our little ham!

omg. b.c. is such a little monkey! :) he is such a ham in front of the camera and is such a smiley little guy! :) he is even showing off his forward rolls now! :) it's impossible not to love this little guy! :) seventeen months and full of personality! :)

playroom sleepover!

the girls had their first sleepover on the new playroom couch! what fun! :) they looked so sweet and cozy all cuddled up . . . nothing like a sister sleepover! :) can't wait to see many more of these to come! :)

who needs toys when you've got boxes?!?!

we bought a couch for the playroom . . . the kids weren't interested in anything but the boxes! they played in the cardboard boxes for the ENTIRE time it took us to put the couch together . . . and the couch was from IKEA, so you know that was a LONG time! :) they were so sad to see all the boxes go! :)

dancing at the library

kam was all smiles this morning for her dance performance at the library! :) she was so excited! she did sooooo well! :) and i must say she was the cutest little dancer there in all her PINK! :) the morning was topped off with hugs from santa, some playtime with her sweet friend m, and some goodies! :) now i am really looking forward to the recital in the spring! :)

ballerina baby BOY!

just wanted to capture what is becoming a regular occurance over here. . . dressing b.c. up so he can dance! :) the kids loves it! :) we may have a little dancer! :) poor guy! :)

a grinch hat for daddy

daddy brought home and plain santa hat and asked the girls to decorate it for him for a contest at work! :) the girls and i had a blast decorating it up with a giant grinch, some tinsel, and christmas balls! :) daddy even wore his grinch shirt to work to top off our amazing design! :) the best part . . . he won a $50 gift card! :) go girls!

let it snow!

we got to visit the snow room again this year! :) what a treat to watch all the kiddos playing in the snow! ken and mck acted like old pros . . . flinging snow and making angels right from the start. kam was a little more timid, but was all smiles after a few minutes . . . and little b.c. preferred to stand on the sidelines and watch the craziness! what a fun afternoon this was . . . and the best part was the money we paid to play in the snow is going to help some friends with three sweet little girls - one of whom is battling cancer.

kam's christmas party

you would think she was being tortured . . . but no, this was kam's pre-school christmas party! can you tell how happy she was? i think she was just plumb worn out! they had had a little too much fun with p.j. day and lots of activities . . . she just wasn't too interested in waking up from her rest or eating any of the party food! she eventually snapped out of it and had a slight smile on her face as we were getting in the car to head home! :)

kam's first performance

sweet kam had her first little dance performance! she was super cute dancing to "mrs. santa claus"! the dance was followed up by a gift exchange and yummy goodies! :) she even had some extra special friends in the audience to cheer her on . . . thanks ms. j, e and n! :) what a fun morning!

four in the tub!

this is a rare treat . . . all four kiddos in the tub for a bubble bath! :) we had to snap some pictures! we had lots of fun with bubbles! :) and there is NOTHING like the smell of four clean babies! :) (no matter how big those babies are!)

storytime with santa

i'm not sure the bailey kiddos know how lucky they are! we got to spend the afternoon hanging out with mr. claus and some amazing friends! :) the big guy himself arrived and read "'twas the night before christmas" (with about a bazillion entertaining interruptions!) and then each kiddo got a little personal time with santa! :)

kam asked for a "ponydemotehatrol airplane" which translates to "a pony remote control airplane"! mck asked for a belle doll (so sweet!) she was so cute and nervous when it was her turn! and ken . . . well, ken asked for a ride on santa's sleigh. wow. that'll be tough to pull off . . . wonder what santa has up his sleeve for her! :) b.c decided he preferred visiting santa with me . . . and just wanted to give him five . . . and then a kiss! :) oh so cute!

then santa joined all the kiddos outside while they played! and the mommies got all sorts of wonderful goodies! what an amazing afternoon. we are so lucky to have so many wonderful friends!

santa breakfast 2010

thanks to some sweet friends at pas our whole family went to the santa breakfast and show this year! the girls had a wonderful time! they sat completely mezmerized for the entire show! they loved seeing santa and getting their picture taken. b.c. preferred running around in the lobby to watching the show . . . and then preferred just giving santa a high five! :) he is at the edge of every picture we have with the big guy! :) but he sure got a kick out of seeing him! :) what a fun christmas this will be . . .

thank you miss j! :) we love you! :) so lucky to have met you and your wonderful daughter!

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!

where we've been . . .

a lot has been happening . . . we just haven't been keeping up with it all! :) the kids have been crazy busy with school and after-school activities and life in general keeps us on our toes! in addition to the craziness of life with four kids . . . bailey is continuing to try to get better! disappointingly, the chemo and steroids didn't do their job . . . so we have moved on to "solution" #2 and been working towards starting dialysis. he will have a machine to do it at home through the night and hopefully be able to continue working! everything since july has been an adjustment and this is just another hurdle to overcome! we are hoping the dialysis will help things and we will be able to be more "normal" really soon!

halloween

what a fun day! we started off the morning with halloween treats and a fun jack-o-lantern pancake breakfast! the kids were so excited! :) it was a countdown to trick-or-treat time ALL day! :) we visited the neighbors first . . . cupcakes and cups FILLED with goodies! they were so excited! :) then we headed to a near-by neighborhood for trick-or-treating! the kids loved every second of it! ken and mck wanted to lead the group . . . kam was happy to tag-a-long behind them. b.c. was not content to ride in the wagon too much. he quickly figured out that candy was involved and he was NOT going to miss out! he didn't even really want to hold hands . . . just run up and get the candy! :) the kids had a blast and were a huge hit with everyone . . . they thought the girls were just precious . . . and b.c. just adorable! (although he did get called a girl NINE times! omg . . . a girl mickey mouse?!?!?)

the kids got more candy than they will ever be able to eat . . . and we topped off the evening with our annual trip to sonic for sundaes! what a perfect night!

carving pumpkins . . . all six of them!

okay, so we knew we'd be kicking ourselves when we chose to purchase SIX pumpkins! holy crow! yep, we spent about 3 hours carving away! :) actually, the girls and i cleaned the pumpkins out and bailey took design requests and carved away! :) (and yes, this is the first year i had any help cleaning the pumpkins out . . . ken and mck were sort of fascinated by how gross the junk felt . . . kam would gently touch it but then had to clean her hands right away!) :) it's a good thing bailey is in charge of the carving because i would have done generic jack-o-lanterns! this year we had a scary face (bailey's), mickey mouse (b.c.), jasmine (ken), cinderella's castle (kam), and a witch face (mine!). we are in the spirit and ready for the big day! :)

look ma! no training wheels!

yep! mck has done it! the girl is riding with no training wheels! we tried just 3 short times and she was cruising up and down the street! she was all grins and giggles at her new found freedom! she spent most of the rest of the afternoon cruising! how happy! it even motivated ken to ride her "big bike" and take the training wheels off! now we have two big girls cruising the streets! :)

a double sleepover!

a sleepover is fun . . . but a double sleepover is twice as fun! :) ken and mck had a blast with their sister friends m and g! (could it be any more perfect that they also have 3 and 1 year old siblings?!!) the girls ate pizza, played, watched tinkerbell, ate popcorn and candy, read stories, chatted, and played come more! what a fun way to spend a friday night! :)

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!

disney trip 2010

what an amazing, magical, memory making week! we had so much fun! the kids enjoyed every part of it (i think they may even say they liked the drive there and back!) and we enjoyed every moment of watching them believe in the magic of disney! we packed in the fun! we were going every second of being there . . . so it was far from relaxing . . . but so, so wonderful!

heading out at 3:30 a.m.!

we made the drive to destin, fl first. it was such a treat when we got there! we checked into the hotel, grabbed our flips, and headed to the beach. it was a little too cool for swimming, but everyone got a little wet and had lots of fun playing in the sand! the visit was not nearly long enough, so we'll head back there as soon as we can! soooo worth the drive for a beautiful beach! mck kept saying the sand looked like snow . . . it really did! :)

we drove to disney the following day, unpacked the car, and headed to epcot. the first stop there was a highlight of the trip . . . meeting mickey, minnie, donald, pluto, and goofy! the kids were in awe! what a way to start the trip! goofy was hilarious . . . picking b.c. up and holding him in the air! :) it was so cool! we did the nemo stuff, fought the crowds to feed some hungry kiddos, and then watched the amazing illuminations show! it was a great start to the week!

monday morning it was off to the magic kingdom . . . we met more characters including jessie and woody! :) b.c. got a kick out of that! we took mck totally crying and scared on thunder mountain . . . afterward she admitted she liked it! :) the kids did all the rides in fantasy land and LOVED dumbo! we toured minnie's house and met the fairies and the princesses! and then stayed late to watch the parade and fireworks. omg. no words to discribe how cool it was! and to top off all the coolness. . . we were "dorked out" in matching tees! they were so cute! :) a friend made them for us! we had a ton of people ask us where they could get them! :) so much fun!

tuesday we did hollywood studios. that was great fun! the toy story rides were a hit for everyone! the green army guys put on a great show too! we caught the beauty and the beast show and the girls were in love with belle! during the little mermaid show kam screamed out "i love you ariel!" oooooohhhhh. so sweet!

wednesday it was back to magic kingdom to finish the things we hadn't gone on and to eat lunch at the castle. the girls got a call from the fairy godmother inviting them to the castle at 2. they were thrilled and dressed in the their best princess dresses for the big event! the girls loved being in the castle, meeting cinderella, and then of course talking with all the other princesses during lunch. it was sooooo cool to watch them being excited!

thursday we went to animal kingdom. we really needed another day there. it was great. cool shows, cool rides, awesome things to look at! we only did half of it and were there the whole day! the kids loved the safari ride and seeing so many cool animals up close. we headed over to main street for souvenir shopping and ate at the dinosaur restaurant . . . ha! it was crazy. we were eating in the ice cave which changed color every 10 minutes! it was a lot to take in, but the kids loved it! picking souvenirs was pretty easy for the girls . . . they had been thinking about it all week. ken picked an aurora doll, mck picked a tinkerbell minnie mouse and tink playset, and kam picked a huge princess minnie mouse. b.c. got a set of cars from the movie!

the drive home was not as much fun . . . but not horrible. the kids were soooo well behaved and really did great travelling! we were all worn out and anxious to sleep in our own beds but can't wait to do it all again in four years! :) disney 2014 HERE WE COME! :)