Wolverines Update and the Drive in

As soon as it's ready, there will be a little video that will come and steal all the baseball thunder away, so until we get it done I wanted to throw in a little Wolverines news. Addison had his best game yet this week. He's been getting at least one hit every game, but this game he got two hits, and they were really good hits. He got to come home twice, which is not something he gets to do often. They won their game 13-0. Here's the bad news.... this is the one game I decided to take pictures with my still camera and not video. And of course that would be the one he had his best game! Oh well....can't get 'em all I guess! So in place of video here are a couple of pics from the game.

Probably the funniest and most memorable thing about the game was Addison's now famous social interactions throughout the game. Being the chatty, friendly guy he is he decided to strike up a conversation with the little boy on the opposing team that was on second base. Well, while they were making friends another boy hit the ball and the kid was totally oblivious to his coach and everyone else in the world yelling at him to run, so our pitcher runs and tags him out! Everyone thought that was the funniest thing! Then he randomly played catcher for an inning and spent most of his time turning around trying to visit with the umpire. I don't know what he was talking to him about, but I saw the umpire smiling a lot and trying not to be distracted. And that's Addison for you. Making friends during the game is so much more important than actually playing the game! But luckily for him, he also had a great game and they won. One more game in the morning and then the tournament next weekend. I have to admit we'll be glad when it's over. Playing into June when it's 100 degrees outside is a little insane for 5 and 6 year olds. But we might just win this whole thing, you know. They're a pretty good little team :)

And last Sunday night we went to the drive in movie for the first time as a family. It was a lot of fun- we saw Up, even though Addison and Chris had already seen it in 3D. Those are my feet sticking up from lounging in the back of the van :)

And prepare yourself for the video post from Musical Theater camp coming soon. I don't know if you can handle it... peace out from the Pate house.

Tinkerbell's Dance Camp

Well, Cadence had her ultimate dream week last week.  Or at least for an hour and a half every day.  She reacted and responded to her first dance experience just about like I thought she would- she loved every single minute of it.  Wore the dance shoes all day and night, and jumped into her little ballerina clothes every morning.  When I spoke to her teachers about how she was doing, on the first day they said, "You have a very active child!"  I thought in my mind, oh great- that's code for your child is a handful and wild!  But they actually said she was a lot of fun and she behaved better than some of the other littler ones in there (she was one of the youngest).  They said that when it was time to move to other things like coloring, snacks, or anything else non-dance, that she would want to just keep dancing.  The other little girls would be tired and need a break, but she just kept going.  This does not surprise me :)  So on the last day they got to dress like little fairies because it was Tinkerbell themed.  Prepare yourself for some serious cuteness here, people.  I'll tell you though- the quality is not great because I had to make the file pretty small since it's so long.  I'm putting the whole few minutes of dancing on here, mostly for the grandparents that will savor every second of fairy goodness.  Everyone else- sorry... I'm not making you watch it :)   Some favorite moments include her turning to us and asking if we wanted to watch her before they started, the professional spinning, and then at the end when they're supposed to give the flowers to their mommies and Cadence just runs to the opposite end of the room.  Click on the shutterfly link on the right column for the whole set of pics I took, since I'm just putting a couple on here.

This week is Addison's turn as he tries his hand at Musical Theater.... more on that later.   But there's going to be one upset little girl when we go to drop him off every day and it's not for her class!   Peace out from the Pate house!

Family Days

Time for the first post of June!  Shaping up to be a fun and eventful month for the Pate family.   We've taken some strolls around the neighborhood with our new double wagon and taught Addison how to play Phase 10.  Baseball season is still in full swing, and we will not have the closing tournament until the end of the month.  Addison is hitting the ball in the games, but he'd just assume do without the fielding part of it. He just kind of stands in the outfield doing the typical messing-in-the-dirt-not-paying-attention-kid thing.  We will have to decide after this season if baseball will be part of our life next year.  Although Addison seems to have an okay time he doesn't seem to just be in love with it.  It's still been enjoyable, though.  Chris (who has been helping coach this year) might have a different opinion :)

In the exciting and dramatic three year old world of Cadence Pate, things are a-okay with her.  Much to our relief, the days with her have seemed to be more enjoyable lately.  She definitely still has her moments and has the drama thing down pat, but as a whole the cuter moments are outweighing the Mommy-is-pulling-out-her-hair moments.  She starts Tinkerbell's Dance Camp tomorrow, and I don't know who is more excited- me or her!  It's like her birthright to enter the world of dancing, at least in my bloodline!  I anticipate her totally getting into it.  I'm sure there will be video and photos of pink dance cuteness coming soon :)  And I'm happy to report that she's 100% potty trained, which has made life so much easier.  So much easier.  But I wish I could say it was something we finally tried that worked in a moment of parental revelation and brilliance.  Nope.  She literally woke up one day and decided to be totally done with it.  And that was that.  Although she was pretty happy to earn two My Little Ponies out of the deal.  Below she is posing with some new "hair" we found at the Dollar Tree the other day.  Got some blue hair, too and some other fun dress up items. 

Addison is super excited because he graduated in his class at church and is now in the next grade up.  It's been so cute to watch him, because he's so proud and excited that he's been telling literally everyone about it.  We bought him a new Bible yesterday and he has also been showing that off.  I'm looking forward to hearing about the things he'll be learning, and I'm sure knowing how his little mind works we'll be having lots of long, theological conversations.  Which I'm happy to engage in :)  Also sporting the new summer hair cut in the picture...

Lastly, I leave you with yet another humorous quote from Addison from earlier this evening:

We were at Target and Cadence was in the mood to be a little challenging, so I leaned into her and told her I was going to spank her if she didn't straighten up.  Being out in public can make discipline a little challenging because you want to be consistent and not let them get away with things, but you also don't want somebody calling CPS on you either!  Unfortunately they figure that out and from time to time just love to push it 'cause they know they can.  So it went a little something like this:

Me: (for like the second or third time) Cadence please stop screaming (yes screaming) or Mommy's going to have to spank your bottom. 

 

Cadence just kind of looks at me with that bring it on kind of face...

Addison: Mommy, if you keep saying that to her she's just going to keep doing it.  Trust me- I'm an expert on this... I used to do it all of the time.  

So wise in his older years :)  And I of course just burst out laughing because that was pretty darn funny.