girls night at the nutcracker

the bailey girls started a new tradition this year . . . and evening at the theater. the girls had so much fun getting dressed up for a night on the town! we went to see the austin ballet's nutcracker and it was AMAZING! the girls were soooo enthralled with it! ken and mck thought it was magical and were staring through the whole thing. kam loved it, but felt the need to talk in my ear, non-stop through the whole thing! (it was a little too much silence for her. we can't wait to do a special evening out again next year!

the FOURTH 2011!

what a wonderful day. it was hot. awful hot! but we wore our matching shirts and headed to g'town with our old friends the c family. the kids loved the petting zoo - okay we all did! we had snow cones and got sweaty then headed to sonic for drinks! then to the house to make dinner . . . a feast of real american food complete with brisket and grilled stuffed jalapenos. we hung out and the kids played. we ate lots of yummy dessert. and then headed to watch the fireworks together. they were magical and the perfect ending to a beautiful day . . .
this fourth had extra special meaning. it was exactly a year ago that we knew something was wrong with bailey . . . he ended up at the hospital just a couple days after the fourth last year. it is so amazing to look back at everything that has happened this past year . . . how much we have been through . . . and to feel like we came out on top . . . we came out ahead! so much has changed. we value family time even more than ever before. we look at the little things the kids do and really try to remember each and every thing. wow. what a difference a year makes. what a difference an angel makes!

valentine's day 2011

happy heart day! :) the kids had a yummy heart donut breakfast, donut balloons, books, and candy . . . and that was just the start! :) the girls had a mommy lunch at school which i got to attend without the little kids (thanks ms. j.! we love you!). and then our afternoon was filled with more goodies. . . little heart baskets filled with way too much stuff . . . and a YUMMY dinner at mama fu's (yes, our kids were up for trying something new!) wow . . . our hearts have four little reasons to be sooooo happy! :)

christmas eve 2010

what a wonderful day! the kids and i made sugar cookies most of the morning . . . the kids played while i finished up wrapping last minute things and daddy finished up a half day of work. we got dressed up and went to church . . . a wonderful children's service that the girls really enjoyed! we came home to our traditional christmas eve dinner of appetizers and ice cream drinks! :) then we decorated our sugar cookies - making special ones for the big guy! then it was present time . . . matching pj's for everyone! :) the kids were adorable in them! :) complete with slippers and scrunchies too! ken was really anxious for everyone to go to bed and kept asking what time it was . . . making sure it wasn't getting too late. she didn't want anyone to be up when santa came! the girls put out cookies, sprinkled reindeer food, and all put the snowman on top of the tree. . . then we read "twas the night before christmas and headed to bed. the kids were out in no time!
can't wait for christmas morning. each year is more magical than the one before.

our gingerbread village

the kids had a blast decorating a gingerbread village this year. everybody picked a house to decorate and went crazy! :) kam was fast and covered her house with all sorts of treats! b.c. pretended to decorate while sneaking as many candies as he could into his mouth! ken sat for a long time trying to add all sorts of cool things to her house! and mck, well, mck decorated her house for A LONG TIME piling as much as she could onto the tiny structure . . . and managed to eat about a pound of sugar in the process! :) the little village looked great! :)

turkey day 2010

turkey day was a little different this year . . . celebrating here instead of at grammy and grampy's, but all of the important elements were there . . . yummy food made by grammy, family, nana's china, lots of amazing desserts, and awesome artwork made by the girls on the walls! we had a great day! we hung out all morning watching the parade and playing, the girls got all dressed up in their cute dresses, and we all sat down to a great meal together! and we finally got to use the tablecloth we work on every year (with the kid's hand prints and what they are thankful for!) the guys even watched a little football! (oh, and aunt sarah and i snuck in a quick shopping trip . . . couldn't miss out on a good deal!) what a great start to the holiday season!

pumpkin pickin'

what a great afternoon to pick a pumpkin! we headed to kam's school to select our pumpkins this year . . . after disney we were too worn out for the pumpkin patch. everyone found a pumpkin they were happy with and then they got to play lots of fun games, eat cotton candy, bounce, and get their faces painted. the kids thought it was great! :) now for the fun part . . . carving 6 pumpkins!

happy fourth!

what a wonderful day! :) the weather was perfect (no more rain!!!) and we headed out early to enjoy the g'town festivities! the girls had so much fun in the petting zoo, okay, i did too! it was soooo awesome! lots of baby pigs to try to catch! i think we stayed in there more than our fair share! :) the girls did a few activities and had fun! then we all walked in the hometown parade! the girls all did great riding their bikes and were so proud of their decorating job! :) we walked around for a bit then headed to the house for relaxing and dinner!

we got the kids bathed before the fireworks and then headed back to the park! the g'town fireworks were awesome! the girls loved every second of them and b.c. was really content to watch them . . . especially when he head the loud booms! what a great end to a fabulous day! it was quiet, but nice! :)

preparing for the fourth!

what a great day! :) the girls set of fireworks with daddy, decorated their bikes for the parade (themselves!), got their fingers and toes painted "patriotic", and we munched on red, white, and blue cookies! :) after b.c. went to bed we headed outside for some more fireworks and to watch the neighbors' fireworks too! what a great day! can't wait until tomorrow! :)

easter 2010

we had a wonderful weekend! it was so nice that my family came to spend easter with us this year! we played outside almost all day yesterday . . . croquet, bocce, jumping on the trampoline, playing on the playscape, coloring easter eggs, having a confetti egg fight, and even an early easter egg hunt! it was wonderful! grammy made a great dinner too! then we celebrated mck’s birthday a little early with tinkerbell cupcakes! it was nice for everyone to be together!

the morning was crazy but wonderful. we had an early start to the day with b.c. up before 6 and the girls following shortly thereafter. we opened baskets . . . well 4 each to be exact! one from the bunny, one from us, one from grammy and grampy, and one from tim and missy. . . . can we say spoiled kids? we all went to church service together. the service was really nice and the kids were wonderful. then we had a yummy lunch at monument café . . . a local place. (sooooo glad we opted for simple instead of the fancy place we were planning to go to . . .) it was great! we couldn’t have asked for a better weekend! thanks fam for coming! :)

bunny breakfast

the kids had so much fun at jungle java . . . meeting the easter bunny (who we determined was a person dressed up like the bunny so that the bunny could get stuff done!), eating pancakes, and playing on the playscape! they even did an easter egg hunt! ken, mck, and kam were all over the place . . . climbing up and down and going down the slides! they were pretty worn out when we left! and b.c. took quite a snooze on the way home! he loved playing in the baby area! what a great way to start the weekend!

on the way home we stopped to check out the easter chicks at the farm store. . . yes, they were dyed easter colors! too cool! the kids were in love . . . i think a chicken coop is in our future! :)

heart day (the first round!)

so, other than gifts and heart pancakes, our valentines day was cut short by the tummy bug! we will be having a do-over next weekend! i did manage to snap a couple of pictures of the kids opening their presents! what fun! they LOVE the barbie cruise ship (gotta love target clearance after christmas!). bentley enjoyed chewing on all of the packages and couldn't have cared less what was in them!

christmas day

we spent the whole day in our p.j.'s . . . does it get any better than that? the girls were thrilled with all of their gifts. santa brought them things that they were wishing for . . . kam's "dora soft baby", ken and mck got mp3 players, and b.c. got lots of great "boy toys". they got a surprise gift from grammy, grampy, and gigi . . . a trampoline that is sure to get lots of use! :) we tried to make the morning last as long as possible, taking several hot chocolate breaks to stretch things out! :) nothing like hot chocolate, marshmallows, and a sugar cookie at 9:30 in the morning! we played with the kids all day long and then had a yummy dinner on nana's china . . . in our p.j.'s! :) i think this was the best christmas ever! :)
we traveled to grammy and grampy's house for a belated christmas celebration and dinner on saturday. it was great to see everyone! we had a wonderful gift exchange ($5 limit!) and watched the kids open goodies. dinner was wonderful! we visited with the baileys on sunday for the day. the kids ran around outside enjoying the beautiful weather. gigi was thrilled to see all of them together. the girls loved seeing pa and keep talking about his magic! :)

christmas eve

a wonderful day at home! :) we made our gingerbread house, sugar cookies, and pretzels, played, watched the snowflakes, got dressed up, headed to church, saw more beautiful snowflakes, had a wonderful dinner of munchies, got matching p.j.'s (dorky, yes! but so much fun!), got ready for santa, and went to bed. . . such fun! :)

matching p.j.'s for our family of 6 . . . a new tradition for the baileys! :)

spinning underneath the tree

the holidays just wouldn't be complete without a spin or two underneath the zilker tree! :) (yes, bailey, we'll keep paying the $10 to park so we can spin!) and of course the trip wouldn't feel right unless we were there with our bff's! :) the girls had so much fun with spinning with their friends this year! :) we loved spinning b.c. for the first time! :) the trail was different and shorter, but the kids didn't care! :) and what could be a more perfect ending than playing in some snow? mck and ken had a great time . . . kam didn't like it quite so much! :) you can tell we don't have a lot of experience with the white stuff . . . ken thought she could make the hour long ride home with a snowball! :)

marble falls trail of lights . . .

this is always a favorite of the kids . . . a small trail of lights in marble falls . . . just perfect for the kids to walk through. we headed there again this year with our bffs . . . after a rather short stop in burnet to walk through bethlehem . . . we gave up after finding the wait to be over 2 hours! (poor ken was soooo disappointed . . . all sbe wanted to do was see baby jesus . . . is she my kid???) the kids had lots of fun. . . we followed it up with a stop at the bluebonnet cafe for some hot chocolate and pie! yummy! :)

snowman breakfast

we were able to continue our new tradition of the nordstrom's snowman breakfast thanks to ms. s again this year. this has to be the highlight of our holiday traditions! the super early wake-up (5:30! with everyone dressed up and out the door by 6:30!) was so worth it when we arrived to a table set up especially for us with a gift of yummy hot chocolate and pretty place mats for the girls to color . . . a yummy breakfast of eggs, bacon, toast, and fruit . . . a personal visit by santa to our table (the girls were in heaven and b.c. was mesmerized by the big guy!). . . a balloon maker who was really fantastic . . . then we headed downstairs to be the first to talk with mr. c and take some pictures! the girls each got several minutes with santa and daddy snapped lots of pictures. even b.c. got a little attention! :) ken asked for an mp3 player . . . and of course, so did mck! kam asked for a "dora soft baby" and repeated it over and over but was so quiet that mommy had to translate! the girls got beautiful face paintings done, participated in a candy cane hunt, and decorated ornaments too! what a wonderful morning!

first christmas party and a visit with santa . . .

wow. what an awesome day! we have found the most amazing playgroup with the most amazing organizer! we had an awesome christmas party . . . all homemade food and treats, a very personal visit with mr. claus, goodies for the kids, door prizes for the mommies . . . wow is all i can say! it was so wonderful! :) the girls were really in heaven! the looked at their box of goodies the whole way home . . . even b.c. was included with an adorable "ho! ho! ho!" hat. too cute. he partied hard and crashed on the way home. the girls were worn out too! a dayof fun followed by naps for three kids . . . does it get any better than that? thank you so much ms. j for everything!

christmas stroll

the bailey bunch had a great time watching the parade at the g'town christmas stroll! we got all bundled up and headed to the square just in the nick of time! the parade was pretty long (like an hour!) and the kids stood mesmerized for the whole thing! even b.c. enjoyed taking in the scenery! :) ken's favorite part was the "bethlehem people", mck's fav was "the people who gave out candy and the ponies", and kam loved the "baby ponies"! we walked the square for a bit, then headed home for a rest to gear up for our big night out! :)

turkey afternoon and fun on friday!

we had a delicious thanksgiving dinner with my family. it was wonderful for my pop-pop to meet b.c. and to see the girls again! the girls loved seeing aunt sarah again and spending time with "baby" sophia! we had fun trying to capture a pic of everyone on the stairs and gathered around the crowded table! in friday we took a picnic lunch of leftovers to the park. the girls gathered pine cones and we all played! what a great day!