Cliff Notes

Life is crazy around here, not for any particular reason, just the reality of having 5 kids that are involved in sports, church and homeschooling...I just can't seem to keep up with my blog. Spring has long passed and now summer nearly has too, but not without a lot of fun.
Since my last post we've....
-finished up our first year of homeschooling
-gone to Spirit West Coast Del Mar and had a blast
-finished spring soccer
-been to Disneyland at least 5 times to use up our passes that have since expired
-been to the aquarium of the pacific, the regional park, the beach, lots of play dates and tons of swimming
-celebrated James' 34th b-day
-worked on lots of home-improvement projects (finished a few)
-Camped at Cachuma Lake
-visited family in Solvang
-Gone to Spirit West Coast Monterey
-took swimming lessons
-celebrated our 13th anniversary
-enjoyed the Redlands Bowl
-played lots of dress-up
-had sleep overs
-started a dance class
-worked out at the gym
-enjoyed a great Bible study
-practiced piano
-took lots of pictures
-had many good meals with friends
-searched for our "forever" house
-watched a lot of movies
-worked too many hours
-stayed up way too late
-been to some amazing weddings
-had too much to drink
but most of all had LOTS of fun!

We are so incredibly blessed to have a loving God that always provides, family who loves us unconditionally, friends who share their lives with us and a life that is GOOD!

In a perfect world I would be able to blog with come consistency about all of these things, write a few words that can articulate how enjoyable, yet crazy our life really is, all accompanied by great pictures of my adorably cute kids. However, we all know the life we live is FAR from perfect! :) So, while I will attempt to catch-up, for now this is the cliff note version of the Oates for the last 4 months!

Sugar Pie blog

While I haven't updated this blog, yet...I did update my Sugar Pie blog :) Check it out http://sugarpiepics.blogspot.com/ Soon I'll update this one too. If you're wondering why I'm up this early blogging, it's not because I wanted to get a jump start on my day, no it's because I never went to bed last night. I drank a large diet coke at 7:30 last night and at 11, after laying there wide awake thinking of everything I could be doing, I decided I couldn't sleep. So, I got up and worked on some pictures and then it was 1 am, still wasn't tired, so I worked some more and then just decided it would be pointless to sleep for just 2 or 3 hours. So that's how my Sugar Pie blog got updated... Yes I am crazy...Crazy, is what I'll be in a few hours when I will attempt to take 7 kids to the movies by myself. Yes, 7 kids all under 11. It'll be loads of fun I'm sure. In case you've been dying to see a crazy mom, you can catch a glimpse of one at 11 am in the Monsters versus Aliens movie!
Anyway...
See, here's my problem, I just have too much to do and too little time to do it in. I sit down to start a post and then have to do something else, (or end up reading all your blogs instead) like tend to a screaming child, change the wash, or answer the door, fix a snack, change a diaper, etc... all you moms know how it goes. So then, it sits in my drafts. But, when I sit back down I start another post and the cycle repeats itself, so then it too sits in my drafts, so right now I have 16 unfinished posts sitting as drafts. I'm thinking maybe by Saturday I can be caught up, but we'll see.

I know you're all holding your breath wondering what on earth have we Oates been up to. Nothing horribly interesting, just life, our crazy life!