annual bluebonnet pictures

well, we made the attempt to get some pictures of the girls in the bluebonnets this year . . . but we stopped on the side of the highway on the way home from their birthday trip. it was chilly, the wind was blowing, and we were all exhausted . . . so out of about 100 pictures, none of them are great, but at least we can say we did it! :)

ken and mck's birthday trip

because last year was soooo much fun, we decided to skip the birthday parties again this year and take ken and mck on a birthday trip! this year we went to great wolf lodge in grapevine! it was SO MUCH FUN! we arrived on a sunday and stayed through tuesday! the girls couldn't get enough of the water. the played so hard! it was the perfect place for our family . . . ken was able to go on the big, big water slides, both mck and ken could travel by themselves on the intermediate slide, and all 3 girls LOVED playing in the shallow water! seriously, they had something for everyone! :)

we went to eat at the rainforest cafe the first evening . . . a huge hit with all 3 kids! we had a fun birthday dinner complete with a "volcano" that we shared for dessert!

we ate ice cream, snacked, hung out, played cards in the room, listened to storytime, and had our fill of water for almost 3 days! the girls were all worn out when we headed home . . . they fell asleep by 8 on tuesday night!

we'll certainly be heading back there within the year! :)

for sale

so, what have we been up to lately? with our expanding family, we had planned to expand our house, but slowly realized that the task would be more costly than we had imagined (with bailey doing a lot of the work!)and we'd just break even on any addition . . . so, we decided to talk to a realtor . . . and today we have a "for sale" sign in our front yard.

we've spent the past week cleaning, fixing, purging, and sending stuff to storage. our house looks good . . . almost too good, as i am having second thoughts about selling. we are going to stick it out for a few months and see how things go. we'll do the addition as a back-up plan after bailey baby #4 is born. so, i feel like we have a plan (those who know me well know i have to have a plan!) and things will work out regardless. it sure is sad seeing that "for sale" sign in the front yard of our first home . . . the place we brought all of our babies home to!

ken's rodeo field trip

ken's class took a trip to the rodeo on monday! and the best part was . . . bailey stayed home to watch kam and mck so i could go with her. it was so nice walking around the rodeo holding her hand and only having to worry about her. she loved and and commented several times how nice it was that it was "just us!" the kids watched a cool milking demo, saw lots of livestock, visited the petting zoo, watched pig races, and listened to a cowboy talk about "cowboy things". kennedy was sad that her teacher didn't get to come, but we were joined by the principal instead!

24 hour "quick trip" to grammy and grampy's

grammy and grampy were off over spring break so we took a girls' trip to see them. tim and sophia came over for the day day and the girls all had a little "swimming in your skivvies" party! the pool water was FREEZING and all 4 girls were wading and splashing in the water! it was cute! :) we met missy for dinner and had a great day!

on thursday we took the girls to the children's museum at the woodlands mall. it was really cool . . . and even cooler that it was free with our austin membership! :) the girls had fun playing in the grocery store, digging for fossils, playing dress-up, and doing some cool arts and crafts. we stopped for a ride on the carousel and then got cookies and headed home. it was a short, but sweet visit! :)

the bailey bunch visits the zoo

we had a wonderful time with our bffs at the waco zoo over spring break. we just love the "park-like" feel it has. it was SUPER crowded, but we still managed to have a great time! the girls loved checking out all the animals! kam would make a funny face for any animal she wasn't sure about . . . scrunching up her nose and making her lip go up . . . very funny! ken and mck loved running ahead of us with their friends and of course the playscape is always a huge hit! what a beautiful day!

ken loses her front tooth

well, after WEEKS of wiggling, kennedy finally let me pull out her front tooth! a little tug and it came right out! the tooth fairy left her $1 and a pack of gum (generous tooth fairy . . . aren't we in a recession?) :) she sure looks grown up without that tooth . . .

look ma . . . NO TRAINING WHEELS!

i am LOVING SIX! :) we tried to get ken to ride without training wheels several months ago, but she got frustrated when she couldn't do it right away . . . things seem to come so easily to her, so when something is tough, she tends to give up. for the last couple weeks i was telling her how cool it would be if she could say she rode without training wheels before she turned 6, so she practiced a few times, but gave up.

well, yesterday she walked outside, asked for help with her helmet and said today she would really try . . . "because now i should be able to do it because i am six!". she hopped on, i steadied her bike, gave her a little push, and she took off! it was soooo cool to watch her riding down the driveway and around the circle! :) now she's thinking about saving her money for "a big kid bike"! :)

six has brought a whole new independence in ken. she now wants to take her own showers . . . start to finish with NO help! :) (gotta love that!) and she wants to tie her own shoes - or at least try! she now has the confidence that she can do things on her own and is really enjoying that . . . SO AM I! :)

ken turns SIX!

i can't believe my baby girl is 6! ken had a 3 day long birthday celebration beginning with a special day at school beginning with her morning gift . . .books and a birthday shirt and topped off with a number "6" cupcake cake . . . chocolate cupcakes with bright pink frosting! friday night she opened her presents and had fun playing with her new things!

saturday morning she had her favorite breakfast . . . donuts and kolaches (she is her father's daughter!) and then we hit the road to head to grammy and grampy's. the girls had fun at sophia's first b-day party, but ken was anxious for her celebration lunch . . .

the family gathered at chuck e. cheese for lunch, cake, and games! the girls had a blast. ken enjoyed checking everything out on her own! :) she loved her high school musical cake and the wonderful gifts she received! :)

now ken and mck are looking forward to their birthday trip at the end of the month! :)

just can't believe she's 6!

IT'S A . . . BOY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

we were so excited to find out at our sono on monday, that not only are we having a healthy baby, but a boy! :) i think bailey and i were quite shocked, but really, really happy! it'll be so fun to introduce some blue into our very pink lives! :)
the girls are thrilled too! one of ken's first comments was that daddy would now have a hunting partner and that we would get to do lots of shopping for the boy! :) this little boy will be spoiled rotten . . . between having three doting sisters and being the baby of the family! :)
the baby was very wiggly and yawned about 5 times as we watched him on screen! he has all 10 fingers and all 10 toes and VERY noticeable "boy parts"!
now the wait until july seems even longer . . . we can't wait to meet our little boy! i know life with the girls will keep us sooooo busy that it'll fly by! :)

zilker kite festival

as is tradition, we went to the zilker kite festival with our bff's! :) the kids had a great time! ken and mck were into picking out the "cool" or "pretty" kites and kam was just amazed by them all! every time we go outside now she wants to see kites! :)

there were seriously kites EVERYWHERE and the wind gusts were a little crazy. . . daddy had some trouble getting the kites to stay up for too long before they'd come crashing down on a poor bystander!

we finished the afternoon with a delicious lunch at hula hut on the lake and headed home! the weather was PERFECT! we couldn't have asked for a nicer day! :)

grammy and grampy's "soon-to-be" property

when grammy and grampy visited we took a trip out to property they have been thinking about purchasing (SINCE OCTOBER!!!). the girls had an amazing time exploring. it is a grand kid's paradise . . . water, sand, shells, rocks, lots of things to climb, and even some cactus to make it seem a little dangerous. the girls were sold on the property . . . now if we can just convince grammy and grampy to BUY it! :)

our little reader

ken has been coming home from school with a new little book to read each day. she is always excited to share the book with us and really does well figuring out the words she is unsure of! :) she rarely wants to try reading books we have at home, but this week she picked up little bear, which i checked out from the library for her because i loved it as a kid. she read the WHOLE thing! :) she is so proud of herself . . . 62 PAGES! :) it is such an exciting thing watching her fall in love with books and discovering how much fun reading can be! :) i love it! :)

splashin' in february!

yes, it is february, but the weather here this week has been GORGEOUS! today after picking ken up from school the car thermometer read 92! what better way to spend the afternoon than splashing in the pool?!?!? :)

the water was FREEZING, but the girls didn't mind! :) they had a blast sliding, splashing, and dumping the water out of the pool! ken and mck even showed kam how to "paint" the driveway!

cooking with kam

when her big sisters are home, kam rarely gets a chance to help cook, so today, while the girls were at school she helped me make rice krispie treats! :) she got such a kick out of pouring each thing in and especially loved adding the sprinkles! :) of course, she was freaking out about the little bit that got on her fingers and insisted i clean her fingers off constantly! :) she loved being the center of attention and was so proud to tell her sisters what she made for their afternoon snack! :)

p.j. day

what could be better than spending the whole day in your p.j.'s? mck had so much fun today! :) she got to wear her p.j.'s to school, watch a movie, load up on popcorn, and just have fun! :) she got to bring her "lambie" and slippers to school too! what a treat!

a yummy morning . . . kik for mck

this morning we had mck's cooking playdate! we made blueberry muffins at miss jill's house! she had the cutest little baking cups! :) of course they were DELICIOUS (and sort of healthy too!) i think mck and kam gobbled them up so quickly because they've never had a muffin from scratch . . . my version of muffins is straight from the box! :) these muffins might convince me to "go for it" every once in awhile! what a yummy morning!

for the birds

we finally managed to make our pine cone bird feeders! (we've had the cones since OCTOBER!!!) :) the girls had fun piling on the birdseed and picking the places to hang them! ken was soooo helpful with keeping kam interested and mck was stressed about the peanut butter on her fingers - she wasn't sure if she should lick it or freak out! :) ken and mck each made one for their teacher too! now we're just waiting for the birds to find them! :)