the best AFTER she gets her patio set...Not sure what that's all about but your life would be so much easier if you just got that darn patio set already...ALL of our lives would be easier actually....

Dada- we love you so very much and feel so blessed to have such a rockstar for a father! You are the sweetest, kindest and funniest Daddy in the whole wide world! Thank you for all that your do for our family every day.

Happy Father's Day from your little "mateys" who want to grow up to be just like you....( This is what Daddy's SpongeBob Father's Day card said ...)

Justin- these pictures say it all...watching you with the kids and seeing their precious smiles....the love in their eyes- make me fall in love with you even more each day...I am so thankful for you and what an amazing Daddy you are to our munchkins! Happy Father's Day!

Oops how in the world did this get here!???

Momma's Day Off

I am so thankful and blessed to have my mom and Justin's mom just minutes away from our house ready to help with the kids any time I need them. I know not every stay-at-home mom has this luxury and I know that I will come to appreciate them even more as I stay home long term. Now that Mimi ( Justin's Mom) and Baka ( my mom) don't get to keep the kids all day every day- they are natually have some serious Mia and Luka withdrawls.  Well, I get to cash in on these withdrawls and have some quiet time to do housework, my bible study, shopping and just some good ol' ME time each week!

Today Mimi and LaLa took the kids to Wet Zone for over 4 hours. Luka and Mia knew that Friday was the day of fun with Mimi and they had been so excited about it. Luka kept telling me he was going to The Wet Place with Mimi. This morning they kept running to the windows any time a car would drive on our street. After the kids headed out for their day of fun I got to enjoy some fun myself. I met two dear friends for lunch in Firewheel and enjoyed catching up not having to watch the clock, went to pick up a few things at the store, picked up our messy house from a crazy morning...I am going to go ahead and admit that one of the times I cherish the most is being at the store alone and not in a rush. Needless to say when Mimi came to drop the kids off they were both ready for their late naps...Right now as I am blogging they are sound asleep in their beds. I am sure they will be worn out for the rest of the day! I know they love their schedules but I am sure they did not miss their usual nap time. They had a blast at Wet Zone and had a pretty yummy lunch from what I hear ( wink, wink Mimi).

How much do these kids enjoy their Baka/Mimi time- well, if you knew to what lengths these two go to to make sure Luka and Mia have the absolute best time you would totally understand why they talk about their fun dates all week long...For example- today Mimi's huge cooler of food included cupcakes! Hmmmm...I wonder why I get the gentle push after I buckle them in and kiss them good bye...

Thank you Mimi and LaLa for a day of fun! We love you so much~Luka & Mia...Next Friday? Same place, same time?

Thank you Lord...

All week the kids have been napping like little champs. Not sure if this will become our routine with a busy summer ahead but I figured I better record it before things change. I just never know with these little ones but I am sure cherishing this wonderful week. Someone asked if I am wearing them out...well, I guess so! We pack everything in the world with us when we go swimming from toys to snacks to our lunches and drinks. Between our swimming playdates with friends, cousins and just hanging out on our own at the neighborhood pool several times a day- I guess they are worn out.

On the way home their tummies are full and as soon as their heads hit the padded back of their car seat they are OUT! They have napped every day from about 1:30ish to at least 4:30. That would be four days of 3 hour naps people! This has allowed me some time to clean up around the house, work out and just recharge! The best thing about it is the fact that they have been in pretty great moods overall and we have not had many time outs at all. For all that-I am so very thankful!

This summer has been so much more fun for both Luka and Mia and Momma too! Mia was not very mobile last summer and with two naps it was really hard to go anywhere. This summer they are playing together really well, love the water, nap at the same time and just overall keep each other pretty entertained.

Our schedule looks a little like this:

7:00-7:30 wake up time...Luka is usually the first one to get up( sometimes around 6:30ish) so he gets to hang out with Daddy before he heads to work

7:30-8:00 Breakfast- Luka likes to get in his high chair as soon as he opens his eyes while little Miss likes to lounge around on the couch and play before eating...

8:00-9:00 Play time in the playroom

9:00-10:00 They follow me around the house and make a mess as I try to pick things up, clean the high chairs, start packing our bags for swimming- Yes I said bags...we have 4: one for toys, one for bathing suits, swim diapers, sunscreen, change of clothes and regular diapers, wipes...one for snacks, lunches and drinks...one for towels and camera...Sometimes this is their own play time- you would probably find Luka playing with his cars either outside on the patio table or on the living room ottoman...Mia likes her bean bag chairs in the playroom or swingset outside...

10:00-10:30 get dressed, ready to head out

10:30-1:30 swimming & lunch

1:30 start heading home, they fall asleep

1:45-4:45 nap time for the kiddos while Momma works out, showers, blogs, does more cleaning- even though by the time Justin makes it home it probably looks like I never cleaned

5:00-7:00 sometimes we go swimming some more...hang out with Daddy...play in the front yard on the picnic blanket or backyard at the water table...Luka prefers being in front of the house for some reason- I think he is always on the look out for people doing yard work


7:00-8:30 dinner, bath, bed time...I usually put Mia down while Daddy takes care of little man...

Yesterday afternoon we met my old friend Maria and her daughter Emma at the Waterview pool. We were there from 5-7 and the kids had a blast. They did not want to leave when it was time to go.

Luka, Mia and Emma- so sweet to see them together...Maria and I were best friends growing up and it is neat to see our little ones play together

Miss Maria helping Mia out- Mia loves "to swim" she kicks her feet and does a little motion with her arms

Luka mastered going under water all BY HIMSELF- that is his favorite statement "ALL BY MYSELF!"

Hugs

Now this is the summer I was picturing...

The second week of summer was much better than the first week. The kiddos are over being sick, I started feeling better now if Daddy could get better that would be even more fantastic. Poor guy has been miserable all weekend and so far the first part of this week too. He just cannot seem to shake his horrible cough or get sleep. We are praying that he feels much, much better soon!

On Sunday night we had Ivan and Dea over and since Daddy was not doing well, we headed out of the house to let him get some peace and quiet while resting. We went out to eat dinner and play. We came home and I got to relax a bit while watching the kids play with all the stuff in the backyard. Of course, when cousins come over the bounce house is a must so they were entertained for a good while. Bedtime was a beating since Luka and Mia did not want to stop playing. It literally took Justin and I an hour to put the kids down. Dea on the other hand did nto ahve any issues falling asleep.

On Monday morning I packed everything for the pool ( toys, food, towels, diapers, change of clothes, etc), loaded up the kids and headed to Target. We picked up our super awesome Puddle Jumpers so we could go swimming at the neghborhood pool. If you have not seen or heard of the Puddle Jumpers and you have more than one child less than 50 lbs- this item is a MUST! You can find them at Target and Dick's. They are Coast Guard approved and definitley the best product I have seen/tried with our little ones. They are very comfortable for the kids and very practical to use. They provide just enough support while allowing to keep their head above the water on their own. Mia has been a little fish since we got these and she can pretty much swim around the pool on her own ( and I don't mean baby pool). Of course, I am right there with her but she perfers that I give her some space. These things have allowed me to be able to relax a little since two kids under 3 in the pool can become quite challenging. Luka likes his okay. He keeps it on but it not to fond of being on his own in deeper end of te pool just yet. I told him he had to wear it because the lifeguard said so and he is fine with it.

So after our Target trip we finally made it to the pool around 10:30 and the kids had a blast. NObody was at the pool almost the entire 3 hours we were there. This always make it for a relaxing time since I don't have to worry about other kids being crazy and my kids taking others' stuff. Mia crused around each of the three big pool areas, Luka even ventured out a little but I think overall  for both of them it helped that nobody else was there. We ate our lunch and just enjoyed spending time with Dea and Ivan. We headed home aruond 1:30 and right after we dropped the big kids off Luka and Mia were out sleeping in the back seat.  They took a super long nap and I had plenty of time to work out, shower, blog and watch TV.

Our little fish

Luka was more interested in his water gun

Sweet cousins

Mia with her fake cheesy smile

Another little girl came with her Mom and Mia wanted to make sure her toys were safe...she kept saying "NO share..NO share"- GREAT!

Momma and her ducklings - for some reason Luka decided to hold his breath in this picture

On Tuesday we packed our swimming stuff/lunches once again and headed to Waterview to hang out with my sister and the kids at their water park. Once again the puddle jumpers came very handy. We enjoyed a few hours at the pool and once we headed home the kids were sleeping within the first 2 minutes in the car. Another nice nap and another opportunity for Momma to work out and relax a bit.

While I was dressing Luka, Miss Mia decided to lower herself in the water behind me. Thankfully Dea was in the water watching her the whole time. This little one has no fear!

Dea teaching Mia to kick her feet

Shooting everyone who walked by

"Gotcha" smile

Ready to go again!

Luka recruited his sissy for the water gun fun...I am sure other people there loved having not one but two kids shooting them while they tried to lay out.

These past two days definitley made up for last week's mess. This is more like what I expected our summer to be. Long naps have been absolutley wonderful for everyone. The kids woke up for two days in a row from their 3 hour naps in great moods! Having 4 kids instead of 2 has turned out to be much easier- not that I would consider having 2 more or anything. I know our kids have been quite entertained/worn out with their cousins around. Happy kids = Happy Momma!

Birthday Saturday

Another busy, fun weekend for the Bates Family! On Saturday we had two parties to attend and thankfully since the kiddos were doing better we decided that we would go ahead and go. First we joined the celebration in honor of Miss Alix's 6th birthday! We cannot believe she is 6 years old! She was the first baby in our close group of friends and we just CANNOT believe that this is her 6th birthday!!! It just doesn't seem possible!

Beautiful Birtday Girl

Kiddos minus baby Braxton...we actually got a picture with Braxton in it but of course my camera had to make it blurry!

 Luka and Mia had a blast hanging out with Alix, Emma and sweet Braxton. Alix's party was at the local bowling place and our kiddos had a blast! Luka notified me that we needed to do it more often. I didn't really expect him to get this excited and he totally suprised me by how much he loved every second of it! I am thinking maybe Momma and Luka's next date should be at the bowling alley.

Daddy helping Mia while Luka tried to soak up all the good tips - excuse Daddy's bo-bo shot ( I am sure he is going to love me for this)

YES honey- I know I took pictures in front of ya'll too but again BLURRY CAMERA ( hint,hint)

Zach and Alix helping Luka ...after the ball would roll all the way down Luka cheered and did his ROCK ON sign...again my camera- NOT FAST enough to get the exact moment!

Very tall Justin and Zach with Josh and James....hmmmm?

Getting ready to sing...notice the two out of four kids who just couldn't wait for their cupcakes?

YUMMY!!!

Sweet Emma

Luka's " I love cupcakes" face

Six year old little lady!

Mia trying out her gymnastics skills while trying to copy Alix

Justin's early Father's Day gift from Miss Alix was this picture frame- so sweet to see the guys in their softball uniforms with all the kids

One of the neatest memories from the party was the fact that Luka just absolutley adored the big guys: Zach, James and Josh. He was in such a great mood! He usually clings to Daddy but the past few times of all of us hanging out he has become more comfortable. Now he does not hesitate to jump in their lap, ask them to play with him and be silly.

Mr. Zach was hilarious!

Poor Josh introduced a game to Luka and Luka of course did not want to stop....

They did this at leat 15 times....Josh would lift Luka up while making silly noises...

James and Luka( being silly)

So I tried to take another one- but then the big kid in the picture couldn't hold still ( just teasing JJ)

After Alix's birtday party at 1:30 we headed to Kids Kingdom to celebreate baby Camila's 1st birthday. We were lucky enough that two parties were literally 2 minutes from each other with the perfect overlap time.

Watching kids play soccer at the park

These three little ladies were all born in the same school year- lots of maternity leaves in our hallway

After the parties we came home and relaxed in the backyard. The kids couldn't wait to open all the cool party favors...they played for a good while without making a peep!

Life is so tough for our little Miss!