Bailey Family

Seth – his first halloween (in the hospital) – and a month later Seth is 1. Seth is 2. Seth is 3.   Seth is 4. Seth is 5. Seth is 6 (and in kindergarten). Seth is 7 – in first grade, loving his new backyard and his room back to himself, and waits with anticipation on visits from uncles (to even out all the girl drama around here)! (This picture is from his trip with Uncle Will to the state fair – a one-on-one time with him – he’s been wanting ‘turkey on a bone’ for a while – Will said he ate 2 bites and wasn’t hungry anymore!)

Yes, it is true - in our house, green beans have become like unto french fries. If you ask which they'd want, hands down french fries! But when green beans are served, the ketchup had better be on the table - especially for Carolyn! She got Kaitlyn into the new fad last night.... And I could care less whether they dip their green beans in ketchup - I'm just happy they're eating them!

Solution: use the fireplace in the “playroom”. Rob had to guard it all afternoon. Rob and Jacob had fun putting stuff in the fire – scrap wood, cardboard boxes, pieces of tree branches fallen, the file folder of stuff waiting to be shredded… And with no chairs in this room other than the computer desk (it is the playroom after all), we all sat on the floor in front of it. The kids thought it was fun. We had no grate (?) – the thing that blocks the little sparks/ashes, so Rob propped a board against the white bucket (empty of scrap wood) to protect us. Now, hurry up home warranty repairman and get here! There’s no fire today – all the pyro’s had to go to work!

We're getting ready for Rob's mom (parents) to get here to celebrate "Memere's Birthday" (which was actually at the end of September). I've almost got everything cooked, and Carolyn gasps, "We need something pretty for the middle of the table!" (So she went to find the "beautifulest centerpiece" she could "ever find".) :) Already a little relief society sister in the making... (centerpieces are part of my 'homemaking education' I think I must have missed!)

Tea Party (Kaitlyn says hers is chocolate milk and Natalie says hers is white.) No, we didn't fix hair today - this is the 'natural look' - and Natalie was dressed in matching clothes, but she changed herself into something to fit her personality (meaning, it's loud and she ignores me all the time). This is the same video I posted a while ago - but this is the long version with Carolyn blabbing the whole time that a few family members wanted to see. So...it had to be really small to be uploadable - it's a little fuzzy because of that.

I meant to post this earlier in the week, but forgot. Last Saturday (26th) was Smithsonian Day, and lots of museums throughout the country were participating for free admission (2 per household, so we still had to pay for Seth and Carolyn), but $6 to take our whole family to the museum…that’s not bad! Here are some pictures – a lot actually! They really enjoyed it (and actually paid attention to me read some of the signs) :) Pre-historic Stuff – Seth’s favorite! Trains/Transportation The best we could do with a timer… I see stars….maybe? illusions/science – fun hands on stuff! An old schoolhouse And the “discovery center” – the ultimate favorite (we saved for last): I’m not sure if Seth or Rob had more fun with the blocks?? We went from 10-1 (opening until Kaitlyn was pooped!) Then, we got free frosty’s at Wendy’s (coupons from the library summer reading program) – and we got some food too – What a fun d...

Natalie's newest fascination is to yell out potty words (example - "doo doo") and then laugh. Or...to end a sentence with it just to hear her siblings laugh. (Because we don't say "potty words" outside the bathroom.) Rob was indexing (translating census records) this morning, and told me he'd found a butler...and that just set things off for the three girls! All day, Natalie has been running around yelling, "Butt-ler!" (I'm going to let her think it's a potty word b/c that's not embarrassing for her to yell out in the grocery store.) :)

I have a 'full length' version of this (it's like 13 minutes!) with Carolyn's full explanation of the house...with lots of details. (The playroom was filmed first, so after that I got her to explain less - or it would have been an hour!) And...I took several days to film b/c I could only film the rooms that were clean, which is about 2 rooms at any given time. :) If you want the full version, I can email it or post it later...assuming Will comes over to help me figure out how to make the computer cooperate with me to publish the full length video. Enjoy this 'double speed' version of the house! (some things are even sped up twice)

Mom's blog post pretty much covered the weekend, so here's the big deal for the weekend to add to it! Seth's part for the primary program: Because we had to make up the part after the first sentence with an example, he was a little fuzzy on it (I took about half his practice time to write something with his help), but he could read his during the program since he knows how to read, so he did fine in the program. Carolyn's part for the primary program: She was SO cute being able to say her entire part from the first practice until the program - and with the bigger words in there, she sounded so grown up. Of course, you could tell she's 4 when you watched her for the rest of the program - perhaps we should feed her something without sugar for breakfast before next year's program...?! Kaitlyn and Natalie wanted to be filmed too, but obviously didn't have parts (they'll still be in nursery another year and won't get parts for 2 more years), so I let the...

Well, this is about as clean as it's going to get (this is right after the nightly cleaning/weekly vacuuming). It was easier to film rather than explain in pictures... TO DO: put up pictures, drawer fronts on craft drawers, book ends for the scrapbooks, cover the fireplace better (plus some rubber around the brick edges), remove the 3 grey boxes, and one day replace the paneling (probably when I reclaim it as a family room) For Christmas, the girls are getting a little kitchen (well, that's the plan - Rob's gotta find the time now to build it!) - it will go where the grey boxes are now. I have no idea where my sewing machines/table are going? I've filled up all the space in the house - too bad I can't remove the useless fireplace! Here's a shot of 2 out of 3 craft drawers (the other has really messy stuff in it - glitter, wooden stuff, craft paints, chenille sticks, beads, etc) - we probably won't be venturing in that drawer much in the next 6 months! Man, I...

OK, OK, forget the mopping – that’s the joy of this color vinyl – you can’t tell how dirty it is! The overall kitchen: The left cabinets (newer):  (laundry area through door to the right) The right cabinets (older): I like the base cabinet depth all the way up here – I can put those lesser used things up high, but still reachable with a stool – rather than digging through the back of some corner cabinet! And the looking through to the playroom is kind of cool. The blank spot on the right of the sink is where the microwave will go (we had to order one to get the countertop size I wanted – can’t fit an over-the-range model in this kitchen). Overall – I’ve gotten used to the layout and really like some of the cabinets. I could use a little more pantry, but it has a ‘kitchenette’ by the inlaw suite (which I’ll use for food storage, baby bathing, and extra pantry cans, etc). The stovetop is flat like I like (white is harder to keep clean, but I knew that). Don’...

Seth’s room: Starting at door, and circling around… to do: put up shelf for decor, instill constant cleaning habits, eventually paint blue (his choice) Our room: standing at bathroom door - It’s a little small (it’s comparable to apts we’ve lived in, but we wanted the girls to have the bigger room so we could stuff them all in one! and we like the shower here better) Can’t fit the baby’s playpen/basinet in here, so I’m not sure what I’ll do in November? TO DO: get a remote on that fan, valences for windows, put laundry elsewhere! And our Bathroom: It’s a little small, and I don’t like the toilet and vanity, but we Love the shower, and I think the light fixture is pretty. To do: replace toilet seat, add storage shelf, get taller vanity/different faucet, add bathroom vent/fan, paint with non-flat paint (one day…) unfortunately, we’ll be using the short-person vanity for a while b/c the other two bathrooms the kids use need more immediate work. Oh well...

Dining room (Mom will help us put up pictures) to do : put up pictures, get a dark (maybe pizza-sauce-colored!) RUG, replace ‘leaning tower’ of bookcase before it falls on someone, eventually replace carpet with something kid-friendly GIRLS’ ROOM (aka – girls’ dormitory) These are in order as if you walked in the room, looked to the far right corner and circled around to see the rest The doorway down the short hall goes to the bathroom ; to the left of the stroller is the exit. The baby will be added to the dormitory when she moves up to a toddler bed in a few years. to do : connect fans to switch, paint walls pink & decorate, update bathroom to include tub and decent vanity/faucet, fix bathroom walls, fix closet walls/rods, make drapes/valences for windows Seth’s room is organized too now, but it hasn’t been clean when I’ve been ready to take pictures. (The girls’ doesn’t stay clean – we cleaned it for the pictures.) If you find postings of each c...