The Blair Family

Trip to Houston

2009-04-07T21:34:00.011-04:00

My sister and I thought it would be fun to take all the grandkids to see my parents for a week. Little did we know how much longer a trip would seem with 4 kids asking how much longer?? On the way down to my parents we thought we would stop half way and see our grandmother and aunts. The trip started out well until we got to the Oklahoma City area where Ben decided to throw up EVERYWHERE! He continued to throw up the rest of the way to Dallas...boy was that fun! Ben and I decided to stay in a hotel so we would not make my grandma sick in case he had something contagious. He was fine the next morning so we made a quick stop to see my Grandma and then went on to my parent house.We finally made it to our parent's house and were very glad to be there! We had a great trip and the kids had a great time playing together. I am pretty sure we wore Grandma and Grandpa out! The kids favorite thing was the Houston Zoo. They had a lot of fun seeing all of the animals and the fun things to do there! We will definately have to go back there the next time we go! We managed to make the trip home in about 9 hours and we are really glad to see Daddy!!!

Ben really love his MaMa and really was not to sure about the goats!

Daddy Daughter Fun

2009-04-07T21:10:00.011-04:00

John took Bailey to their second Daddy Daughter Dance. This is a very special time for Bailey that she really looks forward too! She loves getting all dressed up and having Daddy take her out to eat and then to the dance. She thinks that she is a real big girl:) This is a great tradition that John has started with Bailey.

Bailey loved her flowers John got her!!

Dancing with some friends from school.

Benny Boy thought it was so funny that big sister was giving him kisses. The last picture captures the true little Miss Bailey:)

Happy Birthday Mama Elaine

2009-02-12T19:58:00.004-05:00

Today is Mama Elaine's Birthday! The kids decided to make a card and Bailey wated to make sure that she had a nice birthday with a great party. We got to celebrate her birthday last weekend, but we still miss seeing her today! We hope you had a great birthday!

Ice Storm!

2009-01-27T17:46:00.007-05:00

Yesterday the ice started to fall and is still falling today. We have not lost power yet and I am hoping we won't but it looks like we might. We have had a fun day playing around the house, watching movies and feeding the birds cereal on the sidewalk!

All of the white is ice not snow!

Fish Sitting!

2009-01-27T17:40:00.005-05:00

Bailey got to babysit Mr. Rhett's fish while he was out of town one week. Bailey thought this was great fun and even renamed his fish Sugar! We ended up keeping Mr. Rhett's fish longer than a week and Mommy did not pay enough attention to how clean the water was and....the fish DIED!! Thankfully Bailey did not see and Mommy bought Mr. Rhett a new fish. I am not sure if Mr. Rhett will let us fish sit again:)

Fun Around the House

2009-01-27T17:33:00.002-05:00

As Ben is getting older he is learning how to play more. Bailey loves to play with her brother. They find all kinds of things to get into:) I think Ben thinks he is just as big as Bailey!!

Ben's Bite

2009-01-27T17:28:00.003-05:00

Right after Christmas Ben woke up with a small bite on his leg. By lunch time it was huge and we took him to the Dr. and he thought it was a brown recluse spider bite. Only time would tell...thankfully it did not get as bad as we thought it was going too. We are not sure if what kind of spider it really was but it was not pretty.

I know he will love me when he is older for taking this picture!

Holiday Fun

2009-01-27T17:03:00.006-05:00

It has been so long since I posted last...sorry:) Things have been busy around here and I have just had no time to blog. We had a wonderful Christmas with both of our families. John's parents came over Christmas Eve and spent the night. After opening presents with them we went to Sand Springs to have lunch with my sister's family and my Mom and Dad. It was alot of fun to watch Bailey and Ben play with their cousins. They all had a blast! Bailey had been counting down the days for Christmas since Thanksgiving. She was alot of fun this year. She had alot of fun making cookies and waiting for Santa to come! She also had fun making a special birthday cake for Jesus and of course... it had to be pink! I hope all of you had a wonderful Christmas too!

Bailey and Daddy making cookies for Santa and PaPa helped her decorate them!

Happy Birthday MaMa!!

2008-12-22T12:57:00.003-05:00

Bailey and Ben celebrated MaMa's birthday today by eating cake and blowing out candles for her. We sure wish we were with you today MaMa!! We love you very much and hope you have a great birthday!

Silly Ben

2008-12-20T22:10:00.002-05:00

Ben found a new hiding spot tonight. When we found him he thought it was really funny! He had fun getting into the closet but was not to sure how to get out.

Mommy's Birthday

2008-12-20T22:00:00.002-05:00

Bailey was very excited about my birthday (more excited than mom). She did not quite understand why I was not having a birthday party like she does:) She really wanted Mommy to have a dress up party with lots of friends and party hats. As soon as she got up that morning she came in to get John because she wanted to make me breakfast in bed. She was very proud of her toast and water that she could make all by herself (which is very important around here)! I think she sang me happy birthday about 20 times or more:) Later that day her and daddy made me some banana bread for my cake. Now I think she is already planning her party for May!

Gingerbread Houses

2008-12-14T21:32:00.002-05:00

On Tuesday, we went over to my friend Aimee's house to make gingerbread houses with the girls. Aimee and I are good friends from college and worked together at Jenks. Aimee and her husband moved to Siloam around the same time we came to the ranch. Bailey and Lauren have become great friends. They are in the same pre-school class and gymnastics class. They really have alot of fun together!

Trip to Houston

2008-12-14T21:18:00.005-05:00

For Thanksgiving this year we went down to Houston to see my parents. Bailey was very excited to see MaMa and PaPa's new house and to see her new room. It has been hard for her since they left because I don't think she really understood that they moved. It has made it easier now that she knows where their new house is and what it looks like. We had a great time and were able to stay for a week. The weather was so nice while we were there. It was in the 80's most of the time we were there... while it was snowing at camp. I will have to say it was hard to look at Christmas lights when it was so HOT! I think Bailey's favorite part of going to my parents house was going to the beach. On Saturday we drove down to Galveston to go the beach and the aquarium. It was amazing to see all of the damage from Ike.

Peter and Ben

2008-12-14T21:11:00.002-05:00

Ben's friend Peter came to play one morning. It is so fun to watch Ben play with another little boy. He really seems to like having someone to play with that is closer to his age. The boys played together with this one toy for about an hour. They are both learning how to share so I think it is very good for them to spend time together. This is one of the many little boys he has to play with here at camp. Thanks for playing with us Peter!!

Chicken Pox!

2008-12-14T21:05:00.003-05:00

Bailey has decided that she wants to have the chicken pox. She thinks that it would be fun to have spots all over her. She found my sticker box from school and put stickers all over her to pretend that she had the chicken pox! She thought Ben needed them too...little does she know how horrible they really are!

Halloween Fun!

2008-10-31T22:12:00.016-04:00

This has been a fun week of Halloween activities. This was the first year Bailey really enjoyed all of it:) We started with going to church for the street carnival on Wednesday night. They had a lot of fun games for the kids to play. Bailey's favorite game was the fishing game and Ben loved the little jupiter jump. Bailey was a unicorn and Ben was Scooby Doo.

On Thursday, we went with some friends to John Brown University to go trick-or-treating in the dorms. We got to see alot of our friends that worked at camp this summer! Bailey and Ben's friends from Bible Study and the Ranch.

Ben's friends from Bible study who are little skunks they are also triplets! They were so cute:)

Bailey and her friend Eden from camp!

Finally tonight we went to some friends house to have pizza and go trick-or-treating some more. On our way we stopped by Bailey's Pre-K teacher's house. Bailey was very excited to see some friends there and to see where Ms. Brenda lives. Bailey decided today that she was tired of being a unicorn so she decided to be Pocahontas:) A girl has to have options!

The kids had a great time. It was fun watching Bailey get excited going to each house and getting candy and then looking to see if the next house had their light on! I sure hope that she sleeps in some in the morning. All of this trick-or-treating wore Mommy OUT!!

Ben loves the GATOR!!

2008-10-31T22:03:00.003-04:00

John drives a gator around camp when he is on call. I know Ben is all boy because he can hear it coming a mile away! He loves when daddy comes home driving it. He stands at the door laughing and yelling DADA!! He gets very upset if you walk past it and he does not get to sit on it and pretend like he is driving and no matter how long he gets to play on it...it is not long enough!

Bailey's First OU game!

2008-10-19T22:59:00.008-04:00

John decided to have a Daddy/Daughter day and take Bailey with him to the OU game. She was so excited to go watch the Boomer Sooners! I really not sure who was more excited....John or Bailey:) John said that Bailey had alot of fun and loved every minute of it!

Circus

2008-10-19T22:49:00.007-04:00

This weekend we took Bailey to the circus. It was so fun to watch her face as she was amazed at everything. Several times she would ask if she could do what they were doing and we heard her say many times "Wow that is cool". One of her favorite parts were the elephants. She was looking forward to that all night and it made it even better that while doing one of their tricks the elephant pooped!

Messy Benny!

2008-10-19T22:42:00.004-04:00

I was up stairs folding laundry and when I came down this is what I found!

I immediately looked at Bailey and she just shrugged her shoulders and said, "he was hungry"! Just in case you are wondering spaghetti is really hard to get out of carpet.

Soccer

2008-09-28T20:29:00.008-04:00

Bailey has been playing soccer the month of September. They play every Saturday and just learn the basics of soccer. Next year she will be able to play on a team which I think she will like much more. She really seemed to like playing as long as she was moving and doing something. She did not like waiting in line to do the next thing. I will have to say these soccer teachers have a ton of patience to work with that many 4 year olds at a time!

Red Light Green Light soccer. This was Bailey's favorite game!!

Bailey was so excited the she got a trophy. She showed it to everyone that day:)

We Miss PaPa!!

2008-09-18T12:13:00.007-04:00

As I have posted in an earlier blog, my parents are in the process of moving to Houston. My Dad is already there while my mom is still here selling the house. Bailey and Ben both miss their Papa. So Dad this is for you!! Bailey was talking about you this morning so we made you a picture and thought we would put them on our blog. We Love You!!

New Friend!!

2008-09-16T22:28:00.002-04:00

Bailey has been in school for 2 weeks now and on Friday she got in the car and informed me that she now has a boyfriend! His name is Isaiah and he wants her to spend the night because he has bunk beds:) I told Bailey that I didn't know Isaiah's mommy so I didn't think we could go play at his house. Her exact words were, "that's ok mommy we can go to his house and you can tell his mommy your name and then you will know her!". They have this all figured out! I thought this just might be a one day thing but she talked about him all weekend. When I picked her up from school on Monday her first words were, "I got to play tag with Isaiah today mommy, he is so much fun!" Daddy's face was priceless when she told him that she had a boyfriend. We are trying to get her to just say her friend Isaiah, but I will have to admit it is really cute when she talks about him. I have gotten to school early a couple of days so I can see her play on the playground and he is a cute little boy and they play very well together.

Bailey really seems to like school. She gets excited on the days that she gets to go and really wants John and I to just drop her off and not walk in because she can do it by herself. She is growing up too fast!!

First day of Pre-K

2008-09-03T23:43:00.004-04:00

Bailey started Pre-School today. She was so excited that she stayed up until 11 last night (Dad put her to bed at 8:30) At 10 she came in with another backpack full of her stuffed animals and said she was ready to go. I put her back to bed and told her she had to sleep first. Then at 4 am she came to wake me up to tell me it was time for school. I sure hope she is this excited to go to school five years from now! Once we got in the car she told me she did not need me to come in and that she could find her class herself. I don't know where she gets this independent streak from??

Fun with Friends at the zoo!

2008-09-03T23:31:00.007-04:00

On Friday several Moms at camp decided to take the kids to the zoo before school started. The kids all had a great time. The zoo was very hot but there was hardly anyone there. I left Ben with John's parents and just had a special day with Bailey. She really loved it and liked having Mommy all to herself.

Bailey and Nate were so cute at the zoo. They held hands the whole time we were there and had a great time!

Belle

2008-09-03T23:26:00.005-04:00

This past weekend we kept my Mom's dog Belle. Bailey really loves Belle and loves to babysit her. This time when MaMa dropped Belle off she told Bailey that Belle had been sick and would not be able to play. Bailey was so good with Belle. She wrapped her in her special pink blanket and read her stories in bed. She was a good little nurse!

Our Little Photographer!

2008-09-03T23:11:00.010-04:00

Bailey has discovered that she loves to take pictures. I think Santa might have to bring her one for Christmas. She loves to take our camera all over and take pictures of things around the house. She is getting pretty good at this..so I thought I would share some of them with you. All of these photos where taken by Bailey!

Nathan and Teresa who are friend who live at the Ranch.

Mrs. Deedra from camp and Ben

Ben is growing!

2008-09-03T23:03:00.005-04:00

Our little Ben is not so little anymore. He is turning into a little man. His little personality is coming out and he is so much fun! He loves to be outside and will stand at the door at the house an bang on it until you go out. One of his favorite places at camp is the new sports court. We take Bailey there to ride her bike and Ben loves to push is walker all over. He will do this for hours if we let him. He is a very happy boy and always has a smile on his face. He also loves to give hugs and kisses. Now that he is more mobile he and Bailey have a great time together! We just love this little guy!

I have been Tagged!

2008-09-03T22:57:00.002-04:00

I have been tagged by Joy....sorry it has taken so long:)
I will share 6 fun quirks about myself:

I have to have a Dr. Pepper within an hour of getting out of bed.

I don't like to have anything on my refrigerator! Although I am letting up on this since my 4 year old wants to put everything she makes on the the refrigerator.

I love Mexican food. I cook it a least once a week.

I like for my kitchen to be very clean with nothing on the counter tops

I have my own way of spelling things due to my dyslexia

Where did August go??

2008-09-03T22:10:00.002-04:00

Sorry it has been so long since my last post. August was a very busy month for us. Summer camp ended on Aug 2 at 10:00 and then we turned camp around to have 1000 people here to celebrate the camps 50th year in ministry. It was a great day but also very busy for the resident staff. It was great to see people that John and I worked with on summer staff together back when we were in college and to see some of the first camp counselor's who also came back. The founders of the camp were Mr. and Mrs Heck. Mr Heck went to be with the Lord several years ago and on this day of celebration Mrs. Heck went to join him. We were really hoping that she would get to be here on this day to see all the Lord has done but what a better view she had of camp that day!! After seeing all of the history of the Ranch on that day it is an honor to be a part of what the Lord is doing here today!

After Aug. 2 John's busy time began with the first group arriving the next morning. We are back into retreat season now where John is on call a lot more. The kids and I have been on our own a lot during the month and I am very thankful that I am not a single mom! We went to the pool here at camp almost everyday and played with lots of friends before school stated. We also got to go to Dallas to see MaMa H for her birthday. On the way there we got to stop by and see my best friend from high school, Jennifer, who lives just outside of Norman. It was great to see her and her 3 boys and then off to Dallas we went. Bailey got to have her first sleep over with her cousins and thought that was great. Bailey and Ben were both a big hit of my grandmother's retirement home. Bailey loved talking with people in the hallways and riding the elevator. I think this was the first trip in a long time that I did not take one single picture! It was a very fast trip but alot of fun!

Many of you already know the hard time my parents have gone through at their church...for those who don't it is a really long story. To make a long story short my dad resigned his church back in March and has been without a job. In the middle of July he excepted a postion as family pastor in Houston. My dad moved down there a few weeks ago while my mom will stay here and try to sell their house. Please be in prayer for them during this transition and that the house sells quickly so my mom can join my dad down in Houston. I am really sad to see them go but I am excited to see what God has in store for them in Houston!!

Happy Birthday Daddy!!!

2008-07-21T23:11:00.005-04:00

Today John turned 35, and Bailey was so excited that it was Daddy Birthday. We got stuff to make a cake and she has been asking for days to make it! Today was the big day...so after Daddy left to work we started baking!

After we got back from lunch and we got Ben down for his nap it was time to decorate the cake! Bailey got to pick out what was going to be on Daddy's cake. First she wanted to do a Tinker Bell cake but....we decided Daddy should have a boy cake. Finally Bailey decided on Diego because he was a boy but we had to have a few pink candles and a lot of sprinkes!

When Daddy got home from work we went out to eat with some family and friends. We ate at one of John's favorite places..Shogun's. Bailey thought it was fun watching the cook but was a little scared of the fire. Ben just like throwing his rice on the floor:) We had a good dinner and then came back to the house to have our yummy cake!!

HAPPY BIRHTDAY DADDY!! WE LOVE YOU:)

Ben is Walking

2008-07-19T22:33:00.007-04:00

This week I had some of the girl counselors over at my house for small group time. We were all sitting on the floor in a circle and Ben was playing in the middle. While we were talking he stood up (which he has done before) and started walking to Miss Melanie. The rest of the time he would only walk to her. He would walk a few steps and then stop to clap with the rest of us. Since then he is walking more and more. Bailey loves for him to walk to her and Ben love walking to her laughing all the way.

Pineapple!!

2008-07-16T00:08:00.008-04:00

We finally got Bailey a pineapple. If you read in an earlier post Bailey wanted me to get one at the store after we got a coconut and she did not like it. We found the perfect pineapple and brought it home. We had friends come over and Bailey told them she had to show them something Amazing....it was the pineapple. When we finally cut it open for her to try she loved it. She said the it was Awesome!!

Dora!

2008-07-15T23:49:00.006-04:00

We took Bailey to the Naturals baseball game on Sunday night and Dora was there. Bailey was very excited to see her and told her she loves watching her show. Ben was not to sure of Dora and did not really want to be near her.

After the game is over they let the kids come down to the field to run the bases. Bailey wanted to do it all by herself and would not let John go out there with her. She was one of the smallest kids out there but she ran so hard and thought it was so fun!!

Fun around the house!

2008-07-15T23:35:00.004-04:00

Here are some fun pictures from the past few weeks of the kids playing and having fun around the house. Bailey loves bath time and Miss Erika helped bailey make her hair look silly in the bath tub!Ben is getting so big and is really at a fun age! He is starting to show off and likes to have his picture taken. Some of his favorite things are playing with Bailey's toys (especially if she is playing with it), rolling his balls and feeding himself.

Ben likes to sit in Bailey baby doll stroller. Bailey would push him around in her stroller when he was younger but he is to big for it now.

Family Camp

2008-07-15T23:06:00.011-04:00

Every year at camp around the 4th of July we have family camp. This year we had about 50 families come from all over. This is also a time for the resident staff to be a part of camp. Each family is assigned a counselor to help them during the week. Our counselor this year was Miss Amelia (whom Bailey loves). She was in our youth group when we worked at Kirk in Tulsa...so we have known her for a while. There were lots of fun kid activities including a carnival, fireworks, pony rides and swimming. Our speaker this year shared with the parents about teaching our children the Truth and living out our faith in front of our children. This is one of our favorite parts of the summer! Bailey eating a snow cone with her friend Avery and sliding down the big slide.

Bailey really wanted to bob for apples and I didn't think that she would be able to get one. She not only got one but FOUR! She was really good and wanted to get more but we had to leave some for the other kids:)

Bailey, Ben and Miss Amelia waiting for the fireworks to start.

Bailey swimming with Miss Amelia. She learned how to go under water and blow bubbles. She was so proud of herself!

Coconut!!

2008-06-28T23:03:00.008-04:00

Yesterday Bailey got up from her nap and insisted on going to the store to buy a coconut! I did not even know that she knew what a coconut was but she was sure she wanted one. I was already planning to go to the store when she got up so off we went to hunt for one. We finally found one and she had to hold it all the way home. She was so proud of her coconut. When we got home we poked a hole in the coconut so she could drink the coconut milk. She took one drink and really did not like it. When Daddy got home we broke it open to try the inside. She had a lot of fun breaking it open but did not like the inside either. Next time we go to the store she wants to buy a pineapple and not the ones in a can but a real pineapple! She is such a curious little girl:)

Ranch Families

2008-06-23T21:29:00.006-04:00

I have told many of you about our community that we have here at camp. For those of you that don't know we have about 20 families that live at camp and lots of little ones with 3 families with more on the way! Bailey and Ben both have lots of friends that live here at camp that they see daily. We recently got most of us together to take some pictures so...I thought I would share them with you!

Here are all of our baby boys!

All the boys and baby Blythe...we need some more baby girls:)

Some of Bailey's friends!

Happy Birthday Benny Boy!!

2008-06-19T22:20:00.003-04:00

Wow! I can't believe my little boy is already 1. The time sure did fly by:) We had a great birthday party with all of our friends and family. John got to pick what we did for Ben's party...so it will not surprise you that we had an OU tailgate party. I think our favorite part was when Ben at his cake! We were not to sure if would like it but he LOVED the cake. He had everyone laughing!! Today for his real birthday we took Ben to Fun City for pizza and games. He loved to ride the trucks and play in the balls. After we got home we let Ben and Bailey play in his new water table! It was a great day!

I am so thankful for this little boy. He has brought such joy to our lives. He loves to give hugs and snuggle all the time! He is such a sweet boy and I can't imagine life without him. Happy Birthday sweet boy:)

Summer Camp

2008-06-08T23:14:00.004-04:00

We are now in full swing of Summer Camp. Every week we have around 3oo kids come for a week of camp. We have around 70 college aged students that will be here to serve all summer. One of our favorite things about summer camp is getting to know and minister to the summer staff who have come from all over. This summer we have a guy who is on staff from Australia. It has been really neat to see how God works in other parts of the world and how he brought Andrew here this summer. Our theme this year is Identity. The campers are learning about finding their Identity in Christ. I have attached our theme video that we show every Sunday when the campers arrive to share with them our theme and for them to see a little of what they will do during their week of camp. John and Bailey are in the first part of the video. Before watching the video you will need to pause the music on the left in the green box so you can hear the music on the video.

TJ

2008-05-24T12:11:00.003-04:00

Every year at the camp the group Special Touch comes for a week. Special Touch is a camp for adults with special needs. This is always a difficult week but also so rewarding for the camp. Last year Bailey met a college student with CP named TJ. TJ came back this year and he and Bailey became great friends. We had to find TJ anytime we went to down to camp. TJ could not talk so he used a computer on his wheelchair to talk for him. Bailey loved to talk to him but one of their favorite things to do was to give each other the pound (like a high five but you use your fist). This was a great time to teach Bailey that God made us all different and that we are all special in God's eyes. It made me very proud to watch Bailey with TJ and how she was very gentle and patient with him. I have always had a heart for people with special needs and I think Bailey will too!

Date Night with Daddy!

2008-05-24T12:00:00.005-04:00

The month of May is one of John's busiest times of the year at camp. Bailey is a big Daddy's girl and has really missed getting to spend time with him. On Wednesday night he had sometime off and took Bailey to the baseball game while Mommy and Ben went shopping. Bailey had a great time with daddy and I think daddy had a pretty good time too:)

A Day at the Zoo!

2008-05-24T11:49:00.001-04:00

On Bailey's actual birthday we took Bailey and a friend to the Zoo. Bailey, Lizzy and Ben all had a great time.

Although not many of the animals where out that day. The girls had a great time and it was a beautiful day to be outside!

Bailey is FOUR!!

2008-05-24T11:16:00.018-04:00

Wow I can't believe that my little girl is already four years old!! Bailey wanted to have a princess party for her birthday this year and she wanted to be princess Belle. We had several of our close friends and family over to celebrate her birthday. All of the girls came dressed as a princess and the boys came dressed as their favorite character. We had a policeman, fireman and we can't forget Mr. Rhett who came dressed as the Beast for Princess Belle. All Bailey wanted to do at her party was dance to princess music and have a pinata with lots of candy. All of the kids had a great time!!

Here is Bailey with her good friend Kate and cousin Raegan.

Fun times outside!Presents and Cake!!

Mr. Rhett is a close family friend who Bailey loves!!! Thanks Mr. Rhett for coming as the Beast:)

Cousins!! My sister and I have been trying to get a picture of the four kids for awhile and we finally got one! It is hard to get four little ones to all face the same way for a picture.

10 Years!!

2008-05-16T09:35:00.004-04:00

Today John and I are celebrating 10 years of marriage. WOW where did the time go!! We woke up this morning and just laughed as we had 2 kids crawling all of us...one wanting a bottle while the other wanted juice and to watch Curious George. The past 10 years have brought us both alot of joy. I think one of our favorite memories is standing in the hallway of our fertility doctor's office calling everyone we knew to tell them that we were finally pregnant!!! Being married to John is everything I thought it would be and more. We have 2 great kids, great families and wonderful friends who love and support us. I love John just as much and even more than they day we got married

We plan on spending all day together shopping and having fun. We are going to take a 10 year trip later this year due to Bailey's birthday being on the 18th and with this being John's busy time at camp.

Fishing with Mr. Ryan!

2008-05-14T22:06:00.008-04:00

Mr. Ryan is one of our very good family friends. We call Mr. Ryan "Fitz" ..we asked Bailey one time what Mr. Ryan's nickname was and she said "Foxy" so...Bailey has called him that ever since. Mr. Ryan has been staying at camp all week and decided to take Bailey fishing today. They caught 8 fish!! This was a little hard for Bailey since a 3 year old does not have alot of patience. I think her favorite part was pulling the line back in to see if the worm was still there(which she wanted to do every 5 seconds). Thanks Mr. Ryan for a great afternoon!!

Ben's First Hair Cut!!

2008-05-14T21:48:00.008-04:00

Ben got his first hair cut today. He did so good! I thought for sure that he would cry and it would be hard to hold him down but he sat there like a big boy and ate a sucker. The sucker was by far his favorite part. The only time he cried was when he was done and I took the sucker away. He looks so much older now!! Bailey also got her hair cut today and wanted me to take her picture today too.

Bailey and Belle

2008-05-09T09:37:00.003-04:00

Bailey loves to get all dressed up in her princess clothes. We were playing at MaMa Janet's (my mom) house and Bailey thought it was great that Belle (mom's dog) had a crown to wear too!!

Music Program

2008-05-02T22:43:00.004-04:00

Bailey had her first music program with her preschool class this week. She has been looking forward to this for weeks because she was going to get to sing on stage! Bailey is not at all shy and loves to be in front of people to preform.

After she got up from her nap she was ready to put on her pretty dress and bow. I was a little worried about putting her in a dress because she would be the one to pull her dress up during the program. When we got to the church Bailey went with her teacher and instructed us to go sit down. As the children came out I found myself a little teary eyed because I can't believe my little girl is so big. I was a very proud Mommy!!

John and I joked all week about what funny thing Bailey would do during the performance. They were on the last song when they were counting down on their fingers as they sang. It started with Ten and and as the got to seven we started to laugh because we knew it was coming...as they started singing "six fingers, six fingers" Bailey used the middle finger instead of her pointer. We have been told we need to send the video to America's Funniest Home video. I will try to get it upload so I can post in later. It was quite funny. Although Bailey pulled a funny she did so good and it was very fun to watch.

This is a picture of her class and her Teacher Ms. Cindy...who Bailey loves!!!

My Big Boy!!!

2008-04-22T10:45:00.007-04:00

Ben is getting so big. I feel like I blog about the things Bailey is doing and don't let you know about Ben. I can't believe he is already 10 months old! All with-in 2 weeks he began to crawl, feed himself, pull up and say Momma (which I love). So Mommy is chasing 2 now:) Ben loves his big sister and anything she is doing. Some of his favorite things are playing in Bailey's room, playing with Mr. T's (our dog) food and taking a bath. Anytime I can't find him he is in Bailey's room or standing and looking in the bathtub. He is very loving and loves to give Mommy kisses. I never thought I would love a little boy this much!! I feel very bless by God to have 2 great kids!! Ben loves being outside with his big sister! He is really going to love camp this summer:)

Ben helping Mommy do a little spring cleaning!

Rain, Rain Go Away!!

2008-04-10T22:30:00.005-04:00

Bailey and Ben are both very much outside kids. They both love to be outside and playing around camp. So when it rains all day Mom has to be creative and entertain all day. So needless to say Mom is ready for warmer weather too!! So I decided to let Bailey play in shaving cream like I would have my first graders do to practice their spelling words. Bailey thought it was so much fun and she talked daddy into playing with her too.Bailey wanted Ben to play with her so he got to finger paint with some pudding. It was very funny! The first time he did this he was not to sure about it. This time he loved it and discovered he could eat it too!

Elmo!

2008-04-01T11:18:00.005-04:00

Bailey got to go with MaMa and PaPa Blair to see Sesame Street. Bailey has always loved Elmo and she thought it was great fun to see him Live.

Easter!

2008-03-27T22:02:00.008-04:00

We had a great Easter this year. We spent some time with John's family on Saturday. Bailey had a great time hunting eggs with PaPa Blair. Bailey and Ben both had fun opening their baskets from MaMa and PaPa. I think Ben liked the wrapping more than what was in the basket!

On Sunday we went to church and then had lunch with my Mom and Dad. On the way to their house Bailey asked alot of questions about Jesus and the bad men that put on his crown. I don't think I realized how hard it would be to explain that to a 3 year old. I am very thankful that she ask alot of question and is trying to understand things. I don't think she really understood but is learning little by little:)

Ben had his first peep and LOVED it! I would have never done this with Bailey but with the second child I am more laid back. It made a huge mess but we all got a good laugh watching him. After lunch Bailey, my Mom and I hunted eggs while the boys fell asleep watching basketball.

Flood!!

2008-03-18T19:32:00.009-04:00

Here are some pictures from around camp. The creek that runs through camp is flooding the middle of camp. We are all ready for the rain to stop but it is suppose to rain through the night tonight.

OU Gymnastics

2008-03-15T23:05:00.005-04:00

Bailey went to her first Gymnastics Meet today. We got to see the OU team compete against the U of A Team. Bailey thought is was very cool. She told us the she was going to work really hard in her class so she could do those cool tricks when she was older! Bailey got to meet one of the girls from the OU team, named Hollie, and got her picture taken with her. After the awards ceremony Hollie came and gave Bailey her flower from winning an award for bars and beam. Bailey was in awe! I am sure that will not be the last meet we go to:)

"I will take care of Ben"

2008-03-10T16:16:00.005-04:00

This morning I told Bailey that I was going to take Ben upstairs and get ready. Bailey said, "I can take care of Ben in my room Mommy." So I left Ben playing with some toys in Bailey's room and went to get ready. I could hear them on the monitor upstairs and she was talking very sweet to him. I came to check on them about 5 minutes later and this is what I saw when I walked into Bailey's room. Daddy's going to love this one!:)

California Vacation Pics!

2008-03-01T14:11:00.002-05:00

We had a great time in California! Bailey had a great time at Disneyland and the Beach. I think John had just as much fun taking Bailey to all of his favorite places that he enjoyed as a kid. We got to visit with some of John's friends from high school and eat at our favorite place, In-N-Out Burgers. I always enjoy going to California when we go back but I am always glad to get back to our pace of life!

Ben Update

2008-02-29T14:36:00.000-05:00

Ben did well at his appt. The Dr. feels that Ben is having some small seizures . We will do some more tests in the up coming weeks. Please continue to pray for him and for wisdom for John and I as we decide what is the best treatment for Ben.

Prayer for Ben

2008-02-27T22:34:00.001-05:00

We took Ben to the Dr. due to him having an odd twitch that he does with his head along with rolling his eyes back at the same time. The Dr. was concerned that he might be having small seizures and is referring us to a Pediatric Neurologist in Tulsa. We go tomorrow at 11:30. Please pray that Ben does well during the test and that we get some answers at the appt. We will keep you posted. Thanks in advance for your prayers!

Tagged!!

2008-02-26T23:11:00.000-05:00

I have been Tagged by Jennifer. I will share 5 fun or weird facts about myself:)

1. I like for my house to stay clean, mainly my kitchen. I hate for things to sit on my counters. I keep everything put up like the toaster, coffee maker etc... It makes more work for me to drag it out and put it back but that is how I like it.

2. I like to make up songs in the car on road trips. This makes John laugh alot. Now Bailey is starting to do it too.

3. My favorite in-town and out-of-town restaurant is Chili's and I always order the same thing!

4. I have my own way of spelling things due to my dyslexia.

5. I am very competitive. I like to find games that I can beat John at. If I beat him one time I never let him forget it:) The last thing I beat him at was bowling on the WII!

Daddy Daughter Dance

2008-02-16T22:16:00.002-05:00

John and Bailey went to their first Daddy Daughter Dance tonight! Bailey was so excited all day. She would say that her and Daddy were going to a dance party! By 5:00 she could not stand it anymore and we HAD to put on her dress so she could practice dancing in the living room. Several of the Dad's from camp took their daughters and all of the Moms went out to eat with our boys. After dinner we went by the dance and peeked in the windows to watch. It was very fun! They had a real DJ and lights! We saw them do the macarana:) At the end of the dance they gave all of the girls a rose. I don't know who had more fun..Dad at the dance or Mom getting Bailey all dressed up and watching through the window:)

Here are Daddy and Bailey all dressed for their special night. Bailey loved her flowers Daddy got her to wear on her wrist.

Bailey dancing with her friend Lauren. Our good friend Scott with his daughter Kate.

All Danced Out!!

Gymnastics

2008-02-04T23:32:00.000-05:00

Bailey has been taking gymnastics since she was one. She loves going and learning new things. She does well because she will try anything and not scared of anything! We started going when we lived in Tulsa and then when we moved to the ranch one of my good friends owns her own gym in town. We stated out doing a mommy & me class and now she goes out on the floor by herself. I really like to sit and watch beacuse the mommy & me class was more of a work-out
for mommy:)These are some pictures from her class today. On the bars she is to touch her toes to the bar and then pull her feet through. She loves to swing on the bars! She is also very good at walking on the balance beam. She often tries to do this on the back of our couch.

One of Bailey's favortie things about gymnastics is getting her TWO stamps at the end of class. She likes to get them on her feet or hands. This is a picture of her waiting with a friend from the ranch to get their stamps!

Curious George!

2008-01-30T14:51:00.000-05:00

One of Bailey's favortie shows is Curious George. We have decided that Bailey is our little Curious George. She has gotten into the stage of decorating things and doing craft projects. Bailey decided the other night that she wanted to make a costume for Curious George. She went and found a shoe box and toilet paper rolls all by herself and asked John to help her make a robot costume. She was very proud of it! We are constantly amazed at the things she comes up with. She defiantly keeps Mommy and Daddy on their toes:)

Benny Boy!

2008-01-27T20:41:00.001-05:00

Our Little Benny Boy is growing so fast! It seems just like yesterday we brought him home. He finally learned how to sit by himself and he loves to play with his toys. He also likes to watch and laugh at Bailey run all around him.

Bailey is ready for him to crawl so he can play chase. Mommy is not quite ready for him to crwal yet because then he will get into everything!!

SNOW!!

2008-01-10T12:28:00.000-05:00

This year for Christmas John and I decided not to buy each other Christmas gifts and take a trip instead. We went with a group of friend to Crested Butte, Co. We have had so much fun watching Bailey in the snow. She has never seen much snow before. The day we got there a big storm started and we got 4 feet of snow in two days! This was on top of 60 inch base that was already there. The snow was way over Bailey's head but that did not stop her from playing. Bailey also got to ski for the first time. I was not sure if she would like it or not, but she did great!! It made me realize how big my baby girl was to see her on skis! Some of our friends did not ski so they kept Ben and Bailey went to ski school so John and I could ski too. It was so much fun to ski on that much new snow.

This is the house where we stayed with our friends. It was great not to be in a hotel and to have lots of room. We had a beautiful view from the back porch. We have decided that this will be an annual trip!

Bailey building a tunnel with Mr. Rhett and Daddy!

Fun at the slopes!

We all had a great time but it was nice to get home. I don't think I could live where they had that much snow all the time. I took a least 40 min. to get the kids dressed to go outside to play for 10 min.!!

December

2008-01-08T23:28:00.000-05:00

Sorry it has been so long. December went by so fast!! It was a very busy month. In the middle of the month most of you know about our big ice storm. The ranch did not have any damage and we did not lose power like we did in the last ice storm. We had some of our friends from Tulsa come and stay with us for the week. They have a little boy Ben's age and a little girl Bailey's age. Lizzy and Bailey had so much fun. I think they thought this was a permanent arrangement due to the melt downs we had when it was time for them to go home. They had lots of fun together and it was nice for Mom to have someone entertain Bailey for a week!

Next came my birthday and my Mom's birthday. Bailey had so much fun making a cake for my Mom's birthday and help plan my surprise party. For the next few days after the party anytime I came into the room she would yell SURPRISE!! Mom and I both had great birthdays!

Bailey loved getting to decorate for Christmas this year. We went to my Mom's house to help her put up her trees ( yes my Mom has 7 trees in her house). Bailey did really good at helping and she wanted her own tree...so therefore I am turning into my Mom and got Ben and Bailey their own tree. Bailey love going to sleep with her Christmas tree lights on and was very sad when I took it down.

For Christmas this year we went to John parents house on Christmas Eve eve and spent the night and opened presents on Christmas Eve morning. Then we headed back to our house and my Mom, Dad and Grandma spent Christmas Eve and Christmas Day with us. This year was so fun because it was the first year that Bailey got the whole Santa thing. We made cookies and set our carrots for the reindeer. Bailey was so excited the next morning to see that Santa ate his cookies and left her a note. She then found the play laptop computer that he left for her and the cars that he left for Ben!
Ben's favorite part of Christmas was all the paper!!!

After we opened all of our gifts, put everything together and played with everything it was time to start lunch. Bailey was in charge of the dessert this year. We had been talking all month that Christmas was Jesus' birthday so Bailey wanted to make him a cake. We all had to sing to him too. It was very cute!!

Results

2007-12-05T16:50:00.000-05:00

We got all of Ben's results back today and everything came back normal. Now Mom can stop worrying and maybe get a good night sleep. I think that this means that Ben has a really big brain and is going to be really smart:) Thanks for all of your prayers!!!

Scan

2007-12-04T16:22:00.000-05:00

Ben had his CT scan done today. He did not sleep through the test... so they had to hold him in place. They said the pictures had some motion in them and they would try and read them. If they are unable to read them we will have to put him under and do it again. We should know some results by Wed. afternoon. We will keep you posted. Thanks for your prayers!!

Prayer

2007-11-29T14:43:00.000-05:00

When we took Ben for his 4 month check-up last month the Dr. was concern with his head size. They asked us to come back in a month to remeasure his head. We went this week and it is still measuring big so we will take him on Tuesday, Dec 4th to have a CT scan done. They will be looking for fluid on his brain. Please be in prayer that he sleeps through it so we don't have to give him meds to make him sleep and that they will not find anything. The Dr. said that he could just have a large head. We will keep you posted. Thanks

Fun with Daddy!

2007-11-29T14:00:00.000-05:00

Bailey and Ben love playing with Daddy. On Thanksgiving day John got up with the kids (so mommy could sleep in:)) to make pancakes and watch the parades on TV. Bailey liked watching all the big balloons and the kid floats. John has been training her since birth to like football. The OU band was in the parade and as soon as she heard them she started yelling Boomer Sooner!! I think this is brainwashing:) After they ate they played football in the living room. Bailey also likes to wear John's Dallas Cowboys football helmet. She likes to fumble the ball so John will tackle her. Ben has no chance with those two!!

For Thanksgiving we enjoyed spending time with John's family in Tulsa. We had lots of food including Bailey eating 4 slices of pie:-....We paid for that later! We also got to see John's Grandmother who had been in the hospital that week. It was good seeing her. She had not met Ben yet and the kids really seemed to brighten her day.

Toilet Paper!

2007-11-11T20:21:00.000-05:00

This is my first attempt at this....I read the blog of one of my good friends from high school. My Mom and Grandma always love to hear funny stories about the kids. I thought this would be a fun way for all you to here fun stories.

Those of you that know Bailey Bug know that she can be quite funny! The other morning she came upstairs to tell me that she cleaned Ben up. Ben spits up alot and she likes to help, so I didn't think anything of it. When I came downstairs a few minutes later I saw that she wrapped him all up in toilet paper. She then told me that he was really messy! Bailey loves to help take care of Ben. She likes to watch TV with him in her little chair and cover him up with her special pink blanket. I am waiting for the day that she decides he needs to play dress up! Daddy will love that one:)