I am one proud mama...

...and Brenna is pretty proud herself.

Brenna read this entire book, Dick and Jane! That is 193 pages!!!!!
Brenna took the book to school to show her friends and teachers. Mrs. P. gave her a certificate to congratulate her on working so hard. (It took her about a week.)

I hope Brenna loves reading as much as her Grandma and Grandpa do. I am excited about where that will take her.

Bailey Art Gallery

I decided to redo the end of our hallway for displaying the girls art projects.
Brenna calls it our Art Gallery. I anticipate that I will change this constantly as new art comes home. But for now, this how it looks.
The two on top, Brenna created on the computer while I was at the shop. The two retangular ones were done by the girls this summer (the pictures of the girls were taken while they were painting on those canvases). The tree is one Brenna did at school while they were reading Chicka Chicka Boom. The leaves are her hands.

Git-r- done

I can only image that every person in my direct family is shaking their head at this!

Saturday - A day in our city

We had a wonderful weekend!!!

Josh got up early and worked with the Day in the City program at church. He and the rest of our class (and the Empty Nesters class) were in a neighborhood that has several elderly residents. They spend a good part of the day trimming trees, shaping bushes, painting houses, and clearing debris. The girls and I wondered over there mid morning hoping to find a job they could do. But first, Brenna presented this...


(Thank you, Grammy!)

So, we got wiped down and headed to find a job for little helping hands to do. When we got there, we quickly figured out there really were not jobs for us. So, I made up a job. We gathered acorns. (Hey, you do what you gotta do when you tell your kids they are going to help other people!) We also helped clean up after the lunch they provided.





And then, finally, after naps, we got to go to Frontier City!!! The hospital where Josh works rented out (for lack of a better term) Frontier City for the day and all the employees got to go for free. It was wonderful!! I didn't know what to expect, but it turns out I got a couple of thrill seeking girls. Of course, Piper was too little to do most rides, so we got to hang out and watch a few times, but she did fine with that as well.
Brenna and Daddy on the Pirate Ship. She said this hurt her tummy and scared her a little bit, but was SOOOOOO fun.
Brenna and Piper rode the Teacups and Train by themselves. We could hear both girls squealing during the Teacups. Turns out Pipers were not so much squeals of delight.

Of course, the Carousel. Twice.


And finally, the Ferris Wheel! This was a great note to end on. They both absolutely loved it. Piper loved that her hair flew up when we were moving and Brenna spotted OC's clock tower from the top.

Randomness with a camera

We also went to the High School Musical on Ice. You can read more about that here, here, and here. After it was over, we rode the space needle. This is my favorite picture from the day. Oh, and of course, I LOVE all the ones Brenna took of every animal in the petting zoo!!


Brenna has been taking lots of pictures lately. Some are worth keeping. Some are not. She took this one of herself by herself. I think it is actually on the best pictures we have of her.

We were playing around with their blankets.

Do you want to play a game? It's called....

...uh...Balloon Ball.

If you have ever played a game with Brenna, you know you just can't win. And if you play imagination with her, you will never be able to it right. Do I lie, Grandma, Grandpa, Grammy, Aunt Jaye...?

Here is proof!!!

Balloon ball from Josh Bailey on Vimeo.

Did anyone see the sunrise this morning?

I sat on my back porch this morning with a cup of coffee and quietness. The breeze was wonderful.

Just as light started appearing, Piper came outside with her 5 blankets and teddy bear to join me. She curled up in my lap and snuggled in. I felt the breeze and listened to the birds and with my eyes closed, told God "It just can't get any better than this." Then, in all God's glory, He once again showed I have no idea what I talking about.

Piper patted by shoulder, which got me to open my eyes. I followed her point to the most beautiful sky. We couldn't see the horizon, but the clouds were turning a beautiful vibrant pink and the blue sky peeked between them. Piper and I sat there very still enjoying God's beauty as the clouds turned to pink to orange and then to white. And just after the pink hues went away, Piper said "Breakfast time!"

It was a glorious way to start my day.

Prayer Request

Please pray for Bob. He is a great man that will spread God's word in any situation. I know good will come from this, but the family needs your prayers for peace and strength.

We love you Bob, Debbie, Karyn and Damon.

ugh

There are days when my vow to allow my girls to choose their own clothing haunts me worse than others. Today is one of those days.



There are new posts below

Hide and Seek

I will say they are getting better at finding hiding places. Now I need to teach them to stop giggling while they are hiding!

on the far side of our bed

on their toilet

under B's covers (this was actually a great place to hide, except for the giggling.)

in their closet, hugging the shoe holder

Until I get my stuff together for another post...

...enjoy this!

Apron Making

The girls have been helping me a lot in the kitchen lately. Now that I am home to cook and bake. It is a good teaching activity for all of us. Brenna learns about measurements. Piper learns about taking turns and sharing. And Mama learns about patience!!!!

The girls have also been wanting to wear an apron while we cook because I do. So...I decided to make the apron process an activity too. This time Brenna learned about measures (too much vs. too little paint). Piper learned about taking turns and sharing. And Mama learned about patience. :)

I had to completely abandon my control issues and let them have fun with this. Turns out that once I released my issues, I had fun, too!
Now we all have matchy aprons. Does it get better than that with a side of cake batter beaters? I think not!!

This is our life!

My dad sent me this. Hilarious, but true.



Thanks Pa!!

My guess is he didn't anticipate this to follow...


By the way, this was not the case when I was growing up nor is it the case in my family currently...but with 2 girls, I think it might be coming!

New Blog

I've started a new blog as an experiment... go check it out.

Anonymous Truths

Somebody get the ball rolling and answer the first question.

Our week

In no particular order....


We cleaned the garage. OK, they played (quite well) while the garage was being cleaned.



We made cookies. (Check out how far she is off the ground. This kid has amazing guns!)

We did laundry.

We entertained Nemo.

We picked up Brenna.

We were absolutely adorable.

Walking Queen.....Princess....ok, duchess.

Even though I prefer acapella singing in corporate worship, i gotta say this song (click here, Mom), will get you around the block!! (Mom,any phrase in the light grey color is a link to something else.)

I have been walking in the mornings and listening to my ipod (a congrats gift to myself for closing my shop!). I have been enjoying all my favorite radio songs. This playlist includes songs that make me want to move and sing along. Many of them I really wouldn't want a grandparent to read the lyrics of because they really have nothing positive to offer my start to the day, just a great beat to get me moving. Don't get me wrong, they aren't horrible songs, but seriously, how does 'Dancing Queen' or 'Love Shack' help me have anything intelligent in my brain.

Anyhooo....I took the time yesterday to make a play list of Worship Jamz. I used that this morning. I gotta tell you, I ended up adding about 1/2 mile to my routine because I felt so good and wanted to keep going. I know it wasn't because I was physically refreshed and ready to add more "workout". It was entirely because I was praising God while walking. I give him credit for the extra steps (I give him credit for my weary bones getting out of bed at 5:40AM - yes, I shouted a.m. Ugh!).

I just wanted to encourage any of you who do listen to music while exercising to consider Worship Jamz. Most of us know these lyrics and are emotionally moved by them, and now you can be physically moved by them as well. (Blessed by Your Name ws my warm up song.)

Dancing Queen

Only a grandparent would enjoy this. Anyone else should feel NO duty to watch any part of this silly, little slice of life video. We'll just call this a video-downloading experiement.


Dancing Queen from Josh Bailey on Vimeo.

When digging through some old photos for the bad hair contest, I found these.

These are my girls from college. We are scattered all over this great nation...well, if things go as prayed for, we will be West coast(ish), East coast(ish) and the Midwest
I miss them so much it makes my heart hurt.

So much to catch up on...

First of all, Grandpa Bailey is doing much better. The doctors got some infection under control and now that sweet man is pestering all the nurses as we knew he should. Thanks for you prayers. The God we serve is a good and gracious God!!

Hours after my last post my fam loading up and headed out on our first major road trip. We were to see Grandma and Grandpa in Ohio. Thankfully, Aunt Kathi lives half way from here to there so we had a great pitstop location. We were in Ohio for a week and had a WONDERFUL time!! I can't possibly include enough pictures to do the trip justice, so here are some highlights.
Turns out our girls are GREAT travelers. Even for two days straight! They did better than the adults, and NO TV!!!
hanging with Grandpa



Friday was my Mom's Relay for Life. I HAD to be there for her. They had a fantastic team. Their church had over 47 people show up to help work the station and encourage the walkers. (As a side note, I think Mom and Dad have one of the most outgoing, loving and supportive congregations I have ever seen. They greet us with great,sincere hugs every time we darken the door. And they are the eatingest-I know, not a word- group of folks! They have at least fellowship meal every week. Literally, and more in the summer. The friends my parents have made while living there have blessings to us all.) Several members of our extended family attended Relay as well. It really was a great event. I was exhausted, but it was so worth it. I didn't take ONE picture. If you did, will you send me copies?

It was a wonderful visit filled with great memories. Brenna got to ride her first motorcycle and canoe. What a treat for her.

And then we got home Tuesday evening to prepare for the next main event...
The FIRST DAY OF SCHOOL!!!
Brenna has been excited beyond words about this. There has been a count down for several days. I am thankful to have a child that is confident in herself enough to walk into a new place and join right in. She didn't even hesitate once.

All the parents got to stay and hear a story (The Kissing Hand) before abandoning their children in the real world. The little boy beside her was having a hard time leaving his mama, and mama was having a hard time leaving him. THIS mama actually did okay. It wasn't until she hopped back in the car and started telling me about her day that I broke. She seemed so big, so confident, so thrilled. My heart swelled until my tears spilled over.
This is Ms. P. She came to the house the day we left on our big trip to meet B. I can't tell you what a difference that made for all of us.

There is the update. Now I'm off to blog stalk. I have missed keeping up while we gone.

Please pray for Grandpa. It looks like he might be going Home before we are ready to say goodbye.


He has done a lot of living in his 89 years. But if he can have a few more good ones, we'd like to keep him around. He is a pretty incredible man! Please, God?!