It's the Most Wonderful Time of the Year

I truly do love the holidays.  It's probably the time of year I take the most pictures.  You would think that would correspond with more blogging.  You would think.  Yeah, I would, too.  Or I could face the reality that this is also one of the busiest times of the year for us and my track record seems to prove that blogging tends to get a little sparse when we have a lot going on.  In fact, looking back on the number of posts I have had this year I would venture to say that 2011 was not the year of the blog.  My blog, anyway.  This makes me sad, considering what an eventful year it was in our little corner of the world.  But Chris says that I always talk about how much I don't write and that I should just stop apologizing.  Guess he's right, it's just that I think I'm mostly apologizing to myself because I disappoint myself in this area.  But I should be happy that I am writing at all, considering before 2009 documented memories existed only in pictures.  I will say that this is something I'm determined to work on in the coming new year, though.


But enough about that.  Now get ready for the photo blitz of your life.  A whirlwind tour of the month of December, if you will.  Actually a little bit November and a lot of December.  The quality of the pics  is not great because they're mostly from my phone.  I can actually get pretty good pics from my phone, but not always in low lighting.  This is pretty long, so just kick back your feet for a bit and enjoy!

First off, a little visit from our Abilene clan.  This was the little bit November part, because this was before Thanksgiving.  We had a lot of fun at the Aquarium.  Definitely one of our fav spots in Houston.  It was their first time to meet Jaxon, and we had a great weekend.  We also had a big 2 year celebration for City Life that weekend which was also awesome.  

 Putting up the Christmas decorations.  This actually happened before Thanksgiving.  We knew we would be gone a lot in December so we wanted to enjoy the tree.  Jaxon was very fascinated with the sparkles and lights.  This time next year it might get a little interesting because he'll be big enough to probably be pulling the little sparkles and lights off the tree...

Our annual making Christmas cookies adventure.  This year we tried a new thing Granna sent us that made this super cute tree.  I didn't take an aftermath picture, but this tradition is definitely a most messy one.  I picked up little green dough bits that looked like playdough for days and probably still have flour in the cracks of my table!  Jaxon was rocking the bumbo seat all this Christmas- he loved being in on all the action and sitting like a big boy.

Missing photographically from this timeline is a quick visit from G-ma, G-pa, and Aunt Jordo after Thanksgiving.  They came to get the kids to spend the week in Arkansas while we spent the week in Washington DC.  It was a pretty hectic weekend with us all getting ready to travel. G-ma and G-pa if you're reading this, I need some pics from you if you have them!  

Soooo... the DC trip.  I had a lot of anxiety preparing for this trip because we were taking Jax with us and I was really nervous how he would do on the airplane and throughout the week for all the events we had.  Here's how the trip got started: after two and a half hours of sleep we stumbled out the door in a hurry at 5:00 am to head to the airport.  I was so focused on making sure I had everything for the baby I left my phone behind and didn't notice my makeup bag had fallen out of the diaper bag.  We get to the airport and I also forgot that my driver's license had expired, and they almost didn't let me fly.  So I was so thrilled/relieved that Jaxon was perfect for the flights there, despite the rocky start on my part.  He was a trooper and actually did great the entire week.  But since I left my phone at home I didn't get  a lot of pics. I had my real camera with me, but since he was either strapped to me in the Baby Bjorn carrier or I was pushing him in the stroller, it was difficult to capture too many pics.  And I'm really sad about it because there were certainly a lot of photo ops.  I'm sure we'll be back there one day so that made me feel a little bit better.  

These pics below are from Mt Vernon, the home of George Washington.  It was a really cool place where you could tour the old homes, see where he was buried, and then there was an awesome museum there.  

We ended the touristy day at the historic Ford Theater in downtown DC where we saw A Christmas Carol.  Got a picture of "the" booth.  Jaxon was a champ again and did really good.  He was just charming all of the sweet little old ladies that worked at the theater, and they said he was the best baby they had ever seen.  Well, how about that!

Although it was hard to fully unwind and relax with a baby, and we didn't get a whole lot of sleep, it was still a great trip.  We are always very encouraged and refreshed when we're around other pastors and leaders in Every Nation.  It's a blessing to be a part of such a great movement.  And that part of the country is so beautiful- I'd love to visit in the fall when all of those trees are showing off their color!

So we return home from that trip and have exactly one week to pack again and hit the road.  And to have our huge Christmas party and me to help host a baby shower before we leave.  Whew!  The Christmas party was a blast, as always.  Whenever our church gets together it's always a good time.  I don't have good pics at all from the party, but I'm sure most of you saw the ones on Facebook that someone else took.  The kids stole the show with their dancing and craziness!  And we got a little crazy, too!  Oh yes, I sure did dance with Jaxon strapped to the front of me!  Do what you gotta do!

And as soon as that wild weekend ended we were on the road again to begin the tour de grandparents.  First stop, Abilene for a quick visit on the way to Elk City.  We did get to go to church on Wednesday night to visit some of our friends and Chris ended up speaking in youth that night.  We took a day trip a couple of days after we got to Elk to Apache, OK, for the Darnell side of the family Christmas.  This picture is of Grandma Darnell with all of her great-grandkids. Must be really cool to live to see that many great grandchildren.  That's the first time we have all been there, because we hadn't seen that side of the family in quite some time.  Grandma looks so happy and cute there, and she looked so happy to have everyone in her home together.  

This being Jax's first Christmas and all, of course I took a ton of pics of him.  Look at that cute little elf. Ah, that face. He was having a great time at Granna and Poppy's house.

Just a few pics from hanging around.  Uncle Bryce enjoyed the Bjorn, and of course the kids were happy to wrestle and play around with their uncles.  And Cadence was Poppy's companion.  Every time the door was open and someone was doing something, she was a part of it.  This picture is of her idea to plant pine cones in the river bed.  She's always on the move, that one! 

Something that was new for our Elk City adventures was having girls around this year.  My brothers had their cutie girlfriends at the house, and they are both very sweet.  A glimpse of the future and the changing times, perhaps...I'm glad we took these pictures because we hardly ever take a family pic! (This applies to all of our families- gotta make a point to do it more often!)

Next stop, Lubbock to see T, Nannie, and more uncles.  We had a visit to Santa Land, which is something from my childhood for the holidays.  The goal was to see Santa and get a pic, but when we got there and saw the line was 2+ hours in the cold, we changed our mind and just walked around and stayed a little while.  Mom, I need all of those great pictures you took of us with Nannie, the boys, and you!  I have none!! 

And speaking of not having any pictures, we did not take the cousin pic we all talked about in Abilene when we were there.  Boo to that, everyone!  I think with all the kids running around, it's harder to remember to stop and take pictures because they're too busy playing and having fun!  

And finally we landed back home the night before Christmas Eve.  Logging almost 30 hours of road time and three different destinations, we came home pretty tired and the boys and I got a cold.  But it's always good to spend time with family- just wish everyone was a little closer!  

Here's my Christmas Eve babies after our special service that night.  Aren't they the sweetest thing you've ever seen???

And here's our Christmas morning shot.  They of course were well taken care of between us, our generous families, and Santa!  Cadence got this little baby play set with a bouncy seat, play pen, stroller, etc.  It was so cute because I found all of the little baby toys next to the real baby toys, as seen in the pic below.  So funny! 

Just a few more pics from the sights of Christmas around the house.  Yes, it got cold enough some nights to have a fire.  And yes, this fire in the picture looks like it's about to jump out and consume the stockings along with the whole house- that was the very beginning when it was really big!  And Christmas breakfast was waffles made on our new waffle maker, which we love!  We also had oranges fresh from our tree in the backyard.  It was nice to have a quiet day together after all the commotion of the last few weeks.  It also gave us some space to reflect and talk about the true meaning of Christmas and have some special time with the kids.

I think we fit just about everything you could possibly cram into one little month!  With us being gone a lot of the month, it really flew by and is over as soon as it began, it seems. Aside from getting sick and not having as many pictures of everything as I wanted, it has been a lovely holiday season.  Thanks for hanging in there with me through this long post.  Peace out from the Pate house.

But Merry Christmas Anyway

Back-slidden. Fallen off the wagon. Gone to the dogs. And any other phrase that comes to mind along those lines. Yep, that's how I would describe my current status with this blog. And during the most wonderful time of the year, nonetheless. It should not be so. I'm coming back to you, I promise. I'm currently traveling sans computer so I cannot access photos to put on here from our adventures of late. But we are still here, trying to enjoy our holiday and embrace the season. There's a great irony in life that things, left unattended, tend to drift towards complexity. It is a more difficult battle in which one must be fully engaged to try to keep it simple. Working harder to keep it easier. It's a strange thought. And that's where we're living right now, trying to embrace and adopt that for the holidays as well. I hope you and yours are simply enjoying the season. I have some fun pictures and adventures to share with you soon! Peace out from the traveling Pate house.

These Are The Moments.

Even though the first couple of days (for me) were a blur of drug-laced consciousness and pretty much a wash as far as productivity goes, there have been some real gems extracted from this week. Here are some snapshot moments:

• Waking up in the morning to the sound of Addison reading to Cadence on the couch. The Bible. They decided not to come and get us that day when they woke up (but we heard them anyway), and they were in full blown discussion/devotion.  We of course just laid there and listened in amazement with pride swelled hearts.  

• My backyard.  Happiness is in my backyard.  There is a tree hanging heavy with little miniature oranges almost ready to pick, a deck freshly adorned with little twinkling lights wrapped around big trunks, and these beauties pictured below.  Cut them right off the bush, and they are the sweetest I've ever smelled.  It was a pleasant surprise because I thought our rose bushes were beyond repair. We have some work to do from the summer that almost killed it all, but there is so much potential to have a fantastic outdoor space.  Oh yeah- also my birthday present from Chris that I've wanted for years, a hammock. Yessssssss.                        

                                    

• Complimenting a great outdoor space is the amazing weather in which to enjoy it in.  This week was the kind of weather that you could feel the cool in the breeze and warmth of the sun at the same time. The kind of weather that makes your coffee taste better.  Perfection.  We spent a lot of time outside and look forward to doing it more. And it turns out that snuggles from a warm, cuddly baby on a cold morning is like wrapping in a big, fuzzy blanket.  Only better.

• Conquering a longstanding battle- For whatever reason, it's been such a challenge for Addison to tie his shoes.  Sometimes the simplest of things confound our little smarty pants boy, which can be a good thing because it teaches him patience and persistence.  Well, this week he finally got it figured out with much help from Daddy!  

                                      

• This guy has been playing hard.  Found him like this the other day- just played himself out!  It's very exhausting to be a baby.

                                    

• Learning to tithe.  Our precious Kids Church teachers have been talking to the kids about money on Sunday mornings, and today they marched into church with their pockets jingle-jangling ready to be a cheerful giver.  Love that.

                                          

Yes, these are the moments.  Just a sampling of the moments that fill my days with life and joy.  Peace out from the Pate house.

The Force is Strong With Us

I have this insatiable need wish for my children to coordinate their theme when we dress up for Halloween every year.  Now that we have three the challenge is going to be even more difficult.  I got lucky for this first year.  Everyone just happened to be happy with the idea, and I was able to find an adorable baby costume to boot.  This does not always happen (the everyone being okay with my suggestions part), so I was thrilled.  So prepare yourself for some extreme cuteness if you have not already seen these floating around on FB.  I did include some extras not posted there, though :) 

(cue Star Wars music...it's much better if you imagine that in your head while viewing these)

This is the money shot of the group.  I consider myself very lucky to have captured this one. I still giggle every time I see this because they're just so darn cute.  Look out, dark side- these guys are coming after you :)

 And here are a few out takes in the quest for the money shot...

Princess Leia and Luke Skywalker.

Lovely Leia.  I am proud of this costume.  This is the first time I have attempted to sew a piece of clothing.  It did not turn out perfect, but for a first try it wasn't too bad!

Had to get a shot of the sleeves.  This was actually an angel costume pattern that worked perfect for Princess Leia. 

 Our handsome Jedi Luke Skywalker. Fortunately we already owned that light saber so it worked out.

And finally my little Yoda.  I know- there are hardly words for this. Just take in the extreme cuteness. (Wish I would have creatively camoflouged that rubber band holding his light saber to his hand :)  

Very happy and cute Yoda I am.

Our actual holiday festivities were pretty difficult to pull off.  The Monday before Halloween we went to a party at the Children's Museum that was for members.  Chris got really sick that weekend, barely made it through church, and crashed.  So I took the big kids by myself to the Museum and left a sleeping baby and sick daddy.  Then over this past weekend Chris shared his cold with me so I was the one who crashed hard after a long weekend. And I barely pulled it together so we could all go to one of the really big churches' carnivals here on Halloween.  It was fun but really chaotic.  Didn't even get any pictures because I was too out of it.  But here are a few from the Museum outing:

Mommy and Daddy are still on the mend but it's a lot better than it was, especially Chris.  Addison had a small version for a few days, but nobody else so far.  Still much catching up to do around here.  Hopefully I will be getting to that soon.  My vision for the amped up version of this blog is still there, but with sickness and busyness I haven't had the chance to execute it yet. But I am determined. Peace out from the Pate house.

Space Center

Last week we got to visit the Space Center for the first time.  It was closed to the public except for homeschool families.  We enjoyed it very much.  Definitely educational.  The only thing we didn't get to do was take the 90 minute tram ride that went to where they were actually working, and we've heard it's really neat to see so we'll definitely go back to check that out sometime.  The kids had fun, and Jaxon was a little champ.  He does really well on outings, and I'm so thankful for that!  Since we're so used to living in Houston now, I was reminded how awesome it is to be here because things like this are in our own backyard.  So many cool opportunities for us as a family to experience.

A few of our photo ops.  Of course every picture couldn't be a serious one :)

Just some of the cool stuff we saw.  The bottom right pic was our souvenir- space ice cream and strawberries (freeze dried).  Pretty yummy!

This was a presentation from the inside of a mock space shuttle to see how astronauts live in space.  She showed us the toilet and bathroom area and how they used them (top left), the kitchen and how they ate their food (top right), and how they slept (bottom right).  It was a really cool little presentation.

Some fun stuff. There was this station that showed the weight conversion of what you would weigh on the different planets.  Top left Addison would weigh 232 lbs on Mars and bottom right Cadence would weigh 115 lbs on Jupiter.  Some of the planets they would weigh way less than what their normal weight was.  The germophobe germ-cautious mother in me was trying not to freak out when Cadence put on that helmet...And of course Addison will find any kind of trivia or facts out there- he loves that stuff!

They had a massive play place (like so big you couldn't see them inside of it so they had monitors to watch from) that of course the kids loved romping around in.  

 Some samples of the suits they had all around.

 

What is not pictured is a session we went to with a retired astronaut (now a Southwest Airlines pilot) who talked about his time in space and had video footage of his trips there.  We got a signed picture from him at the end. He let all the kids ask him questions about being in space and his stories were really cool.  We also saw a short film about training to go into space in this imax type theater that had the largest movie screen in Texas, or so they said.  Like five stories high or something. I believe it- that thing was huge.  It was a great day indeed!  

Peace out from the Pate house.

Brothers.

As we were looking through our pictures of Addison as a baby, we have found a striking resemblance to Jaxon.  Of course there are differences I can see, and I know he will be his own little person, but take a look at these pictures- there's no denying they were cut from the same mold!!

They are both around four to five weeks old in this one.  This is the closest I could find to Jaxon making the expression Addison is making.  I have seen that exact face, though!

This is the one that's just killing me- same hands up sleep position and everything!

My sweet, handsome boys.  Just a little visual entertainment for you today.  That's all. Peace out from the Pate house.

First Sleepover.

Well you heard about the birthday boy, so now you get to hear about and see the birthday party.  For his eighth party, Addison really wanted to have his first sleepover.  We thought about it for a while, knowing we would have a new baby, and wondered if we could pull that off.  We concluded that we're not really sleeping a lot anyway, and it would only be a few boys that are super sweet kids, so we decided to go for it.

I'm happy to say this event went down in the books as a big success.  The kids had fun, we had fun and enjoyed visiting with the parents while they were there, they actually slept (with only a small threat from Chris finally at about 2:30am), and the baby cooperated, mostly :) Except when we were trying to clean the house before the party- he must have sensed this event was not about him!  Actually, I think Jaxon slept as much as the boys did, in a different time frame! Of course, after the fact, Addison informed us that he and another boy did in fact stay up until 4:00.  His big thing the whole time was that he was going to stay up all night.  I let him know that it was indeed called a "sleepover", not a "stay-up-all-night-over".  It was laid back and enjoyable.  The only parts that weren't laid back were self-inflicted (as they usually are), because the aforementioned (in the last post) perfectionist parents stressed over details such as planning and executing excellent party activities (Chris), and decorating and making a from scratch character cake (myself).  I have unintentionally set some kind of precedent for myself with making the birthday cakes now... I think it started with Cadence's third b-day party and I made a rocket cake for her Little Einsteins party.  I haven't looked back since, and now I just can't bring myself to get one made at the store, even if I just make cupcakes.  It would certainly be easier not to do that, but now that's just too easy, isn't it...

Enjoy the party in pics!

 My party boy, all dressed up in his Phineas and Ferb t-shirt to match the party.

The set up...It was a Phineas and Ferb theme- a cute cartoon about two brothers that make elaborate inventions and creations during summer vacation.

We had a create your own sundae bar and the test tubes made fizzy flavored drinks- the bad guy on the cartoon is an evil scientist so we went with that theme.

Is that the biggest pizza you've ever seen??  And yes, Cadence did come to the party wearing a crown and fairy wings (seen in the above right pic)

And here is the Perry the Platypus cake.  In the cartoon, he is the boys' pet who does nothing except make animal noises and has this goofy boxy look to him.  But the boys don't know that he is really a secret agent known as Agent P who fights the evil scientist.

Chris, the grand master of ceremonies, put the kids in two teams and they played bean bag toss tic tac toe in the backyard and then came inside for a "Where's Perry?" Scavenger Hunt.  The kids really had fun with the hunt- they were running all over like crazy!

The last part of the hunt included finding these items and then coming together and building an invention out of the materials they found.  As you can see, this team got some help from little sisters :)

 This was around 11:00 ish or so, after some hard play and fun.  The two little brothers went home after the party activities. We settled them down to a movie in the hopes they would fall asleep.  Well, the one on the far left, Liam, went out (He was the youngest).  For the others, it was the threat at 2:30am that got them to quiet down :)  But really, how cute is that- all in their little sleeping bags.  My son's face looked very happy all night.  So my face was happy all night.  This is the stuff of being a kid.

 Peace out from the Pate house.

8 is Great.

Yes, we now have an eight year old, as of September 17th at 3:23 in the afternoon.  I'm swallowing eight about as well as when you have to take one of those huge horse pills and it gets stuck right in the middle of your throat. Yep, it's going down hard on me. Don't know if it's the juxtaposition of having a new baby, the hormones (for me) that come along with having a new baby, that we had to give Addison deodorant already (what on earth will adolescence smell like- yikes!), or that we had our first sleepover this past weekend to usher in a new era of parenting, but eight just seems a lot older than he should be.  That's my baby. The son of my youth. Half of the time I still feel so young myself it doesn't seem possible that I'm seeing this guy grow up before my very eyes.

But he is. And as sad as I am that time is stealing away my little boy and slowly replacing him with a little man, I am also looking forward to this next season of life for him.  I am so proud of the person he is already at a young age that I can't wait to see how that will continue to unfold and develop as time and maturity begin to be poured onto the foundation that's been laid. I think one of the reasons I am having such a hard time with it is my own fears and insecurities about that foundation we are helping shape and build for him. I am not far enough along in this process to know if I will always have those I-hope-I'm-doing-right-by-my-kids moments, but I imagine you probably always will as a parent. It seems the older he's getting those moments are feeling weightier with the responsibility of making sure we're being good stewards of this great gift God has given us in our son (and all our kids for that matter).  The good news is that it's not really all about us.  God has written his book of days before he had his first breath, so ultimately I know His grace covers our shortcomings and I believe He is merciful and faithful to lead and guide Addison in that path. And that He will guide us as parents as well.

I know, I know- it sounds like he's about to be a teenager or something.  I'm aware that we still have some precious years of boyhood ahead of us to celebrate, but with this one we have lots of moments that feel like he's older than he is. We are trying to slow him down more than speed him up most of the time in many departments. But that's also part of who he is that we love so much. Here's a snapshot, literally and figuratively, of Addison at eight:

• He is becoming a voracious reader.  We love that he loves reading and are amazed at the level in which he does so.  When I tested him back in the spring, he was reading between a 6th-7th grade reading level.  He reads chapter books and will sometimes finish one in a day, depending on the book.  He loves Hank the Cowdog, Loud Boy, and Captain Underpants to name a few. He reads the Bible a lot also, which is really awesome. Readers are leaders, buddy!
• Still all up in video/computer games.  He really likes what he calls "strategy games" that he has to think about.  Currently the cool thing is to download games on Daddy's iPad.  
• Daddy has gotten him into Fantasy Football with him.  Being a guy that loves stats and such, he is having fun keeping up with the games and how well Daddy's team is doing.  He is into pretty much anything with Daddy these days, as a matter of fact.  He's really identifying with "guy" stuff, and he has been desiring and requesting more and more "quality time" (as he will call it) with his Daddy.  Daddy is happy to oblige. 
• He is a sponge for trivia and general knowledge.  He loves to "quiz" anybody and everybody on any and every topic.  
• Still hasn't outgrown the famous Addison hand shake- anything exciting from a game to something on TV, he shakes his hands and sometimes his whole body!  I wonder how long he will have this trait.  We still get a kick out of it, even though he's done it for years.
• He is such a good big brother.  Always has been, but we've been seeing it even more since Jaxon has been born.  He has helped so much with his sister- sometimes I think he's more patient with her than I am!  There have been days when I go upstairs to tell them it's rest time, and he's already helped her get into bed (because he's been watching the clock) and turned on her music. We have heard him go and comfort her at night when she's gotten out of bed.  And of course they play together and will have their moments, but for a big brother with a little sister, he is so tender and caring with her.  Like I said, they do have their moments of course :) I am looking forward to seeing him with Jaxon as he get older and takes him under his wing as well.  
• Still a super hero guy through and through.  When we moved earlier this year, I asked him if he wanted to redo his room into something else, thinking maybe he would want something cooler and older.  But he was very adamant that he wanted the same super hero room he had and didn't want to change anything.  I think part because he still loves superheroes and part because he doesn't change things up very often.  He's very much a stick-to-what-you-like, vanilla, plain cheerios kind of guy :)
• His heart for God continues to grow and grow.  He has shed tears over things like worrying that he loves his parents more than God to mention one specific example (which at his age we certainly didn't want him feeling bad about that so that was a little tricky).  His concern with loving God and people is very genuine, and it's always so touching to see that manifest at different moments.
• He has strong convictions. And I mean strong convictions.  If he is convinced and has concluded through reasoning (that sometimes makes sense and sometimes doesn't) that the sky is green, good luck trying to persuade him that it's blue. I am certain that when he takes the Strength Finders evaluation one day Belief will no doubt be one of his themes. This is and will probably always be a blessing and a curse in his life that he will have to wrestle through and sort out.  Of course at eight years old, it can prove to be a challenge to us as parents because he can tend to think he is the expert on things and can have a hard time with being teachable on something he thinks he already knows.  But when it comes to convictions about Kingdom things, this will be a wonderful thing because he will not be easily shaken or persuaded.  
• He has, and has always had, perfect pitch.  Love to hear him sing.  He has also inherited my ability to hear a song like once and know the words and how it goes.  This will come in handy, from personal experience :) 
• Something that he has also seemed to inherit, from both Mommy and Daddy, is that little bit of perfectionist streak.  The good side of that is that if he does something it will be done well and exactly how it is supposed to be done.  The dark side of perfectionism is the tremendous fear of failure.  We are really working through this right now, because he will want to quit too quickly if he thinks he is not going to be able to do something.  Or be instantly good at something.  We're trying to really encourage an adventurous spirit to try new things.  And always remind him it's okay to mess up, be wrong, and even not succeed at something right away and try, try again. He's way too hard on himself!

These are just a few of the many things that make up Addison James Pate right now. I'm sure eight will be just as grand of an adventure as seven, because life is just fun with our sweet firstborn son.  Peace out from the Pate house.