Bike rides

 This will forever be known as the day Crede learned to ride his 2-wheeler.  His PINK 2-wheeler.  It was a proud day for all.  Chance had to get him to stop crying long enough to pedal.  Once Crede figured out that he was going to do this whether he liked it or not, he actually enjoyed himself!

Way to go Creder.

But then...

He tipped over.  Chance convinced him that an ace bandage was the way to go ~ and he wrapped him up pretty good.  Chance ALSO got out the ol' camcorder and recorded this little episode.  It's pretty funny.  The bandage kept falling off, so Chance found more creative ways to put it back on.  Needless to say, the last "wrapping" made Crede look like a mummy.  I don't think it even made it on his hand.  

Crede was a little ticked off, but that treat afterwards made it all better.  I'm sure glad our kids have a Dad with a sense of humor.  They would slowly die of stress if they were raised by me alone.

Here are pictures of our "wounded".

 

 

 Sad, sad Crede.

Vegas Workshop

I don't know how I did it, but I talked Chance into letting me go to a workshop in Las Vegas ~ by myself.  That means he was home with the kids.  By himself.

I went to high school with an amazing photographer named Jean Smith.  She lives in Detroit, and I was mourning the fact that I would never be able to attend a workshop that she hosted due to the fact that it was in MICHIGAN.  She announced in December that they would be holding one in Vegas, so after a little pleading, and persuading ~ I went!

Can I just say how nervous I was?  I'm such a dork, I know ~ because I'm sure all you women out there are rolling your eyes and asking yourself, "what is the big deal?".  Well I haven't traveled anywhere since I was 12 by myself.  Plus you throw in the fact that I have 5 kids at home, and a husband who I love dearly, and my "what-if" conscience kicks in full gear.

So Chance dropped me off at the airport, I got through security fairly simply (that was another cause of some anxiety...) and I waited.  Here's a photo of the plane next to mine that was being loaded (I knew my kids would get a kick out of that.)

I got on the plane, got my isle seat, and got comfy.  The man who sat next to me started chatting up a nice conversation (which was great) but then quickly started asking me personal info that I wasn't quite so sure I wanted to give out.....ie my hotel, whether or not I was going to go party......you know ~ pretty much I'm a little, um......over-sensitive to that kind of thing.  So I just kind of tried to ignore him, put my ipod ear buds in and didn't really talk the rest of the flight.  

Oh, and I forgot to mention ~ I heart Dramamine, but I forgot to buy any.  So.  I was a little concerned that I would need that doggie bag.  Turns out, I figured the only way I felt sick was by looking out the window.  Go figure.

Here is the view from my hotel window (and what a view it was ladies and gentlemen), and here's our group of workshop attendee's on the Vegas strip just outside of the Venetian.

PS ~ that's Jean in the coral top.

My oh-so-luxurious room.....

And yes, as we were outside Treasure Island, we all noticed this cute mama duck with her babies.  I thought my kids would love this too. :)

Well it was a good 3 days, but I was SO SO glad to be home.  When I got home, my family was at church still, so I had a little quiet time to unpack and enjoy some solitude for a minute before the chaos began once again.  I have to admit ~ when I landed in Salt Lake City, I shed a tear or 2...

Next vacation?  I need my family there with me.  I missed the heck out of them.

Here are the cute signs made by my family.  How do you like the water balloons and painters tape?  Thank you Chance.

Crede's sign...

Grace's sign....

Morgan's sign...

Aaaand Chance's sign.  Really?

Happy Valentines Day!

After taking these photo's of our kids, I got a little nutso and thought it would be "cheap and easy" to make some valentines for our kids.   Morgan, Grace and Crede could take them to school ~ what could be more easy than that?!

Let me just tell you though, it's NOT cheap, nor easy.  I had to buy envelopes (not cheap) and then the printing of the actual photo's was a lot more expensive than I had planned.  THEN there was the fact that I had to still buy candy.

Sheesh.

Let me just say, this MIGHT be the only year that this happens.  I'll see what I think about it next year.  At least they turned out pretty dang cute. :)

Gage:

 Grace:

 Lilah and Morgan:

and Crede:

 

 

Our kiddo's.

 It had been awhile since taking all my kids photo's.  And lately, I have to be honest, I have stressed out about this quite a bit.  I used to be so worried about getting all those "milestone" photo's (3 months, 6 months, 9 months, a year......) and now I realize that it's actually OKAY if I don't.  I try to take photo's of my kids throughout their life, but I have to admit.....it's HARD getting them all together.  These took me an entire day seeing as we have to coordinate lunches, naps, bottle feedings and baby food feedings and then coordinating the "perfect" time when everyone is in a good mood....

This is what we got. :)

Here are all my cute kids.  Enjoy!

 Here's Grace.  She was struggling with this outfit....she basically struggles with ANY outfit.  I was lucky to get some of her actually smiling.

My beautiful Morgan.  She's getting so grown up...

 And of course....Crede.

 

 And Gage ~ he's trouble.

 

 Yep, this is pretty much the expression I got the entire time.  She would NOT crack any kind of smile.

Boogers

 I'm going to preface this post by saying that I don't like boogers.  If my child has a runny or booger-y nose, I wipe it.  I don't let them fester in it, and I certainly don't let them eat it.  **shudder**

BUT.

Lilah had a HUGE cold and each day I would get her up from her nap, or get her up in the morning and see this:

 That's not the end of my story, however.

It got worse.

A few days later I got her up from her nap and saw THIS.

I'm sorry Lilah.

Jazz Game Memories

We had the best time at the Jazz Game tonight.  Chance's parents gave us 6 tickets to use ~ so we invited some good friends to come with us too.  Morgan was ecstatic to be invited, and she had a blast with her little friend that came along.  It turned out to be the best Jazz game in the history of the Bailey family.  Morgan and her cute friend got on the jumbo-tron, our section was chosen as winners, so they threw out tee-shirts, and there were 4 green basketballs launched into the stands.  Guess who caught one of them?  That's right.

Cha ching!!

Right when they launched it I thought, "That's mine."  According to Chance, however, I just stood there and it landed right in my arms.  In MY head, it was a bit more dramatic, but, whatever.  When we got home we had to take a few photo's with it....for posterity's sake.

I had some photo's of Chance spinning it on his finger, but he thought he looked like a dork, and I know he'd be mad at me for posting them on our blog.....oh well.  Morgan wasn't shy about it.

Happy New Year!

Chance always finds a way to make our family happy.  He loves to makes us laugh.  One of the many things he does is this:

He makes us "themed" meals.  It's usually on a Sunday, and it's usually on a day when he's had to go snowplow.  We go to church, and come home to find a feast.  The feast most-likely will consist of a couple bites of sandwich, cookies, crackers, sunflower seeds, chocolate...pretty much anything Chance can find around the kitchen.  He will even decorate on occasion.  Here was our New Year lunch.

We love you Chance. :)