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.