a trip to the austin zoo

oh how we have missed our bff's! we had such a fun time hanging out at the austin zoo for the afternoon! so many cool things to see . . . and even better friends to hang out with! :) it truly amazed me how interested the kids were in the goats! hello, we have goats! they still thought it was so fun to feed all the farm animals! i think the highlight of the afternoon was the lion . . . roaring and spraying, the GIANT pig at feeding time, and of course the train ride! :) ken had a story about EVERY single animal in the park, b.c. LOVED the choo choo and talked about it the whole way home, kam thought the turkey was pretty cool, and mck was happy to be with a&d! can't wait to see our bff's again soon! :)

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! :)

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! :)