Family Reunion & 7th Anniversary Date

Pate Family Reunion-May 2011- Moriah "laying out" by the pool

She was precious in her little bikini and hat! Check out those rolls!

Purple Power! Moriah and Tootsie

Kyleigh working a puzzle in the lodge

Mo taking a walk - it was exceptionally windy so I was trying to cover her ears & head! haha.

Two great minds discussing the next big scientific discovery...

More wind...But still a sweet pic!

Double Trouble! Our future is so bright we have to wear shades.

July 8th-Billy and I celebrating our 7th anniversary (a couple days early) at Shoguns...yum!

The "Seven Year Itch" hasn't got us yet!

We did it big and got some McDonald's treats on the way home...oh yeah...(grin). Coffee for me. My little vice.

Happy

Billy with his M&M Mcflurry I kept eyeing

Back at home and excited to see Mo! She did great! Thanks Brent & Sarai!

What?! You went out without me?!

And now she's eyeing the McFlurry...hmmm that looks good!

Getting Kids to Follow Directions

Guess I should file this little jewel away for future use...I really enjoy the ideas from Love and Logic. They make a lot of sense. Now if I can only remember these things when the time comes!

Teaching Kids to Follow Directions
Weekly Tip from the Love and Logic^® Experts

Dear Jessica,

When you're asking your children to do things for you, do you ever feel like you're talking to a cat? I love my cats, even though they never listen to a thing I say.

Fortunately, children, unlike cats, respond well to the following strategies:

• When asking your child to do something, don't forget to say "please."
  Since we want our children to use this magic word, doesn't it make sense that we ought to model it?

• Get close to them and use a pleasant, calm voice.
  Few people respond favorably to being hollered at from across the room. Besides, do I want to train my kids to need yelling at, or would it be better if I taught them to respond to a calmer, quieter tone?

• Ahead of time, have a plan for how you'll respond to noncompliance or defiance.
  If they refuse to comply, or they dawdle about, reply, "I love you too much to fight with you about doing this. I'm going to have to do something. We'll talk about this later."
  
  Delay the consequence so that you don't find yourself in an unwinnable power-struggle.

• Resist the urge to threaten, lecture, or give repeated warnings.
  This is a tough tip for most of us! Just remember that when we use threats, lectures, and repeated warnings, we train our kids to need threats, lectures, and repeated warnings.

• Allow empathy and consequences to do the teaching.
  In our DVD, Simple Parenting Strategies, we describe how to apply a consequence when it's tough to think of one. One powerful strategy involves having your children replace energy drained from you by their noncompliance. They can do this through extra chores, doing without some fun activities that you provide, etc.
  
  The key, of course, is the empathy. Nothing works without it!

Worst Blogger Ever!

Ok, so I've really gotten totally negligent with this blogging business lately. My excuse is that I've gotten behind as a result of Procrastination (something I know nothing about! So glad I don't procrastinate with anything else in my life!) and each time I think about getting back on to blog, it seems like there's too much to catch up with. Then I feel overwhelmed, and the Real Winner in me decides to just not try and continually put it off.

To my credit, I have had a couple road blocks along the way. For example, I mustered up the motivation to post some pictures the other day (still haven't posted pics since the Family reunion back in MAY!) and when I hooked the camera up to the computer, it wouldn't connect. So I just quit and went and did something else.

I'm still waiting on the camera issue to resolve itself, but in the meantime I thought I could at least get on here and catch things up.

How do people with multiple children keep up a blog??

We had a great 4th of July in Gilmer. It was Joe & Barb, Ryan & Shanna & kids, Mom and Dad, Granny, and Billy, Mo, and I. Of course I ate more than I should've and will probably continue my 2 week streak of not losing weight at my weigh-in this week. But the watermelon, hamburgers, chicken, mashed potatoes, black-eyed peas, cookies, and key lime pie was great!

It was so fun watching the fireworks on the back deck and hearing Kyleigh and Brayden "ooh" and "ahh" over each and every firework.

"Awesome!"

"Ooooh!"

"That was my favorite!"

"AweSOME!"

"Coooool!"

"No, THAT was my favorite!"

Yep, every single firework. It was so sweet. Meanwhile, Mo was put to bed at 8:00 and slept right through the fireworks. I could even see the volume sensor lights on her monitor all light up with each fireworks, but it didn't disturb her one bit.

Since returning from Gilmer, I've yet to fully unpack. But on the other hand, we've gotten lots of projects started around the house. Not necessarily finished, but started!

Which leads me to the end of this post...got laundry to do, furniture to rearrange, baby clothes to store, checkbook to balance, and on and on. Hope to post pics soon...will check in with the camera and see if it decided to fix itself.