Recap from the new live chat!

Lawson is back to the live chat.

 Nathan arrives later in the show.

 Carlin says that she did not get hurt.

Nathan has a special friend along with Josie.

The Bates love card games and board games inside and love outside time.

Lawson says that he has some music news to come.

Lawson says that they all talk at the same time.

Lawson says that the crew has become their family.

Chad's sister was holding the camera before Trace took out.

Carlin hopes that they hope to be in the church building within the month.

Trace hasn't got the job at the Dixie stampede

Someone asked if Chad and Erin are pregnant with baby #3 and they don't know if they are pregnant.

Recap: The Growing Paine

Josie and Katie are getting ready for their driving test so Lawson, Carlin and Kelly take them for practice. The girls got their permits and excited about driving. Gil is a little worried about the girls driving but Josie says that she got it in the bag.

Katie has a little more confident while driving but a few screams are let out because she drove in the wrong lane. Josie takes it a little more slow. Both girls agree that it's more harder than what it looks
.
Chad and Erin are getting ready for Carson to turn one. Michaella is helping since she came in from Chicago along with Chad's mom and brother and sister. The couple says that they are enjoying being parents. Chad feels that the first year has gone by fast.

Gil says that the 1st birthdays are great but they are getting a little expensive. He and Kelly joke about stop giving the older married kids gifts for their birthdays to give it to the grandbabies.

The guest arrives and watch the younger kids play with the Bump N Bounce Body Bumpers.
The family enjoys racing with three legs or four legs. The family gathers to watch Carson eat his cupcake but due to fact that they haven't introduce him to sweets. Bradley eats the cupcake.

“It was a fun birthday party,” shares Gil. “I don’t know that Carson’s going to remember it, but it will be one that we never forget.”

Recap: Bloopers, Outtakes and Mishaps, Oh my!

The family sits down and talks about their outtakes and Bloopers on the show. Erin feels that the family is very loud but no one notice it because you have to be able to talk to each other. Alyssa agrees with her sister.

Lawson gets teased a lot by the family and since he is the best talker he can handle it. The family says that their teasing is out of fun and love.

The family enjoys being together to make memories that will last a long time. Katie reveals that her sister, Callie, starts laughing and then is not able to stop laughing because of it.

The family says that Tori is the loudest when she laughs because the neighbors that live close to live know what she sounds like. 

When the interviews happen, the kids doesn't always understand the questions that they are being asked.

For example, this happen between a person asking Jackson a question about Oral Hygiene which is your teeth.
         Interviewer: “Is oral hygiene important with your family?”
        Jackson Bates: “What hygiene?”
        Interviewer: “Oral hygiene”
        Jackson Bates: “Nobody here wear high jeans. They all wear ‘em low.”

What are the Bates' top three favorite words/phrases? “Epic,” “Awkward,” and “oh my stars."

Recap: Bates Boy Birthday Bash

It's time to celebrate Jeb and Trace's birthdays!
The family talks about Jeb and Trace's birthday party. Jeb wants to do only a boys birthday party. Jeb and Trace are best buddies and they head out to get some ice cream.
Jeb shares that he has three best-friends which are Kelly, Gil and Trace. All the kids say that they want to be the fourth best-friend. Judson gets upset when Jeb says that they are not friends.
Chad and Erin head to go talk, with Carson and Katie in tow, at a church. Erin reveals that she is nervous about speaking but does fine when she plays her piano for others.
Carlin and Tori reveal that they go to Trace to get Jeb to listen.
Erin reveals three things with the girls. Chad shares that he loves his wife as she is blessing to others. It was a really sweet message from Chad and Erin.
The Boys head out to celebrate the boys at a racing track for go carting. Jeb quickly doesn't want to go again with his father. Kelly shares that she was screaming at her husband to go slow. The boys look that they were having fun as Jeb and Gil sit out.
Lawson shares that Nathan is not the best driver to go near him. Trace finally got Jeb to come out and ride with him.
Jeb and Trace won but Gil shares that he won first. The boys had a blast and so they head to Zach and Whitney's house to get their party on.
Zach is asked how he made his car go faster and Whitney thought that he messed with it but Zach denied it.
The boys arrive to Zach and Whitney's house and started to eat. Chad and Carson joined in for the for the fun along with Bradley. Warden makes the cake while the boys played. Warden reveals that Erin has taught him how to make a cake.
Josie reveals that her brother is really good cooking. The boys start opening their presents. Jeb gets a lot of policemen things.
Zach reveals that he is happy that his brother is happy with the things that he got. Trace reveals that it means a lot sharing a birthday with Jeb.
Jeb loved the birthday cake that Warden made.
Next week the family is celebrating Valentine's day!

Recap: Beaches, Boats, and Bates

The family had arrived in Florida where Gil shares that Zach, Whitney, Bradley, Michaella, Brandon, Chad and Tori could not make the trip. Everyone is excited to be in the panhandle Florida since they love the water. The family had arrange to rental a condo for the trip. The family has to unload the van and get room assignments before they go to the beach.
Back before the family had weddings and grandbabies, they would travel to Cape San Blas for a vacation.
Carlin spends time with the younger kids while building a sandcastle. Kelly loves seeing the older kids with the little kids.
The Bates family swimwear are swim trunks and the girls wear skirts that have swimsuit material which comes to above the knee. They chose to wear either a regular shirt or a swim shirt over their outfit.
The family is taking turns with going on the kayak however, Jeb throws a tantrums so Gil takes a moment to teach his son some patience and taking turns.
Gil wants a apologize and he does. Gil and Kelly call it obedience training and he wants his son to listen by clapping about six times each.
“There are always opportunities to help Jeb have a good attitude,” laughs Kelly. “He makes sure we get plenty of practice.”
The family decided to go snorkeling on a sandbar. The little kids are a little scared but Gil and Kelly take the three youngest out.
The family welcomes the Webster family to the beach while Erin and Carson have to go to the airport. The boys decided to catch some fishes. Callie manages to catch the first fish.
The girls were not sure about the boys fishing trip to get some dinner which turns out to be good since they only caught one good fish that was worth keeping.
At the end of the week, Gil and Kelly are so thankful to spend time with their kids while they have 15 kids at home!

March 2016

Pregnancy Updates:

* Whitney Bates

* Erin Paine

Journey to parenthood:

* Whitney Bates

* Erin Paine

Bringing Up Bates:

* Previews

* Recaps

Other blogs:

* April Birthday cover

* Allie's first Birthday cover

February 2016!

Birthdays:
* Trace
* Jeb
* Jackson
* Addallee

Monthly anniversary:
* Brandon and Michaella

All about Grandbabies:
* Bradley
* Allie
* Carson

Pregnancy:
* 20-24 weeks pregnant

Journey to parenthood:
* Four months to go

Other events:
* Recaps
* Previews
* Trivia ? and answers
* Valentine's day!
* March Birthday covers! (Released February 21st)

We also celebrate our 4th year on our blog! 

Recap: Headed to the Altar

Brandon and Michaella met at a homeschool conference. Michaella prayed from the moment that she met Brandon that she could be his wife.
Back in September 2014, Michaella headed to Texas to surprised Brandon with a visit. The couple had decided to wait to hold hands until their engagement. 
In November 2014, Brandon heads to the family home to get to know Michaella's family. They head up to visit family members for Thanksgiving.
Just 3 months later, Brandon takes Michaella's sisters (Tori, Carlin and Josie) to look for a ring for Michaella but decides to design a ring himself for her.
The boys decide to take Brandon out for Bowling. Michaella thinks that it is sweet that her brothers care for her that much.
Just one month later, Gil and Kelly meet up with Brandon's parents in Chicago with Brandon and Michaella. They have a great time and Brandon asked Gil if he could ask Michaella to marry him.
Brandon arranges Michaella to come and see him in DC where the engagement happens on April 13th!
As the wedding is about to start, Brandon and Michaella have only been engaged for four months and the family is finding it hard to see Michaella get married and move to Chicago.

***** There will be no trivia questions this week! *****

Recap: Best Bates Moments

In case that you have not heard that there was a special that aired on tonight!
In this special episode, viewers get to meet the 20th Bates! They also countdown the special moments of what happen in the past two seasons!

Our favorite moments of the past two seasons!
* Alyssa's pregnancy announcement
* Erin's pregnancy announcement
* Surprise birthday party for Gil
* Meeting Bradley
* Meeting Allie
* Meeting Carson
* Brandon and Michaella's engagement

What are your favorite moments of the first two seasons?

Season three previews and summaries

We are super excited to announced that our previews will be posted on Tuesdays and our recaps will either be posted Thursday night after the show airs or Friday morning.

We are also hoping to do some trivia on each episode which would be posted on Friday and goes until Thursday afternoon.

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.

Recap: Boating with the Bates

Chad and Erin are heading home for the first time with Carson. Chad's mom, Tammy, wanted to helped the new parents out for a little while and came for a visit.
Since Carson arrived one month early, The parents were surprised to see that their son did not need to spend time in the NICU.
Tori received a gift from Mama Jane for getting all A's during her first semester in college so she headed to Burlington Coat Factory. Tori returns home and the whole family gathers to see her new clothes. Gil is worried that it was spent with his money since they normally try to save money but Tori reassures her father that it was a gift card from his mom.
Tori models her new clothes and Carlin loves them. She warns guys to not to mess with her sister.
Gil and Kelly call a family meeting to talk about what will happen in the next week. Nathan is planning to spend a day at the lake and ends up with the entire family. Both Kelly and Gil have fond memories of the lake.
The family gets everything that they need for their trip. Gil wants to share towels but the girls won't do it. The family is about to leave when the girls dresses arrive for Michaella's wedding. The girls decided to try them on.
The family finally arrives to the lake to find that Zach, Whitney, Bradley, Chad, Erin, and little Carson have joined them at the lake.
The Bates revealed that they have the girls wear stretchy skirts and leggings with Whitney says that they are not a big deal and nobody notices the leggings.
As the family is enjoying their lake day, the skies starts to rain and then lighting starts which makes the girls scream.
The family waits for the storm to past and it does. Gil shows off his water-skiing skills and the kids are impressed. Gil says that the kids try to make him feel really special and he hopes that he can encourage him as much as they have done with him.
Gil decides that it's time to dive off of the top dock which he is trying to keep up with his kids but he ends up getting hurt after it's done.

Other blogs that you might like:
* Two days until Brandon and Michaella's wedding
* Photos of the trip
* Preview: Boating with the Bates
* Family blog

Recap: Future in-Laws?

Michael and her parents are headed to Chicago to meet Brandon and his parents. Meanwhile Chad and Erin go over to the house to help with the younger ones while they are gone.
Brandon's family live in Michigan however when Brandon and Michael get married, They will live in Chicago since Brandon works there.
Gil hopes that they can have some Chicago pizza and they head over to Giordano's. Both Kelly and Michael are hoping that Brandon will propose soon while Gil is a little more laid back. Kelly knows that Brandon has been thinking about engagement since it's been on theirs.
The couples head to an art shop where they paint a piece of potty.
During lunch, Brandon decides to chat with Gil to get his permission to asked Michael to marry him. Brandon gives Gil the date and Gil won't tell Kelly because she will give it away to Michael.
During their meal, Kelly pulls out the calendar to see when Brandon wants to pick a date for the wedding and he jokes that he is planning one on Valentine's day 2015.
Back home, Chad and Erin have the kids prepare to redo Gil and Kelly's room as a surprise. Chad and the boys work on refinishing the furniture while the girls decorate. The kids are surprised to find that Erin wants them to use their food to make animals. Their dad doesn't like to waste food and the kids know that he would not approve this choice.
Gil and Kelly return home to find their room redecorated and love it. Gil sits the family down to talk about the special talk that he had with Brandon but won't reveal anything.

Recap: All together again!

John and Alyssa arrive to Tennessee to celebrate Valentine's day and the baby shower that Gil and Kelly are hosting for them. Alyssa only has a few more weeks in her pregnancy!
Update: Allie Jane was born on April 11 and you can see her birth blog here.
The family is getting ready to celebrate I love you day. The kids all say that it's their favorite holiday. Brandon is coming into town to celebrate the day with Michaella.
Michaella hopes that it's her last Valentine's day as a single woman but if it is not then she will be happy to celebrate another one!
Update: Brandon and Michaella are engaged and planing an August 15th wedding
Gil and Kelly have their 19 kids gather in the living room for a meeting. Four older men surprise Whitney . Zach had set it up for her to get a rose and card along with two songs.  Whitney is amazed by her husband.
Kelly reveals all of her kids have seen their father being thoughtful during their growing up and Zach wants to carry on that for Whitney.
Gil and Kelly invited Zach, Whitney, Erin, Chad, John, Alyssa, Michaella and Brandon on a date to the Japanese restaurant where the chef cooks their food in front of them and gives them entertainment as well.
The family draws names for the gift exchange and the kids encourage their kids to focus on what they will give and not what they will get. The family spends about 25 dollars each.
Gil and Kelly take their younger kids to go shopping and Lawson knows that his father starts sweating like crazy. Gil goes through the gifts and pulls the knick knacks that he thinks that the kids don't need.
At the house, the family is getting everything ready. Kelly reveals that the only thing that they ever agree on is to have more kids.
Lawson and Nathan work on the pinata and get it ready for the big day. All of the family puts on their nicest clothing and gets ready for dinner where they get their presents.
The kids are happy when Gil gets a new pair of jeans from his pal. Tori reveals that it's been a long time that they have been trying to get their dad's jeans looking that good.
Brandon and Michaella revealed their big surprise for the family and it's a 3-d family tree with all the family members photos on it.
The next day, Kelly heads to the grocery store to get some food for Alyssa's baby shower. There are many games at the baby shower and one of the games are matching the prices for the baby supplies and they end up in a tie.
Alyssa reveals that her family did amazing job and John reveals that people were so generous and thoughtful.
"I have the greatest life of everybody I know," says Gil.
At the end of the baby shower, Brandon pulls Gil aside to plan a meeting with Brandon's parents to talk about his relationship with Michaella.

June 2015

All about ...
* Carson: third week update (June 4th)
* Carson: Fourth week update (June 11th)
* Allie: Second month update (June 11th) 
* Carson: One month update (June 15th)
* Bradley: eight month update (June 29th)

Anniversary:
* Zach and Whitney's 1 1/2 year update (June 14th)

Father's day:
* Gil's father day
* Zach's first father day
* Chad's first father day
* John's first father day

Bringing up Bates:
* Family blog
* Preview
* recap

Countdown to wedding:
* Update #2
* Update #3

Six weeks to go!

We only have six more weeks until the new season of Bringing Up Bates. We are super excited. 

Now here is the schedule! 

Tuesday: Preview of the upcoming episode

Thursday: Recap, Bringing Up Bates blog

Recap: All about the Bates

The family sits down for the first questions and answers by the fans.
The first question: Do the kids want more brothers and sisters?
The kids answer yes. They want more brothers and sisters.
The second question: Do Gil and Kelly want more children?
Their answer is We would love more children," says Kelly. "I think that I'm getting a little too old, I guess, because we're trying and nothing's happening."
The next question is about courting. How old do the kids have to be to court?
Gil and Kelly have an age of 18 on the courting limit
Tori: But honestly, for some kids it should be older because they ain't very mature.
What about Brandon and Michaella's courtship?
The kids feel that its time for Brandon to propose to Michaella. Michaella feels that she doesn't care if they get engaged as long as they get married that is what matters.
Will there be a Duggar/Bates wedding in the future? "Absolutely yes" "There has to be out of 19 of them." Says Nathan
Which kids are most outgoing? Tori and Nathan
Who has the best style? Josie and Alyssa.
Have the parents become less strict in their age? Everyone says yes but the parents call it grandparent syndrome.
What about disciplining kids? Gil reveals that you should avoid getting angry because you could create a huge wall between you and your child. Gil and Kelly hope that other parents to talk through things with their kids.
Planning meals? Kelly creates a meal plan for the week before
One of their family recipe is sauteed chicken where they cut boneless chicken breast into nugget-sized piece and saute them in olive oil,  chopped onion, garlic, butter, salt, and pepper until golden brown. Then they add honey mustard and spicy mustard and serve with potatoes.  
    Can the Bates identify baby pictures of all the children? Nope.
    Do the Bates have any hidden talents? Carlin can yodel.
    Is there anything Chad can't do? Everyone says no. "We are still discovering all the talents of Chad," says Nathan.
The kids decided that it's time to give the viewers a tour of their family home. On the first floor is their main living space. On the second floor is the master bedroom, laundry room which also holds their family closet and the girls room. They have trundle beds to keep extra space however they have a bunk bed for Judson and Jeb and an elliptical. The boys live on the third floor.
Next week marks the season finale! There will be a second season of the show!