big girl bed!

well, we did it . . . bailey took the rail off of kam's crib this morning and changed it into a toddler bed. she was thrilled! i think she crawled in and out of the bed 10 times . . . then started gathering toys to bring in her bed . . . then showed off to ken and mck that she could do it all by herself!

ken and mck were just as excited as kam! they stood taking pictures with their cameras as i took some with ours . . . kam had her own little paparazzi! so thrilling! :)

we laid kam down for a nap after she finished checking it out. and the amazing thing was . . . she stayed in her bed! :) ha! we'll see how long that lasts! :)

is it christmas?. . . nope just an empty box!

the girls have been so excited since bailey purchased a water softener for our new water system . . . no, they weren't thrilled about the softener, just the giant box it came in. since friday they've been bugging us to bring it in the house so they could play. this morning we gave in!

they all sat with markers and crayons to decorate the box. ken wrote everyone's name on it and mck added "i love you, mom," for letting them play in the box! kam was content to sit with her winter hat and color the inside of the box which ken insisted was not to be colored! :) seriously, who needs christmas when you have an empty cardboard box? :)

bouncing baileys

ken had off from school today so we headed to a bouncy place with mck, kam, and a g (a friend of ken's). we arrived just as they were blowing up the inflatables . . . it was a treat just to see them all growing big before their eyes! the girls had so much fun running around, bouncing, and hiding from each other! kam thought she could do everything herself . . . even the big slides! luckily it wasn't too crowded, so we could take our time climbing to the top! what a fun friday!

the tale of despereaux (YEA! we finished it!)

the tale of despereaux is by far my favorite kid's book. i would get so excited when the time came to read it with the kids in my 5th grade classroom. i have missed that terribly the past 2 years! so it was a big treat when i got to share the book with ken and mck! yes, both girls sat and listened to the 250 page book in its entirety! well, it took us a couple of weeks, but we finished it yesterday! ken was a great listener through the whole book, asking lots of great questions. . . mck needed lots of reminders to move her hands off the pages so i could read the words, or that she needed to stop singing so we could all hear the story! :)

as a special treat (and because there's still a lot of teacher in me who insisted we finish the book THEN see the movie!) we took the kids to see the movie last night! it was super cute, but so different from the book! a lot of the magic in the book was missing - a fun story, but nothing beats a wonderful book! the kids were able to name off countless differences on the way home (and yes, the teacher in me loved that too!). can't wait to start sharing even more of my favorites with them as they get older! :)


as an added bonus to the whole despereaux experience we had our own little despereaux IN THE HOUSE (in the pantry in particular!) i saw something scurry across the floor at 4 in the morning and sent bailey to investigate. i don't think he believed me until we looked the next morning and found he had helped himself to marshmallows and muffin mix! :) the girls thought it was fun and cute UNTIL bailey started putting out traps! poor ken cried for at least an hour (okay, not cried, SOBBED!) and kept saying "maybe it's a rat and not a mouse"! poor thing. bailey got a kick out of it, i could sympathize with her. the girls checked the traps all day yesterday . . . i think a little happy that the mouse was smarter than their dad! :)

lunch with aunt sarah

sarah came to visit this week while bailey was out of town . . . what a nice treat to have some extra help this first week back at school. we surprised ken with a sonic lunch on wednesday before she headed home.

ken was so darn quiet. she was so worried about breaking the rules at lunch . . . "mom, we're supposed to be quiet until we go outside!" i kept telling her it was okay to talk if your mom was there . . . she wasn't buying it!

sarah got to meet her wonderful teacher and ken gave sarah a tour of her super cool classroom and all of the center activities! it was a great ending to her visit!

a visit to the san antonio zoo

we made the "trek" to san antonio to visit the zoo there since we had never been (and i was motivated to go because we could make a pit stop at the pb outlet on the way!!!) . . . well we picked a warm day . . . over 80 degrees in january! hello? where is winter? we started off with a picnic by a little stream there . . . really nice in the shade of the trees. we were all a bit warm, but had a great time checking out all the creatures.

there were three cool things we saw . . . a joey in it's mom's pouch (too cool!) and two hippos chilling in the water (you could see them above and below the surface), and the prairie dog exhibit with all it's tunnels and peep holes was a huge hit with the kids!

ken and mck wanted to be pushed in the double stroller A LOT . . . next time we'll leave it at home! and kam loved her "princess seat" as we tried out her carrier for the first time (sadly we've had it for almost a year!)

would the day be complete without an injury? of course not . . . and of course it was mck who got hurt . . . she rested her arm on a log COVERED with fire ants and was bitten like 10 times. poor baby!

we stayed until it closed and then headed home. the kids were worn out, but had a great day!

new year's eve

well, we made it to midnight! :) we had a nice evening at home with our bff's (we had to hang with someone who wouldn't make fun of me for not making it to midnight!). the kids ate snacks, played, and watched movies in their sleeping bags while we got to play games and chit-chat! :) we even had a few fireworks to ring in the new year! we had a champagne and sparkling apple cider toast (thanks stef!) and lots of friend hugs and kisses! it was a great, relaxing evening . . . the kids even played some wii and the guys did a little boxing (hillarious to watch!). we had to sleep in a bit and take it easy the next day to recover . . . gosh, are we old!

christmas day

well, i think this christmas topped all! it gets more and more fun with the girls each year. even kam was excited about everything this time. it was just so fun to watch their faces! :)

ken's favorite gift was a scooter from santa and a "real" camera from us. mck's favorites were her big wheel from santa and a "weal kids" camera from us! kam is so in love with her baby and all the goodies that go with it and loves her princess potty from santa! :)

the girls really tore through everything so fast! they opened and played with almost everything before we packed up and headed to grammy and grampy's house in houston for christmas dinner! it was hard to pack up three kids and two dogs after all the christmas excitment, but soooo nice to not have to cook! :)

we had christmas morning with the family the following morning! ken and mck were spoiled with a wonderful doll house (which kam loves playing with too!) and kam finally got her pbk chair so she can hang with her sisters when they're in their chairs! :) grammy spoiled everyone with stockings full of goodies! :)

will it continue to get better every year? hard to believe, but i think it just might . . . okay, maybe only until we are completely outnumbered by teenagers . . . but we have a few years until that happens!

christmas eve

the girls were soooo excited today! :) they loved wearing their christmas dresses and going to the children's service . . . mck even danced in the aisle! :) we came home and had lots of finger foods and special christmas eve drinks! poor mck starting crying and complaining about her ear . . . of course EVRYTHING was closed! poor baby. (she made it until the next day when a dr. called in a prescrip for her! she ended up with 2 ear infections!)

the girls got in their christmas p.j.'s and opened one gift . . . kam thought everything we opened was for her! :) they put out cookies for santa along with a mug of milk. they all went out to sprinkle reindeer food on the lawn . . . and holy crow, they were in bed AND asleep by 8:30. they were NOT messing around with scaring santa off! (could we have a visit from santa every night?)

the baking bailey girls

the girls got all decked out in their holiday baking gear to make christmas cookies. ken and mck were so into picking the sugar cookie shapes they wanted to cute out . . . kam was content to eat the decorations! :)

bailey and i frosted the cookies to keep the mess to a minimum and the girls went crazy decoration with all sorts of sprinkles and frosting tubes. mck would dump a whole bunch of sprinkles on one spot of the cookie. we tried to have her spread it out, but she was adamant that that's how it was supposed to look! ken took great care in trying to make the cutouts look "real" . . . candy canes decorated with candy cane sprinkles, gingerbread men with gingerbread sprinkles! :) little kam just tried to eat as much sugar as she could before we cleaned up! :) they are sooooo different, but each so wonderful in their own way! :)

one more tradition

the weather finally got cold . . . a little too cold! we visited the lights in marble falls at a chilly 35 degrees. all of us were bundled up head to toe! the kids ran through the trail to keep warm and poor kam couldn't snuggle close enough! it really made it feel like the holidays were here! (FINALLY!)

after getting chilly and checking out the lights we headed to the blue bonnet cafe for hot chocolate with whip cream and pie! what a perfect ending to the evening! :)

bowling with santa

the girls had their first family bowling experience! :) it was a hit with all of them! we went to a new place in georgetown - mel's . . . it's so nice and new and clean! and the hit of the morning was santa was there! he even came and bowled with the girls for a minute! :)

ken really got into it and stands with her hands on her hips wiggling her booty waiting for the ball to reach the end of the alley! truly, we are in trouble with her! mck does everything really fast and doesn't pay too much attention! she's funny to watch! and kam got a kick out of bowling with me holding her or pushing it down the ramp! :)

what a fun first day of vacation! :)

the north pole flyer

bailey and i had been anticipating taking the girls on the north pole flyer, a local train that does a christmas ride for kids, since may when i purchased the tickets (it fills up fast!). we had a great start to our evening . . . dinner at a favorite restaurant, the kids opened their christmas p.j.'s and slippers in the car, the were all decked out! :) even the walk up to the train was pretty cool! we had out own compartment . . . plenty of room to spread out and let the kids be monkeys!

well, after the initial boarding, it seemed to be one crazy thing after another . . . the train left almost 45 minutes late (we were having to entertain them for the whole time . . . i didn't bring anything entertaining other than food!)/ about 15 minutes into the ride our car (attached to the engine) became unattached from the rest of the train and went completely black. fun. so we had to reverse and re-attach. the kids were dressed in fleece p.j.'s and the car was like 80 degrees! and despite all of the pitfalls, we still arrived back at the station promptly at 9 . . . hmmmm, not exactly the magical experience i was imagining! the kids had fun and just enjoyed being on a train and moving without having to sit in their seat! :)

there is a silver lining to the whole thing! :) i complained and they refunded my $140! so for a free ride, i guess we'll take the craziness! :)

zilker tree and trail of lights

we met our bff's for dinner and the zilker park christmas experience on thursday! the kids all had so much fun spinning under the tree . . . i think this is one of the things that just might get better every year. kam just kept saying "more, more!". the trail of lights was fun too. it seemed like the kids were all so excited about every exhibit - just trying to take it all in! despite the warm weather, the girls enjoyed some hot chocolate at the end of the trail. another tradition checked off the list . . . christmas is right around the corner! :)

christmas dance performances

both mck and ken had their christmas performances in ballet class this week.

mck performed to "mrs. santa claus" . . . she did great being in front of a large group of parents! she had so much fun dancing . . . sometimes she's more interested in what the little girl next to her is doing than actually doing the dance, but it was super cute. they finished their morning with a party and gift exchange . . . mck ended up with a stuffed pegasus. she's slept with it for two nights! :)

ken performed to a country song "jingle my bells" . . . and the dance was complete with jingling bells! way cute. wow. they had a lot of steps to try to remember. it was a fast moving song. she did soooo well! her class also finished with goodies and a gift exchange . . . ken ended up with a littlest pet shop figure. she is now figuring out how she can get more to add to her "collection". :)

let it snow . . . (texas style!)

with our crazy texas weather the girls got to see some snow flurries and some ice last week! it was soooooo exciting for it to finally be cold! :) the snow and cold didn't last long though. :( so on sunday we headed to play in some texas "snow"!

our playgroup friends are amazing and set up an entire room of "snow" again this year! the kids got to run, play, throw "snowballs" and make "snow angels". that's about as real as it gets in texas!

what an amazing afternoon! ken had lots of fun throwing it at everyone, mck wanted to lay down and be buried in it, and poor kam was a little overwhelmed by the whole crazy scene!

gingerbread village

thanks to our breakfast at nordstrom's, all of the girls had a gingerbread house to decorate! :) we spent a large majority of our day sunday assembling and then decorating them! ken knew exactly how she wanted hers to look, mck ate more candy than she put on the house, and kam was happy just to watch the commotion and eat an occasional gumdrop!

after we put the houses together the girls decorated the village with christmas marshmallows. they are so proud of it and are having trouble keeping their hands off! :)

a spectacular saturday

we began our day with the most wonderful treat . . . a snowman breakfast at nordstrom's! it was soooooo perfect. we were walked to our table in the cafe where ken, mck, and kam each had a gingerbread house kit waiting for them! we had a delicious breakfast then headed downstairs for more fun . . . a visit with santa, face/arm painting, balloon art, a candy cane hunt, letter writing. it was wonderful! ken and mck each really got to visit with santa and tell him what they're wishing for without any crowds! . . . santa told them he knew they'd been good (ha!). kam even sat for a few pictures and didn't cry! :) despite our very early wake up on a weekend (5:45!) it made for a magical start to our holiday! we'll be trying to do this every year - as long as i remember to call in july and get put on the list! :

in the afternoon we met our bff's in georgetown for the christmas stroll - lots of vendors and kid activities. we got some fresh air, a little bit of bouncing, a visit to bethlehem, and saw some cool characters in who-ville! :) the kids had fun hanging out with their buds and so did mom and dad! :) we ate an awesome dinner at monument cafe then piled back in the mini-van!

we drove to belton for the "nature in lights" display . . . the kids love it because they get to be unbuckled while we're driving and the lights are truly amazing! there are countless light displays along the drive and the tunnel at the end is completely covered with lights and moves to music. . . the best $5 we'll spend this holiday season! the girls enjoyed sugary snacks and popcorn while we drove through. a perfect end to our spectacular saturday!