The Bates Family
Allen, Leah, Brookelyn, & Braedyn

Friday, March 20, 2009

Thursday, March 19, 2009

Bates Update

Well it has been a hectic Spring Break so far--especially since ALL of the kids' activities have been on break too! No school, no ballet, no music, no reading! Instead, we have had a lot of "family fun!" Actually, I have really enjoyed planning a fun week for the kids and spending so much time with them. Here is a picture of our little "Mr. Right"...
who has been all eyes on his big sister, wanting to do everything she has been doing. He has managed to master standing all by himself, but hasn't tried to take any steps just yet. We shall see!
And here is Miss Thing! She had her first real playdate on Tuesday. Her friend from school, Alana came over. The girls had a great time baking a cake, getting their nails done, taking their babies for a stroller walk, and just being absolutely adorable!

Saturday, March 14, 2009

San Antonio Trip--Belated

Here are some pictures from our trip to San Antonio last weekend; yes I am late posting them, but if you read my post from earlier this week you will understand why I have had absolutely no time to post them sooner!

We met Kristine at at great kids play place. Here are the three musketeers; we would be in big trouble if we lived closer! I think Brookelyn could teach Madison quite a few bad habits! :)

Brookelyn loved sliding down the huge slide--and Sashi loved helping her!

Poor Brookelyn was so exhausted she didn't even make it out of the parking lot after lunch. Honey carried her in and she was OUT!

That night Allen and I went to a friend's wedding. It was great to be out by ourselves; I think the last time I wore a dress was at his work Christmas party last year!
And, this is just a cute picture of Brookelyn at ballet that Honey took. She is the youngest one in her class, but she holds her own. They were practicing their recital dance.

Tuesday, March 10, 2009

Is it only 11:53?!

I am taking a "mommy break"! Yes it is only 11:53 am, but it sure feels like it should be later with all that we have been through so far this morning.

1. 3:45 am Braedyn wakes up crying, but finally goes back to sleep on his own.
2. 6:30 am Braedyn is up for the morning and we see that his eyes are still yucky (not red on the
whites, just puffy and pink on the outside).
3. 7:01 am Brookelyn is up and pounding on her door. I open it to find that she has peed on her
carpet in the exact spot I had been trying to fix yesterday (where Pebbles peed on it). Great.
4. 7:15 am Brookelyn is cleaned up and dressed.
5. 7:16 am I let Pebbles out of her crate since she is about to levitate it out of the laundry room
with her whining and bumping around.
6. 7:17 am I dress Braedyn who decides he does not what to lay down; I instead wrestle, trying
to dress a wobbly standing 9 month old.
7. 7:23 am I panic, realizing I didn't put Pebbles directly outside, and find her pulling all of the
garbage out of our bathroom garbage can.
8. 7:25 am Clean up the garbage in the bathroom while Braedyn wails and Brookelyn repeatedly
says, "I don't like that garbage. I want JUUIIICCEEE."
9. 7:40 am Finally both kids are eating, but Brookelyn doesn't like the color bib she has, nor the
color yogurt I gave her. More whining.
10. 8:01 am Allen calls, asking me to go by the ATT store and get him a new SIM card because
his phone isn't working.
11. 8:30 am Braedyn goes down for a nap after a MAJOR meltdown.
12. 9:00 am Braedyn is back up.
13. 9:40 am We leave for the library because I think I will have my own meltdown if we do not
get out of this house.
14. 10:15 am Arrive at the library and have a great time at the Rhyme Time program.
15. 10:30 am Of course the bliss couldn't last too long. Brookelyn doesn't understand that we
don't have a library card for this library and has a meltdown to rent a book.
16. 10:31 am I give in and go fill out a form to get a card while Braedyn pulls on the form and
tries to take my pen, resulting in my name looking like a foreign language.
17. 10:35 am My stomach sinks when the librarian checks to make sure the address on my
liscense is correct (it is actually our old Dallas address). I tell the truth, "No."
18. 10:37 am Drag both kids back to the car to dig out my car insurance card for proof of
address.
19. 10:40 am Back filling out forms when Brookely declares she needs to go pee-pee.
20. 10:40 am and 10 seconds I tell her just one moment.
21. 10:40 am and 15 seconds Brookelyn pees on the floor.
22. 10:40 am and 17 seconds Deep breath and small prayer that no one notices the big spot on
the floor.
23. 10:41 am Take Brookelyn to the bathroom.
24. 10:45 am Go back to pick up my library card.
25. 10:46 am Drag a screaming mad Brookelyn (didn't understand why we couldn't stay longer)
out of the library.
26. 10:47 am Pick Brookelyn's shoes up off the dirty pavement since she is in full fit mode and
has kicked them off. Continue walking with her in her barefeet to the car.
27. 10:50 am Strip Brookelyn naked and put her in the carseat.
28. 11:10 am Drive up to the house after listening to Brookelyn cry and moan for the last twenty
minutes.
29. 11:15 am Get Brookelyn changed into a ridiculous outfit (a full sweat suit) because she says
she is cold even though it is 75 degrees outside. I don't care.
30. 11:16 am Braedyn starts crying because he has hit his head on Brookelyn's bed. I give him
the car keys so he will calm down.
31. 11:21 am Put Braedyn in his highchair so I can start lunch.
32. 11:30 am The house alarm starts going off. Scares me to death. Then I realize Braedyn has
set it off with the key fob on my keys he is playing with.
33. 11:31 am Take the keys away from him after shutting off the alarm.
34. 11:32 am Look for the house phone in case the alarm company calls. Can't find it. Braedyn is
screaming.
35. 11:35 am Rock Braedyn, put him in his bed to nap because he is so fussy.
36. 11:46 am The house phone starts ringing. Can't find it, but can see on caller ID it is the
security company. Run around and around and around trying to find the phone.
37. 11:48 am Find the phone finally and call back the security company. Good thing I did
because they are on the phone with the abulance company dispatching an ambulance to our
house!
38. 11:50 am Brookelyn has a meltdown becasue she is so hungry she can't wait until I get off
the phone with the security person. Drag her to time out until I am off the phone.
39. 11:51 am Off the phone and take Brookelyn to her room because she is inconsolable.
40. 11:53 Blogging here because I might lose my mind if I don't take a moment. Maybe I should
call the security company back and tell them we might need that ambulance after all--for
ME!!

Thursday, March 5, 2009

Whilrwind Wedesday!

Brookelyn had "Green Day" at school, so we got her dressed appropriately:
And after we dropped her off at school (to eat green eggs and ham--and yes she DID eat them), we hurried to Braedyn's music class. Look how much fun we had:

Tuesday, March 3, 2009

Terrific Tuesday!

Today we took the kids to get their Easter pictures taken (at a new place that has a REAL BUNNY but takes 2 weeks to get the pictures back) at the mall. We played on the playscape while we waited. Here's Braedyn:
And Miss Brookelyn just had to use the potty that was "just her size!!"

Braedyn's BUZZ!

Mom and I took Braedyn to get his hair cut--he NEEDED it!

BEFORE:


AFTER:


Doesn't he look cute?!