Surprise!

I got a phone call today around noon from my Uncle Jim. He was calling to say that he would be landing in Denver at 4:00 pm and wanted to see if they could swing by on their way to Castle Rock. Surprise!!!

I was so excited! I had no idea they were coming and was thrilled at the idea of guests...especially family I never thought would make it out here! (No offense, you guys)

We had such a fun visit! McKenna and Brooklyn gave Uncle Jim, Karina & Jack the tour of the house. We had dinner. We played on the swings and ran races in the backyard while it sprinkled rain on us. We played chase and hide and go seek and tickle monster and just had a good time!

Here are a few photos from our evening together.

Precious Prayer

We pray a lot around our house. We pray at mealtimes, bedtimes, and as the need arises when we lose a toy...or our temper...we present our requests to God.

But, usually, it is just John and I who utter our petitions to the Lord. The kids are quick to mention their requests...the grandparents are always on the top of the list and lately, McKenna has wanted to pray for her Dorothy dress for Halloween. :) Every night we also pray for Paul, a 16 year old at our church who is battling an aggressive cancer. It melts my heart that the girls remember him every evening...even as we haven't seen him in 2 months.

Tonight, was special. As I was tucking the girls into bed, I asked them who they wanted to pray for. McKenna said, "Phil, Heather, Ally & Travis." Brooklyn said, "Daddy & Paul." And then McKenna added, "And Melodie."

I took their hands and as I was beginning to start, I asked if either of the girls wanted to say the prayer tonight. I offer from time to time and get a resounding "no, Mommy do it." But, tonight, McKenna said, "I do." So I closed my eyes and waited. And this is what I heard:

"Dear God, thank you for Phil, Heather, Ally & Traivs. Thank you for Daddy. Be with Paul and bless him and give him peace. I love Melodie. In Jesus' Name, Amen."

I was so choked up I could hardly respond. I said, "Amen" because there was nothing to add to that precious prayer from the mouth of my 4 year old daughter.

It blessed my heart to no end to witness that. And I know the Lord heard McKenna's request tonight....

Little Mommy

I'm doing some stuff on the computer right now and am listening to McKenna and Brooklyn play in their room.

This is the conversation I just heard McKenna have with her baby:

McKenna: Baby, you have to go to bed now.

Baby: But, I want to stay up longer.
(Yes, she really switched voices to be the baby.)

M: You can't. You've already stayed up a long time and its late.

M: You want to stay up more? Yes? Well, you can't. You have to go to bed if you want to go to Auntie Em's party tomorrow.
(We've been watching and reading a lot of Wizard of Oz lately)

M: Stay in your bed. If you want to see Auntie Em, you have to go to sleep.

B: Ok, mommy.

It just cracked me up! Well, she definitely knows the bedtime rules...

Crazy

Yes, I was a bit crazy today.

Josiah was up at 5:15 and by 9:30 he was awake from his nap. I had all 3 children awake for a good 2 1/2-3 hours. What could we do? It was pretty warm out and I really didn't feel like the park. (We go at least once a day as it is.)

Where could we go? I packed everyone in the car and started driving. McKenna kept asking where we were going and I kept answering a very slow and simple, "I really don't know."

I decided to drive over to the Stapleton shopping area. I thought maybe there would be a new McDonald's or Burger King that had one of those lovely indoor play things. (I would only go to one that was new as the older ones tend to really gross me out.)

We got there and drove around. No fast food playgrounds. Hmmm. What else is there? I contemplated letting the kids run around Outdoor World...and then I saw the movie theatre.

On a whim, I drove by the front and strained my terrible eyes to read the movie listings. Yes, Ratatouille was still playing. Showtime...10:30. I looked at the clock and it was 10:44. There were always lots of previews. We could do it...

Wait! Am I crazy??? Take my 3 kids to a movie all by myself?? Am I nuts? But at the same time, I REALLY wanted to see a movie. If it was a disaster, we could just leave. I asked McKenna if she wanted to do something crazy. She said, "what crazy?"

I got everyone out and got the stroller in motion. I walked up to the box office and asked how much of the movie we had missed. The guy told me it was about 10 minutes into it. When I asked how much kids tickets cost, he informed me it was $5 for kids 3 and over. Score! I bought 2 tickets and started walking in, informing the kids that we were going to see a movie!

We made a quick bathroom stop and headed into the dark, and very loud, theatre number 7. There were 3 people in the audience. Parents and their 2 year old son. Perfect.

We picked a row, sat down and started watching. McKenna had her hands over her ears as it was too loud. Brooklyn started crying because there was a chase scene going on that really was loud and very quick-moving. Ok, maybe this was a terrible idea. Then I realized that Josiah, who was sitting on my lap was laughing every time he saw the rat. That gave me hope!

The noise softened and the scene slowed down and we started having fun! We took a popcorn break about half way through and returned to see the other 3 moviegoers leaving. We had the theatre to ourselves!

Josiah remained on my lap eating popcorn until the last 20 min or so when he decided to go check out the lighted staircase. Go for it!

It ended. We clapped. We left happy and quite satisfied. (The movie really is great!)

I was proud of myself for this huge adventure and leap of faith...even if it really was crazy.

Sweet Vacation

Yes...its been awhile. But, I have a good excuse! We were on vacation!!!

Last week we traveled to Chautauqua Lake, New York for a huge family reunion to celebrate John's grandmother, Betty Sheldon's 90th birthday. (It is right on the Pennsylvania border)

We stayed at the lovely Sheldon Hall right on the lake. I've included some pictures of the house. The first one is from the front...I am standing half way from the house to the lake! The second, is of one of the dining rooms. There were about 9 bedrooms, 4 bathrooms and cubbies and closets galore. It was beautiful, peaceful, calm and just plain relaxing.

I will write more as I get a chance.

We enjoyed running around on the lawn, canoeing, fishing, visiting family, exploring the area and just enjoying each other's company.

I look forward to catching up soon!!

Oh...and John posted a bunch of pictures from our trip on our website...just click on the "Yates Family" tab to the right.

McKenna's 4th Birthday

My life has been so out of order...so why should my blogs be any different?

McKenna turned 4 on the 26th and we celebrated by taking a plane ride to Colorado.

The girls mostly enjoyed the plane ride. Grandma Shiralyn provided a super fun bag for the girls to entertain them on the ride here.



Mommy and Josiah spent most of the flight in the kitchen with the two awesome flight attendants. We were in row 25 so it was a short jaunt to the back and the girls quickly realized it was fun to go back and forth. Mimi (my mom) kept giving them trash to bring to the back. At one point the flight attendant asked McKenna if she would like to help collect trash from the whole plane. McKenna, (to my shock) nodded her head and follwed Frederica to the front of the plane. Next thing I know McKenna was wearing Frederica's apron and was holding a trash bag and walking down the aisle of the plane. I ran to grab my camera and by the time I got it out she was running towards me. Frederica said she was doing great the first few rows and then realized everyone was watching her and commenting on how cute she was and she bailed. I got a very blurry photo....but its still cute.



When we arrived at our house Daddy surpised the girls with new bikes. And Ariel bike for McKenna and a Princess bike for Brookln.





Then we all went out to TGIFriday's for dinner. We figured it was one of the only places around that would sing to McKenna and bring a fun dessert. Very cute.




McKenna continues to be a DELIGHT in all of our lives. She is a wonderful big sister. Very helpful and always wanting to ensure that everyone knows the rules. :) She is so gracious with her brother and sister always ensuring they have what the want or need...even if it means giving them something she has. McKenna loves to read, to color and to play. Her imagination is really blooming and the songs and stories that come out of her mouth are precious and often very curious!!! She also has quite a passion for winking.

The last year of her life has been incredible. Her experience at Los Altos Brethren Preschool is indescribable. The impact that the school and her teacher, Mrs. Dybas, on our family is priceless. McKenna's knowledge and understanding of who God is and His character is just precious. We pray everyday about letting our light shine for Jesus and McKenna continues to surprise us in the ways she lets her light shine.

Independence Day....on the 1st

Reunion (our "community")put on a big Independence Day celebration last night. Bounce houses, face painting, watermelon, lemonade, live music, pie eating contests and the like for a grip of people to enjoy. We went with the Teague's and several of our neighbors and set up a fun "camp" on the grass next to the lake. Quite scenic. It was supposed to end in a fabulous firework show which got cancelled due to the super interesting Colorado weather. You know the electrical storm with 20-30 mile winds.

But we all had fun nonetheless. Here's some pictures of our evening on the lawn.