a New idea!

I had a new idea. I think I'll post my favorite things my kids did/said today. If i post enough "todays" then eventually, i'll have a really neat keepsake book.

Very wise people tell me about child-rearing, "Write all of this down. You will forget it if you don't!"

I'm awesome at writing it down...on Facebook--an non-archivable source. sheesh.

so here goes,

Today, August 15th, 2011

• Micah spent significant time making funny faces in the mirror in his room when he didn't know anyone was watching.

• Judah spent significant time making faces and dancing into the mirrors at Ross.

• At bedtime, I told Judah and Micah to tell everyone good night and give them hugs. Tonight, after being sure to hug big brother, Luke, the dog, and mom repeatedly, Micah hugged the diaper cream and said "night night medicine" and Judah followed suit.

• Then Judah proceeded to hug and say "night night bubba's milk cup" and "night night my milk cup"

• Me: "Luke, the scientists say that you need a lot of sleep for your brain to work well"

Luke: "the scientists are wrong."

• Luke tried really hard to memorize the words to the Bibleman song.

Table Top Truths!

OK. HOW. CUTE. IS. THIS.



A stuttered sentence is the only way to emphasize how much i think this is a great idea.
One of my best girls, Sara Moffitt and one of her best girls Lisa Sledge, have had a genius plan that they have eloquently put into action.

(look aren't they cute? Lisa left, Sara right)

They call it Tabletop TRUTHS. Throw your Dora and Batman placemats on the floor. A fresh new placemat wants to take its place.

Sara and Lisa noticed that their kids were learning things like colors and shapes, etc from their placemats and started thinking about what else they could learn. Why not life-affirming and life-changing scripture and principles?

in their own words :

"Tabletop TRUTHS is a collection of durable, colorful place mats designed to be used as a springboard to Biblical knowledge, spiritual growth and great family conversations. Each mat comes with thought-provoking questions, conversation starters and Scripture references to help you teach your children."


BRILLIANT.

and the Bonus? one side is totally cute house decor,


with the other side being the teaching materials.


love it.


Their website is http://tabletoptruths.blogspot.com/

Since We've Spoken Last...

• Judah and Micah turned one! (April 2)
  

• Judah and Micah started walking (at almost 13 months)
• Luke has not spent a single moment at home out of his Spiderman PJ's. (This is only a slight exaggeration.)
• Joseph finished his regular semester of school and is now teaching May Term
• Joseph and Crista each turned 32.

Here are some pictures!





Micah above. Judah below.

All three boys playing in the water and getting muddy! (left to right: J,L,M)

Proof that Luke LOOOOOOOOOOOVEs his Spiderman PJs

Micah above. He is always making this face. It's hilarious! Below is a picture from a few days after he was born making the same face. Ahhh flashback.



In other news, the Bailey house has taken a huge turn for the "funner" as the babies are getting older, more independent, and more interactive. We are playing, getting our chores done and starting to feel a little more normal. There is still a lot that i would define as chaos, but I'm having a great time!

Joseph and I will be celebrating our 10 year anniversary in 9 days. Who could ever guess where we'd be? I wouldn't have missed a minute of it.

Until we see ya later gator,

Crista

Lock-In!

We loaded up the Tahoe a week ago and headed down to College Station for our annual "Lock-In". What started 5 ish years ago with 4 couples who would meet and spend quiet days together doing whatever we wanted (!) has now grown to a loud (and immensely fun!) weekend of 8 adults and 9 children (age 4 and under) living for 36 hours under one roof, sharing a tiny slice of life together. Unfortunately, of those 17 people, 10 of us punctuated our time together with a stomach bug. Not so fun, especially since Micah's made its debut IN THE CAR ON THE WAY HOME. Repeatedly. Let it not overshadow the wonderful time we had, though!

The adults ditched the kids got a baby sitter on Friday night and had dinner and conversation. And we stayed out late! Whew. I felt 29 again! ha ha. Unfortunately, my dear Elizabeth had to leave us for the weekend because she was sick. We missed you EB! Then the rest of the weekend, we took time to laugh, have deep conversation, play with the kids etc. It was nice to not have an agenda, just to enjoy each other. Good times. Then Sunday we cleaned up, packed up and hopped around town to see the other College Stationians (?) that we love. It was so good to see Jess, Josh and the Alfords. Thank you for spending time with us! Luke especially loved playing with the turtles and cats with J/J and asked repeatedly for "Mr. Rick" to run him around the house and play swords together. We loved it!



In the picture above : Davis (2), Sam (3), Luke (3), Murphy (3), Greyson (4). Not pictured: Eli (17 months?), Lily (7 months), Judah and Micah (10 months).

LOVE LOVE LOVE these kids and the sweet friendship they already have. We are blessed by that same kind of friendship with their parents. DeVores, Stricklands, Moffitts, you are all such a deep well of sweet, sweet blessing for our family. There are friendships that you just can't explain why, but your heart is in it for life and we consider that to be true with you guys. What a source of encouragement, fun, community and genuine friendship you guys are! We love you!
Does anyone have a picture of the adults?

Let's see how many kids we can have this time next year! Ready, set, GO! Kidding. A lot of kidding.

Luke is always, ALWAYS in costume these days. His repertoire includes, Buzz Lightyear (which is already tattered and torn from just 3 months ago), Batman (a Christmas must-have) Superman, Larry Boy, a frog, and a slew of masks I picked up at the party store (as above).

I LOVE his imagination and how he is eager to use it. He tells stories of his adventures with such enthusiasm. Get that kid an acting contract! No, scratch that. I'm not a good stage mom-- and its all about me, right?

We all know who's kidding, I hope.

Luke and Joseph have been reading through the Chronicles of Narnia. They finished "The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe" and are half way through "Prince Caspian". I'm so surprised how much LB is retaining. He's really getting it! JB will read a little, summarize, then rinse and repeat. I'm so thankful for such a sweet and engaging Daddy for my boys.

Let's check in on "Brothers" as they are affectionately called around here:

Judah on the left, Micah on the right.

This photo is about 2 months old, but it's the best i can do right now:)

Truly, just put a tiny bit more hair on them in your mind and its really accurate for today.
They will be 11 months next week! HARD. to. believe. It is still so busy and we still stay up until 11pm doing chores (because its impossible to get much done during the day) but I am having so much fun.

Judah is intent on learning how to walk. He's very focused. Also, he is experimenting with words such as "all done", "down", "dada", "mama", "bubba", "dat" (that), "ba" (bath) and a rare "pup pup" for dog. He also got his very first tooth last week!

Micah is enthralled with books and words. He even said "gook" the other day (for book) He also says "all done", "dada", "mama", "bubba", "dat" (that), "ba" (bath) "pup pup" for dog, and "did it". He is also trying to walk and likes to point out all the lights in a room. (judah does the light think too, just not as often) Micah got his first tooth 2 weeks ago and his second this week.

A side note: what a blessing that we have not gone through teething until now! I CANNOT imagine the discomfort and fussing of teething on the babies (and us!) during the previous months that were so labor intensive, and (for lack of a better word) hard. Don't misread "hard". "Hard" can be wonderful, it can be rewarding, it can really be priceless and precious and that is how I mean it in this case. Three small children (with twins in the mix) has been hard but WONDERFUL. I got a glimpse recently of how all too soon this stage of life will be over and I am clinging to the day-to-day with all I've got. I love this time of life!

I always pictured this stage of life a little cleaner and more organized. And my hair was always done and I never had my PJs on until 4 pm. But, though reality is much different than the "picture", i wouldn't change a thing. I revise, if Alice from the Brady Bunch could move in, I could deal with that change.

Well, that's all I've got for today. I've already broken the family rule of "blog brevity" so I must sign off for now.

LB has been knocking it out of the park with funny things to say lately and we just took a fun trip to College Station to see friends last week, so I'll try to write that up soon.

Just wanted to pop in and say hello!

Until we meet again...

Luke Bailey is 3!!!

Luke Bailey! You're 3!

What a fun 3 years it has been. You add so much laughter, insight, fun, excitement and overall greatness to our life and our family. I love you so much!

We celebrated today with a Toy Story themed birthday party. Luke attended the party as Buzz Lightyear, as you can see in the picture. We gave him this costume for his birthday this morning at 9 am, and except for nap, it has been in place!

It was so precious. All day, he was in character. For example:

Luke asked "Mommy, where is Daddy?"
Me: "He's at church"
Luke: "No, you say 'Buzz Lightyear, daddy's at church'"

Or, if anyone called him Luke, he would be quick to remind them "you can call me Buzz Lightyear"

He had way too much birthday cake, played with every toy he owns with all of the kids who came over and finally fell asleep after singing songs and talking to himself for an hour. I guess he was worked up and had a good day and didn't want to sleep. That's fun. That was my goal.

I asked Luke if he could stay little for a while longer and he said "Naw, silly. I need to be as big as daddy"

FTR, yesterday he announced that when he grow up he wants to be a "green daddy". I think that is a very big deal, as green is his favorite color and that adds to the compliment that daddy is his favorite person.

I love you little man. If you must grow up will you please still always say "Oh! I most-tagot!" (I almost forgot) and call masks "mask-ez"?

Check out my little men!
Now tell me if you can believe THIS! Luke will be 3 this month and Judah and Micah are 7 months old.

We are having fun at our house. Luke is such a big boy. He talks in very grown up language using phrases such as "actually, mommy, its called a jeep" and "as a matter of fact, I enjoyed it", but he still includes his little cute things like "Mommy, did you know that the airplanes go to the airporch? They do."

Luke, you make us laugh every single day and you are so much fun. You are so observant and clever that we've taught you what those words mean because we use them so often when we talk about you.

Judah and Micah are growing up! This is the month that they began waving and sitting up. Micah is very good at using the sign for "all done!" and Micah is also cocking his head to the side just to make us laugh. Already a jokester. Judah's wave is so intentional and charming. He is happiest just sitting in someone's lap. Both boys will giggle for apparently no reason, and think that Luke is the funniest thing. I have to agree with that.

Judah, you are so quick to smile. I love when you scream for no reason and then laugh like you are telling a good joke. You love to cuddle. You are also very impressively saying "hey" while you wave. I think that counts as a first word, don't you?

Micah, you love a good game. Peek-a-boo and tickling get you every time. You are quick to laugh and especially think Luke is funny.

Joseph is working on a little trick:
No need to call the authorities. Joseph is skilled in baby holding, yes, but he is also skilled in Photoshop.