Happy Birthday Barrett!

This past week we celebrated Barrett turning ONE! Brooks has been watching the days go by on our November calendar all month waiting for Barrett's birthday to come.  Both Brooks and Keely were so excited for the party.  I had talked about what kind of cake to make for Barrett with the other kids a couple of months ago, and we had decided on a dog cake since Barrett seems to love dogs.  After looking on pinterest for ideas, we settled on one in particular.  It was definitely going to be the most elaborate cake I had attempted, but the kids were so excited for it, and it was too cute in the picture not to give it a try.  Brooks and Keely wanted a Dalmatian dog after one of their favorite characters, Marshall, on Paw Patrol.  So Friday I spent most of the day baking 2 cakes, one chocolate, one white, making 2 frostings and 2 batches of marshmallow fondant.  It was a lot to tackle, but I loved the end result.  And it was fun! I think Barrett liked it too!

 Barrett was unsure about the cake at first (even though he has eaten some bites of cupcake before, so it wasn't entirely new)

 He wasn't sure how to eat it, so he tried to just bend over and take a bite, but the tray got in the way. (reminded us all of Brooks taking bites out of his whole cake the past 2 years!)

 I finally  grabbed the slice of cake and let him take a bite. 

 Then he decided it was pretty tasty and finished off the rest on his own!

 As much as Barrett loves to rip paper, I figured he would have no trouble with unwrapping, but he didn't seem to have a whole lot of interest and needed some help.  Brooks and Keely had no problems assisting! 

But Barrett did get into ripping up tissue paper :)

 Brooks and Keely loved helping him out and checking out all the new toys. 

 Happy Birthday Barrett! We are looking forward to what this next year will bring!

Happy Fall!

Yikes, it's been since July.  I know it's just an excuse, but we have been busy around here and blogging has not been on the top of my list.  So sorry to all of you who still follow me on here!  A lot of changes have happened around here for us.  Barrett is now officially walking, and is pretty good at it! He is also eating a few finger foods like peas, crackers, bits of bread, macaroni and cheese, and yesterday tried fruit loops for the first time.  He LOVED those :) 

 Brooks has started his 2nd year of preschool and is loving it.  He has really enjoyed learning to write his name.  He struggled in the beginning, but after his teacher sent home a practice sheet for him (a dry erase sheet with his name on it) he has been practicing about everyday.  He really has gotten better, and for having zero interest every time I have tried the past couple of years, I'm happy he's doing it!!

 Brooks also tried something else new this year, organized soccer! He has always had a love for sports but we were not sure how he would do playing with other kids and on a team.  He was really timid at first, but he at least ran around and followed the crowd of kids with the ball! He was probably about the youngest on his team (it was a 6 and under league), so he did really good considering.  Most importantly, he had fun doing it and is excited about playing again in the spring league. 

 He even started being silly and having fun with his teammates towards the end of the season.  It was fun to watch!

 Keely had fun too while he played...she mostly roamed around and played in the grass.  She's a silly one.

Keely is a typical middle child...she likes to pick on her brothers and is quite awnry.   She is definitely full of energy, loves to laugh, and is pretty silly.  She can also be a little difficult with a naughty streak (throwing food on the floor, pushing Barrett over, taking Brooks' toys just to make him mad), but we love her.

In other events, we have spent the past month enjoying beautiful fall weather, playing lots of board games, and making fall memories.  Brooks still loves Jr. Monoploy, and it's great that grandma still has the old version and we have the new version at home so he gets to play 2!

 The kids loved picking out pumpkins at Grandma's. 

 Barrett loves to ride on Blake's shoulders...the only kid that really has!

 We also went to our very first pumpkin patch this year! The kids had fun playing in the corn kernels, jumping on the big balloon, going down the big gunny sack slide, and looking at pumpkins.  Brooks' favorite though was definitely the corn maze.  He has wanted to go in one for over a year and finally got his opportunity!

We also did another fall tradition of ours, carving pumpkins!  Keely wouldn't touch the insides, but Brooks dove right in.  Glad he has enjoyed this event every year!

 The finished faces...not bad for drawing them freehand!

 On Halloween we went trick or treating in Henderson again with Lane, Katy, and Scarlett.  It was so cold that night, but the kids were so excited to go that they still seemed to have a lot of fun!

 Our Cowboy riding a horse and Minnie Mouse.  They were pretty cute!

 Scarlett was a Princess Kitty, Katy was a Shark, Lane was Iron Patriot, Brooks was a Cowboy on a horse, Keely was Minnie Mouse (minus the ears she wouldn't wear!), and Barrett was a cow. 

 Our Minnie Mouse trying on my mom's cowboy hat Brooks wore.  She was just too cute not to post!

Finally, the biggest reason we have been so busy this fall....we bought another Hardware Store! Yikes! It has been a crazy but exciting adventure so far and we can't wait until we get it all reset with ACE merchandise and really start selling things.  The store was a True Value, and it is pretty empty of inventory right now.  It's a little depressing for us because we can see the potential, but it won't be reset until December.  So it's a little bit of a waiting game right now, but we hope it can do what we think it can! It reminds us so much of the York store when we first bought it (the signage was just as outdated! Coast-to-Coast signage changed to True Value, and that transition happened over 10 years ago!)

 We bought the store October 20th, and we were closed the first day to get everything repriced over to ACE instead of True Value.  I was only able to take Barrett and Keely up with me that day since Brooks had preschool, and they had fun exploring the new place...and messing around with Daddy a little!

 We went up again on Friday and got an official picture including Brooks of us in front of the store.  Can't wait to put up pictures of it all updated and up and running!

Sorry for the long post, but I knew if I didn't include it all now, it wouldn't get put up! (at least for a few more months!) Hopefully it won't be as long this next time :)

Barrett Lee - Summer 2014

I realize I haven't posted much on Barrett the past few months and how he is growing up! He will be 8 months on Sunday, and I'm loving how much he his learning and growing right now! I have always really enjoyed the after 1 year old stage of each of my kids, and I'm excited for Barrett to reach that age too.  Don't get me wrong, I am enjoying Barrett at the age he is now, but to be honest, he has been the most difficult of my children, so I can't help but look forward to him growing up a little!  Barrett was an awesome sleeper until about 4 1/2 months old.  Since then he has been up at least twice, if not 4-5 times a night...very exhausting for me! He also loves his Momma.  Goodness, I thought Brooks would be my Momma's boy, but turns out Barrett is just the same! Luckily, Barrett does a little better with other people holding him than Brooks did, but not much.  Everytime I walk into a room, Barrett wants nothing but me to hold him, and fusses until I do.  The only time I can really get anything done around the house is if I can get Barrett to play with some toys, leave the room, and not come back until I need to.  If I stay out of the room, Barrett plays very well on his own and entertains himself, but if he catches a glimpse of me walking by or coming into the room, play time is over and Momma is all he wants.  A lot of the time I try not to peek in on him too much and ask Brooks if Barrett is doing ok and staying out of things.  Brooks does a good job keeping me informed, and I think he likes the responsibility a little too! However, I have a feeling I won't be able to keep that routine much longer because Barrett is pretty mobile now and gets into EVERYTHING! fun new stage :)

Anyway, Barrett started sitting up on his own around the end of May, first of June.  I was so happy when he reached this milestone, and I think he was too! It just opens up a whole new world of play for him!

He really is a happy baby most of the time, and absolutely loves laughing at his siblings.  He especially has smiles for Brooks in the mornings.  I hope the two of them will have fun doing boy things as they grow up!

He also loves to watch Keely running around being silly, and she can usually make him laugh.  However, he does get overwhelmed with her and gets tired of her constantly in his face and taking toys from him.  She is not as good with sharing as Brooks was when Keely was a baby, and can't understand why she can't just take toys right out of his hand if she wants it.  Keely has also been a little rough with Barrett and has been known to push him over a few times and even kick him when he's been on the ground.  She thinks it's all in fun, but hopefully soon she will understand how naughty it is.  She's a tough one! 
I really like the picture of her helping him read his book, I think his face explains it perfectly, "Mom, save me!"

The next picture makes me laugh too.  One Sunday after lunch, I had to go help Brooks for a minute and told Keely to 'watch Barrett for me' and I'd be right back.  I come back to Keely feeding Barrett the rest of his rice cereal.  He tolerated it very well, and she was so proud of herself for helping! Needless to say, I haven't let this happen again for Barrett's sake!

 

 Barrett has also been known to play with Keely's princess castle.  He loves it.  Guess we need to find him a boy version for Christmas! He also loves his pacifier much more than Brooks or Keely ever did.  They never really used it during the day, and Brooks gave it up at about 4 months and Keely at about 6 months.  I have a feeling we will have a harder time getting Barrett to give it up...he constantly loves to have something in his mouth! He also finds the pacifier in his crib in the middle of the night to help him sleep.  It's nice he can find it some times, but if only it could keep him asleep the whole night! :)

 

Barrett definitely likes to stand up.  He loves being in his exersaucer (until I come in the room of course) and especially loves jumping up and down on my lap.  Very exhausting for me, and another reason why I am looking forward to his 'after 1 stage' because he will most likely be walking!

My boys :)

Since Barrett has been born, I have always taken him with me to Ace while I work.  I did that with both Keely and Brooks until they were about 6 months old.  It works out pretty well in the beginning, and Barrett did especially good just sleeping or playing in his bouncy seat the first 4 1/2 months, but lately he had become more and more difficult to get anything done with him there.  I've had Blake or a couple of our Ace employees walk around with him to give me just a few minutes of work time without a crying baby or wiggly baby on my lap! Thankfully, in the past few weeks, he reached the stage where I felt comfortable leaving him with our high school girl, Ashley, whenever she comes to babysit.  She was excited to have Barrett too, but I was a little nervous leaving all 3 with a 15 year old! I finally decided Barrett could sit up well enough and finally took a bottle decently that we'd try it.  The kids all did great, so it has been so much better on me now that she can watch all three!
One of the last times Barrett came with me, Blake got him to fall asleep with him.  It gave me flashbacks to Brooks as a baby being at Ace with us all the time when we first bought the store.

It hasn't taken Barrett long to show interest in crawling.  Just in the past couple of weeks he has become really mobile.  He doesn't really army crawl, but he scoots around somehow to get where he wants to go by either rolling, pushing, or pulling himself.  He finally learned to sit himself back up sometime last week (one of my favorite milestones because it makes my life so much easier!). After the past couple of days, I would have to say we officially have a crawler.  He has reached this milestone much sooner than Brooks or Keely did.  He is about 3 or 4 weeks ahead of Keely crawling, and about 5 ahead of Brooks.  Brooks started crawling January 31, 2011, and Keely the middle of January 2013.  Barrett just can't wait to keep up with the other 2 kids I guess! He is now pulling himself up along the couch, his activity table, and just tonight, against the cabinets in the kitchen.  Since he loves to stand, I really don't think it will take him much longer until he tries to walk, but we'll see!

Finally, all 3 kids taking baths together happened in the past couple weeks too.  So fun.  Brooks and Keely love having Barrett in with them, and I'd have to say Barrett was just as excited! Makes my heart smile to watch these three grow up together :)

PS...take a look at all these pics and notice how Barrett is always looking at me with the camera...I wasn't kidding that he always has eyes for his Momma!

Happy 4th!

For some reason, the 4th of July has become one of Brooks' favorite holidays.  Maybe because it is kind of a holiday all by itself and there is plenty of time to get excited about it coming.  Brooks has a sort of love-hate relationship with fireworks.  He looks forward to them all year, but when they actually start shooting off, he gets really nervous if they are too close or loud.  He also has a fascination with the huge blow up gorillas some of the firework stands have outside their tents.  He has talked about them consistently throughout the year since he first saw them last 4th of July.  Oh the joy on his face the first time he saw them this year!  He was soooo excited! Keely was a little unsure of them, and after the first night we saw the purple one outside the tent in the Ace parking lot, we had to reassure her several times that he doesn't move.  Even the next morning when she woke up, the first thing she said was, "Gorilla. Stay. Ace."  Poor girl, I think she was genuinely afraid of him, but as we saw him again throughout the week, she liked him. 
Anyway, the weekend started off with the City of York's firework show on Thursday night.  We have started going to it every year, and Brooks really enjoys it since we watch them from the fairground parking lot, plenty of distance away from the loud booms.  Again this year, Cody had Katy's birthday party prior to the show, which was fun.  The kids could run around and play in the parking lot, eat cupcakes, popcorn, and candy, and anticipate the exciting firework show to end the evening.  I didn't get many pictures that night because it is just too much hassle to haul around our nice camera while I'm holding Barrett all the time, but I snapped this one quick with my phone of Keely eating her cupcake :)

 

On the actual 4th of July, we went to my parents' house for the day.  We played outside most of the day and enjoyed the beautiful weather.  I love it when we have 'cooler' weather for the 4th...it was only in the low 80s all day!  This is the first year we have bought snappers for the kids.  Keely and Brooks were a little unsure at first with the loud 'snap', but after they discovered how fun it was to throw and step on them, both kids loved them!  Brooks even shed a few tears when they were all gone.

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We also bought some black snakes.  It was a pretty windy day, so it was hard to get them started, but eventually Blake got a few going!

These two were so much fun this holiday.  They love being outside at the farm, and add Daddy not having to go to work, and a few fireworks, they were happy campers!

We even took a few 4-wheeler rides.  Keely loved the rides and had a hard time letting Brooks take his turn.  After Blake drove away with Brooks, she started fussing.  We told her she could go again once Daddy and Brooks were back.  She then proceed to say, "Orange One!' and pointed to another one still parked in the shed.  She's not dumb! She got Grandpa to start up the other one and take her for a spin.  Silly girl loves to drive...becomes a problem when she wants to sit in the front seat of the van all the time and pretend to drive...she might be trouble someday! 

Cody, Curtis, and their kids, along with my Grandparents, Uncle Dean and Loretta, Stacy, Tim and Scott, came over for supper that night and some fireworks.  The kids ate at their own table...Lane didn't want to eat and Katy didn't eat long, so just Brooks, Keely and Scarlett were left by the time I took a picture!

I think the kids just wanted to play instead of eat...they ran all over the place looking at the gardens and baby kitties and just having fun together.

Barrett was a pretty happy boy most of the day too...as long as someone was paying attention to him!

Shooting off a few fireworks for the kids...or maybe they were really for the enjoyment of Blake and Curtis? Hard to tell :)

And of course, enjoying some homemade ice cream before it got dark enough for fireworks.  Yum!

It's finally dark enough for fireworks! Brooks tried a sparkler this year.  He was pretty nervous about it, but we were so proud of him for at least trying it!  He however was not a fan of the bigger fireworks the guys shot off for us all to watch.  For him, we were too close and they were too loud.  He kept asking if they were done yet.  He just likes to enjoy them from a farther distance!

So that was our 4th of July holiday.  After a couple of really late nights, everyone was pretty tired, but it is just hard to avoid this time of year.  Our kids fell in love with this big silly purple gorilla, so we had to snap a picture before he was taken down.  Farewell until next year, purple gorilla, and Happy 4th of July!