Hello..........

I've been absent, understandable, since I have had a lot of visitors(3weeks plus) and and a newborn. Please forgive me! I'll try and be better. Although, lack of sleep does and nursing has turned my brain to mush!

The Sunday after Thanksgiving my neighbor volunteered to take family pictures in field near our house. This is one of my favorites with the girls.

My parents with all their grandkids.
Sean and his dad with the kids.

Sean with Kellyn. I've been told he beams when talking about Kellyn!

Us. The family....

Miss Fiona. She was hamming it up. It reminded me of when she was about 5 wanted to get her picture taken!Aida and Fiona. They are my sweet girls.

"Grandkids"

Cousins. Jacob and Titan. Check out Moyer Mayhem for more pictures.

My neighbor also took some pictures of Kellyn for me when he was about 3wks old.(Nov.16th) These are some of my favorites.

Name and a Blessing

We were lucky enough to have some special guests for Kellyn's Baby blessing. My Brother and his family, my parents and Sean's dad.

Sean with Fiona, Kellyn, and Aida. They were so excited about his blessing and taking him to church for the first time. They are really good big sisters.

Sean gave a really nice blessing. A few things that were mentioned:
*strong person in our family and will love your sisters and mother
*grow strong through primary and young men's organization and that you will be taught by special teachers and leaders
*bless you to search the scriptures and to find Solace in their pages
*bless you to understand revelation and how to receive it
*follow the Savior and learn of the Atonement-it will be a great blessing in your life

Aida's Birthday

Aida was so excited for her sixth Birthday. Especially, since family was going to be in town. She kept talking on how many times she would get to celebrate and who was going to be their. We celebrated on her actually birthday by going to dinner at Olive Garden, which according to her is her favorite place. Uncle Rod and Aunt Sandy were able to go with us and then we opened a few presents.

The next day uncle Jared, Aunt Jill and Jacob and Titan arrived for their visit. So we did cake and more presents. She really wanted a Barbie cake. She talked about it for weeks. She even showed me the cake at Kroger. Well, I was able to have special one made for her that was better then the one at Kroger. She love it! See the little 6's around the skirt.

Aida loving her Birthday cake!

Aida and Jacob. She was so happy about getting a webkinz's from her cousins.

I don't have any pictures, but we also celebrated when Grandma Judy and Grandpa Jim and Papa when they came later in the week. Some new clothes, Up Movie and a Koala webkinz. I think we made up for all the years that her Birthday was overshadowed by Thanksgiving! She was a very happy little girl. Thanks to everyone who made her Birthday very special this year.

Aunt Sandy & Uncle Rod

We were lucky enough to have a Sean's aunt and uncle come and visit us just before Thanksgiving. We are so glad they came to visit us while they were in the South. Sandy did all the cooking and laundry. It was so nice to be spoiled!

GOOOOAAAAALLLLL !!!!!

Aida (#7) scored the last goal of the last game of the season this year. In the video below she's the 3rd goal scorer.

http://flickr.com/gp/johnlamb/219a83

This is Aida kicking the (silver) ball at the goal. Nice form!

October 2009 Fall Activities

Hicklen Farm is down the road from our house. It is a family owned farm that dates back to the Civil War. I think that is pretty cool. My mom and I took the girls to get pumpkins for Halloween.

Fiona, Sean, and Aida getting ready for Trunk or Treat. We have Funky mood Girl, Soccer Player, Pink Fairy.

The girls working on their pumpkins.Sean spent a few ours on his pumpkin. He was pretty intense. It was pretty cool!(If you don't know already, Sean is Soccer Fanatic)


Notice the slug! Yuck!

Aida the Cooking Witch making cookies with Grandma. (Fiona was at her first Halloween party down the street.)

Halloween
It was a little chilly this year, but the girls still had a great time. Everyone was out and we had such fun with our neighbors and friends. (Kellyn and I stayed home and passed out candy)

We named him......................

Kellyn(Kel-lyn) Sean Gates
Kellyn=Warrior
Sean=God is Gracious

Here he is Sunday Oct.25th with his Sisters after church. We brought him home from the hospital later that evening.

Kellyn wrapped in the Gates blanket. All of Sean's siblings and now all of the grandkids have been brought home in this blanket.

Sean the proud Dad leaving the Hospital. In truth, I think he was just glad we finally named Kellyn and he could take us home.

The minute we got home from the Hospital the girls had to hold him. It is now a ritual to hold him before and after school.They are very loving with Kellyn.

Picture with the soccer blanket. By the way, Kellyn has soccer feet according to Sean. I'm sure he will do a post on this!

Sean trying to instill the love of chocolate at a very early age to Kellyn!

He is so sweet.

Halloween. 8 days old.

It's a boy!

Well, today we welcomed a beautiful baby boy into our family. At a hefty 8 lbs. 14 oz and 20.5 inches long he is a big 'un. :D Check out the great pictures below.

Julie's first moments with him. He looked right at her when she talked to him.

When they took him to the crib to measure him he held onto my finger for a moment

A better close up just moments after birth while they checked his vital signs and recorded all his stats.

Julie and I with the baby boy

The first time I got to hold him

He's checking me out

Fiona was a little unsure at first, but after Aida got to hold him, she was all over it and held him for quite a while. They are very, very happy big sisters. I'm sure they'll have tons of fun (and probably some skirmishes) with their little brother.

More to follow ...