Bath time fun :)

The days are filled with much chaos in the Oates household, but tonight I remembered to stop and enjoy bathtime for a minute. I took a few pics of Grady who shared a bath with Hoper tonight...So cute, I had to share.

This grin is priceless!

They both thought it was so much fun to splash each other and share their bathtime. I couldn't stop laughing and neither could they. I tired to catch them both laughing/smiling, but in the bath that was too much to ask for.He thought it was so much fun to catch the water coming out of the spicket...

"Wait, Momma where did the water go?"

Grady is giving me signs of his intelligence at an early age..."Momma, aren't I so smart? G is for Grady"...hehe!

It's a beautiful thing, it's 7:30 and all the kids are in their beds. Gotta' love nights like tonight.

the weather

I am enjoying the cold weather, although I do not think I could endure months of rain or sunless days...Thank goodness for California weather, huh?
Other than the kids not beign able to play outside I am enjoying this "winter" weather. I think if the kids behave we will head up for the snow this weekend, I'll let you know how 4 kids in the snow goes :)
Take a little moment to look at the mountains and their snowcapped beauty today-just a brief reminder of how BIG our God is :) Have a great day!

Thanks for good friends

So, last night I woke up with a splitting headache and then Grady was up a few times. After getting the kids up late and still having a headache, all I wanted to do was crawl back in bed...Then the phone rings, its Christy Harker (yeah!) Ryanne wanted to play with Hoper. Just what I needed. I dropped the big kids at school and took Hope to Christy's for the day, she even fed her lunch! God knows when we need to be rescued. I came home from dropping off Hope and put Grady down and crawled back into the bed and slept until noon! I woke up, my headache gone and felt rested! I took a shower and all in time to have Hope come home and in such a good mood after playing all morning long. I think there always has to be something to keep me laughing though. As Christy dropped off Hope, we were standing at the door and out ran CoCo. I was bare footed, Hope started to cry so we jumped in the truck and took off after CoCo, our run away dog! I caught her a few blocks away, she ran into an older couples backyard whos gate was open. I rang their door bell and told the man I after my dog, he helped chase CoCo right into my arms! :) The fun just never ends around the Oates household!
*Christy, you saved me today! Thanks so much. I owe you a day next week!

Vegas Baby!!!

It has been quite some time since James and I have gone away without the kids, actually I can't remember when...before Grady was born, so 10 months ago at least!!! This trip was long overdue. We went for our friend, Tim Elders 30th birthday, total there was about 30 people who went up for the weekend.

We had a blast! We got there a little later than expected on Friday, but got there just in time to meet up with our friends and gamble a bit and we all headed to a lounge/club. It was amazing! It was on the 64th floor of Mandelay Bay and had a near 360 degree view of the city lights. Let me just tell you next time I am bringing a pair of flip flops in my purse to change into. Both nights I walked back to the club bare footed because my shoes hurt my feet so bad!! :) I wasn't the only one though, both nights nearly all of the girls had their shoes off and carried them home (rather had their husbands carry them)

We feel so old though, we (mostly I) couldn't hang very late either night. Saturday we slept in, well at least I did, James was up early to gamble at the tables while I slept in. :)
Then we walked the strip and ate at the Monte Carlo and met up with all our friends in time to see the water show at the Bellagio and shop at Ceasars Pallace.

We had just enough time for me to get a massage before having to get ready to go out that night. (Yeah!) For Tim and Nick's birthday's we had dinner at Hard Rock, gambled a bit, then went to Studio 54-a hot night club! We had tons of fun dancing (minus the blisters on my feet from my 5 inch heels) I managed to stay up that night till nearly 1am. The rest of our group, including James stayed up til 4:30 am (are you kidding me?)










This is me with Vanessa, my bestest friend from the fourth grade :), Tim's wife!

While we were shopping on Saturday, I ran into James best friend's wife (from high school & college) We thought it was kinda' crazy meeting up in Vegas since we only live an hour from each other...but we met up on Sunday morning for the buffet at Excalibur. It was nice to catch up and enjoy each others company over breakfast.
Then came the long drive home...I think the drive to Vegas at night goes by so much faster, maybe because you can't see the endless desert lining the freeway. Anyway, we made it home in 4 hours!

It was nice to see the kids again though! Thanks to Kimberly & Nana & Papa, we had a pretty much worry free weekend! Zach went with Nana & Papa Sat, Sun & Mon. down to stay with my Grandma Boaz and had a fun time. Kim stayed at home with the girls and Grady. I was very impressed with Kim, as on Saturday she took them to the park with a picnic lunch & let them play for 3 hours. Then on Sunday she got them all dressed, did their hair and made it to church. Not to mention that the house wasn't a wreck and the laundry was washed!!! That girl is amazing I tell you! :)

We a great weekend away and the kids had fun too, what more can you ask for?

The weekend!

So, I've been meaning to blog again for umm, the entire last week, but here I am. That has to count for something right? Since I've changed my meds last week, I've noticed a small improvement in my energy level and I've been playing catch up on things that I've been too worn out to do and do well, like laundry everyday, cooking, playing at the park with my kids, things that might not seem like a huge task, but that is what they became with my energy so depleted. Anyway...Zachary got a dog for Christmas and I've been meaning to post pics of her, but have been consumed with other tasks. This morning I shot a few pics of CoCo with Hoper. Hope loves to put her face right up next to CoCo's and touch noses until CoCo about licks Hope to death. I caught some of that in action, as well as CoCo laying on our bed, she looked so cute :)










Having a dog in our house has brought about many fun things...Like always having to close the door the second is is opened, having a constant shadow, always having a kid or dog on your lap, being licked to death, making sure all the toys are picked up and closing the bedroom doors unless the kids want poop on their floors. We haven't mastered the "come" command yet and the second CoCo gets an opportunity to run, she does so and very fast up the street and down and around the next corner. So since Friday she's gotten out 4 times and we've had to chase her down! James CoCo-fied the backyard yesterday, so now she can go out back and she can't get out which is such a good thing and it is nice to be able to leave the screen door open for longer than 5 seconds :)
James sister and our nephew came to spend the night with us Saturday night and we hung out, played guitar hero, the kids played in the back yard, Bonnie and I shopped a little and then last night we had our monthly family night with James' family. We always enjoy that time, as we are all so busy that we don't see each other otherwise. It was such a beautiful day yesterday. We bbq'd chicken and steak, brought out the plastic table/chairs to the dirt we call our backyard and our fire pit to have smores...Yummy!
Other than chasing the dog Friday, twice on Saturday and once Sunday and enjoying the family, the weekend was uneventful :) We love those kind of weekends.
As my energy continues to return I am hoping to blog more consistently, as well as be able to keep up on the housework and my kids too :) Keep praying! More soon!

One more goal for 2008-

Okay so when I made my list quickly yesterday, I forgot to include one thing that I will be really trying to do, which is be more "green." I've seen and read a couple of things that focus on being more aware of what we consume, what we conserve and recycle. We recycle, but there is so much more that we could be doing as a family to protect the environment for future generations.

One thing, which we've been really bad with is bottled water. Not only do we get 6 cases/month from Costco, we also get water delivered...After reading the info on bottled water, we have decided not to buy bottled water any longer. It is such a waste of both money and resources. Some other ways in which we are trying to be more "green" in is our water consumption, our napkin/papertowel/wipe usage and our recycling efforts. I am also going to try using organic/chemical free household products, but we'll see how that works...There is a lot of research re: household products and its relation to asthma, so it would be worth it for the simple fact that the boys have really bad asthma.

On Oprah the other day (I know, Oprah, but, it got me thinking) A lady was giving statistics about being more green and it somehow parked my interest :) So, think about one way that you can be more "green" in your life, you can really make a difference.

Okay, that's it for now...I'm getting off my soap box.

A New Year

Again it has been quite some time since I've blogged and the new year is upon us. The kids are back in school today! I'm glad the sun is out, they've been cooped up inside all of their break, either sick or from the rain. We are all on the mend around here...Finally!

We all got pretty sick starting, or continuing (whichever way you look at it) New Years Eve. We had friends over to celebrate the new year in and ended our night with 2 vomitting kids and one with a fever :( The next morning Hope threw up and ALL six of us had fevers, achey bodies, stuffy noses, green boogers and horrid coughs. So needless to say we were all out of comission the entire last week. Friday we finally saw the Dr. and 5 of us got antibiotics and we should finish them up tomorrow. Grady was really bad on Thursday/Friday & we thought he'd be admitted again, but...we managed to fight it off and he is himself again.

Anyway...In this coming year I had some goals I thought I'd mention (following Jess's lead) writing them down does make them more concrete and real.
So...In 2008 I...
- want to build my photography business (having 1/2 shoots a week)
- need to get back to the gym a few times a week (I'm in hopes my energy level will allow)
- want do family devotions consistantly
- want finish decorating my upstairs (painting, hanging things, etc...)
- need to actually get prints of digital photos from 2006/2007
- want to scrapbook at least 2 layouts a month
- need to organize my current photos (years of photos in a large rubbermaid bin)
We also have quite a few house projects which I'd like to complete, like the backyard, granite countertops, extending our loft. I think this list could go on forever :)

For now that's all. I feel blessed to be alive this year, whereas years before I don't think I actually thought much about the simple pleasure of living life. God is Good!
More later!