Wednesday, December 31, 2008

Bed

I've heard the wise advice to leave a child in the crib until they climb out or you have to have it for the next baby. I was beginning to think we would be moving Anthony's crib to college with him. He had never attempted to get out. He's nearly three years old! A few weeks ago we started having some problems with Aiden climbing into the crib with Anthony, but we never had a problem with Anthony climbing out. I was relieved. Aiden was in need of a toddler bed before he was two, although I didn't break down and actually move him until he turned two.

Then, last week, all four of us were napping at the same time. It's a rare phenomenon around here. Suddenly I heard voices and realized the boys were awake from nap. I got up and went to get Anthony out of his crib only to have him run to me from the living room. I was shocked!

I asked, "Anthony, did you climb out of your bed?"

"No, I falled!"

He was so serious when he said it. It was too cute and very hard not to laugh at his pain. Sure enough there was a huge red mark on his forehead. So, this is a picture of Anthony's last night in his baby bed.
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Today, he helped me assemble his big boy bed. Do you think he likes it?
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I think he loves it! Look at that mischevious grin! Do you think we'll ever get any sleep???
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Luckily, my little one still loves his sleep, just like his Mommy!
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Have you ever seen anything so precious as a sleeping child?

Christmas

We had a wonderful Christmas Day! Here's a glimpse of our day in pictures!

Presents!
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Guitar! Aiden's favorite gift.
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Anthony's favorite is his camera. I don't have a picture of that though, because evidently the camera has changed a bit since Aiden got his last year for his birthday. Instead of taking the AA batteries that Santa bought for it, it required AAA batteries. Poor Anthony didn't get to play with his main gift on Christmas day.

My favorite gift. My sweet husband handmade this placard for our business. I am the CFO (chief financial officer) and co-founder of Bailey, Inc. I am the CEO for AJ2, the subsidiary company of Bailey, Inc. He used my "clients" to give it a "hands-on" feel. I love it. There's more to it, but I have to finish assembling it. I'll take another picture when it is hung.
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Stockings! Both boys picked up their really cool Mickey Mouse underwear that Santa was really excited about, looked at it, threw it aside and continued to look for something fun! Ha!
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Ball!!!!
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Anthony was so excited because he thought Daddy got a box of wipes!
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Cooking!
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We all got really neat shirts from Mimi and Papa! They have Cracker Landing on them. That is the name of the house on Little Gasparilla Island, our favorite place in the world. I love the shirts!
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Merry Christmas!

Wednesday, December 24, 2008

Christmas Eve

Today was a wonderful day! Patrick did some last minute shopping. Then, I did some last minute shopping. :)

Max found a new place to sleep, the drawer with the dish towels in it.

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We had a good time of worship at Maple Avenue Christian Church. The boys loved seeing Mrs. Lauren and Mr. Tom. We got there a little late though, so we had to sit in the overflow section! It was packed! Then, we came home and ate our traditional Christmas Eve meal of Kentucky Fried Chicken in honor of my precious Japanese friends. It was yummy!

We took pictures in front of our Christmas tree. (The boys were not impressed with this idea.)

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We made oatmeal raisin cookies for Santa Claus. Daddy and Aiden talked about it earlier in the week and decided that was the kind of cookies Santa Claus would like. Mommy really thought Santa Claus would like some chocolate chip cookies too. So, we made both.

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And we opened our first present! New Jammies!!!

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Now the boys are safely tucked away in bed. I wonder when Santa will be here???

Merry Christmas from the Baileys!

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Merry Christmas!

Christmas Eve Gift!

Tuesday, December 23, 2008

Christmas Traditions

We have several wonderful traditions in our family for Christmas. One of my favorites is buying our Christmas ornaments. We choose ornaments for the boys and one for our whole family.

This year we finally bought ornaments for each of our babies in heaven.

Hannah Grace - December 18, 2005

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Colin Michael - August 25, 2006

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Airen Lee - November 1, 2007

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Dash Liam - August 11, 2008

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I did great picking these out and telling them what to write on them, until the man stopped and said, "I've never seen Airen spelled like that." My immediate thought was, "I've never seen her either." We finished and I cried a little, but am so happy we finally were able to do this for our babies.

We looked high and low for the perfect ornament for our little boys. For some reason, these mischievous little rascals jumped out at us. I just love them!

Aiden's

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Anthony's

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And here is our family ornament.

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We definitely feel like we're living in an igloo!!! It's been cold here! We're excited because today it got up into the 20's!

What is your favorite Christmas tradition?

What's in your hair?

Hairdresser to Aiden: "I'm just going to blend this a little bit."

Aiden to Hairdresser: (looking very confused) "No, I don't have a blender in my hair, it's just red."

Entire hair salon: Laughter until it brought tears!

Friday, December 19, 2008

A Disney Christmas?

Me: (singing) "Jingle Bells, Jingles Bells, Jingle all the way! Oh what fun it is to ride . . ." (You get the idea!)

Aiden: (very distressed!) "NO MAMA!!! It's Tinkerbells!"

Our Week in Pictures

We had snow, snow, snow! Ready to go play! Doesn't he look like a Smurf???
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First sled run of the season! You can't see him, but Aiden is in front of Daddy on the sled. Unfortunately, the camera battery died after this picture. Aiden jumped on a sled and went down the hill all by himself before we knew what had happened. He loved it and is now a sledding solo Pro!
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My sweetheart brought me roses! The beautiful sunshiney color makes it hard to believe it's 9 degrees outside right now!
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First Snowcream of the season!
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Hey, this is yummy!
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Mmmmm, goooooooodddd!!!
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YOU SCREAM, I SCREAM, WE ALL SCREAM FOR SNOW CREAM!!!!!!!!
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Aiden made Puppy Chow for his gift to his Preschool teachers! What? I have chocolate where???
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Preschool Christmas Party was so much fun!
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Aiden giving Mrs. Cindy her present. He was so proud!
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Happy 3rd Heaven Day Hannah Grace! We miss you baby girl!
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Ice Storm 20008


So, I didn't sleep much last night. I spent the majority of the night praying my huge tree in the front yard didn't go through our windows. Here are a few pictures of the front of our yard!
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So glad we're all safe! But not looking forward to the clean-up!!!!

Tuesday, December 9, 2008

A New Adventure!

My sweet husband, Patrick, wrote this on his blog:

"Over the past year (actually a little longer than a year) Angie and I have been praying through and considering the idea of working with and/or leading a Next Gen Church plant here in Illinois. There have been tons of questions and tons of fears but in the end we believe this is the directions that God wants us to go. We have gone through the formal assessment process and as it stands right now we will be seeking to work with a lead planter probably somewhere in the Western Chicago Suburbs (think Aurora area). We do not have a lot of details at this time but we would ask that you take some time to pray for us as our family will be going through a tremendous amount of transition over the next few months.

As we move further along in this journey both Angie and I will make sure and pass along the details. We are excited about this new opportunity and look forward to joining God in the work He is already doing in the lives of people."

I am so excited about this new adventure God has planned for us! And I'm a little scared. Please pray for us!

Sunday, December 7, 2008

Someone's Doing Something Right

Patrick has a famous phrase in our home, it goes something like this, "maybe, just maybe, we're doing something right." It gets said when one of our boys "gets it" and makes us proud.

Over the Thanksgiving holidays Aiden made me proud and I just want to share. We were shopping with my Mom and our niece and the boys at a mall in Abilene. It was prior to Thanksgiving, so I was surprised to see that Santa was already out hearing children's wishes. The children got very excited when they saw him. So, we asked if they wanted to go talk to him. There wasn't even a line! We were planning on getting their picture made, but once we saw the exorbitant amount of money for a package (you couldn't just get one picture), we decided to put that off for another day. So, I thought, we need to Prep them for this, help them tell him what they want for Christmas. So, I asked C.J. what she was going to ask Santa for and she named princesses, mermaids, and a very detailed list of toys for me. So, good, she's got the right idea. So, I turned to Aiden and I said, "Aiden, what do you want to tell Santa?" And to my shock and surprise this is what he replied,

"That it's Jesus' birthday. Christmas is God's birthday."

Wow! I got tears in my eyes. My three year old understands Christmas better than I do sometimes. Somewhere we did something right!

Now, unless you think I'm bragging . . . both Aiden and C.J. sat in Santa's lap. Anthony was very content to watch the whole affair from the safety of the stroller. C.J. was a little shy and after naming off that long list for me the only thing she would say was "toys." Aiden, on the other hand, began giving a long list of specific toys he wanted. So, I prompted him, "Aiden, what did you want to tell Santa about Christmas?" And Aiden said, "Christmas is God's birthday!" Santa stuttered a bit. He wasn't quite sure what to do with that little red head on his knee. I hope it made Santa think a little bit.

Isaiah 11:6

The wolf will live with the lamb,
the leopard will lie down with the goat,
the calf and the lion and the yearling together;
and a little child will lead them.

(emphasis mine)

Thursday, December 4, 2008

Funny Times

Several things have happened recently that just made me laugh out loud!

Broken Eyes

We spent some time in Texas visiting Nan and Grandaddy recently. The last night we were there the boys went to bed very late. Then, I had to wake them up really early, around 5:30, in order to make our flight out of Love Field in Dallas. I went in and picked Anthony up out of his bed. He grunted and curled up into a little ball on my chest, content to snuggle down and sleep some more. I was cheerfully saying, "Wake up Anthony! Wake up Sweetie! It's time to wake up!" But he wasn't waking up. So, I sat him next to me on the bed and tried again.

"Wake up Anthony, open your eyes Sweetie!"

"NO!"

"No? Why not baby?"

"My eyes er bwoken." (translation: My eyes are broken)

It was so cute!!! Poor baby did not want to wake up and open his eyes to those bright lights. But as soon as he heard Grandaddy ask if he wanted a donut things were different! Those little blue peepers flew open and he asked for "chawquit!" (translation: chocolate)

Our New Pet

When I was a little girl I had an imaginary cat. Her name was Snowball. She was a beautiful long haired, solid white kitten with blue eyes. I would carry her everywhere with me. Snowball stayed with me as an "imaginary pet" for many years. I haven't thought about Snowball in years.

Monday, as we were boarding the plane, Aiden told me he saw a cat. I thought, "hmm, someone has a cat in a carrier on board." Then, I saw that Aiden had his two little hands cupped in front of him like he was carrying something. I asked him what he was doing. He said, "Carrying Cat Mommy." Oh, of course, why didn't I think of that? :) As the day progressed, we found out that Cat was a boy, he was orange and white, and that his name was Lovely. He is evidently very soft and loves to be pet alot. He enjoyed going to the Galleria in St. Louis and he likes to ride in the cup holder of the double stroller. He seems to be a very well mannered cat too, as he asked Max (our very real cat) if he could "Please" share his food. :) I love my little boy's imagination!

What are you drinking?

Anthony: "Whass dat?"

Me: "Kool-aid, Mommy's making Kool-aid to drink at lunch."

Anthony: "Oh, right! Mermaid!"