Updating

Wow, where did July go? I literally feel like the 4th of July was a couple of days ago. Pretty accurate reflection of this summer- it's come and almost gone in a fast, hot fury. Of course our schedule doesn't change much during the summer, so it's not as dramatic as a lot of families. Work is a little more relaxed for Chris right now, but not really enough to make much difference. And mine hasn't changed at all, except maybe getting a little busier! Now that the kids are getting older I'm sure it will feel more like a true summer after a year of hard work in school, but for now it's mostly just hotter! But we've still enjoyed the longer nights, taking long walks as a family with the kids in the wagon and doing summery things like swimming.

So I really haven't done well in keeping with the current updates. A lot happened there at the end of June/beginning of July and I fell behind. Bad blogging mother :( I'm taking this time to post some pics of the 4th of July because we got such cute ones. We had a somewhat relaxed holiday, hanging out at the church party that we got kicked out of (as in, the entire church got kicked out of the pool) and then we stayed at the house the rest of the day. We got sparklers for the kids, and we had Rachel with us as well. We just let them play in the sprinklers until it got dark and busted out the sparklers. Much to everyone's dismay, the city fireworks got cancelled due to high winds, but not until we sat out in the front yard forever waiting for them. Oh well!

Another event that took place at the end of June was Addison's end of season baseball tournament. Don't have many pics to post of that one, and I haven't sorted through the shaky, crazy video snippets I took.... maybe one day. But let me tell you, that day decided for us that we will not be going with that league again next year if Addison plays baseball. The entire event was a little ridiculous. First of all, it was over 100 degrees outside because we got such a late start to the season. Bad decision number one. The kids played the first game against a team that had a coach that drove us all nuts, so we really wanted to beat them. That was one of the craziest games I've ever been to, and these kids are only 5/6! Addison was shining, getting a good solid hit every time he came up to bat that game. Three times, I believe. Well, that game went into extra innings because it was so close, and we managed to pull out with a victory at the last second. Unfortunately because of the rigorous schedule they made, the kids immediately went into game two. With no break. In 100 degree weather. Bad decision number two. We were so concerned about those little guys out there. Every time they went to the dug out, we were draping them with wet towels, giving them water and fruit, and everything else we could possibly do to keep them cool and well. A little nerve racking as a parent when you're melting yourself and watching your child running around, dragging his feet trying his best to weather the weather. Well, this little team we played had the league president as the coach. And they were conveniently placed in the bracket to be fresh and ready to play us. League president coaching a team = can we say conflict of interest?? And the game continued with some shady calls and some poor attitudes on their end. In another gut wrenching game (and now concerned about everyone's health on top of everything) we went into extra innings again. I guarantee if our kids hadn't of played a game right before with no break, we would have killed them. Sadly, in the second extra inning we lost. But honestly, we were all so relieved to get them out of the heat for a break I don't think anyone cared much. Even coach Darrick wasn't feeling well and was unable to pitch for the third game. We had an hour break to regroup and then played the team we played in the first game. They pretty much had nothing left. And we lost. And those two teams went on to play each other in the championship, with the league president's team winning the whole thing. But we were just happy to get out of the heat after that very long, draining, emotional day! I was totally the crazy sports mom, yelling and screaming and getting my heart rate up to ungodly levels. I can see why people get nuts when their kids play sports! It was fun in the beginning, but like I said, the heat was so bad and dangerous I lost my pep and just wanted to be done. But Addison did smashingly well, and he ended up batting like 7 for 9. He went out with a bang!

Whew- that was a mouthful. Sorry so long, but I wanted to relay some of that crazy day. You had to be there though, I guess. My goal is to actually get past just blogging for event updates and get more of the every day life little things.... maybe I'll get that goal one day. As soon as these days stop slipping through my fingers. Ha! Well, peace out from the Pate house. I leave you with pictures.

(capturing the heat of the moment- literally)

posing with the tournament trophy

As Promised...

Well, it's only a few weeks late! Now we have other things to post as well, but I wanted to go in order since I was building everyone up for this musical theater video. Addison had such a great time in this little camp. It was only four days, and they put together this little performance during this time. We were pretty impressed with how long it was and all of the moves for just four days! His teachers couldn't stop talking about him and how much they enjoyed him. They said he just worked so hard and was so talented. He was also the youngest in the class, which made it more impressive. Since this was such a success, he is going to take a musical theater class in the fall that's every week. It's the same performing arts company that Cadence will be taking dance at and I will be teaching a couple of classes at. Since I am teaching my kids get to take for free which is such a tremendous blessing.

He has since performed this song on a very regular basis to many crowds. Still knows every word and motion, not to mention perfect pitch :) Cadence does it with him and it's quite humorous to see her trying to keep up with him. I'll admit, it's so much better to see live, especially since the video is kind of dark. It's also not good quality since it's such a big file- it kind of looks like we're trying to blur his face! You can't always see his priceless facial expressions, such as the wink during the Wizard of Oz, but you can still get the idea. There are actually two videos, one farther away and one close up. We're posting both of them because you can see different things in both videos. We sure have been some proud parents lately :) Glad to give our kids the opportunity to explore different areas and activities so we can start to see where their gifts are.

Enjoy "Flicks Are For Kids"!

(I forgot the teacher talked at the beginning of this one, so just fast forward through that)

P.S. After watching the videos after they downloaded, I decided we might need to retape him singing and repost it so you can see it better, because I'm not happy with the way they turned out on here after they were cyberspace-ready :(

I have to put closure on baseball season and retell our dramatic ending, and I also have 4th of July fun to share, but I will separate it out into different posts as to not overwhelm anyone :) Also to appreciate each event fully in stand alone form. More to come, but for now peace out from the Pate house!

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.

Vlogging

I don't know if that's actually a word or not, but we have a lot of video love lately to go around.  This video was shot a couple of nights ago when the kids were just having fun.  Addison had a new move he wanted to show us... the results ended up being quite hilarious.  Our first dance injury!  Not that we laugh at our son's pain- it didn't really hurt him bad- just funny that it took him off guard and we got the very honest and funny reaction on film!  You'll notice the camera begin to shake- that's me laughing very hard.  And then Cadence has to repeat everything he says, so then she starts saying it.  The Pate children never cease to provide endless entertainment and laughter.  Oh how we love them :)

Now we're off to enjoy our fabulous rainy evening and tomorrow off for all.  Yay!  Peace out from the Pate house.

Time flies...

Gosh, I can't believe it's been almost a month since the last post!  All last week the kids were gone on grand adventures.  First they went to Elk City for a few days and then ended up in Arkansas for the rest of the week until we got them back last weekend!  Two sets of grandparents for a week....  that is fun fun for little people.  Instead of writing about their trip, I will post a few videos from their adventures.  And if I can figure out how to get pictures from Facebook on here maybe some pics from Arkansas.  

So thankful for wonderful grandparents who treasure spending time with our children.  It's so nice not having to worry about the kids when they're gone because I know they're in good loving hands. And magically, since Cadence has been back she's had ONE accident the entire week.  I know neither set of grandparents pushed pottytraining on her but just let her do her thing like we've been doing, but maybe something about the change of scenery and people made her just decide to do it.  I'm not going to ask any questions- just be very thankful and glad and hope it's a permanent change!!  And thank you for giving Mommy and Daddy a break :)  It was good timing, and we had a wonderful week together.  

Addison on Mother's Day, telling me stories from Elk City for my "present".  We love how animated he is when he's telling a story :)

Cadence going for a ride on Little Dan.  Most of the video we found when they got home consisted of Cadence and Poppy together.  And a lot of the pics from Arkansas were Cadence and G-pa.  There's just something about little girls and their grandpas!  So sweet.

Trying to link the pics.... having trouble.....I'll keep trying.

Peace out from the Pate house!