Bringing Up Bates "A New Baby Born and Love All Around"
- The Bates are planning their annual I Love
You Day celebration, which will be coupled with Mama Jane’s birthday party. The
theme is “down on the farm.”
- When everyone arrives for the festivities, the older sisters
go out for pedicures and girl talk. Erin and Carlin tell the story of how Erin set
Carlin and Evan up. It’s actually quite simple. Kelly was speaking at a banquet,
and Evan was sitting at a table with Carlin and Erin. Carlin explains what happened: “[Erin] is like, ‘So, you
know, I really would like you to be my brother-in-law. I mean, Carlin’s single.
Are you single?’”
- Tori drops a bombshell: She’s getting married in May! Her
sisters are shocked, but then she clarifies....next May, after she finishes school.
- “I’m not planning my wedding,” says Tori. “I’ll pick my
colors, and then everyone else plans it.” What if everyone disagrees? “Then I
say y’all fight it out,” says the bride-to-be. “I ain’t doing it.”
- The night before I Love You Day, all the couples have a
steak dinner at the rental cabin where the out-of-town guests are staying. Nathan
delivers Tori and Bobby but is quickly asked to leave. “Come back when you’ve
got a girl,” says Kelly.
- When I Love You Day finally rolls around, Mama Jane is shocked
when Gil and Kelly present her with a new rocking chair, made by Chad, that has
everyone’s signatures shellacked on it.
- “Oh my gosh!” exclaims Mama Jane. “You children are way too
much! I don’t want to ever die.”
- Kelly leads the clan in a bunch of fun, farm-themed games,
including a pig calling contest.
- Later, Zach and Chad take Bobby and Evan shooting.
They also share relationship advice. “Our boys are very protective of their sisters, and no guy
is good enough,” says Kelly.
- Opening gifts takes more than an hour with so many people.
Michael causes tears to flow when she passes out heart key chains with Kelly’s
father’s handwriting on them. They say “I love you. In His grace, Granddad
Callaham. Psalm 56:3.”
Bringing Up Bates "The 'Cubs' Land in Chicago"
- It’s January, and the five youngest Bates boys are staying
with Michael and Brandon in Chicago while Gil, Kelly, and Carlin are in
Australia and New Zealand for speaking engagements. “Mom said she was leaving
the country, and I said, ‘Can I have all the little kids?’” shares Michael. “And
she said I could have half of them.”
- It takes the boys a few days to adjust to the Keilens’ house
rules. They aren’t used to going to bed at 9:30 and waking up at 7:30, nor are
they used to healthier food choices.
- Jackson’s reaction to Michael and Brandon’s breakfast crepes is
priceless: “Michaela fed us pancake looking things, like a taco pancake with
fruit in it.”
- Michael bakes gingerbread and leads the boys in a
gingerbread house decorating contest. She makes a rule that they can’t eat any
candy while they are working, which is a difficult concept for her brothers to
grasp. “At our house, when you’re making the gingerbread house, you can eat the
candy as you’re making it,” says Jackson. “Here…if you eat the candy, you lose
the privilege of eating the gingerbread house.”
- Michael and Brandon also tell the boys the medieval story
that they wrote and are in the process of turning into a picture book. Later, they
take the boys to Medieval Times, a medieval-themed dinner theater that
features a jousting performance.
- Although her brothers have tested her patience, Michael has
had a blast and says she will cry when they leave. “They’ve been so fun, but it’s
like having a full-fledged family, suddenly,” says Brandon. “They’ve
been a lot of fun, but I’m not going to lie, I’m going to have a sigh of
relief.”
- Back in Tennessee, Josie takes the film crew to her cosmetology school. “…It’s a very practical thing,” she says. “I could use it
after I got married and do it from my home.”
- “…Being homeschooled and then going to college is a world of
difference,” says Josie. “The social aspect is very different…and I guess being
by myself was very different…” Courtney Green, a family-friend of the Bates, is
also in cosmetology school with Josie.
- Later, Josie styles Carlin’s hair at home. Tori comes in
with a bob cut died black and freaks Carlin out. It turns out to be a wig.
