Bringing Up Bates"First Home and Strict Chaperones"
- At her apartment in Clinton, Tori, who earned a teaching degree in college, is watching Bradley, Kaci, Carson, and Brooklyn. She has been helping homeschool them, which she says enjoys. “Kade loves when all of them come over,” says Tori. “He gets so excited.”
- “I guess with a bunch of kids the same age, it can be kind of crazy, but it was fine,” says Tori. “It’s just a matter of me being a step ahead of them in what I have planned because if you do one thing too long, then it gets crazy.”
- Meanwhile, Kelton and Josie are at their new house doing renovation work. They closed on the house about 10 days after Willow was born. With help from Kelton’s dad, Lawson, Chad, Warden, and Kelton’s brothers (Grant and Carson), they put up a load-bearing beam. “It is such a blessing to have family, not only that is willing to help, but also extreme trade talent on both sides of the family,” says Kelton.
- “…Thankfully, there’s a lot of us, and you know we’re going to pitch in,” says Zach.
- On another day, Evan comes over to help with electrical. Carlin helps Josie paint. “It’s just so fun to have sisters that are going through so many of the same things,” says Josie.
- Later, it’s photo shoot time for the Bates Sisters Boutique. “The problem is, us Bates are all short, and people kept asking, ‘I’m tall, what do the dresses look like on a tall person,’” says Kelly. So they invite Chaney to model for them.
- “The sisters made me feel so comfortable and special and definitely pretty because they did my makeup, my hair, everything, so it was a lot of fun,” says Chaney.
- Trace takes Chaney on a bowling date with Jeb and Judson as chaperones. Chaney dominates, with multiple strikes and spares, even though she claims that she doesn’t bowl often. Jeb plants himself between them on the bench. “I think Mr. and Mrs. Bates would be very proud of how strong Jeb was today for us,” says Chaney. “He really held up.”