rough night?

this is how sweet baby kam toddled down the stairs this morning at 8:30! oh my! :) we think she was up all night partying! :)

lights in belton

can you see the smiles on our faces? the lights in belton were everything i remembered about last year and more! seriously . . . this year was so wonderful! we headed there with our bff's after a great g'town dinner . . . okay, the wonderful didn't actually start until after we waited about an hour to drive into the lights . . . yes, an hour in the car with four kids. the minivan has never felt quite so small. i let them unbuckle, but told them they had to stay in their seats . . . well that lasted all of a minute until they were crawling all over the van. there were 3 little bodies right behind my seat and b.c. sitting on my lap! i felt sooooooo claustrophobic! mck was getting a big kick out of how frustrated i was getting and kept sticking her head as close to me as possible . . . with a big ol' grin. how can you not love that girl? :)

the lights were wonderful and sooo worth the wait! how can you not be completely in the spirit of the season driving through miniature trees and a huge tunnel that dance to the music streaming through the car radio?!?!? it was great! the windows were down, the heat was pouring out, and the kids were so excited! ken and kam hung out on one side of the car .. . kam sitting in ken's lap in a good part of the way and mck hung out on the other side . . . pointing everything out to b.c. who was sitting with me part of the time and helping daddy drive the other part! ken's fav part . . . "the baby jesus lights" (is she my kid?) :), mck loved the tunnel, and kam . . . "the baby lights and the baby trees" (if it's little and she can put the word baby in front of it she likes it!) :) b.c. was just in awe of everything!

it was late when we headed home. mck and ken passed out as soon as we left the lights. . . but little kam talked to us the whole way home! :) she wanted to know where the moon was and where its baby was and where the deer were and where the baby deer (and wanted all of them to wake up so she could see them!) were and why we couldn't have her baby music blasting in the car! :) it was a special treat for her to pull onto our street and see 2 mommy deer and 2 babies laying in the grass in front of the driveway! :) (she said, see they listened to me and woke up!") too cute!

is it possible for christmas time to get much better?

christmas stroll

the bailey bunch had a great time watching the parade at the g'town christmas stroll! we got all bundled up and headed to the square just in the nick of time! the parade was pretty long (like an hour!) and the kids stood mesmerized for the whole thing! even b.c. enjoyed taking in the scenery! :) ken's favorite part was the "bethlehem people", mck's fav was "the people who gave out candy and the ponies", and kam loved the "baby ponies"! we walked the square for a bit, then headed home for a rest to gear up for our big night out! :)

another first . . . cereal! . . . ewwww!

b.c. is one hungry kid. he is eating every 2-3 hours STILL! yep, four months old and still eating like a newborn! i am nursing and giving him bottles and the kid will eat like 9 ounces at once! we don't have to worry about him being small much longer! :)

so the dr. gave us the go-ahead to try cereal. it was NOT a hit. he was a smiles until he tasted it. he wanted nothing to do with it, but didn't spit it out, just held it in his mouth until he starting choking. uhhh. so, we'll try again. soon. the kids needs something to fill up his tummy! :)

you mean we have to do this again?

let it snow . . . well, at least for a few minutes!

okay, so the news hyped up the snow to be HUGE! the kids were so excited . . . thinking that school could be canceled and we would have hot chocolate and sit by the fire all day . . . we live in texas. we should know better. :) there were however several minutes of flurries that the girls got to see. some pretty big snowflakes too! just nothing that stuck . . . and nothing to play in! at least we can say we saw snow this year! :) ken got to see the snow at school . . . luckily it was during her recess time and they had a little extra time outside to enjoy the rare occurance! :) yea snow! :)

a day of decorating!

the girls were so excited to start decorating the tree . . . they could hardly wait for bailey to get the lights fixed! :) they eached picked their ornament from last year to hang on the tree and then it was totaly chaos! the tree has a million ornaments on the front - at their eye level and is sparsely decorated the rest of the way around! :) each of them took a turn putting the snowman on top! :) it looks beautiful! now we're really in the spirit! :)

we topped off the day with a dinner of snacks and goodies (including s'more caramel apples that the girls and i made - thanks j.m. for the recipe!) and hot chocolate. then we all snuggled up to watch the grinch in the playroom! :) what a fun month we have ahead of us!

another first

b.c. tried out the jumper and LOVED it . . . okay, we still have to be there oooing and ahhing over him, but at leaset i can try to pit him in the jumper while i get the girls a snack or lunch or something! :) he looks super tiny in it, but soooo cute! :) thanks tim and missy! :)

turkey afternoon and fun on friday!

we had a delicious thanksgiving dinner with my family. it was wonderful for my pop-pop to meet b.c. and to see the girls again! the girls loved seeing aunt sarah again and spending time with "baby" sophia! we had fun trying to capture a pic of everyone on the stairs and gathered around the crowded table! in friday we took a picnic lunch of leftovers to the park. the girls gathered pine cones and we all played! what a great day!

turkey day morning!

we got an early start to the day and headed to see bailey's mom at the rehab center. we didn't get to stay too long because she wasn't feeling well. then we headed to his sisters house so the kids could play together and we could visit for a bit. mama and pa just love seeing the kids! pa is always prepared with goodies that "magically"appear in the girls pockets! mama just loved holding b.c. for a bit and watching him smile. the kids had a great time playing with their cousins.

hot dogs and s'mores!

what a fabulous day! bailey finished up the playscape for the girls (they've been asking about it everyday since we moved in!). the weather was so perfectly "fall" that he set up the fire pit and helped the girls cook hot dogs and s'mores! YUMMY!

our first tradition of the season

nothing could have gotten us more in the christmas spirit than some cold weather, starbuck's hot chocolate, marshmallows to munch on, a beautiful christmas tree, and fireworks to top it all off! :) we had a wonderful time with our bff's at the domain tree lighting! we ate pizza, walked the sidewalks, listened to some great (but mellow!) christmas tunes, and finished the evening off with a trip to the bookstore. the girls had so much fun! on the way home each of them talked about catching glimpses of santa on stage . . . actually it turned in to more of an argument over who saw a better view of st. nick! b.c. had a great time too . . . he really was mesmerized by the fireworks! i cannot wait for the rest of our lighting traditions . . . the next month will be sooooo much fun!

i'm four months old today!

you are growing way too fast! :) you weighed 13 pounds 1 ounce and measured 26 inches long! oh my goodness! you are rolling over both ways now . . . but looked completely shocked every time you flip over! you have the sweetest giggle and are sooooo ticklish! you talk to us a lot now! such sweet noises! you are smiley and your face just lights up when we talk to you! you are still very high maintenance! i keep telling you it's a good thing you're cute . . . you are fine in your bouncy seat if i sit and talk to you . . . but if i walk away to get something done . . . you are a mess! :)
you love holding rattles now and trying to reach for things! you liked your bumbo seat for about a week and now make me so nervous because you try to escape! :) those two little teeth have still not popped through . . . you are drooling like crazy though! still not napping much . . . you like to know what's going on all the time! you are eating a lot . . . so i am guessing you're going to grow even more! :) we love you so much sweet little guy! we are sooooo in love with you!

turkey playdate

the girls and i hosted a turkey playdate at our house . . . we read "who will carve the thanksgiving turkey" (love this one!), played with pumpkin play dough (love the smell of this stuff!), and made turkey cupcakes (holy crow . . . how could you not love them!). we are sooooo ready for thanksgiving now! :)

4 things that made me smile this week

okay, i am totally stealing this idea from a friend (thanks jm!)!

here are 4 things that made me smile this week . . .

mck standing on top of the little baby slide pretending to be a pirate and shouting, "arrrr! a whore, ladies!"

ken correcting mck when she was being a pirate and saying "mck, you have to say ladies and gentlemen . . . not just ladies!" :) (you can tell we need some practice in the pirate department!)

kam asking for her "baby songs" in the car . . . requesting "girls just wanna have fun" and "what you do to me" (delilah) on kids bop! AND listening to her sing along!

b.c. rolling over and looking like "what the (beep!) just happened!" EVERYTIME! :)

axe 'em jacks . . . a weekend at sfa!

we had another fun weekend in nac this year. . . we were all excited to see sarah . . . it had been way too long! b.c. got to attend his first football game . . . and at daddy's school too! :) we had a wonderful time walking around campus and then walking through the arboretum area. the girls were being such hams! :)



showing our pride in purple! kam and b.c. both crashed for a lot of the game! :)


sunday at the park . . . beautiful weather in this old park . . . what a great start to the day! the girls loved exploring and picking up pecans! it was hard to leave!

halloween 2009 . . . our own little pumpkin patch

we've been counting down to the big day for quite some time . . . like since july! the girls were so excited to see that the halloween witch had left them some goodies in the haunted house and filled their trick-or-treat bags with some goodies too! :) they all had fun playing with sticky hands . . . daddy included! :)

the hit of their treat bag was the silly string . . . thanks for the idea miss s! :) bailey and i did a sneak attack on the girls . . . then they got their cans and had fun spraying everything! what a fun start to the day! :)

we carved our pumpkins outside in the beautiful weather! we carved all 6 pumpkins . . . or i should say daddy carved most of them! i gutted them . . . with a little help from ken, less from mck, and absolutely no help from kam who just said "disgusting" after touching the inside once! kam decided on a cinderella pumpkin . . . a tough task on the "baby" pumpkin she picked out! ken's was super cool . . . sticky eyeballs everywhere! and mck wanted belle . . . a "challenging" design that daddy was able to pull off! my pumpkin was a vampire and daddy and b.c. had traditional jack-o-lanterns (read "we were too worn out to be creative"!) next year, it'll just be pumpkins for the kiddos . . . a 4 hour long pumpkin carving marathon is a little crazy! :)

the girls and b.c. got all dressed up in their co-ordinating pumpkin outfits! i am hoping to convince them to match next year, but not counting on it! ken was pumpkin spice, mck was a pumpkin princess, kam was a baby pumpkin fairy, and b.c. was the most adorable pumpkin ever! what fun! our own little pumpkin patch! :)

we went trick-or-treating with the same bunch we've been with for several years now . . . old friends from ken's daycare! :) it was so fun to see the big girls all back together. . . and the little kids managed ot fit right in! (thanks ms. t for hosting us . . . AGAIN!) the kids all snacked on fun halloween goodies and then headed out!

the kids were all so funny . . . ken stopped after EVERY house to show me what she had gotten! seriously EVERY house! mck wanted to lead the group . . . a group of 6 year olds! she wanted to be the first at every door! and little kam quickly realized that her cuteness paid off and said an extra loud "trick or treat" by the end of our venture! b.c. was great all night - chilling in his carrier and eventually falling asleep!
we headed home and the girls sorted their candy . . . i told them they could each pick one piece to eat . . . they never argued! (weird!) mck picked m&m's, kam picked nerds, and my weird oldest child picked a brain piece!

welcome home daddy!

the girls worked really hard on a giant poster for bailey and put it in his chair to welcome him home from a long two week trip to china/malaysia! ken and mck had written and drawn lots of stuff on the poster . . . and then kam kinda went crazy! :) so you have to kind of look through the doodles to find the messages! :) they were sooooo excited to see him! it was so fun to see them so excited! :) it'll be nice for things to get back to normal! :) daddy brought lots of fun goodies for the girls . . . pearls, nightgowns, fans, and TONS of movies! welcome home daddy!

a fun week at school

what a fun/crazy week! there were lots of special events for the kiddos! :)

mck had her school halloween party with lots of goodies and fun activities! it was off to a rocky start . . . she woke up in a HORRIBLE mood and cried for a good 15 minutes. . . after she started eating some junk food she was much better! :) kam and ken had a great time . . . ms. b is so good to them too! everyone enjoyed lots of yummy stuff! :) we listened to mck lead the prayer, sang some songs, listened to a story and got to check out the pumpkin they carved! way fun!

ken had her first first grade performance! it was awesome! :) the kids did a beautiful song with sign language about beauty and then each class performed a "dance" to classical music! ken's class did a cool number with a parachute! what an awesom music teacher they have! :)

ken finished out the week with the halloween parade! what fun to see everyone in the school dressed up! it was so worth gettin everyone up, dressed, and out the door by 7:15! :) kam and mck had lots to talk about on the way home! ken enjoyed the rest of the day as they investigated pumpkins . . . she even brought home a pumpkin seed for us to plant! :)

b.c. rolls over . . . TWICE!

how fun! :) b.c. actually rolled over twice! :) he got so excited and was sooooo rpoud of himself! :) now the fun really begins! oh my goodness! :) i can't wait! :) go little guy! :)