New Adventures

As of today I am offically back to being a full time working mom. These past 14 months of staying home have been SO SWEET and a time in my life I will forever cherish! All the sleeping in, all the late nights, all the Chickfila nugget meals, all the fun playdates, all the exciting new things we've shared together! So many precious memories with my babies and something I am SO very thankful for!

I am thankful for my hard working husband who has done nothing but support my every dream and desire. I wanted to stay home and he made it happen! Thank you honey! Luka and Mia have changed so much this past year and I couldn't be happier that I did not miss a beat! They are at such a fun age and as challenging as staying at home was at times I feel beyond blessed to have done it!

Even though we planned for me to stay home another year, a wonderful opportunity came up and I decided to go for it! The timing of it might have been a little off from our original plan  but everything else about it was just perfect! It is in the district that we wanted out kiddos in when they started school, it was in the area where we were hoping to move to in the next couple of years and  a place I was very excited about to maybe even teach in someday. Well, that "someday" came a lot quicker than we expected! ;)
Since the end of this past school year I started praying for opportunities in Lovejoy that would lead to teaching there in the next few years. I also prayed for God's timing as far as our family goals/plans regarding our move, kids education, etc. I planned on subbing in the area to get my foot in the door this year. After going through the interview process I can say that without a doubt we made the best decision for our children's future! I am just so impressed with everything I have seen and heard so far!

Certain things have completley blown me away and I couldn't be more proud to continue something I am passionate about in such a dedicated place. I am excited about growing as a teacher and being surrounded with some of the best teachers in the area. I am excited to get to teach a new grade level and be on the same team with one of my very good friends and former teammates! Talk about a perfect situation to be in when you find yourself in a new place! I am also excited to have my very first teaching partner Jill (who I absolutley adore) move just down the street from my school. We are already making plans to be next door neighbors and it is so exciting that when the time comes for us to move we will already have a few great friends so close! See what I mean when I say that this was a perfect fit! ;)

The best part of the whole deal is the fact that I get to take my babies to a  preschool on my very own campus! HOW AWESOME is that!!!! They have childcare for teacher's kids and I lucked out that it is located on my campus. We have been talking about school quite a bit with Luka and Mia and they seemed very excited about this new chapter. We drove by it the other day and they were already calling it "their school". They also asked if that is where we were heading while we got ready for church this morning. I know they are at the age when they will really benefit and love being around kids their age regularly.We are praying for a smooth adjustment for them as this will be their first time in any kind of school setting! I am excited to get to have them down the hall and just see how much they grow this next year!!!

It will be tough not being with them 24-7 but I know once they adjust they will love it! They were going to be in a three day a week program this year at a local Day School. Our goal for next year was going to be full time preschool so that they both got to have a full year of getting used to what kindergarten would be like.
Mia will have her sweet friend Sydney in her class and I know those two will love being together. Luka Man has always been our less social, more guarded child but he has also come SUCH a long way lately. He loves being at church and handled his first 2.5 hour stay  (with unfafmiliar teacher even) like a champ this morning!

I am excited about what the future holds not just for me but for those that mean the most to me: my sweet family! As we get ready for some major changes I am so excited and pumped and thrilled about seeing what God has in store for us this year! Looking forward to my drives to and from school with these two sweeties in the back seat!

We are so fortunate to have Mimi who was excited to keep the kiddos this week as I get settled in and attend New Teacher Orientation. Thanks so much Mimi! Next week we are hoping to head out to our family vacation and then the following week we will all start this new adventure together full time! :)

Our Little Characters

Sure hope you are ready for some major cutness! Can't believe that they are about to be 3 and 4 years old! What a blessing this past year has been...spending so much time together and enjoying this age of exploration, learning and adventure! Thankful for our healthy, happy and very active kiddos! These pictures will melt your heart! The sure melt ours ;)

Our sweet girl focused on Daddy's softball game....We loved our family nap last weekend and then spending the evening watching Daddy finish another season of softball...What a fun family day!

Oh there is the smiley girl! How precious is that dimple?

 And this little character is something else! I tell you - he is cracking us up lately! Just look at that precious, sweet face!

 Silly is his middle name these days

Then when it is time to focus he is just like his Daddy...

Oh here is the other handsome boy that lives at our house...picture taken by Luka Man!

 How could this smile NOT make your day ( love her closed eyes when she smiles big)! Ready to go see Miki The Monkey at the Community Centre

Love those blue eyed babies!

 

 The "Flamingo Pose" is starting to be their thing every time the camera is around.

 Blue eyed curly girl!

 Very tired boy~!

 Luka's reaction to Miki The Monkey show...he was very impressed by the monkey's sports skills!

 Our evening at home with our sweet neighbor Jade! She looks a little worried but I promise we had a ton of fun! The girls have really bonded lately which is so sweet to see! Their favorite part of the evening- a bath together and dancing around to Fresh Beat Band!

TriWaco Bates Style

Justin competed in TriWaco race today! He did AWESOME and I am SO proud! Many people have asked me the distances at which he competes so here they are for today's race -  it was 450 meter swim, 12 mile bike ride and finish with a 3.45 mile run!

He got 2nd place in his age group and 12th overall out of 426 participants! WOOOHOOOO!!!!  When we made it home the kids got their number tattoos just like Daddy! So before hopping on their bikes and racing away we took a pre-race picture of Daddy The Superstar and his two little sidekicks!

Aren't they precious? #18,#1028 and #5 (that's what Luka wanted so that is what we will refer it as)

 I bet Daddy wishes he could race in his jammies instead of that sexy outfit tri-athletes have to wear....:) Love you honey  I had such a wonderful time with my love! Boy oh boy did we laugh a lot! Stay tuned for the detailed version of our little getaway while Mimi and Papa took care of the kiddos! The post just might have to be called "A Series of Unfortunate Events" but no worries we made the most of it and had a wonderful time!

 Mia wearing Daddy's HULMET! ;)

A quick preview from the actual race...the swim part...So awesome to see all the people cheering and watching on the bridge...it was a pretty big race!

The bike portion of the course...couldn't even catch a full shot because he is way too fast for my Nikon-5- shots in 2 seconds- camera!!!

 Crossing the finish line! WOOOHOOOO!!!!

 After a fun and adventure filled weekend ready to head home! Until next year Waco!!!

 Thanks Mimi and Papa for watching the babies for us!

Our Little Curly Sue

Curly Sue used to be one of my all time favorite movies growing up...We are blessed with a blond version of that hilarious and sassy little curly haired girl!

Mia went from no hair for a reaaaaaally long time to tons of beautiful curls at the age of "almost 3". She is hilarious, she is sassy, she is silly, she is so smart and so, so, so very sweet! Her favorite thing to say right now is "This is what I tooold you!" or "This is what I'm talking about". SO hilarious to hear coming from our toddler!

We were being silly and playing around on the floor in Luka's room when I decided to get some pictures since she was in such a great mood...love, love, love these and LOVE our little Curly Sue!

Blue eyed girl

 Have no idea where the curls came from but we sure adore them!

 Our little beauty!

 And how about that precious, huge smile!!!!

 but don't let this sweet, sassy, blue eyed curly hair girl fool you beause in about matter of seconds she goes from PURE HAPPINESS. to.....

 ...being as dramatic as girls can be! Our fun little game ended and she was NOT.HAVING.IT!

I guess most people that know Mia would agree that she is quite the character and just a "little" stubborn! ;) Her sweet future husband doesn't stand a chance to win an argument or a decision making process...I mean, just look at this face!!!!

Mia Meets the Markers

How doing this....

 turned into this?

I left this little smarty pants during our writing our names and letters session to help brother on the potty...A few minutes later I returned to this- her neck, face and inside of her ears colored with a black and blue marker plus glue stick rubbed on her eyebrows...you can tell she tried to clean up at some point but it was going to take more than one baby wipes...Homegirl wasn't playing around as Daddy so perfectly stated when he got these pictures in an e-mail....The second picture is her "beggining for forgivness in her typical -I BE A GOOD GIRL speech"...Mia you are a MESS!!!

Summer "Firsts"

We are slowly getting through our summer list of fun things to do and so far we have enjoyed everything! Yesterday we went to our public library for our first story time and really, really enjoyed it! I have heard mixed things about story time at different libraries and have to say I was very impressed with our town's library...they sang songs, they read 4 really cute books about animals, they did a craft and did bubbles and the big parachute thing while singing songs at the very end. We found out about a few fun things hapenning at the library in the next few weeks and we will definitley be going...

The kids had a blast! Afterwards we went to lunch with Mimi and then to Shenaniganz to take advatange of the "kids bowl for free" summer deal. This morning we went to our first $1 Cinemark movie of the summer with our sweet neighbors!

Sure wish every early morning was this smooth!

We were supposed to leave 20 minutes prior to taking these pictures but of course I couldn't say no when they asked me to take the "flamingo picture"...

Who needs a playground when you can have fun running in circles!

The Best Big Brother

On Monday after our 3 hour swimming fun sweet Mia fell alseep watching Team Umizoomi...I was putting a load of laundry in when I noticed Luka putting a blanket on her trying to cover her up...of course my camera was handy and I snapped a picture...since he was trying to tuck her in really good she started waking up...the big boy that he is these days he decided to rub her face and help her fall back alseep...she is her parents' daughter and it was just a matter of seconds before her eyes started rolling and her eyes began to close...:) Then he wanted to snuggle next to her so he could watch tv even though he was not facing the tv... he was watching her sleep with a smile on his face while scratching her hand gently... Pretty much the sweetest thing I have ever seen!

They have their share of differences for sure and the older they get the more and more they disagree. These past 6 months as many stages as they have outgrown they have also really learned to pick on each other and push one another's buttons. She likes to take his clothes and wear it, he likes to scare her and make her scream at the top of her lungs; she likes to follow him around, he would probably prefer not to have a constant shadow when playing; she makes up stuff about him and tattles on him all the time, he does sneaky stuff to her behind our backs....So yes they are just typical siblings! ;)

At the same time they ALWAYS stand up for each other when another kid is in the picture and they ALWAYS have each other's back on the playground! Sure they complain about each other and fight on daily basis but they do have that very special "13-months-apart -never-remember-life-without-each-other" kind of bond that makes them just the SWEETEST siblings! They go to sleep together every night and we have even stopped bringing Mia into her own crib since they seem to sleep so much better in the same room.
Sweet Mia- you are one lucky little girl to have such an awesome big brother. I pray that your bond only gets stronger through the years!

Crazy Busy July ( picture overload)

We do waaaay too much stuff and I take way too many pictures so here is my best effort to catch us up so that I can start posting current stuff as my picture taking is not slowing down any...Two weekends ago we celebrated Papa's birthday. We had a wonderful time just hanging out with family and swimming.

Daddy and his Peanut

 What is so funny Luka Man?

 Oh it's Papa whooping up on his two big boys...yeah two against one and the boys never stood a chance...:)

 A little "toss Mia" game

 Handsome Bates men

 They finally did sneak up on their Pops...

 Mia and her Papa relaxing

 Momma and Luka were relaxing too...

 My precious boys

 These are my other two kids...:) playing around in the pool like they are 5!

Here are the rest of our pictures from Burger's Lake...such a fun day with cousins!

 Luka did not want to leave this area until he noticed all the sand by the water....

 Miss Mia loves anythign water related!

 Is our little Muscle Man not the cutest thing you have ever seen? I love his new floatie! Mimi and Papa got this loooong time ago and we just found it in his closet last week...he is LOVING it and we are glad as he did not like his puddle jumper very much this summer!

 Mia is such an independent little girl! No fear!

 Caught off guard by how fast the slide was....

 SAND is by far one of their favorite things!!!

 With Mimi and Aunt Christy

 My mother-in-law jumps off the highest diving boards and swings from the trapeze...No big deal!

 The hotel room was really nice and just perfect for 4 kiddos! Plenty of room, two big beds, nice big TV and plenty of space for being wild...I am sure our poor neighbors loved us! Luka and Mia were not too sure about staying in a hotel at first as they love "their house" but once they got comfortable they had a lot of fun...especially eating in bed ;)  They did miss their sweet Daddy very much!

 My sweet girl and I before dinner...note to self- stick to Chick-fil-a and do not attempt to go to a steakhouse with 4 kids without Daddy's help...:)

 We got home and started getting silly instead of being ready for bed...

 The balloons were a big hitt and kept the kids busy and laughing for a good while!

 Right after we got up guess what they did AGAIN? Yeah- thankful for those suckers as getting 4 kids ready on my own for dinner and the next day's advetures took a while!!!! We headed downstairs for a huge breakfast before heading to the Museum and checking out of the hotel...

 I took a million and one picture at the museum and it was hard to get any posing done...they were waaaay too busy to stop and look at the camera! Here is Mia at the enetrance to the Children's Museum area...

 I saw this HUGE trains area and knew Luka would be thrilled! Those big bridges behind him were part of the train tracks too and this boy was LOVING every second of it...

 Once you put your hands on these little metal hand prints all sorts of cool stuff starts hapenning...love this picture of Luka afetr he relaized that he "did some magic"...

 We did some horsie riding...

 The IMAX movie was so good that sweet Mia fell asleep...;) Just kidding it was a great movie but the music and all the under the ocean action put her to sleep...

 Luka opted out for a horsie ride version 2 where the seat does not move all crazy...love our sweet cautious boy!

 The grocery area was THEIR FAVORITE!!! We went back 3 different times!

 It was super fun for the little ones and they loved pretending they worked at the store...You get a shopping cart, get to go around and buy your own groceries, then put them on the register belt, scan them on your own while working the register...

 More trains...

 This boy just might have love working at a grocery store as a teenager ;)

 Outdoor water area....

 They also got to build a house outside with foam blocks...that was very exciting for them!

 On Friday we met our friends from our Life Group at Bounce Town for some fun...Momma and Luka had a great time on this slide...

 Luka and his buddy Zach

 Sunday afternoon we decided to go with Daddy while he went to do an open water practice swim... we packed up some snacks and picked up ice cream on the way...the kiddos played in the water and sand while Daddy did his swim and then we got to hang out for a little while afterwards too...It was quite the experience! ;)

 This morning we met Katie and Lucie at our neighborhood pool...we got there at 9:30 and even though our friends left around 10:45 we did did not leave until 12:30...we had a blast! Luka is getting super comfortable with his new swim outfit and I am hoping he will be swimming in the big pool on his own soon.

 I love our pool area...it is never busy and always very relaxing! We have been spending a lot of time in Waterview this summer but this is by far a more enjoyable place for Mommy who does not have to worry about the big kids running wild around my babies.

 We got home and the kiddos requested their "movie chairs" aka car seats while we watched Happy Feet!