Aunt Jaime comes to town!

My sister- I love her so much and miss her (and my other sisters as well, but this blog post is about Jaime after all) like crazy all the time. She came to visit at the end of September/beginning of October in 2009. We had a great time and did so many fun things- we celebrated Miranda's birthday and my birthday, went to a pumpkin patch, hiked some falls, went to the zoo, to Baltimore, Was a fun- but probably exhausting trip for Jaime (for more reasons that I couldn't share at that time- she was preggers but didn't know it yet!!!) Here are my fav pics from that visit.

Jaime and Oliver seeing the panda at the zoo


One of my favorite days we spent was going to Jumbo's farm for a friends birthday party and then heading over to Cunningham falls after to go hike for a bit.






Our day in Baltimore was a pretty comical one- first was the aquarium where Oliver had a complete breakdown tantrum (I think he was hungry...) so then we went to the Cheesecake factory for dinner and had the freakiest waiter ever- we were just cracking up the entire time, after that we walked around the harbor over to fort McHenry where we had a strange experience with an elderly lady which then turned into crazy gangsta grandma antics by the kids.....



A lot has happened for that wonderful Bateman family since this visit! House, Baby and more oh my!! We love you guys and miss you Jaimers

Miranda's tinkerbell birthday!!

Miranda was turning 7 and she wanted to have her birthday party at home and have face painting and everything fairie/tinkerbell so you know what this momma did? Thats right, I made it happen. My family is very lucky, we have a pretty amazing backyard that Rick takes very good care of so that we can do some cool bday parties and not have the entire house get trashed- my absolute fav part!

Beautiful Miranda all ready for her party



Miranda and Oliver with faces painted- this was the first time that Oliver ever had one done, super cute!



Miranda's friends at the party- I think I can safely say everyone had a great time!


Miranda put on a little show for her friends- I just love this picture of all the wings. Shortly after this we decided to do the pinata, but the weather put a halt to that when it started to storm. Cake time instead!


My friend made Miranda the most amazing cake- she was thrilled, no one wanted to eat it because it was so pretty but it turned out to be pretty delicious as well.

Catch-up!!

My oh my its been a while....

Almost 2 years really since I've updated my blog! Well, now its time- I am going to start doing a minimum two posts a day and see how long it takes me to get caught up and if I can actually stick with it!

oh wow... so I thought that I could condense all of the fall activities from 2009 into one blog. Then I went and looked at the pictures, hahaha that was very silly of me. There will probably be more like..hmmm... 10 posts with pic, but its all good stuff!

Lets see what the posts will be, 1st Miranda's bday party, Aunt Jaimes visit, pumpkin patch fieldtrips, trunk or treat, Haunted house/Karries birthday, and finally halloween - 10 was an Exaggeration, only 5. Lets get started- how long do you think I can go, and more importantly how long will it take me to get to 2011?

Normy Normisson

When I met my husband, Rick, he had a one year old puppy and I had a one year old baby. I didn't know if he was a kid person, but I certainly knew that I wasn't a dog person, which maybe proves just how much I love him that I accept his lab Norman into my life just as readily as he loved my Avery. Thanks to Norman, I *think* that I am now a dog person- not really other peoples (they annoy me) but I LOVED Norman. He was a big part of this family- I couldn't imagine ever our family without him. This is maybe why saying goodbye to him was so hard.

Just a few short months ago his health started to go downhill. He had arthritis in his hips and was having a really hard time getting around, but was still happy. I started taking him for lazer therapy treatments and cortizone shots, but didn't see much improvement. Then we noticed his back paws were flipping under when he walked (called knuckling) we talked to the Vet about it and she only knew of one thing that caused this- a neuroligic disease that causes the nerve endings to die and causes paralysis. There is nothing that can be done to reverse or cure this condition, the Vet then told us to start preparing and talking to our kids about saying goodbye. Within a week the paralysis had started to work its way into his lungs, and he was struggling- he was not happy anymore and it was harder to see him like that anything else I could think of. Rick and Avery took him to be put to sleep, its been very hard to not have him here with us anymore. Here are some pictures of our sweet boy.

Walking with Dinosaurs!!

The fam and I went to go see the "Walking with Dinosaurs" arena show. We have spent many years watching this show on Discovery channel and were totally stoked when we found out that they do a live show!! Rick and I have always been dino fans but Avery and Oliver have gone through major dinosaur phases. Avery's started when she was 3 and last until she was 6 or so. I will never forget the first time that we took her to the museum of Natural history to see the dinosaurs, she cried and cried because the dinosaurs were all dead :( Well these ones today looked so real! I think that Oliver thinks that they were. He kept saying the funnies things "Don't eat Oliver T-Rex" and such :) Here are some of our vids from today- enjoy!

Videos from Miranda's 7th birthday

Miranda got a kid video camera for her bday :)

MyRanda girl is 7 years young

As I am writing this- 7 years and 3 minutes ago Miranda was born :) Its crazy! It feels like yesterday, yet is hard to remember a time without her. She is a hillarious, wonderful, passionate lil girl and we are very lucky to have her. I hope you enjoy this fun collage of pics of our girl over the years.



We are having the big shindig celebration on the 28th when Aunt Jaime is here visiting, but tonight we had some cake and sang...


Just a little snippet of my girl. Here is a conversation we had just yesterday.... hope I get it right cause its pretty funny.

Miranda~ "Mom, I don't want to have any babies"
Me~ "You don't want to be a mom when you grow up?"
Miranda~ "No, I want to be a mom. I just don't want to have babies"
Me~ "Well how are you going to do that?"
Miranda~ "I'm gonna buy some"
Me~ "you mean adopt?"
Miranda~ "Yup, I'm gonna adopt 2 babies and 2 kitties and then I'll be a mom"
Me~ "That sounds great Miranda"
Miranda~ "Mom, when I grow up will you help me find the place to adopt them cause I don't know where its at"
Me~ "ofcourse I'll help you, but you might change your mind and want to have some of your own babies"
Miranda~ "KNOW I WILL NOT!!"
Me~ "Okay, thats fine too. Did you know that I will be your babies grandma?"
Miranda "I'm not having babies mom (getting very frustrated with me) remember? I'm going to adopt them?"
Me~ "I know hun, but after you adopt them they will be your babies. You will be their mom and I will be the grandma."
Quiet, she is thinking for a bit...
Miranda~ "Mom, I changed my mind. I want to live by you when I grow up, not in Baltimore"
Me~ "Why, I thought you wanted to live in the city, city girl"
Miranda~ "If I'm gonna take care of my adopted babies I don't want them to live very far away from their grandma like mine are far away from me. That would make them sad."
Me~ "Well Baltimore really isn't that far away"
Miranda~ "No, its too far mom. I want to be your neighbor when I'm a mom and come to your house and let the babies play with their grandma"
Me~ "sounds like a plan hun, but you can always change your mind if you want too."

lol- she cracks me up on a daily basis. I am every so lucky and greatful for this sweet girl of mine :)