B-O-R-I-N-G

Well, this marks the last evening of my time alone in the Pate home.  I have certainly missed the flurry of activity and life that is my family.  Honestly, it's been kind of a frustrating few days for me.  Frustrating because I was kind of hoping if I had this opportunity I would at least have some time to myself to do things I enjoy.  I had grand visions of curling up with a good book, doing a project on my when-I-have-spare-time (ha) list, or making something like scrapbooking or other artsy goodness.  The truth is I really knew that wasn't going to be the case.  I have been going and going, and I feel like these days have been sucked into the vacuum of the daily grind and now they're gone.  My family brings me so much joy and fulfillment that doing day to day life without them is so boring.  But at the end of the day that's the reason this arrangement was set up- I had too much going on to run off and have fun with everybody else.  

On the bright side I had my life group girlies over last night which was fun.  And because of that my home got a much needed cleaning, something I'm glad got done but didn't want to spend my alone time doing it!  And I did have some time to do a little shopping trying to gather something fantastically coordinating for Easter for us (as a result I have two sets of fantastically coordinating outfits for us and must choose). And I've been jamming to the new Israel CD, which has made it a little less boring.  And sleeping in this morning before my noon class was nice. And I made some money because I stayed.  Thank you Lord for provision.  I remain very thankful for that, and it continues to be a blessing in our life. But I'm not gonna lie- hearing about my kids playing in snow drifts as tall as they are, Chris having a great conference in NC, and Alesha and her kids having a blast in Arkansas made me long for the days I could just pick up and leave!  

And now I'm done.  Pity party over.  Just needed to whine about it a little to a captive audience (hey if you're still reading I didn't make you!)  This evening I actually do have some time (aside from doing laundry), so I plan on having some good time spent in the presence of the Lord where He will refresh and renew me.  I'm sure we'll have some stories to tell or pictures to show from everyone's adventures.  And now you know mine (try to contain your excitement). I will meet my parents half way tomorrow after church to pick up the kids who probably don't even want to come home because I'm sure they've had  a blast.  Basically I'm just ready to see everyone again and get back into the groove!  I love my little family so much!  

March Madness!

Of the Pate family kind, that is.  The question is not what are we up to this month, it's what aren't we up to this month!  That's why this little bloggity-blog hasn't gotten a lot of love lately.

Hmm, let's see... since the last post we've had a fabulous Little Einsteins birthday party for Cadence (I'll refer you to the Shutterfly link on the right to view pics from the party), me traveling to Lubbock the next weekend to help Mom with a three day pom clinic (including a visit to our wonderful friends whom I have not seen in ages), baseball season starting back up again with Chris assistant coaching this year (which means two practices and two games a week), me having one of my last Pilates trainings this weekend (this is me cheering on the inside), Chris leaving on Wednesday for Campus Harvest for six days (and a 21 hour drive both ways), and the kids going to Granna and Poppy's for a few days (yes,that means I will be completely and utterly alone for a few days and have mixed feelings about it), and the last week of the month/first week of next month includes going to see the Broadway production of Annie in Lubbock and coming back to launch all of our new group fitness programs at the gym which is a lot of outside practices.....      

Okay you can take a breath now.  Incredibly long run-on sentence and bad grammar intentional.   With baseball season in swing it means we have something every single day of the week, and most days lots of things in one day.  There are days I wish that we were all just relaxing on the couch after 5 every day, but we are enjoying all of the things in our life right now.  As hard as it is as good as it is.  

We started off baseball season with a bang- or should I say banged up.  The first practice was at a school field that was covered in stickers.  When I say covered, I mean when the ball rolled and they picked it up it had like 20 stickers on it.  Well, naturally within the first ten minutes of practice starting, Addison was running and fell.  Into the stickers.  Wearing shorts.  There is no denying that really hurt, but that was the wrong kid for that to happen to!  Let's just say he doesn't handle situations like that very gracefully.  It caused a huge drama that left us thinking we were quitting after the first day.  But luckily we all slept on it and the next one was better. And a different location.  Tonight's practice had him getting nailed with the ball right on the collar bone.  Geez.  Hopefully at the end of the day we're all still having fun and learning!

Well, there's many other things to discuss in the world of all things Pate, but considering that I started this post two days ago and am just now pulling it up again let's just call it a day.  Pray for our little family as we're all scattering in different directions.  Back soon with more breaking news!

 

Java Night Superstars!

Some moments from a great performance....

So I am a little behind getting this posted... I have already put these pics on Facebook but wanted to share them here and give some behind the scenes stories.  We had our big college ministry fundraiser last weekend called "Java Night".  It consists of big giveaways, a raffle, a live auction, and a talent show.  It is always a lot of fun, and this year it went really well and made a lot of money!  Last year Addison made his debut singing in front of people and was so cute!  He had one of those moments that could have come right out of a movie of getting scared and then everybody started chanting his name... then this change came over him and he stepped up to the mic and delivered!

Well, this year little sis definitely had to get in on the action.  I never had one doubt in my mind that Cadence would walk right up to the microphone and sing her little heart out.  She runs to the stage every time after church is over and tries to sing on the microphones.  Addison, however, I was thinking was not going to go through with it this year.  As I mentioned in earlier posts, he is gaining more self awareness as he's getting older so he's not so fond of getting up in front of people.  The first conversation we had about it was a big fat no.  He told me he didn't want to do it this year.  So of course I did what any parent would do in my situation: offer a bribe.  And of course he responded like a typical child: okay.  As the day approached we kept trying to pump him up about it and he seemed like he was doing good.  They practiced a couple of times.  On Sunday he told me that he wasn't nervous anymore.  He said he had prayed last week in the car and had asked God to help him not be scared to sing.  He said, "I'm not even nervous- I'm smiling."  And in the car on the way he was telling me how everyone was going to say how great he did.  Funny thing about Addison is that he's had this little shy stint, (which apparently is more short lived than I thought it would be) but he has no problems in the self confidence department.  He's great and he knows he is.  He's very matter-of-factly about it, really.  

So they rocked the house.  They sang the song that I posted a video to a while back, "When I Praise Him".  Everyone was going crazy over Addison doing that rap.  He actually ended up winning in his category.  He was just beaming all over.  As soon as I can get the video downloaded into the computer I will post the live performance.  One of my favorite things about it is that during the little interlude when they sing about clapping for joy and dancing for joy, Addison tells the crowd to clap their hands and then "everybody dance".  So great.  And Cadence was her usual entertaining, cute little self and proudly belted it out right alongside him.  Definitely a proud moment for Mommy and Daddy.  The cute factor was pretty much off the charts.

When I picked up Cadence from her class last night at church, the teacher was telling me how funny she was being.  She said she was gathering everyone around and getting all the other little kids to sing.  Apparently she had a little piano and was trying to get them to sing potty power, which none of the other kids knew.  And then other songs.  The teacher was joking saying she was going to be just like me!  She is very good at taking charge, that's for sure!  Perhaps a future worship leader...