Look what I found

I was in the backyard observing how many weeds had grown in our planter by the back door. So, I decided to pull them. After pulling some of the weeds, I noticed some flowers and different looking leaves and when I looked closer this is what I found! After showing the kids, Zachary told me that he had planted his watermelon seeds there and was so proud that "his" plant had grown :) It's a little late in the season for watermelon, so I'm not sure that it will actually taste good, but we'll have to wait and see.

Piano

We have been searching for a piano for months now and just haven't found one that was worth buying. I had mentioned it to my friend Jenn and her mom just so happened to be getting rid of her 100+ year old piano!James rented a trailer and drove to Yorba Linda with my brother-in-law to pick it up and now we are the proud owners of a 120 year old upright grand piano! It is beautiful and fits perfectly in the spot we had saved for it! The girls will be starting piano lessons soon and I am looking forward to hearing its sweet sound on a daily basis! (I'm sure I'll need a reminder of this in a few weeks :)

Thank you Stichter family!!

Disney again

The Oates on mainstreet

We took another family trip to Disneyland and this time took our nephew, Paul and James' sister Bonnie with us. Bonnie just had a kidney transplant, so she didn't get to go on the rides and had to wear a mask, but it made for excellent wait time for us. (a wheelchair gets you to the front of the line) Gracie, Hoper, Zach and PaulBonnie sitting on Small World...somewhere there's a picture of James' Mimi doing this same thing :)
Ended up being a fun evening!!! (Bon, glad we could get you out of the house :)

Zach's first day of school

I can't believe that school has already begun...It doesn't seem possible that summer is over, well almost anyway. We did the usual before school shopping and got Zach new shoes and a new backpack and we was very excited to get a 'different' backpack. Out of all the backpacks, he chose a messenger bag. :) I think he was ready to go back and have a more regular routine. Zach and Momma right before getting on the bus!

Zach and Daddy...

I had a sick feeling this morning and continued wondering if I should be homeschooling him too.:(

He rode the bus and I drove to school so I could meet his teacher and get him into his class, since it was a new school.

The good thing about SDC is that the bus service is free and it's door to door!Last week when I went to fill out some paperwork at the school, we met the principal and he recognized Zach this morning and stopped and said hello and made sure we knew where his class was. I was pleasantly surprised, given our principal experience last year :) His teacher seems really kind, but I was disappointed to learn that he is the ONLY 4th grader in his combo class of 5th and 6th graders and his class is ALL boys. I was told by the district that there would be other 4th graders, but apparently not :( In the coming days and weeks I will be praying for Zach and his schooling. At least I know I can take him out and home school him if things don't work out. As the bell rang I watched them all line up and got tears in my eyes. Zach looked so little next to all of those boys. One of the boys was as tall as me and another one had facial hair! My baby boy is only 9, I don't want him to feel any sort of 'big kid' pressures...On the other hand this could always be good for him academically, so we will just wait and see. I waited until I left the school and got to my car before I let the tears actually fall :( It seems really silly, but I feel like we're doing the wrong thing by sending him to school and keeping the girls home...I will be praying about keeping him home too. Please pray for us too, that in whatever choice we make Zachary will thrive and have a great 4th grade year and we can glorify God.

One more week and then the girls and I will start school too, then the real fun will begin :)

TIffy's visit

Every once in awhile my friend Tiffy get to hang out. Today was one of those days :)

We chatted a lot, worked a bit in my garage and then we decided to bake...I took this recipe and made a few changes.

It called for mini muffin pan and I thought I had gotten rid of mine, so Tiff and I made a trip to Ross, Vons and Big Lots to get one, but had no luck. Once we were home, Tiff opened a different cupboard and there it was...hehe! But, by that point I decided to make bars instead. Then instead of peanut butter I used butterscotch chips.It was sooo yummy! Very rich, but so very yummy! I will definitely make these again, but I'd like to try the mini muffin pan like the recipe called for :)

Thanks for hanging out Tiffy! We enjoyed your company! Let's hang out again soon! Love you!

My barns

Back in May I visited Illinois for 5 days for my Uncles funeral. While we were there I took every chance I had to take pictures of the barns we passed, sometimes even stopping in the middle of the road, making a U-turn or turning down some dirt road to take the picture. I hadn't had a chance to proces these pictures yet and since I'm on a caffeine high, I finally had the time to look at them.
I absolutely love barns. I think there is something so beautiful about a barn set against a blue sky, with plowed fields and greenery in the foreground. I would love to live on a farm and have an old interesting barn, with fields as far as the eye could see...I know not very realistic considering neither James nor I know nothing about farming or agriculture, but I can dream right? Anyway, on my trip I took pictures of lots of barns across Illinois, Iowa and Wisconsin. 27 to be exact in 5 days. If you're not much on scenery then don't bother checking out the slide show, otherwise enjoy. I did!!! The ones in the beginning are IL, a few in the middle are IA and then the ones towards the end are in WI in the late evening, towards sunset. I would love to drive cross country in search of great barns...somehow I'm guessing this kind of trip isn't in my near future, but maybe once the kids are a bit older? If not when we are retired for sure!!!

Make a Smilebox slideshow

Regional Park

I had planned to take the kids to the regional park a few times this summer, as it is such a fun outing and way easier than the beach, but it's Aug 6 and this was our first visit. We went with some moms from church for our "family adventure." There were 6 moms, 18 kids (I brought 7) and 2 babies in the belly! Mary Nydam joined us which was a treat for both me and the kids and Gracie brought a friend from her class last year. The kids had a great time! Hope wasn't quite tall enough to go on the slides yet, but Zach, Grace, Candice (Gracie's friend) and Mary enjoyed them even though they said the water was freezing! The weather was amazing and the water was cold, but felt very refreshing.

Wesley was a champ. We got there right at 10 and usually Wesley takes his morning nap around 9:30, but played in the sand and water a good while before he ate lunch and I rocked him to sleep and laid him in the wagon, he probably slept for over an hour. :)

I had intended on bringing the point and shoot camera, but forgot it amongst the ice chest, 7 towels, the chair and wagon, imagine that...But Jess had hers and I got a few pics with hers before her battery died. You'd think I didn't take the girls with because I didn't get any pictures of them, but I assure you I had 4 girls with me, just no pictures...maybe next time.

I'm hoping to go another 2 or 3 times before it closes for the season on Labor Day, but we'll have to see how it plays out. When we go again, I'll be sure to take my camera and catch some of the fun :)

Wesley thought it was yummy to eat the sand :) I take it back, there's Hope in the background of this pic...Zach with Josiah and Sydney laying down as they ate their lunch. Wesley thinks he's so big now and tries standing up on everything! I love his hair :) I wrapped Wesley in a blanket after he'd played in the water and he went to sleep pretty quickly!
Grady and his buddy E playing in the sand