daddy and dell

the girls, b.c., and i headed up to dell to meet bailey for lunch today. the girls were excited to see where he works and to get to see him in the middle of the day! :) i think bailey enjoyed showing them all off to his co-workers and his boss. ken thought his boss was "really cool"! they loved getting to play with toys and get candy from "daddy's friends"! :)

we enjoyed lunch out at jason's deli . . . eating out is a rare treat these days! seems that heading out with everyone is too expensive and WAY too much work. (never thought i would say eating at home is easier than eating out, but it is now!)

no, it's not just gas!

b.c. was in a great mood this afternoon and smiled at least 100 times . . . and yes, i truly believe he was smiling (not necessarily at me, but they were smiles!). he was content to hang out on his playmat for a good 30 minutes! :) i was just enjoying staring at him! :) look at all the smiles i captured! :)

"come see this cool thing, mom!"

i was holding b.c. and cleaning up in the house when i heard ken open the garage door and yell, "come see this cool thing, mom!".

thinking it was another one of their little outdoor treasures that she would show me, i headed outside . . .

hmmmm. here's what she shows me lying on the driveway. not exactly what i was picturing . . .

when you see this one with ken's foot next to it so you can see how big the thing is. (she's 6. the centipede is big!) this was in our front yard. nice, huh?

the scary thing is, i was disgusted, but all 3 girls thought it was pretty cool! :)

b.c. is 4 weeks old today!

wow. 4 weeks already. here's a picture of b.c. trying out his playmat. he really seems to like it . . . especially when ken, mck, and kam all lay around the mat and talk to him! :) he just takes it all in!

a weekend with the cousins

bailey's dad, sister, and her two boys came to meet b.c. and visit for the weekend. they all went out on the boat and hung out on lake g'town sat. morning. kam fell asleep while codger was holding her! the kids had a great time playing with each other! :)

painting . . . with REAL paint!

the girls got these disney canvases for christmas last year, but the fact that they came with REAL paint, as opposed to washable, was scaring me! well, i finally caved the other day and let the girls paint! they actually turned out pretty good! :) (notice kam and b.c. were sleeping when we did this!) :)

time with the kids

i have been a huge slacker! i had this great idea before kam was born to spend time with each of the kids - one on one each week by taking them to do something special . . . well, that lasted all of a few months. i have been wanting to start doing that again, but with b.c.'s birth, it seems like 4 kids and only 7 days in the week make it really tough . . . so, i devised an easy little plan . . . cooking with them!

dinner has to be made every night. the kids always want to help, but three little ones in the kitchen make dinner preparation painstaking at times . . . especially when b.c. picks that time to be fussy . . . so everyone now has a "night" that they help me cook!

ken helps mon, mck helps tues., bailey does dinner on wed. (this after i said i need at least one night off!), and kam helps on thurs.! they get to pick (from a couple of choices) what we're making and they get to pick what everyone has for dessert! they help set the table and do as much as they can to help get everything ready! it has been really fun! they actually want to know when their night is to help! :)

this great plan is allowing us the one-on-one time the kids and i both need without spending money . . . and we're getting something done that has to be done anyway! :) can't beat that.

rain and rice krispies!

we had planned to spend the afternoon at the park and getting an ica cream . . . but we got some welcome and unexpected rain! so, we decided to make rice krispy treats! the girls loved stuffing their mouths with the marshmallows!

b.c. poses . . . at least for a little while!

i'm having so much fun dressing b.c. everyday . . . must be the fact that i have certainly had my share of dressing up the girls . . . it's so funny to me that everything for girls looks sweet and babyish, but the boy stuff looks like a minature version of bailey's closet! i love it . . . okay, bailey doesn't have coordinating socks, but you get the idea! b.c. posed for a few pictures and then let me know he'd had enough! :)

dancing in the sprinklers!

with the drought situation we are able to water only once a week . . . this week, the girls took full advantage of the sprinklers! they all loved dancing in the water with their dresses on! :) b.c. enjoyed the time outside by snoozing! :)

daddy, take our picture!

the girls are all about having their pictures taken . . . they asked bailey to pick up the camera and started posing . . . i think they thought the shots with their feet would turn out like mollie's! :)

a real treat . . . lunch and play with the big cheese!

i surprised the kids with a lunchtime trip to chuck e. cheese today . . . another little "last hurrah" before school starts in less than 2 weeks! we met our bff's there and the kids had a wonderful time! pizza, coins, tickets, and soda . . . what more could a kid ask for? ken and mck are pretty independent there . . . they like being able to walk around and play games/rides all by themselves . . . and kam, well she totally has the concept down and would like to do everything herself . . . "mommy, i need MONEY!" she kept telling me! :) b.c. enjoyed his first trip to cec by sleeping for the first hour and a half, nursing, checking things out for a bit, and then letting us know he'd had enough by screaming as we packed up our stuff and headed to the car! :)

a trip for 4 to the splash park!

yea! :) a water day! b.c. made his splash park debut on monday! :) he did so great! we sat in the shade and hung out while the girls played with their friends. b.c. did great until he got hungry! he really slept well in the texas heat. ken and mck had so much fun playing with their friends g and r! they all played soooo nicely! you could tell it'd been a long time since they'd seen each other! ken and g were trying to recruit all the babies in the splash park for some time in the little splashers and playing with buckets. mck and r had more fun hanging out on the blanket eating snacks and posing and then getting totally soaked together! kam was happy with either group or just filling up buckets and dumping them out! her favorite part was having ms. s pull all of the "rings" out of the chex mix! :) what a great start to the week! :)

i'm 3 weeks old!

b.c. turned 3 weeks today! here's a picture of him heading out to the splash park! does he look like a worried little old man, or what? :) dude, seriously, don't stress!

b.c.'s photo session . . .

looking back at how fast the girls have changed and grown-up, bailey and i were sad that we didn't take the opportunity to capture more pics of them as newborns . . . capturing the wrinkles and expressions . . . so this time, we did! :)
our friend mollie came over for b.c.'s newborn shoot when he was 8 days old! she took some amazing pics . . . things that we never could have captured . . .
if you have a chance, check them out! the pics she captured of both b.c. and the girls are really special! we'll have a tough time choosing!
go to molliekphotography.com
enter the photo site
go to "clients" and enter bailey 2638

a week in review . . .

well, we survived! i say "we" because it was survival mode for not just me, but the girls as well. b.c. is what you might call a little high maintenance right now. he will not let you put him down . . .he can be totally crashed out and asleep and as soon as you walk away from laying him down he starts screaming . . . he'll last for a little while in his bouncy (thank you sooooo much ms. b!) and for a short time in his swing when we're lucky . . . but other than that b.c. want so be held! it makes getting anything done a little tough right now! the girls have been so good! so helpful! and so independent!

we did pretty good this week! we managed to get out of the house EVERYDAY even if it was just a quick trip to sonic! :) i even managed to have a shower by 10 a.m. everyday! (okay, there were days when ken was born that i wouldn't get a shower . . .go me! :)) we did errands (thank goodness for the sit and stand stroller), played at the park (b.c. does like his car seat!), had friends over (each time friends left with b.c. screaming like crazy!), and even managed to make it to pool birthday party (b.c. and i watched while daddy and the girls swam!). i felt like if i made it through the day i was doing pretty good . . . everyday was a little bit better . . . a few more weeks ( or maybe months!) and i just may have this down! :) so this week, we're going for a little more than survival . . . :)

2 weeks! already?

wow. b.c. is already 2 weeks old! time has really flown by . . . or it could just be that my days are all a bit blurry because of my major lack of sleep! :)

b.c. had his check-up today! so, all 5 of us headed to the dr. (holy crowded exam room! we may need to start scheduling appts. when daddy can watch some kids . . . 5 people in a tiny room for an hour makes you feel a little claustrophobic!) i was so anxious to see if he put on any more weight since last week (i took him for a weight check on thursday just to be sure . . . he weighed 6 pounds 10 ounces!). well, today he was 20 3/4 inches long and weighed 7 pounds! :) yea! :) he is eating ALL the time . . . so i should have guessed he would have packed on some pounds! :)

movie night for 6!

we had our first official movie night as a family of 6! even b.c. hung with us for some popcorn, candy, and horton hears a who! the girls were excited to lay out their sleeping bags and chill all together for awhile! ken and mck were sooooo into the movie . . . kam was more into talking through the entire movie . . . and b.c., well, his belly was full, so he crashed through the entire movie! we all loaded up on some junk food and giggles! :) it was a great evening!

b.c. loved his first "real" bath! the girls were so excited to watch him in his baby tub . . . and wanted him to play with his new bath toys! he really seemed to enjoy the warm water and liked everything except getting washed up. he did great and had quite an audience! another fun first! :)

a week with grammy

the girls had a great week! :) they got to do lots of fun things with grammy while i spent time with b.c.! monday they went to the library and got to spend lots of time picking out books and playing . . . tuesday was b.c.'s photo shoot, but the girls got to participate too! they were all little hams! :) they loved the extra attention! then they got to go to lunch at burger king and do a little shopping! wednesday they went back to the library for the end of the summer reading program! there was a cool bubble lady there and they all got their faces painted and ate lots of pizza! :) they had a great time!

thursday they all went to the movies to see g-force! they ALL sat through the movie! (hello- even kam!) they filled up on popcorn, soda, and candy! :) what a treat! friday we all ventured out . . . we left at 8:30 (WOW . . . i impressed myself!) we started off at chick-fil-a for breakfast and lots of play. i dropped the girls and grammy off at the pool while b.c. and i went to do some errands and pick up lunch for everyone. b.c. and i hung out at the pool for awhile while the girls finished swimming. about 45 minutes later b.c. had had enough . . . and we headed home around 1:45!

what a fun and busy week! i have a feeling the girls might be a bit disappointed in the coming week . . . taking all 4 kids anywhere is a bit daunting! thank goodness for grammy! she has been a lifesaver! between cooking, cleaning, taking care of the girls, and holding bentley . . . i would not have survived this week without her! reality is about to set in!