Our new blog starts tomorrow!

We are so excited to changed this blog. This change has been in the works since late July and we are super excited to share it with you

Webster family photo

John and Alyssa are ready for church with their four months old daughter Allie Jane.

Brandon and Michaella's honeymoon

We are so excited to reveal where they spent their honeymoon at American rocky mountains.

The Story behind Michael's name

We have been getting this question a lot about Michael's name and why we call her Michaella.
Gil and Kelly had originally called her Michal but before she was one year old, Gil and Kelly decided to change her name to Michael.

Gil and Kelly started to call her Michaella when she was five. Michael doesn't mind being called Michaella.
On Why we call her Michaella?
Ever since we started this blog, We have always called her Michaella.
Which would you prefer Michael or Michaella?

Second week of marriage!

Today mark Brandon and Michaella's second week of marriage! 

Here are some photos of their honeymoon!  

 Be sure to follow our facebook fan page for more photos of this couple!

Nathan's 22nd Birthday!

Today is Nathan's birthday! 

 

All about Bradley: Ten months old

This month marks Bradley's tenth month update. We are starting to think about his first birthday cover photo.
This month Bradley watched his aunt, Michaella, get married to Brandon Keilen.

Newlyweds heading home!

Brandon and Michaella are heading home from their honeymoon.

 

Season finale!

Next week is the season finale of the show! There is no word about season three so make sure that you check out the blog for more details on when season three will be announce! 

Check out the blog on Tuesday for the preview of the season finale

Check out the blog on Thursday night for the recap of the season finale and photos! 

 

Recap: Addee and Ellie's Pool party

Both Gil and Kelly try to spend one on one time with each other of their children. Gil is taking Josie for a private tennis lesson while Kelly takes Trace clothes shopping. Gil grew up playing tennis ad is happy that his daughter is wanting to learn a new skill.
Kelly reveals that the kids are picky about what clothes they were. Kelly feels like an old lady while shopping with her kids. Trace is graduating from high school in the winter and Kelly wants to know if he wants to work with Gil but he says that he is not really big for tree business. Kelly would love for her son to take a few classes at the college where Tori attends. Gil and Kelly have agreed that they would pay for the first semester but she assures him that it's his choice what he wants to do.
Trace thanks his mom for taking him shopping and he had amazing time with his mom.
Addee and Ellie are getting ready to celebrate their birthdays since they wanted to have a pool party. Addee and Ellie's birthdays are in February and April. Gil and Kelly decided to wait for summer to fulfill their wish about having a pool party. Whit's mom has a pool and invited the family over for a swim.
Lawson reveals that his parents have always tried to make every birthday special especially for the little ones. Gil and Kelly take the birthday kid out to a restaurant and then let them have a party with the family and friends.
The family is enjoying the pool and Zach wants to know where the cake is. Gil was supposed to getting the food on Kelly's list. He chose to buy two boxes of cake mix and brought them to the party.
Lawson jokes with his father about who is going to make the cake however Kelly assures her husband that he did good with the things that he got right.
Michaella shows up with a store brought cake and the family shares praises of the birthday girls. The family has made sharing the good of the birthday girls.
“If you’ve ever heard of constructive criticism, it doesn’t feel too constructive if you’re the one getting it,” says Gil. “But praise, or encouragement…is a powerful, powerful thing.”
“Affirmation from other people, when it’s real, means so much,” shares Nathan.

Pool party photos!

Addee and Ellie

Ellie

Gil

Callie and Judson

Judson

Trace and Lawson

Blowing out the candles

The girls judging the jump

Pool party

Warden

Warden

Zach

Grandbaby #3 photo update!

It's hard to believe that Carson is almost four months old here in about two weeks. Chad and Erin just shared this photo of Carson! 

We hope that you are enjoying today and be sure to check out tonight's new episode of Bringing Up Bates! 

New Family Photo

With Brandon and Michaella now husband and wife, Gil and Kelly decided to take a new family photo since the last one was when both Alyssa and Erin were pregnant with Carson and Allie respectively!

Preview: Addee & Ellie's Pool Party

When you have 19 kids, it’s hard to spend one-on-one time with any of them. But it’s not impossible. Kelly makes a point to spend the day with Trace, while Gil and Josie take off for a father/daughter adventure. Afterward, the whole family gathers together as Addee and Ellie celebrate their birthdays with a joint swim party!

Bates September birthday cover

 This month we are so excited to reveal our September birthday cover! We were asked by one of the fans to add when their birthdays are so that way we all know when their birthdays are!
Here is the profile picture:

Here is the cover photo

As you can see the family only has three birthdays this month!
Brandon- September 15th
Judson- September 15th
Whitney- September 21st

Check out Last month's cover photo: August birthday cover photo
Check out Last year's cover photo: September birthday cover photo 2014

First week of marriage!

I can’t believe that Brandon and Michaella have been married for a week. Brandon and Michaella are currently at their honeymoon right now. Brandon and Michaella will be heading to their home in Chicago.

Many of people have asked where Brandon grew up at. Brandon grew up in Michigan with his parents but moved to Chicago for his job. Michaella is moving to Chicago to be with her husband.

We will see you for the next weekly blog!

Bates Family Blog - Searching For A Wedding Dress An Amazing Yet Trying Experience

I believe in love at first sight. It’s true, I do. The day I met Brandon, I knew he was the one I wanted to marry. I’ll admit that it took a little more convincing on his part, but he eventually came around and here we are today — right where I always believed we would be. In tonight’s episode we were just two months away from the day I had waited for my entire life and yet, the dress was still to be found.

To me, finding a dress meant I was one step closer to forever. By this time, I had put in about a month of online browsing, searching thousands upon thousands of dresses so I had a pretty good idea of what I liked and more so of what I didn’t like! This was going to be a piece of cake (preferably white cake with fresh strawberry frosting).

Trying on a wedding dress for the first time was overwhelming in the best way. It was surreal and felt almost like a dress rehearsal for my “big” day. Honestly, I don’t know how many dresses I tried on, but I can tell you after the first dress, things got less romantic and I was beginning to lose hope.

Thankfully, I didn’t have to bear the burden alone because my Mom and sisters came along with me. Did I mention how “refreshingly” honest they are? Thankfully my sweet sister-in-law Whitney came too — and bless-her-heart — she worked hard at softening the blows!

While the show tonight left everyone on a bit of a cliffhanger wondering if I’d ever find the dress of my dreams… those of you who keep up with Brandon and me on Instagram know that I did indeed find the dress of my dreams (after a few alterations of course)!

While I really don’t believe searching for a wedding dress is a “real” problem, watching tonight’s episode made me think of a song my brother Lawson wrote called “Problems.” You can hear it here.

Everyone has problems. Sometimes our problems are small and manageable and sometimes they’re unbearably painful. I just want to remind us to not give up and to not lose hope. Remember, God causes all things to work together for good. The Bates family — and now the Keilens — are praying for you all!

God bless!

Love,

Michael — a.k.a Mrs. Michael Keilen

Recap: The Quest for the Dress

Michaella has so much to do on her list before the wedding. Both Michaella and Kelly headed over to meet with Aunt Kim to talk about the flowers for the wedding. Kim owns a flower shop Gallery Florist which is located in Mebane, North Carolina. She has done flowers for Kelly, Zach, Erin, Alyssa and now Michaella’s wedding. Michaella would like the flower cherry blossoms but since they aren’t in the season, she has to settle for silk flowers.

Kelly’s mom adopted two daughters. One of the girls, Beth, are due to be married about a month before Michaella so the girls meet up with the family to head to the wedding shower. Michaella and Beth are only a year apart in age and are close friends.

During the shower, the guest divide into teams to make a toilet paper wedding dress. Gil decides that he wants to gather all the leftover toilet paper to take home so they could save money.

Chad and Erin are heading to get Carson’s newborn photos done. Nathan did not know that anyone would want to take photos of new babies but when they want to take the clothes off and put them in a bucket or something.

Michaella gathers all of the girls to head to White Lace and Promises to find the prefect dress for the big day. Michaella wants a simple gown that makes her look skinny and has a train and sleeves.

Michaella is surprised by how many dresses there. Josie reveals that they are not scared to say what they think however Whitney doesn’t do that. Whitney knows that it’s good to be honest but you have to do it in a loving way.

Tori and Carlin are the family biggest critics. Michaella starts to feel discourage right after trying on a bunch of dress. She started to think that they should have elope or have a small wedding.

Michaella finally finds the right dress but the dress needs a lot of work. They have to remove the poof and add capped sleeves but everyone agrees that the dress is her.

With all the changes, it will cost nearly $2,000 which is over the budget that Brandon and Michaella set aside for their wedding. She decides to pray about the cost and then make the final choice in a few days.