Friday, December 17, 2010

Merry Christmas


Merry Christmas to all. 
"The future belongs to those who believe in the beauty of their dreams."
-Eleanor Roosevelt

























Thank you Terra for the wonderful pictures.

Saturday, December 4, 2010

TEN YEARS

I was sitting here trying to thing of words to express my love for you over the past ten years.( Love hate love hate love...I kid...I kid ) No, really,  I am not sure the right words exists.  None of them seem to be enough or convey what I feel..  My heart expands with each look back into the past. I don't know what our future holds, but there are a couple of things I do know. We have never done things the right way...why start now, no body thought we would make it....who's laughing now, our life together has had more twist and turns than a tornado..why change now, and our love has never been stronger..why stop now.  I lovers you  Happy Anniversary 10 years baby! 
 Here's a look back:

Friday, November 12, 2010

Blue Springs



Our Day at Blue Springs

Mama and Baby Manatee's
Baby coming for his photo op
The girls stopped to pose for me too



Fun was had by all!












Sunday, October 31, 2010

FUN-DO

Halloween Fun
Goth Princess, Crazy Child and Homeless girl

Three years ago we started a tradition on Halloween:
Fondue Night with the Yates
Amber: as Evil child
Nina Yates: as Mommy Dearest
Ella: as Homeless girl
Hailey: as Goth Princess aka my future RAVER Chic!
Anyone want a ride?
Maddy: as beat up soccer girl...you should see the other team :)
Nate: as The Joker
Nina: as Mommy Dearest
Anyone want to come over for family fun night at our house?
Fondue or as we like to call it FUN-DO!
It was good....I'm not Joking!
It's to die for!
We even feed the Homeless :)

Fun was had by all.
Happy Halloween FUN-DO.









Thursday, October 28, 2010

Ancient Times


The study of Egypt
Cuneiform
Sumerian Picture-writing


Ella preparing to carve on wet clay just as the sumerians did.
Hailey very proud of her work :)
Ella's message "You Rock"
Hailey's message " I love you"
Amber did her own thing....
A turtle 

We are studing history through The Story of the World
Ancient Times.  I can not tell you how much fun we are having and how much we are all learning.
Amber who is 5 yrs. old can tell me about Upper and Lower Egypt or  Hammurabi's Code.  Any one of the girls can tell you the difference between a historian and an archeologist or how to make a mummy.  When you hear, "This is the best year of school ever!" from your children you know you are moving in the right direction.








Friday, October 1, 2010

Changes

                    It is strange to have girls old enough to care what hairstyle they have!
 Hailey excited to get her hair cut short
Goodbye long beautiful hair..
 Here goes nothing.
 Do I look cute?
Your beauty was not lost with your lovely locks...still as cute as ever.
NEXT: Amber's first haircut EVER!

 This isn't going to hurt right?
 How short are we going here?
 No turning back now....
My big girl.

This day was a big day.  After months of discussions on what they wanted.  I let my girls make their own decisions on what they thought was best. I was proud of them for going after what they wanted... despite what mommy wanted.    I had to let go, a bit, of my little girls, but in doing so I was reminded ... "Life should be a pattern of experiences to savor, not to endore." So I did just that and savored the moment.
You know, as a parent, you want your children to experience life, to be strong, be their own person,  and be confident in their own choices.  Why, when it comes down to it is it so hard to actually let that happen?  Can't we just put them back in the crib? Who taught them how to talk?  I guess watching them grow up can be just as rewarding as caring for them when they are babies. The girls made grown up choices today, but I think I am the one that grew a little.


"Yesterday is but a dream, tomorrow is only a vision. But today, well lived, makes every yesterday a dream of happiness and every tomorrow a vision of hope." -- The Sanskrit


*After I was done writing this I heard, in my head, the music that was played at the end of Doogie Howser MD as he sat at his computer typing and reflected on the day* You will understand if you are older than 30 years old.