ballet rehearsal/recital

rehearsal day . . .

in the midst of everything else we have going on . . . the girls' had their ballet recital! the whole family went to the rehearsal so that bailey could work at the house during the recital time on saturday (the girls had to go at 2 different times . . . one at 2 and one at 6, so it was literally a full day of ballet . . . don't know why bailey wanted to miss out on that!)

the girls were so excited . . . mck looked so stinking cute in her pink foofy outfit complete with rhinestone belt and matching bow . . . she did great dancing to her flamingo song . . . although my favorite part is when the girls' do their baby walk across the stage . . . priceless!
ken looked so grown up as a cheerleader . . . uhhh. i can sooooo wait for the teenage years! she did really well too . . . holy crow, they had a lot of steps to remember! (if either of the girls end up dancing they didn't get it from me!)

they had fun watching each other on the recital day and giving each other flowers! it was a great ending to a fun year of ballet!

recital day . .

releasing the butterflies

the butterflies last year were such an amazing experience, we had to do it again this year! we received 6 caterpillars . . . only 3 of which actually made it through the transformation . . . but thank goodness there were 3! one for each of the girls.

it was so cool how excited they were about it this year . . . even kam would check on them in the morning and throughout the day! we didn’t get to see any of them emerge . . . but caught each of them right after . . . SOOOOOO cool! we kept them for a few days and then each girl got to release one! ken was so careful and held her’s so gently – it didn’t want to leave, so she actually got to catch and release it a few times! mck was gentle. . . but more because she wasn’t quite sure if she wanted to hold it or not! she let hers go very sweetly and quietly . . . and then there was kam . . . poor baby. She was trying to hold her’s gently, but just didn't know quite what “gentle’ means. she kind of tore it wing, but we assured her the butterfly just wanted to hang out on the ground for a little while!

such a cool experience. so worth the $30. this is a spring tradition for sure!

career day for ken

our little kinder kid had career day and was SOOOO excited. she came home the day the kids found out about it and started making things to go along with her chosen career! ken wants to be a teacher when she grows up . . . a first grade teacher "because that's what i've always dreamed about"! :) (actually, she LOVES helping other kids at school - and loves taking charge at home . . . teaching could be in her future!)

she dressed in a cute sweater dress, had her hair pulled into a bun, put on some dress-up glasses, and filled her teacher bag with lots of goodies . . . a book to share with her students, a workbook, folders and other fun trinkets!

she was so excited to tell me that she actually got to read the story to her friends at school! what a fun day!

overheard . . .

so i was in the study finishing the paint and listening in to the kids playing in the hall closet . . . really i was making sure they were being nice to each other because i had already broken up a few fights for the evening. . . here's what i hear:

ken: "okay, we have daddy, mommy, baby boy, kamy"
kam : repeating everything ken says
mck : "here's grammy and grampy!"
ken: repeats all of that and adds "hey, we forgot sarah!"
mck: "here she is!"

i am on the ladder thinking to myself, "what toys are in that closet?" all that comes to mind are a few odds and ends, the vhs movies, and a few ride-on toys.

then i hear ken say, "hey dad, you're a rollie-poly! how cool is that?"

oh my gosh . . . they had lined up a collection of DEAD bugs to make our family!

kam's first plane trip

kam took her first plane trip this weekend to boston. sadly, it was for my nana's funeral. i brought her along because 1. she flew for free, 2. most of my relatives have not met her, and 3. she is having a tough time with the baby coming, the new house, and just being number 3!

she did soooo well on the plane ride there. we even had an extra seat so she could make herself at home and spread out! :)

she had so much fun meeting the family and really helped to lighten up the mood. it's tough to be too down when kam's walking around with her beaming smile! :) she was wonderful too! sooo well behaved. i tried to tell relatives that "no, she really is not like this at home!" but i know they don't believe me! she was an angel . .. of course it helps that she was the only kid with more than 15 people constantly paying attention to her! :)

it was so cool to see her with my pop-pop . . . bonding over m&m's! :) we had to hide the m&m's from both of them! :)

the plane ride home was another story . . . 4 hours on a plane with her on my lap and my growing belly was not so much fun! reaching down to the floor to get treats and treasures from our bag was a task! :) the guy next to us was not so kid friendly and sprawled out with his laptop and legs spread wide . . . can't say i was too sad to get off the plane! :)

with the cost of airfare and our growing family, plane trips will be a rarity! ha! it'd cost us $100 just to check the bags on the plane! :) hopefully we'll get mck up in the air soon so at least they can all say they've flown . . . :)

an update . . .

we haven't been leading a boring life lately . . . just really, really busy with the house! :) here's an update . . .
bailey ripped out all of the downstairs flooring . . . carpet and tile and is currently laying tile in the breakfast area, kitchen, laundry room, and powder room. we will start laying the wood floors in the fmaily room, hall, and study next week!

ken's room is now a pretty celery green color (after more than 2 coats of paint and lots of work!) and mck and kam's room is a sweet shade of pink (again, after multiple coats and too much work!). the study is almost painted . . . "brown teepee" which will be the color throughout the house - it is almost a cafe ole color! :) we'll work on the rest of the paint this weekend.

we are working day and night (i am going during the day and then returning in the evening and bailey is working from when he gets off work into the wee hours of the morning!) we are exhausted, but hoping to see the payoff in the near future! :)

ken, mck, and kam have a tough time staying occupied for too long . . . i am trying to bring something new to keep them interested each time . . . tonight they played play doh and made a giant mess . . . so we got to throw it all away! :) poor kids. they have gotten so little attention lately. we will be making up for it as soon as we're settled! :)

#4 . . . MIA

well, while looking for the decorations for the pinkalicious cupcakes, the girls were eating some candy they found . . . ken bit a hard blue candy and . . . FINALLY, her other front tooth fell out! it has been hanging crooked in her mouth for at least 4 days, but didn't want to budge! she was soooo thrilled! :) we snapped some quick pictures and cleaned her up and went to look for her tooth pillow . . . which of course is missing!

so, after carrying the tooth around in her hand like a treasure, i told her she needed to leave it in a cup on the counter (so she wouldn't lose it!!!) until we could find her pillow . . . well, it was there for awhile, but at some point she put it in her pocket . . . at some point before she went outside to ride her bike, run around, and do donkey kicks in the grass . . .

needless to say, tooth #4 is MIA . . . lost somewhere outside. i was at work and got a call from bailey wanting to know what he should do . . .

well, what do you do? (i had already told her if she didn't have a tooth the fairy wouldn't come . . . do you stick to that?) so, i had ken write a note to the fairy explaining what happened and that she'd just have to wait and see . . . she also wrote another note with questions for the tooth fairy . . . here's the stumper . . . "what do you do with the teeth?" uhhhhh . . . i don't know! i looked for answers on-line and can't find anything good, so we're skipping that question . . . (great parenting technique, i know! i may use this one a lot in the years to come! if the question's too hard, we'll just skip it!)

poor baby was still in tears when we went to bed tonight. :(

pinkalicious cupcakes

the girls are in love with the book pinkalicious (and it's sequel purplicious!). i think mck chooses that for her story at least 3 times a week! :) we were reading it last night and decided that we should make our own pinkalicious cupcakes . . .

so this afternoon (a perfect afternoon for cooking!) ken, mck, and kam made their own pinkalicious cupcakes . . . complete with pink icing and goodies on top (we didn't have any cherries like it shows in the story, so we opted for a mix of what we could find in the pantry!) kam loves that she gets to be a part of things now, mck loves making anything that invlolves sweets, and ken was mostly concerned with whether or not the cupcakes were like the ones in the story . . . with cherries, that i didn't have! :)

the girls could hardly wait until they were done.

yummmmmy! :)

poppy festival . . . the bailey ballerinas 2009 debut

both ken and mck danced with their classes at the poppy festival this weekend.


mck was so stinking cute in her recital outfit . . . SOOOO adorable! i think she really felt like a princess! she was a little overwhelmed by the whole thing! but for her first performance on a stage, she did great! she smiled a little, stood a little, did a few moves. . . but most importantly there were NO tears! :)





ken did great . . . no fear for her. she smiled and did most of the moves to her "school" song! her class's outfits (cheerleaders!) aren't in yet, but she still looked cute in her pigtails (still wet from swimming lessons!) and tap shoes! :)



can't wait to watch their recital in a couple of weeks! :)

our little artist

ken came home from school last week with a paper about an art show and said that she would have a picture in the show . . . she was beyond excited! crafts, projects, and art are her thing right now! she loves her art class and really retains so much information about technique - it's cool!

the art show was for all the elementary schools . . . each school had a table set-up displaying 1-2 pieces of art form each grade level. ken's gingerbread painting was there framed by a black mat . . . a REAL artist! :) she used only primary colors for the painting and had to mix them herself to get different shades and colors . . . pretty cool! she was so proud of herself! :)

kk family picnic

mck was thrilled to have us come join her for lunch at her pre-school family picnic (although she didn't really act that excited to see us . . . more quiet and like she didn't care . . . but that's mck!). the weather was perfect and mck loved showing kam the playground (kam was in heaven because she got to play!) we ate a yummy lunch of peanut butter and jelly sandwiches, juice, chips, and oreo cookies watched the girls play for awhile, then headed home for naps! (okay, that was the plan . . . kam took a short nap and mck's "quiet time" was a 15 minute show . . . not quite what i had imagined!):)

we are soooooo lucky to have such an amazing pre-school so close to us! mck's teacher is so amazing. we're lucky to find a place that truly feels like family . . . our kids are happy and comfortable and look forward to laughing and learning with their friends! :)

well, it's official!

we closed on our house (friends camp) last wednesday and are officially "renting" from the new owner. we closed on our new house (shirley) today and will gradually start get our "stuff" over there! :)

the shirley house is almost 3000 sq. feet and has 5 bedrooms and 3.5 baths on just over 2 acres . . . it will give us the room we need in a great setting for kids to grow up. it needs a lot of work, but it's something that through the years we'll be able to make our own . . .

we closed at 1 o'clock, but left without money and without keys! i was slightly in a state of depression. we just shelled out a TON of money and left to get back in our car and drive to the house we no longer own. . . it was a bummer! we did end up getting the keys later that day (at 5) because the old owners didn't close until 4. we had all the kids and headed to the new house to check things out before the work begins!

bailey and i looked at flooring samples and talked about changes (LOTS of changes . . . just 2 different categories . . . 1. change before we move in 2. wait until we have money again) and the girls ran like crazy through the house. they are excited . . . but i don't think the reality has totally set in . . . i don't know that they really understand we won't be coming back to friends camp after we move all of our stuff . . .

ken willingly gave up the room "with a view" that she had previously chosen and opted for one in the front of the house . . . kam and mck will start off sharing a room, although this may not last long, and will have the bigger of the 4 rooms with a view of the horses next door . . . our new little guy will have the room right off the playroom . . .

now we're ready to rip out some floors (yes, the longhorn in the entryway will be among the first things to be demoed!!!), lay some paint, mow some grass, and start moving in! :)

the infamous longhorn mosaic in the entry . . . yes, that will be going!

we have until may 24 to be officially "out of here", but lots of work to do at the new house to get things ready!

spring splash day

with the weather so nice and warm . . . nearly 90! . . . the girls needed a splash day! we pulled out the "pool" and their new sprinkler (SO cool!) and let them have some fun! :) ken had a friend over from school, so they had a blast running around with each other! mck had fun pouring watering cans of water over her and being the first to test out the sprinkler! and little kam loved just being with the big girls and hanging out in the water . . . she still a little too timid for the slide and isn't quite sure about splashing! :) we cannot wait for summer! :)

swimming lessons

ken and mck finished their first round of swimming lessons at the y! :) they did great . . . especially for not being in the water since last summer! :) i was soooo impressed with the y lessons . . . compared to the ones we've done in georgetown the kids made so much progress! :)

mck was in the eel class. poor kid. she was in the lap pool . . . the freezing cold lap pool! she turned blue as soon as she got wet! she was so quiet and shy and "to herself" until the last week of classes, that it was really hard to tell what she could do. she spent so much time trying to keep her body out of the water! :) she didn't complete all the requirements for the level, so she'll do this one again starting on saturday . . . but i am expecting she'll make great progress this time around!

ken did so well and is a little fish! lucky kid . . . she was in the warm water pool EVERYTIME! she kept telling mck that she was being a whimp and that the water wasn't that cold . . . that was until she jumped in the lap pool to do her swim test . . . she was in shock at how cold it was! :) she told mck that she was brave and that water "is the coldest ever!". ken is moving up to the next level . . .

one kid being able to swim independently will make this summer so much easier . . . and having mck gain some confidence in the water will be great too! the non-swimmers in the pool was a bit too much for me to handle last year! :)

mck's birthday

well, it seems to be tradition these days that the girls have several birthday celebrations! :) mck had a fun birthday celebration at grammy's house the day before easter, complete with a cookout, a tinkerbell birthday cake, and lots of family presents! :) she is in love with her tinkerbell jewelry box and her tinkerbell book! she had a great time! :)

on monday, the 13th we celebrated her real birthday . . . we did presents early in the morning (new tinkerbell p.j.'s, princess barbies, and the horton game were the big hit!) and had a breakfast of pink sprinkle donuts and kolaches (per mck's request!). we spent part of the day at the park and hangining out with our friends and then headed to "the new mcdonald's" (one in leander) that has a cool playscape for a gourmet dinner of yogurt parfaits, chicken nuggets, and french fries! when we got home we had chocolate cupcakes with chocolate icing and butterfly rings! :) what a treat!

she celebrated a third time at school on tuesday with a butterfly cupcake cake for her friends! :) and then again at the park with her friend beckett who brought her a special chocolate chip muffin!

we are about "birthdayed out" over here . . . and just think, another one is right around the corner! :)

easter 2009

we spent easter this year at grammy and grampy's house . . . and had a wonderful time. the girls decorated eggs on saturday night and had fun talking about the goodies they thought they'd get from the bunny! :)

i had to wake them up on sunday morning . . . hello! when does that ever happen? they found the special eggs in their crocs (we forgot their slippers!) and headed downstairs (after waiting for everyone to assemble adn for grampy to make coffee and daddy to get the camera) to open their goodies! the bunny left TONS of candy in their baskets along with some cute stuffed chicks! their easter buckets were from us were filled with spring fun . . . towel, suit, flip-flops, pool tools, and sunglasses! grammy and grampy gave them lots of fun treasures too! everything was a hit!

we got ready to head to church . . . the girls were great through the hour and a half long mass! then we headed home for the easter egg hunt! ken and mck were great about letting kam have a chance to gather some eggs! :) they were great about dumping all of their candy in a big bowl to share!

we had a wonderful easter lunch . . . grammy did all the work - what a treat! thanks, mom! we had a wonderful holiday!

poor kam had a terrible case of hives that progressively got worse through the weekend. poor baby was just an itchy, puffy mess! she was such a trooper and really got better after we got her a steroid and some strong antihistimine

butterfly playdate in the park

mck and i had so much fun hosting our playgroup's science playdate! we met at the local park for some fun butterfly activities! the kids used their fingerprints to show the life cycle of a butterfly, drank "nectar" from "flowers" with their "proboscises", and talked about the body parts of the butterfly and made their own. . . complete with tortilla wings, marshmallow body parts, licorice legs, and corn syrup colored wings!

mck's first recital outfit

mck got her first recital outfit today and couldn't be more in love with it! it is pure girl! pink fluff, sparkles, and lace, topped off with a rhinestone buckle and pink hairbow! seriously, who care if she dances at the recital . . . she'll look so darn cute! :)

mck is tapping to a flamingo song . . . she is so funny in class . . . checking out what everyone else is doing . . . kind of staring at them . . . instead of doing the dance herself. when she does it at home she does great! too funny! if she can stand on the stage without crying and even do a few moves, i think we'll call it a success!

catching up . . . on the house stuff

okay, so i am slacking . . . still! we have been so crazy busy lately that i haven't even had a chance to update our blog! so here goes . . .

we sold our house!
we took a week to fix things and clean really well, put the house on the market on friday, march, 27, then left to go out of town that sunday. we got a call at the hotel on monday night that we had not one, but TWO offers on the house. talk about crazy! one offer was way too low, but the other was what we were hoping for! So, we will be closing on the house next wednesday, april 15, and leasing our house back from the new owners through may.

we've been house hunting!
we spent all of last weekend looking for a house. grammy and grampy came to watch ken, mck, and kam so that we could "hit it hard" and find something fast! we saw 17 houses in a day and then went back to check out 2 of them on sunday. it's tough to find what we're looking for in a house that doesn't need a ton of work, but we found lots of houses with "potential"! is potential what we should be looking for when we need to move out in like a month and a baby is coming in about 3 months? :)

we made an offer . . . or two or three!
we found a house with almost 2 acres that is perfect for 4 little bailey kids to grown up in! it's more country than where we are now . . . with horses right next door! the house needs a lot of work, but a lot of it we can do over time! we're just waiting for them to accept our "final" offer and we're hoping to close in a couple weeks . . . keep your fingers crossed for us! looks like baby bailey #4 won't be coming home to friends camp street. :(

playgroup easter celebration

the girls and i had a wonderful time at ms. j's house for our playgroup's easter party! ms. j has the best backyard . . . like a private park! :) the kids got to paint on a paper mural, eat lots of yummy snacks, decorate their own cupcakes, and participate in an easter egg hunt!

kam was so fun to watch . . . what a difference from last year! she was so excited about the eggs! she wanted to keep going and didn't understand that there was a limit to how many she could pick up! :) she loved checking out the treasures in her basket. i tried to take her bunny basket away on the ride home, but she refused, so i gave in. when i stopped at a light and turned around i found her with a mouthful of tin foil and a bite taken from each of her chocolate eggs! too cute!

mck was sooooo fast. hello, the girl doesn't do anything quickly . . . unless, of course, she wants to! she was all over that backyard i could hardly snap a picture of her! when i finally caught up with her, we had to take half the eggs out of her basket and hide them for other kids! :)

ken was great . . . she was careful to make sure she got only her 12, but tried to pick the ones she thought were filled with "good stuff"! she was so happy to get to participate in the activity, as most of our playgroup stuff happens when the big kids are at school!

perfect weather. perfect location. perfect hostess. perfect start to spring.