Family trip to Dallas

We decided to do one last hurrah before school started... to kind of end off the summer. Well, it didn't exactly go as planned because we weren't able to get a reservation (at a good price) until the Friday after school started. That was okay, not much could be happening on day 4, right? We left right after school on Thursday, because I had a Dr. Appt. in Lawton. We got to the hotel around 9:00 and the fun would soon begin. There is just something magical about hotels! The kids were so excited to pick their beds, set up the hide a bed, and turn on the TV. For some reason TV is so fun in a hotel. Maybe because they get to be laying in bed to watch it!
Friday morning we had a yummy breakfast and then headed to the mall.... we were going to the American Girl Doll Store!!
We were meeting up with our good friends the Neilsons so we decided to wait for them to go to the AG store. The girls begged and begged to go ice skating, and we gave in. It was the first time for all of them and they loved it!! (Maile stayed by the wall the whole time!

We also got to eat some yummy fries!

Then we were off to doll heaven! The kids were excited to see their friends and spend their summer reading money! They each got to choose one outfit for their doll! (that was lucky because you could potentially spend lots of dinero there...... girls are expensive!)

Well, our ultimate destination was the Great Wolf Lodge!! Such a fun place. It is a hotel with a huge indoor water park and this one even had an outdoor pool/park also! We had been to one in Virginia in 2005 and were excited to go back!

Look at all those blondies!! So fun to be with the Neilsons!

Here is our crew out in front of the hotel!

This is right inside the lobby. You can see the indoor park in the background! They are ready to go!!
Micah and the boys.

Here are the girlies! They played hard for 1 1/2 days!

Ashton was crazy about this slide and would walk up to the top and go down by himself... he wanted to do it all day long! It was really cute!

Kennedy and Grace in the outdoor pool.

Ashton had fun sitting on this little bike thingy, but never quite figured out how to squirt it!

But Maile and Landon mastered it!

Here are Landon and Jaike. They are best buddies and have known eachother since they were about 3 months old! They sure had fun together!

By the end of the second day the kids were soo exhausted! They played hard! We left the waterpark when it closed at 9:00 pm. We hit the Wendys drive through and went to a different hotel (cheaper since we were done with the park). Both boys fell asleep in the car and we carried them upstairs to the room. They never woke up... not for dinner, diaper changes,pj's, or anything! It was really funny!

The kids loved riding on the luggage cart. (it's that hotel magic again). Check out that cute cheesy grin!

A sure sign of a successful family vacation.... a happy, licorice covered boy in a carseat!

We had a blast! It was so fun to see friends and spend great time together as a family!

Sweet Emma

We sure love our Emma!! She is so smart and spunky and brings so much love and fun to our home. I just wanted to write a little about her and share a couple of pix. She LOVES to have her picture taken and sometimes just gets all dressed up and comes to me and says "mom, will you take my picture?" or she'll be lovin' on the boys and yell "mom, take our picture". She is such a good little girl and a wonderful helper. (and a professional dishwasher emptier I might add) She loves her brothers and sisters sooo much and often asks if she can stay home and babysit them! (don't I wish!!) I love Emma's love of life and the way she loves others. She is a smart girl and is doing great in school. She is a great reader and LOVES to read!Did I mention she is also pretty funny!! This is one of her fun bathtime moments! She always makes us laugh!! We are thankful to have Emma in our family!!

We love you so much miss Emma!!!

Don't forget me!

What with everyone starting school this last couple of weeks we didn't want to leave sweet Ashton out! :) He has a little playgroup with some "baby buddies" 2 days a week for a couple of hours a day. He loves it! It gives us moms some time to get things done, spend time at the older kids school, or just be alone! :) The 1st one was at Jodi's house and they all seemed to have a good time! We snapped a couple of pix on our way out the door! Gosh he is cute!

Here are the 3 little ones together having a delicious snack of goldfish. (Bella was born in November, Ashton in December, and Cade in January! We are just missing their little buddy Ryan who was born in February. They have literally known eachother their WHOLE lives!) I love Cade's face in this picture, it's like "mom, why are you taking my picture when I'm busy eating with my peeps!

Here they are watching the laundry spin. It doesn't take much to entertain this crew!!
On a side note and somewhat speaking of laundry, I wanted to include this picture. Since all the bigger kids are off to school on Mondays, I needed to put Ashton to work! Here he is pulling a basket of clean clothes to my room for me so I can fold them. You never can get them started too early!! What a big helper and he does it all with a smile. Sure makes a mom proud! :)

All 3 Bahr girls start school!!

Okay, so the girls started school on August 11th (way too early in my opinion :) ) We have a thing in our family that we pick out our clothes the night before so that the morning will go by smoothly. Well, Monday night before school we did just that. The girls had everything laid out and were really excited. Every night before we (Micah and I) go to sleep, he checks on the kids......this is what he found!!!
They were so excited that at some point, while we were in our room, they came out, put their school clothes on and proceeded to fall asleep. (Maile apparently wasn't in on this little escapade) We were cracking up!! We took some pix and returned them to their jammies so their school clothes would be somewhat fresh! :)

Here is miss smiley Maile. She was so thrilled to be starting kindergarten and to go to the same school as her sisters. She kept saying "I get to see Kennedy and Emma at school". She has the same teacher that Emma had last year. Her name is Mrs. Walling and she is wonderful!

Here is Emma all ready for 1st grade! They wanted to match each other, so incidentally Maile's little shrug was WAY too big as she had to wear one of her sisters! Emma is lucky enough to have Jennie McLeod for her teacher. (The same teacher Kennedy had for kindergarten)

Kennedy is starting 3rd grade this year. Wow!! Where does time go? She loves school and was very excited to be starting again. (although she too wished summer was a couple weeks longer)

My 3 girlies! I am so thankful for them and the good girls that they are. So many people were so glad for school to start, but I miss them. I know it is good for them (and let's be honest the house is much more quiet during the day) but it is always nice to have them home. Landon and Ashton miss them tons too! Landon wakes up and says "where are the sisters"? It is really cute. They are lucky to have each other and I love how they look out for each other.

Thanks to Ashley we have this picture of Maile in her classroom. She looks pretty happy wouldn't you say? Let's just hope this enthusiasm for school holds out!

Here is Maile's good little friend Isaac. She was so excited to see him lined up that she barely even said goodbye to me! She is so happy to have a friend go to her school. She rushed right out of the car door to give him a hug! Yay for friends!

Landon starts preschool!!

Look at that handsome dude!! Hard to believe our 1st boy is going off to school.... OK, so it is only preschool, and only on Monday's, but he thinks he is hot stuff!! He was so excited to be able to go to "his school" and loves to tell his sisters that they don't go to his school. It is actually a mothers day out program at the Methodist church here in town. He had a great day!!

He was excited to have a new backpack and lunchbox and wanted to carry his "map" (actually his mat for naptime).

When we 1st got there, he was a little nervous, but cheered up when Anna arrived. This is one of many pictures that are sure to make the cut for their wedding video. :)

He is lucky enough to have his two friends Anna and Georgie in his class. I like to refer to them as "Landon and the ladies"! Quite a goodlooking trio wouldn't you agree?

All in all it was a good day for him. It was weird not to have him at home (especially since the elementary school didn't start until the next day so the older kids were all still home), but I know he had a great time!!

We LOVE you Landon!!

Kennedy and Emma meet "real life" drama

The Missoula Children's Theatre came to Altus last week and fun was to be had by all! (That is right, even in small town Altus we get big time opportunities! :) ) It is actually a really amazing thing. Kennedy and Emma showed up on Monday to audition, received their parts, practiced everyday the rest of the week and then performed in the play "Princess and the Pea" on Saturday afternoon! Everyone was able to memorize their lines, songs, etc. in just one short week! The girls had a blast and really learned a lot! I am glad our friend Shalisa has been telling me for the last year how wonderful it is... she was right! And, it is on base and totally free!! I'm tellin' y'all, Altus has a lot to offer!!!

It has given the kids a different perspective on movies. The other day they were watching High School Musical 3 and Kennedy said "Wow! They had a lot of lines to memorize!"

We went to the play with the rest of the family and it was awesome. They did a great job and it was soo fun to watch!
Emma was a Dust Bunny, and a very cute one at that! She is so animated and did a wonderful job with her singing and dancing. Theater may be just up her alley!

Kennedy was a "big blizzard bringer" in Glacierdom. This is a picture of the whole kingdom of Glacierdom.

Here she is posing as a polar bear!

All big stars deserve some flowers at the end of a hard days work! Good Job girls!!!