Thanks Giving Bates

Thanksgiving is my favorite holiday all year. The family gets together, hangs out, eats, and enjoys each other with no other stresses. No presents or dressing up (at least at our gatherings!) or expectations over the day. Just remembering that we have each other and what a blessing that truly is. This year I am filled with thanks for Little Miss, our adoption community, my family, our stable and flexible jobs, Daddy and his utter patience with my endless demands, the food on our table, the community of SVCC through softball and small group, and of course for the workings of God in my life.

This year was our first at having Thanksgiving at our house. We rearranged the refrigerator to fit Daddy's experimental brining turkey in a huge tub. I picked up the whole down stairs, and we did a considerable amount of cleaning, despite my assertions to myself that it was just my family and not necessary. We finished our prep, making sure who was bringing what, turkey in oven, with at least 2 hours to spare. I decided to try my hand at a little braiding and Little Miss loves people to play with her hair. So, then we sat around relaxing until the doorbell rang.

Within 20 minutes of the first arrival, all 11 people were at the house and talking. Papa, Mimi, and kids were enjoying the pool area and the beautiful 80 degree weather that was blessing us with its presence. Auntie K, Uncle R, Adam, and Dan all were playing Blokus or talking and hanging around the house and watching football. Daddy and I were making sure that everyone was good, and everything was taken care of.

Daddy's experimental turkey was AMAZING. Not kind of good, but unbelievably juicy and incredible. We had the usual mashed potatoes, sweet potatoes, corn, cranberry salad, rolls, green bean casserole, turkey and ham. We ate and ate and ate... it was yummy!

Alas, after many hours of playing games and being together, the family had to leave. Papa had to work at 3am on Black Friday and Uncle R had to go to his family dinner. We were left, just the three of us, watching Daddy's Broncos smash the NY Giants and Little Miss played Fort.

She actually fell asleep in the fort, where we left her until Auntie K came to pick her up around 8pm. Mommy and Daddy both had to work the next day and Little Miss's preschool was closed.

Special big super Thank you to Daddy. Not only did he cook most of the food, but because of Mommy's knee injury impeding... did most of the cleanup as well. It did not go unappreciated. Daddy, Mommy loves you, you are the best.

Poor Blackbear

Wednesday started out as a good day. After getting off work, I stopped at the Hostess Outlet store. We used to go there when I was a kid, so its possible that I was a little overzealous with my bread, donut, and snack buying. Luckily, I split it all with Auntie K and looked a lot less ridiculous! Stopping for some milk on the way home, I decided to go into the house through the garage... which is very unusual. I almost always go in the front door. I had 2 or 3 fun errands to run before picking up Little Miss, and I was all motivated and happy about an afternoon of Me Time.

The second that I opened the laundry room door, I knew that something was very wrong. There were blood smears on the cabinet and my 6 year old, slightly overweight...ok very overweight, black lab Blackbear was laying behind the door in a pool of blood. My adrenaline rush at that point was super human. I checked Blackbears entire body, finding that the only injury was a very badly split ear. Grabbing a towel from above the washer, I attempted to stop the bleeding and see the injury better. Saying bleeding is misleading here, my poor Blackbear was GUSHING blood. Quickly I determined that this was not something that Vet Bates was going to fix (something I am known for, as I worked at a vet during and after high school). I locked Blackbear in the laundry room, by ripping the inside laundry door closed. I say Ripped because Daddy Bates installed a hook and eye bolt to hold the door open, but I already told you that I was on an adrenaline high... but I ripped the eye bolt out of the wall and closed Blackbear in. I found Longnose sleeping in the lawn, absolutely fine.

At the vet, they told me that her cut was so bad that they might have to cut off a good portion of her ear. They took her off to surgery and I went home. Needless to say, the 3 hours that it took me to clean the blood was not the wonderful afternoon that I had been expecting! It was everywhere. The fridge, the cabinets, the walls, the couch, the laundry room, the floor... did I mention my COUCH. Mrs. Clean aka Me cleaned the "scary" blood up before Little Miss came home. Auntie K, Racer, and Princess brought Little Miss home and the kids played upstairs while I cleaned.

Our neighbor watched Little Miss when I went to pickup Blackbear. The vet said that he didnt have to cut off her ear, but that he was very concerned about her bloodwork. She has a very high liver reading, and needed to bring it down with $100 a month pills. If it doesnt go down after 1 month, then they needed to do a liver ultrasound and possibly a biopsy. NO! I don't have good luck with dogs of my own. We love our dogs like members of our family, and these incidents were not a good track record. Blackbear is almost 6 and we were sure that we were past all of the bad luck.

Now the task is to keep exuberant 18 month old Longnose from biting Blackbear. We are pretty darn sure that is how she cut her ear. They are really good together, but Longnose is young and accidents happen. When Little Miss came home from the neighbors, she cried and ran to Blackbear hugging her and crying. She was much better after she saw her the next day, Blackbear was her usual hungry self! Now we cross our fingers....

State Fair Bates

Every year we go to the Fair. Daddy and Mommy love the Fair. We have food that we eat every year, rides we ride every year, and games games games! This year is special. We get to take Little Miss to her first State Fair. Going along on the trip, albeit begrudgingly, were a tired Auntie K, Princess, and Racer.

We all loaded up into Joe (what Daddy named his SUV) and drove the 45 minutes to the fairgrounds. The parking lot was almost empty and we got the best spot! We used our Lowe's receipts for 2 for 1 tickets and had our first "Fair Food" experience right inside the gate! Racer and I had a Corn Dog, Daddy and Little Miss split a huge Hot Dog, Auntie K got a gigantic Diet Coke, and Princess got Nachos. We watched a Clown Man embarass some crowd people and Daddy ate Princess's Nachos, because she didnt realize they had SAUCE. ITS NACHOS!

We got a bazillion tickets to play games and ride rides. Just before Mommy's favorite ride of the whole fair, there was a booth with her favorite Fair food.. the Roasted Corn on the Cob. So, I ate one. I shared with all the kids. Then we all, but Daddy who watched our stuff, rode the TALL CARPET SLIDE! We raced side by side and Little Miss and Mommy won! It was all skill and not at all that Little Miss had to slide with me because she wasnt tall enough to go alone!

There was a ride on the Ferris Wheel, a trip through the Jungle Maze, the House of Mirrors, Pirate Cove (which Little Miss came out of Screaming in Auntie K's arms... too scary Auntie K!), the Kids Corner with tractors, and more slides. We ate donuts, frozen bananas, funnel cakes, fresh lemonade, popcorn, corn on the cob, corn dogs, nachos, ice cream cones, cotton candy, ... I think thats it. I might have missed something...

We were all out of tickets but the kids were very upset that they didnt win any Pokemon toys. So, Daddy went and got another $50 worth of tickets and we did crazy GAME time. Racer threw two baseballs in a row to win a blown up Hammer, when Daddy couldn't, and Racer was very very proud of winning. We threw rings at ducks, darts at balloons, shot basketballs, and squirted water at spiraling monkeys! Daddy was the most winningest Daddy at the whole Fair. He was on FIRE! He won a pig with Little Miss on his lap, he won a dog with the darts for Little Miss who gave it to Racer because he was the only kid without a stuffed animal, he "accidentally" moved his water gun at the last moment for Princess to win her Pug dog, and he schooled some 20 something couple at the water race to win Mommy her Parrot (named Lofa). Daddy was such a great uncle, husband, and daddy at the fair. He was the man of the night: he ate the most food, won the most rides, and took the kids on the Ferris wheel all by himself. I love you Daddy.

Then on the way out, we heard something happening in the Grand Stand. We rushed up and watched the Demolition Derby! It was so loud and ridiculous. We each picked our favorite cars and watched them run around the mud pit. Cars on fire, smoking, bumpers falling off, and people running from wrecks. The kids were a little freaked out by the noise level and we had to leave early. It was so much fun! All of the adults liked it way more than the kids did.

All in all the State Fair 2009 was awesome! Three kids who ate more than their body weight in "Crappy for you but Oh So Yummy" Fair Food and three adults who lived for 3 hours as kids again!

Phantom of the Opera

For our birthdays, Auntie K and I have started a tradtion a few years back. We give each other two tickets to a Broadway show and always take each other out to dinner before hand. She took me to Wicked this year, which was AWESOME! A 9.5 out of 10 easily. For her birthday, which isn't until December, I got her tickets to Phantom of the Opera, her favorite. It was only showing in November, so we were celebrating early.

We started with dinner at Black Angus, where we laughed and joked and shared all of our food! We had bread, potato skins with sour cream, salads, and NY strip steaks. Auntie K had wine and I had Mountain Dew. She must have made 5 jokes about Designated Driver Mommy while she drank her 1 glass of wine. She cracks me up. Then off to Gammage we went for our show!

Sadly, after a mediocre performance, Auntie K and I were not so impressed with Phantom. I couldn't remember half the songs, and Auntie K missed the fact that one of the actors was black. We made a midnight run to McDonalds... ok I did... for a twist cone and some fries. We laughed about each other not "paying attention" to the show and laughed so hard in the car that my stomach hurt! Or maybe it was the ice cream and fries....

We posed for the camera just before leaving the house... using Princess's favorite camera pose.

Little Miss, Daddy, and Blackbear were having quality time while we were at the show!

Little Miss's Room

Ever since we brought Little Miss home, I have felt lacking in some Motherly way. In some small part, this had to do with her very institutionally white bedroom. I did not feel inspired, even though the furniture that Daddy and I picked out was Awesome... if I do say so myself.

I enlisted the help of Auntie K, and we set out to paint Little Miss's room in one morning. We put on our tunes, Auntie K taped, I prepped, and we were on our way. We had a few fiascoes. Her nose, my hat, her hair, my hair, and my whole right side all ended up with paint on them... but amazingly... only her nose got a photo! Who's the best? Auntie K is the best! Who's the best? Auntie K is the best! was our chant. We moved the furniture around like He-Women, painted, and applied all of the special appliques!

By the end of the morning, it was awesome. I had completed one small Motherly step. The room was girlie and cute and inspiring! I love it.

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Mom, what is THIS?

Even though my last post was on the first of this month, there has been so much going on that I need to "catch up".. so welcome to marathon blogging. I am going to catch up to today or die trying.

On a glorious Sunday afternoon last week, Daddy and I were watching an enjoyable afternoon of football. Little Miss was playing with her new favorite thing, her play doctor set. She was examining all of her stuffed animals. Some needed shots, others had fevers, and she would treat them all accordingly. It was laid back and relaxing, one thing we have missed since Little Miss has come into our lives.

Breaking up this Norman Rockwell moment was our bloodhound Longnose. Longnose was out back howling like there was a raccoon up in a tree right there in our backyard. She would not stop, despite all three Bates' yelling No at various times. Little Miss got up to go yell at Longnose again... and came back to tell Mommy that Longnose was chewing up something in the yard that was not hers. I asked "What?" Little Miss "I don't know. The grass is wet." So, I told her to go put her sandals on and get it. She complied.

Little Miss walked back in the house and handed me the object in question. With an innocent "Mommy, what is this?", she handed me the TAMPON. I was faced with one of those moments, where you decide just HOW much truth to tell. So, straight faced, I said stoically " It's a tampon." Then put it aside. Daddy, still sitting on the couch across from me, said "No Little Miss, that is a tampoon!". Little Miss's eyes lit up. She started guessing what it was for. .. Is it like a marker? No. Is it like a hot dog? No. Is it like a ear cleaner? No. I decided to not tell her what it was, but still Tampon was the new word of the day. I couldn't help but laugh inside every time she said it!

Happy Halloween!

Halloween Night was a blast! We ate fried chicken in the driveway. We trick or treated over 2 hours. There were at least 20-30 people on the hayride at all times, and when Daddy stopped the ride, it was like an explosion of children running for more candy! Little Miss had never been dressed up or gone door to door before (or so she remembers! ) so she was very nervous at the beginning! After chasing all the other little kids up the streets for awhile, she was a SCREAMING, LAUGHING, HELLION of energy! On the trailer, off the trailer, on the trailer! We were expecting the kids to get sick of the hayride.... but that never happened.
All the kids stayed up until midnight, watching Humphalump Halloween and talking about all the fun they had. All the parents were playing dominoes downstairs and eating... I mean "testing" the candy!


Auntie K, Mommy, and Little Miss

The hayride... the kids thought this was so cooool!

Luigi Racer, Cinderella Little Miss, and Pokemon Trainer Princess

TJ Whoshmanzay Mommy, Cinderella Little Miss, and Ghostbuster Daddy

(And those bruises on my knees... Trapeze 101 war wounds! )

Flying Trapeze Bates!

That is right people, Mommy the Fearless went on an adventure Saturday morning. For my 30th birthday, Auntie K and clan bought me a flying trapeze lesson. Given that I have a horrid fear of heights, this was an adventure I was looking forward to... and ridiculously scared of all at once. Climbing a 25 foot ladder with rungs no wider than 1 foot hold... Aahahahahghghghhg!!!

Step onto the platform, without looking down!, and get tethered in. My best friend on all the Earth at that moment was Ben. Ben was the one holding me onto the platform, no matter how much that heavy bar was trying to pull me off.

The thrill and scare of the first swing, I will never forget. Combine swinging in the park with cliff jumping and acrobatics... and there you have the flying trapeze! By the end of an hour and half with multiple runs, I was able to swing. Then put my feet up and over the bar above my head, lean back and let go! That is RIGHT people... I flew NO HANDS 30 feet in the air! But my most amazing moment was the 2nd to last run. Not only did I hang upside down.. but righted myself in time to BACK FLIP off the bar into the net!! I even yelled Woooooo HOOOOOOO on the way down!

I highly recommend this adventure for anyone who would attempt it. My knees are bruised, my shoulders hurt, and my abdomen is pumped. It was all so worth it. Auntie K took video, Papa took some pictures, all the kids cheered me on, and Daddy was very very supportive. Thank you Auntie K, Uncle R, Racer and Princess... it was the ride of a lifetime!

Pumpkin Patch

The weekend before Halloween, Auntie K and I took the three kids to the pumpkin farm. We searched and searched for the right pumpkins.. We played in the hay. We pulled a cart with all of our pumpkins through the maze of people and decorations. This is how our adventure turned out!