Bates Fall Travels

The Bates have been making the most of fall break. A small group convened down in Florida at Alyssa and John's house for a short celebration of Katie's birthday, as well as a trip to the dress shop to pick up her wedding dress. That was followed by a 48-hour girls getaway in Miami for Alyssa and Katie. While there, they did some bridal shopping and hung out with a friend.

Meanwhile, Josie and Kelton Balka took Willow and Hazel to the beach for a little vacation. And now, Carlin and Evan Stewart are in Missouri for their annual trip with Evan's family.

 

Katie Bates and Alyssa Webster

Photo courtesy of @websterforever

Bates Season 5 Recap Video

With the season six premiere of Bringing Up Bates less than four weeks away, let's take a look back at the most memorable moments from season five.

The Bates boys attended overnight summer camp, Tori started an official courtship with Bobby Smith, Lawson pulled off multiple concerts, the Bates' house nearly burned down, Gil and the kids planned a huge 50th birthday celebration for Kelly (including a visit to Kelly's hometown and childhood house), Alyssa and John welcomed their second daughter, Michaela and Brandon shared their infertility struggles, Gil and Kelly and most of the kids went snow skiing for the first time, and the entire family came together to celebrate I Love You Day...and those are just the highlights! Relive all those moments and more in this recap video.

If you enjoy this blog, check out our other blogs (NashvilleWife.com and DuggarFamilyBlog.com).

Photo/video courtesy of UP

Another Bates Baby On the Way

There's another bun in the oven! UP has just announced that one of the Bates couples is pregnant. Who do you think the lucky expectant parents are? Gil and Kelly? Zach and Whitney? Michael and Brandon? Erin and Chad? Alyssa and John? (Oh my, that's a lot of options!)

The network will reveal the news during the season three premiere of Bringing Up Bates, which is scheduled to air on Thursday, January 7th, at 9pm ET/8pm CT (video below).

Video courtesy of UP

Recap: "All Together Again"

Bringing Up Bates "All Together Again"

• Alyssa and John arrive from Florida. Alyssa is only several weeks away from her due date.
• The entire Bates family gathers to celebrate "I Love You Day" (aka Valentine's Day), which many of the kids say is their favorite holiday. Brandon Keilen, Michaella's boyfriend, flies in to join the celebration.
• "I hope this is the last Valentine's Day before I get married, says Michaella."But if it's not, we'll have another one to celebrate together." (Update: Brandon and Michaella got engaged in April and have set their wedding date for August 15th.)
• Gil and Kelly gather everyone in the living room for a family meeting. Four older men dressed in matching suits stop by to surprise Whitney. They hand her a card and a rose from Zach and sing two love songs.
• "It was the sweetest thing I'd ever seen," says Whitney. "I was proud of myself," says Zach.
• "Gil has always been very thoughtful," says Kelly. "And I think growing up, all of the boys in the family saw it was worth spending your time, your money, your effort on making your marriage fresh and alive."
• Gil and Kelly take all four couples (Zach & Whitney, Erin & Chad, Alyssa & John, and Michaella & Brandon) on a date to a Japanese restaurant. The chef cooks the food in front of them and provides entertainment, as well.
• To celebrate "I Love You Day," the Bates family draws names for a gift exchange. Gil and Kelly encourage the kids to focus on what they will give, rather than on what they will receive. Each family member spends about $25. 
• Later, Gil and Kelly and the younger kids go shopping for gifts. "Whenever we go to any store, my dad starts sweating like crazy," says Lawson. To cut down on costs, Gil goes through the gifts and takes out a few knick knacks that he doesn't think his kids need.
• Back at home, everyone helps prepare for the big Valentine's dinner. As usual, there are a lot of opinions flying around. According to Kelly, the only thing the entire family ever agrees on is to have more kids.
• Lawson and Nathan work out a plan to hang a piñata in the house. They back a crane up to the door and extend the arm through the doorway. "Y'all make the simplest things so complicated!" says Carlin.
• Everyone dresses up in their fanciest clothing and gathers for dinner. Then they distribute gifts, one at a time.
• The kids clap and cheer when Gil receives a new pair of jeans from his "special pal." "We have tried for a very long time to get my dad jeans that actually look good," says Tori.
• Brandon and Michaella unveil a big surprise for the family: a 3-D Bates family tree with a picture of each family member.
• The following day is Alyssa's baby shower, so Kelly makes a midnight grocery store run to buy food.
• The whole family attends the shower. Alyssa & John, Gil & Kelly, Papa Bill & Mama Jane (Gil's parents), Jenny & Greg (Gill's sister and brother), and Meema (Kelly's mom) & Nathan compete against each other to see who can correctly match price tags with baby supplies. The teams tie.
• "My family did a great job," says Alyssa. "People were so generous and thoughtful," says John.
• "I have the greatest life of everybody I know," says Gil.
• At the end of the shower, Gil and Brandon plan a meeting with Brandon's parents to discuss his relationship with Michaella.

Bates Fam Celebrates Love

For Gil and Kelly Bates and their kids, Valentine's Day (aka I Love You Day) is a family affair. The entire family dressed in their fanciest clothes and gathered to exchange gifts. All the married couples were present (Zach and Whitney and Bradley, Erin and Chad, and Alyssa and John), as well as Michaella and her boyfriend, Brandon.

The Bates family celebrates Valentine's Day

Recap: "Meet the Bates"

Tonight on Bringing Up Bates, "Meet the Bates"...

• Gil and Kelly Bates, parents of 19 kids, got pregnant with Zach three months after their wedding. Like the Duggars, the couple has decided to leave the size of their family up to God.
• Even though they have a large family, the Bates insist that each of their kids has a unique personality, and they can tell you what makes each of them unique.
• Zach is the teacher/researcher. Michaella has a heart of gold. Erin is the organizer. Lawson is the family police officer. Nathan is everyone's best friend. Alyssa gets things done. Tori is a ball of energy and the family cook. Trace has a highly competitive nature.
• Carlin is high-energy and very expressive. Josie is quiet (when you first meet her) and caring. Katie is spunky. Jackson is always growing and thinking. Warden is always moving. Isaiah has a tender heart. 
• Addallee thinks of others before herself. Ellie is miss smiley. Callie thinks she is the boss of the family and is little miss sassy. Judson is a teddy bear and loves to cuddle. Jeb is full blast, 90 mph and can tackle his older brother Judson.
• How does Gil afford 19 children? He owns a tree-trimming service, a dangerous but well-paying job. Gil says his daughters keep telling him to get a safer job. 
• Gil’s older sons (Nathan, Lawson, and Trace) often help him with tree jobs.
• The Bates are planning a big family supper. Tori, the family cook, shares her view on meal preparations: "Here’s what I say: If you want to complain about it, get in here and cook it yourself. Otherwise, you shut your mouth and sit down and eat it."  
• Everyone but Alyssa Bates Webster and her husband, John, come over for the meal. Alyssa and John married in May and live in Florida. To make the distance easier, Kelly and the girls FaceTime with Alyssa frequently. Alyssa is the only one of the three married Bates children who lives far away.
• Life with 19 kids can be crazy, but Kelly, who is often referred to as the "chaos manager," loves her life. "If we wanted a clean house and no work and no effort, then we would have no children, but we would miss out on all the fun," says the mom of 19.
• Kelly sits down with Gil to discuss a budget for the baby shower they are throwing for Zach and Whitney and the baby boy they are expecting, whose name will be Bradley. The Bates' goal is to pull off a beautiful party while keeping the costs down.
• Erin shares the heartbreak she has gone through with her miscarriage. She and Chad found out they were expecting three months after their wedding, and their due date was a week and a half before Zach and Whitney's. They were devastated to find out at the first ultrasound appointment that Erin had miscarried.
• "The hardest thing was to see how much it hurt [Erin]," says Chad.
• Although Erin often gets emotional when her family members talk about Zach and Whitney's baby, she has decided to be involved in all the preparations.
• "It’s not about me," says Erin. "It’s really about friendship…making the other person feel special and important. And I want Whitney to feel special and important because I really am happy for her."
• Kelly and the older girls get together to address envelopes for Zach and Whitney’s baby shower. Whitney, who comes over to the Bates house often to help out Kelly, joins her in-laws. Erin and Carlin head to the store to pick up supplies for the shower.
• Zach and Whitney begin renovations on their baby’s room. Gil comes over to lend a hand. While they work, Gil shares parenting wisdom with his eldest son: "Bradley and Whitney are more important than anything else you are trying to do." 
• One of Gil's favorite mantras is that "people are more important than projects."
• While setting up for the baby shower, Kelly is informed via phone call that 17-year-old Trace has been in a car wreck. 
• "I know that the family has a tendency to minimize things when they tell it to me because I panic," says Kelly. 
• Trace is shaken up by the accident, but the rest of the family is thankful to find out that he has escaped uninjured. He had been driving too fast and had slid off the road.
• Everyone heads to the baby shower. Alyssa and John come up from Florida for the first time since their wedding. 
• The highlight of the shower is having all the married couples, each person with one hand tied behind his or her back, try to put a cloth diaper on a baby doll. Gil and Kelly are pros, but Zach and Whitney have a harder time figuring it out. 
• After the shower, Alyssa and John go back to the house with the rest of the family to make a big announcement. Alyssa is wearing a shirt that says "bun in the oven." Everyone is thrilled to find out that there is another Bates grandchild on the way! Alyssa is due in April. 
• "We’re the last of a dying breed…single guys," jokes Lawson, while sitting with Nathan and Trace.