October....already?

I can't believe fall has come so fast! Things are returning to normal at the Yates house. Kids are doing great in school and Mom feels like she is human again. We've had Amber at our house for the last two weeks. It was great with her here making sure life was continuing on while I was sick. Although after having Jonas with her, I almost expect to have a toddler running around......Heavens No!

Kids are doing great in school. They are in a new Charter School that started in our area this year. Being a new school, each child in Victoria's class was asked to right a "persuasive argument" on what they thought the school mascot and colors should be. Then the class voted on a few the teacher had picked, now it will go to the entire school to vote. Tori's idea won for her class, she is so excited!!!! I am very proud of her. She is growing up so fast.

While Amber was here she made sure the kids kept busy. She made sure dinner was ready, dishes were done, homework was done, kids to and from school, laundry, groceries, pretty much everything! All done while she was still taking care of her sick little sister, Blayne and I couldn't have done it without her. Thanks Amber, I love you! Somewhere along the line we got on the subject of pirate hats, she told the kids she'd help them make some. Of course the days passed, so right before she left she picked up a paper to make sure she followed through. They had fun, now I just need to let them decorate them.

Week one of School down

Well, Gavin starting kindergarten and Victoria the third grade, we survived week one of school. Maddy is quite insulted that she is the only one who has to stay home, not very happy at all!




Blayne went into Gavin's class, he was sad at first then he was off with a bang and had a great day. Victoria was fine on day one. Their school was given iPads to use all year for each student, Tori is very excited.
Day two was a completely different story. She was very upset. I found out she is unhappy with her math teacher. We've tried to make some changes but informed her regardless of what happens you need to realize you won't always have teachers you love.
All and all it was a good week. I am already running out of things to do with Maddy for those three short hours before we pick up Gavin.

Camping at Lost Creek

After procrastinating all summer we finally took a Sunday drive which led us to a nice, little campground. So, why not, we made a reservation for the following Thursday - Saturday! Blayne and I figured it was actually the first time we had been camping with his family, parents anyway. We had a lot of fun! We got there Thursday and still managed to have daylight left after we got camp set up. Blayne even managed to get our hammock up. I think this may be one of his favorite parts of camping.




After making a roaring fire Blayne started in on making us smores. So, for fun I bought the LARGE marshmallows, NO BUENO!!! They made such a mess and the kids managed to get marshmallows all over them!




Friday morning we walked a great trail and got some cool pictures of and with the kids. We took Roxy and she was in Heaven! Doug had to work Friday so he went home Thursday evening. Mary and I drove into Welches to pick up a few things and make some phone calls. Melissa is trying to have Chayse early so we were checking on her progress if any. Then we came back and I took a nice nap in the hammock, I have a picture somewhere and can't locate it.










All and all it was a good camping trip. The weather was great, no rain, not too hot. It was still cold enough that we made hot chocolate, simply one of the best parts of camping!! Thanks Blayne for making it a good one, I love you!!!

I can't hold still long enough.......

At this rate, I'm bound to get everything done I've been wanting to do for a while. I just recovered my glider rocker I bought when I was pregnant with Victoria. I matches my curtains in my room.

Then I made a quilt directed towards what Blayne wanted, some more manly neutral toned colors. So, here are the Euro shams I made to match it. I don't have any pictures of the quilt, my sister has it, she is being an awesome sister and is quilting it for me.

I am running out of things to do but at the same time I am done doing things.

;) Aerin

Family

So those of you who know me know that my "family" room for all intents and purposes is upstairs. Also known as Blayne's game room. So one year ago I made a f-a-m-i-l-y hanging with my cricket machine. This was meant to be the focus of what I wanted to make my family picture wall. So today Blayne and I tackled some home projects and managed to make some progress on defining that room as it as been titled.

For Christmas, yes Christmas, he bought me a large picture frame titled "Family' then put some pictures in it for me. I found it last week, wiped the dust off of it and there was our motivation to get going. Then today while wondering at Fred Meyer, bad thing to do, I found a "Live, Laugh, Love" frame with eleven picture slots. Victoria helped pick out some photos and we put that together.

Pictures don't do it justice but I do feel like my family room actually lives up to it's title. Thanks to my sweet hubby actually letting me give him a "honey-do" list.





FUN, FUN, FUN !! I love it when things come together.

We set a goal for Victoria to learn to ride her bike this summer, without training wheels. She's capable just has no desire. She had very many other interests and activities she would rather do. Blayne and I feel it's important for her to ride her bike, then it will make it easier for us to go riding together as a family. We are also working with them to build co-ordination to make it easier to ski and snowboard this winter.

So we took her to the church last week thinking it may be easier to ride in the flat parking lot. So for the first time, unbeknownst to her, she rode her bike all by herself. Of course once she knew Blayne let go, she freaked out and crashed. She was a good sport and went for another go round. She did a great job and is so close. Just a few more trips to the church.





We are definitely enjoying the beautiful weather we have been having lately. Although, I am definitely Oregon born and raised because I think it can get to be too hot and I do have a/c which makes it more comfortable. I also look forward the random cool down. I am sure I will be cursed by some for jinxing us by saying so......sorry :)

July coming to an end!

Blayne came home late from work the other night and hollered at me to come down stairs and bring the camera! We had this little visitor hanging out on our Welcome sign next to out front door. I'm surprised it stayed there as long as it did. My kids were all already in bed so they were bummed when all they got to see were pictures!


We stopped by my parents last weekend, of course we can't leave until G'pa gives everyone a ride on the four wheeler! You'd of thought, by the way they were screaming, that they weren't having fun! The screaming continued as we pried them off of it to get them into the car.

July has been an extremely busy month for our family. I'm hoping August is a little more quiet especially since I will be sending not 1 but 2 kids to school in the fall. This last weekend we took a trip to OMSI with some friends. The kids had so much fun, we were slightly out numbered, 4 adults to 8 kids! I think my kids could have stayed there all day long. So many things to see and stimulate their growing minds. Gavin and Maddy both managed to get soaking wet playing with the boats in the water.




Last week sometime I mentioned to Tori, "when I was little we would go down to the duck pond and feed the ducks. So don't throw out that bread let's save it to feed the ducks." I haven't heard the end of it since. So after OMSI I promised we could go feed the ducks. I think the 15 minutes they took to use all the bread was better then the four hours we spent at OMSI. They had so much fun! It brought back so many childhood memories, the days with no cares or worries!


Blayne and Gavin went to the annual Fly-in Cruise-in yesterday. We have only entered four car shows with our VW and yesterday was Blayne's fourth trophy. He placed for "Best Foreign". I love the appreciation we continue to receive from people, strangers, that they can appreciate the time and work we put into restoring Blayne's bug. Good job babe!



All and all it's been a great month. I'll let you know for sure after our drive to Boise this upcoming weekend. Oh yeah! My friend and I bleached Blayne's hair, it's white!

Visiting the Temple

We were out in Beaverton on Saturday so we stopped by the Temple on our way home. I was having fun taking pictures with the girls when Blayne and Gavin joined us. I took a few pictures of the kids together then he was taking some pictures of the kids and I. After a few shots Victoria started screaming! Finally when she calmed down so we could comprehend what she was saying we'd figured she got stung by a wasp, then to top it off it got stuck in her hair! Blayne finally got it out and smashed it. Poor girl! We watched her closely -- seeing my little sister is allergic to yellow jackets, it's better to be safe then sorry. She was more calm than I would have imagined.
On a side note, I got some really cute pictures!







Tori wanted to take some pictures of Blayne and I. She got a few good shots but this one was the best. It's not very often I can get Blayne to sit down and take a picture let alone have it turn out.



I took these pictures of the kids at the reflection pool. I love pictures that show the sun shining on the temple, it is so beautiful. My kids are at the bottom they are just very little.




Then Blayne took over, he is a fan of using the repetitive shot mode so I have to go through several pictures to find the best one. I can't complain, I'm usually the one behind the camera and always get left out of the pictures. This photo shoot didn't last long, this is where Tori got stung a few shots into it.



Since Tori got to take pictures I promised Gavin he could take some too. So while Blayne was walking with Tori to calm her down, Gavin took over the camera. Apparently we need to work on him. He needs to know we actually need to be in the shot. Give him a break, he's only 5!