Georgia On My Mind

Georgia Zoe Bates

20 July 2016

8:00 p.m.

10 lbs. 5 oz.

21"

Jack turns 4!

Seriously the days are long and the years are short!

We had a great time celebrating Jack turning 4! Baba was even in town to make it more special, yay!

Jack requested brownies with M&M's so we went crazy and made them anti-gravity. Mind blown!

He LOVES riding his bike! This was on a trail at the Desert Wetlands Park.

March 2016 Grand Mesa, CO

Jack thoroughly enjoyed the snow at Grandma and Grandpa's that he's been deprived of living in FL and NV.

He's super sweet with babies. Here is playing with his little cousin, June. He'll be so good with his little sister soon!

Dancin' pants party!

He loves playing with his brothers! 

Palisade, CO, when we got 1" of snow. No complaints here, we take what we can get!

Jack is such a sweet boy, and is always up for a snuggle with his mom. He will be our cow milker (always wakes up early). He's a fish in the water and can dive in the deep end (8') for rockets. He always wants to go on bike rides (not happening now that it's a million degrees outside). He's very observant and usually knows where something is if I can't find it. He loves to play games. His current favorite is 'Spot It'. We love our Jack!

Jack's 4-year interview:

What is your full name? Jack  Eliason Bates
Where do you live? Uhhh (sigh) I can't know. I don't remember it. (He was trying to remember our actual address, which we've been going over lately.)
How old are you? 4
When is your birthday? Uh the other day after church.
What do you want to be when you grow up? Ummm a helicopter pilot!
Who is in your family? Mom, Papa, and Sawyer and Cole. And uh Suki (pre-name for his baby sister).
What do you like to eat? Spaghetti and meatballs.
What do you like to do outside? I like to play with the volleyball. Play with Mommy. Catch (he got a baseball mitt for his birthday).
What do you like to do inside? Play with mom's hair.
FAVORITE:
Color: Blue and green and yellow and red. I like all those colors, Mom.
Song: Twinkle Twinkle Little Star How I Wonder What You Are.
Toy: Cole's rattle (being silly).
Food: Spaghetti and meatballs.
Cereal: Ummm uhhh miniwheats.
Show: Wild Kratts
Animal: Horsie
Book: Go Car Go. (He meant Go, Dog. Go!)
Drink: Apple cider, I mean orange juice.
Dessert: Gummies.
Favorite thing to do with Papa: Cook dinner with him.
Favorite thing to do with Mommy: Snuggle with your hair.
Favorite thing to do with Sawyer: Play with him.
Favorite thing to do with Cole: Share with him. Cars.
What do you want for Christmas? Bow and arrow. A real one. (Uh-oh!)
Where does Papa work? At the Las Vegas Airport.
What does Papa do for work? He flies helicopters to the canyon.
What does Mommy do for work? Cook dinner.
Who do you love? Mommy! Cole baby and our whole family!
Anything else you'd like to say? Nope!

Sawyer turns 5!

Happy Happy Birthday Sawyer! We celebrated a day late so that Papa was off work and Dido would be in town as well. Sawyer helped me decorate his chocolate zucchini cake. We've entered the world of little legos. 

Sawyer came in from the garage, so happy to show me the planter he built with papa. (Now, 8 months later as I'm finally finishing this blog post, we've enjoyed 5 strawberries off the plant he planted in it!) This boy is so creative. He has taken a major interest in everything art related these days. Our fridge is plastered with his creations. Today he gave me a piece of bark that he'd colored with crayons.

Look how handsome! I took this the morning of his Primary program at church (18 Oct 2015). He had a one-liner and delivered it with confidence. We'd practiced speaking slowly and clearly, and he did it perfectly. My favorite part was watching him sing with all his heart. He LOVES to sing and knows all the words/melodies to the primary songs.

How does this even happen? Every. single. time. His feet get so filthy on top! I guess it's what happens when you bounce off the walls.

Speaking of walls....let me share a quick story that happened this week (22 Oct 2015). Sawyer asked if he could have some gloves. So I gave him a pair and he headed to the backyard (which is totally enclosed with cinder block walls). A few minutes later he comes rushing in telling me the girls in the backyard are so nice and he even pet their dog. I was very confused and slightly concerned about how girls and a dog were in our backyard. When I went outside to see what was happening, he showed me how he had scaled our 6' wall carefully using the gloves as to not get scratched and met the neighbor girls that are kitty-corner to us. They'd lifted their dog up to him on the wall so he could pet it. Never a dull moment with this kid!

Finally starting to get some good help around here!! We were messing around in the parking lot letting Jack have a little snooze. The 30 lb. baby proved to be a little too much, even for our strong Sawyer.

Interview with Sawyer 25 Oct 2015

What is your full name? Sawyer Lewis Bates
Where do you live? Henderson Las Vegas
How old are you? 4, oh I forgot, 5!
When is your birthday? October 25th
What do you want to do when you grow up? I want to be an artist.
Who is in your family? Jack, Cole Baby, Mom, and Papa
What do you like to eat? Broccoli, spinach, zucchini, asparagus (I guess gardening has paid off?! Believe me this boy definitely has a sweet tooth as well, but he does love his veggies!)
What do you like to do outside? I like to run and gallop.
What do you like to do inside? I like to, um, print. (Yesterday he spent $3 of his own money on a printing calculator at our neighbor's yard sale.)
FAVORITE:
Color: Green
Song: I Know My Savior Loves Me and 'The Miracle'
Toy: Airplane. Which one? Every kind.
Food: Mashed Potatoes
Cereal: Lucky Charms
Show: Paw Patrol (watched it for the first time yesterday)
Animal: Reindeer
Book: Casper the Friendly Ghost
Dessert: Ummm Vanilla ice cream with oreos
Favorite thing to do with Papa: Ummm play on the swing.
Favorite thing to do with Mama: Ummm play on the climbing wall.
with Jack? I just like to play. I really like to play cars.
with Cole: Play balloons with him.
What do you want for Christmas: I really, Really, REALLY, want a skateboard. No I really, Really, REALLY want a phone. What are you going to do with a phone? Practice Mom's phone number. (We just learned it this week.)
Where does Papa work? At helicopter works.
What does Papa do for work? He flies helicopters.
What does Mom do for work? She takes care of kids.
Who do you love? Mommy, Papa, Cole Babe, Jack.
Anything else you'd like to add? I want to add that I want to practice your phone number.

SURPRISE!

Welcoming a baby GIRL to our family in July!

Happy Valentine's Day to us! We were shocked earlier this week when we found out our fourth child is a girl! We're so excited!! George didn't believe me as the pink balloons floated up from the box. With wide eyes he said, "Really?! REALLY?!" The boys were so excited to have helium balloons to play with that after things settled down I asked them if they knew whether it was a brother or sister and they said, "No Mom, what is it?" Ha! And later that evening as we were eating dinner Sawyer said, "I'll never be able to wrestle again my whole life." Haha. As for me, I'll believe it when I meet her. We're SO happy!

Cole's Blessing Day

On Sunday, October 12th Cole was blessed. We decided to do this in Colorado so lots of family could be included. Thank you all for flying and driving long distances to support our sweet baby Cole. It was a fantastic week!

The Bates Brothers

Geez they are cute. And naughty. And fun. :)

The gang putting up with photos. Turn around Bug!

The girls (Whitney, Alethea, Louisa, Saya, Sara, Sadie, Liz (poor Cole with all the girls ;), Natalie)

The boys (David, Jerry, Mac, Joe, Kaden, Jack, Cole, George, Sawyer, Bill)

Our cute little family of five.

Thank you so much to both of our parents for all the love and support you've given our family!! It was fun to have you all in one spot!

Angel Baby Cole

My sweet Cole Baby

With Grandma :)

George delivered a great blessing. I'm so thankful for such a great partner, and feel blessed to share my life with him.

So sweet. 

We love you Cole!

"I want to go to Colorado"

(I typed this up months ago, never got around to publishing it.)
October 2014

I've heard Sawyer repeat, "I want to go to Colorado" at least 10 times a day since we got back from our great fall vacation to Colorado. I would have to agree with him. The weather was perfect, both sets of his grandparents were there, as well as cousins, aunts, and uncles. There was dirt to play in, tractors to ride, apples to be picked, rocks to be thrown, and havoc to be wrecked. A little boys dream!

Colorado is one of my favorite states. The sunshiney days and beautiful mountains are a big draw for me. My parents have lived in Palisade a little over a year now (but I grew up in CO until I was 13). Their property is right next to a peach orchard and the Book Cliffs are on the north side of them and the Grand Mesa to the East. They have a great piece of property which they have lovingly named The Last Resort, haha! Mac and Steph live about 15 minutes away in Grand Junction. It was so fun to get to see happy Saya Sol...she's changed so much since we'd met her in January as a newborn!

My dad loves to garden, and does a great job at it as well. (One of those things I wish was hereditary.) There was tomato, basil, peppers, and carrots coming out of their ears. The boys enjoyed going out to the garden each morning with grandpa to dig up carrots. It's funny I'd forgotten how tough the soil can be! We don't even have to 'dig' up carrots here in Florida, as they easily slide out of the sandy soil with the tug of your hand.

5 a.m. pit stop on the way to the airport. It's only a 30 minute drive, but when you gotta go, you gotta go! That little potty is so handy to have in the back of Rocket Ship (our Odyssey).

Papa and Thing 1 & 2 - I had the easy one on my lap, sitting in front of them.

What, you don't let your kids play with plastic bags?

Whew, we made it! Grandpa meeting baby Cole and Grandma getting a smile out of him, no doubt.

The beautiful view during breakfast. They'd done some remodeling since we visited last which completely transformed their home. It is so much more open and light now, with great views!

A peek at part of the garden. Peppers, Basil, and Tomatoes shown in this shot.

Traxtor (Saw's pronunciation) rides!

Grandpa hired the boys to drag a magnet around the field. He gave them a penny per nail (or metal object). Jack lost interest quickly (he made 5 cents). Sawyer worked diligently a few different times and came home with $4.08. That's a LOT of findings!

Counting out all the metal pieces...putting them in piles of 10.

Pay Day! Grandpa taught Sawyer a lot with this 'job'. Hard work, counting in tens, coinage, and tithing, whew!

Dave, the baby whisperer. It was so cute, when Cole met David for the first time, he loved his deep voice and gave him all sorts of smiles :)

Uncle Mac!

Saya Baby!

Saya (7.5 months) Cole (1.5 months)

Baba and Cole Baby! 

We were so happy that Baba and Dido (George's parents) decided to fly to CO and spend some time with us. Thank you!

 

Cousin time! Kaden was a great sport, putting up with his cousins :)

My little thug. The ergo knocks him out every time. I still haven't figured out how to transfer him from the ergo to his bed without waking him up though.

Out for an excursion.

Just because he's adorable!

Kite flying with no wind...

Pumpkin Painting

Love that back drop during our cookout.

Art time

Cole giving a quick wink with Baba ;)

Child labor, does a kid good.

George and Sawyer throwing rocks into the Colorado River.

Cole and Saya saying their good-byes.

Pit stop on our 5 hour drive to the Denver airport.

Travelling (5 hour drive and 4 hour flight) with three boys three and under actually went really well. Here they are all passed out after a week of fun in Colorado...thankfully most of the drive to the airport was like this :)

Thank you so much Grandma & Grandpa for being such wonderful hosts. We love creating such wonderful memories with you!