The Last Couple of Days

How do you like my new blogging kick? Are you glad or thinking "get a life"? I think a lot of it is having a new camera and constantly having the urge to use it.

Yesterday was Monday=Steven's day off. He was oh-so-kind to let me go to Huntsville and leave Ellie and Luke with him. A dear friend that I hadn't seen since my wedding was in town and I wanted to see her. Laura Beth and Andrew came along for the ride and we also made a stop at good ol' Target which as it most often does-comes through for me with really great prices on really cute stuff! I got these on sale for $12.99:
(They are red-in case you can't tell. LB couldn't resist them either)

We also went to a fabric store and I picked up a few samples. It took me forever. I know Laura Beth and Andrew were about ready to push me out the door. There are just so many and I love so many and I get very overwhelmed. So this is what I found. (I am not about to buy any of this BTW, I just like to know what I would do if I could.)

I would like to revamp my couch. The old pillows are more of a red, well, more of a rust color. Not my favorite. This is what I would like to have pillows in:
And I would really some pillows made out of this for my bed:

I will accept any design advice from much more experienced designers than myself. I went to 3 years of school for interior design. But that is where it ended. I especially am lacking in my experience with fabrics.

Because of all my time spent away from the house yesterday, this is what I am dealing with today:
And those aren't all, there are lots more dirty in the laundry room.

While I am trying to catch up, Ellie and Luke have been busy pretending. I have to step in fairly often to break-up fights, but for the most part, I would say it has been a huge blessing to have them so close in age. They fight hard, but they play hard. As you can see in this picture, kitty (Ellie's attachment since she turned one) spent most of the morning napping in Andrew's bed. Not really sure why there are tissues covering his face.
No more potty stories to report. I just thought I would show you the cute face behind all the messy disasters: (Notice the band-aid on his shirt)

The Continuing Saga of Potty-training with Luke

I know you are so excited to get another one of these posts. But if you've every potty-trained a child before, you can probably relate (unless I'm doing something terribly wrong). And if you've never done it-this is what you can look forward to :) They say boys are harder and so far that is true for us.

We had a fun party last night and there will be pictures of that later, I'm sure. But I don't want to steal Laura Beth's thunder and I wanted to go ahead and record this so I wouldn't forget.

I went to CVS this afternoon to get several of their freebies-lots of basic school supplies. I left Andrew well-fed and ready for a nap, and Steven, Luke, and Ellie on the play room floor "taking a nap" in their new play tents. I was gone about 45 min. and when I got home, Steven came down the stairs holding a very splotchy-red faced Andrew. He said that it had been chaos and also "I don't know how you do this everyday", which as any SAHM knows, that comment is always appreciated.

He said Luke said "I need to poopy". Which as he would soon learn, really meant, I am in the process of or already have. So they quickly head to the bathroom and Steven pulls the pull-up off only to empty quite a bit of poopy onto the floor. (our white tile floor) He said he got it all cleaned up, which I was a bit skeptical of since he said he used hand soap. So after I got Andrew settled, I went in with some real bathroom cleaner. We also had some laundry issues to deal with.

In spite of all the potty-training issues, I still had time for some baking tonight. Yesterday, I went to our local farmer's market. Things must be peaking for the season, because there was soo much great stuff. I got these
And these
And thought...hmmm...blueberry muffins would taste really good. So Andrew was taking a really good nap and Ellie and Luke were watching a movie, so...

Well, I gotta go change another dirty pull-up.

Got It!

My camera is back from Birmingham!! It isn't anything superduper at all, but it does the trick. Now, my sister Sarah, on the other hand, found a Canon Rebel XSi yesterday for a steal of a deal. I don't know much about cameras at all-I just know this is a good one. While we are on Sarah, you really should check out her blog. She is a fine arts major at Auburn and I'm sure I'm a bit partial, but I think she is very talented and creative. You can look at her blog and check out her work. And if you like what you see, then check this out.

So, back to my little (what feels rather un-creative at the moment) life. But as Steven said one day as all three of our children were sitting on the couch "those are our little investments-eternal investments".

So, what have I been snapping pictures of?

We recently watched the TinkerBell movie and Ellie wanted her hair like Tinkerbells'. But with the Asian dress Kate brought her from China, she looks more like a little china doll. Hmmm...if we stick a few chopsticks in the bun we just might be set for a Halloween costume in October...

My boys-pacis and all-I don't have any goggle pictures yet. I will have to remember to show you that! Oh wait, I can't. Because Luke decided-on his own-to toss the paci!! And we have officially landed one poopy in the potty!! It was kind of an accident. He was on the potty and we left the room for a second and heard him start to cry. We came back and there it was. Even when Steven, Ellie, and I were pretty much turning cartwheels to praise him-he was still very upset by it.
I took some pictures to show you what I daydream about ALOT! I so very desperately want a swing for this spot here:
Don't you think it is so very badly calling out for one?

And maybe some rockers or chairs or a nice bench here:
And since we're just daydreaming and money isn't an object in my dreams, perhaps another swing or a chaise lounge here:
In real life, this is where all our money is going:
So that's about it. More pictures to come. Ada and LB are here and we are celebrating Ada's second birthday on Saturday. We're going all out with McDonald's and an Elmo cake!! Hope you have a good pre-weekend.

Guess What?

Steven called me while he was out of town a few weeks ago and said he bought us a new camera. Surprise! But after fussing about Ellie breaking it-I left it in B'ham at my dear friend, Laurahelen's surprise birthday party. I'm really not as irresponsible as I sound. Andrew was screaming his head off and I was trying to get him to the car and everything else that goes along with taking a baby somewhere. She is sending it to me.

In the meantime, I would like for you to try this recipe that I recently made for a church fellowship. They are called homeade kitkat bars by good ol' Paula Deen. They don't really taste too much like a kitkat, I personally think they are alot better. My family is probably thinking I need to chill out over these things. I don't know if they loved them as much as me, but seriously, I can't stop eating them. Here it is:

75 club crackers
1 c. butter
2 c. graham cracker crumbs
1 c. firmly packed brown sugar
1/2 c. whole milk
1/3 c. sugar
2/3 c. creamy p.b.
1/2 c. semisweet chocolate morsels
1/2 c. semisweet butterscotch-flavored morsels

Line an ungreased 13x9 in. baking pan with crackers (may have to break some to fit). Set aside.

In a large saucepan, melt butter over med. heat. Add cracker crumbs, brown sugar, milk, and sugar. Bring to a boil, and boil for 5 min., stirring constantly. Remove from heat, and pour half of butter mixture evenly over crackers. Place another single layer of crackers evenly over butter mixture, cutting to fit if necessary. Pour remaining butter mixture evenly over crackers. Top evenly with remaining crackers.

In a small saucepan, combine p.b., chocolate morsels, and butterscotch morsels. Melt over med.-low heat, stirring constantly. Spread evenly over top of crackers. Cover, and chill for at least 1 hour. Cut into bars. Store in fridge.

Try them. Please.

I guess it's a good thing I recently joined the gym. I am just doing the classes. Not the actual equipment. I love it! The other night I went to dance aerobics and we learned Michael Jackson's "Thriller"! So fun. I just about made a fool of myself, but at least I burned some calories in the process.

Oh...another thing to get fired up about...I am blogging right now. At my house. And it's 4:30. Which means...Steven got a computer at the church, which means he leaves the laptop at home. Everyday!!

Sorry to family who were hoping for Andrew, Luke, and Ellie stories. I can't think of anything major. Ellie is taking swimming lessons this week and loving them. I think they make her feel very grown-up. We bought her some goggles and of course Luke "needed" some too. He wears them around the house with a paci in his mouth. I will definitely try to get a picture of that. Sidenote: He is about to be three and the paci will go. We gave Ellie until then so he knows he just has a few more months.

Omigoodness. Speaking of Luke. I think this is definitely blogworthy. I CANNOT figure out how to get him completely potty trained. He has #1 down pretty well. But #2 is a different story. For several weeks, anytime it was just us at home, I would let him run around without his pull-up because he usually tells me when he has to go (#1). I really thought he knew enough not to go to the bathroom on the floor. Nope. (Warning: This is about to get gross.) So he had been upstairs and came down and I noticed something brown on his leg.

Me: "Luke, did you poopy upstairs?"
Luke: "No, I didn't. I promise." (He's bouncing around)
Me: "Why is there poopy on your leg?" (I am quickly making my way upstairs)
Luke: "I didn't poopy. I promise." (He's following me-and Ellie too)

I walked in his room and didn't smell anything. Then made my way to the bonus room and the smell hit me. Our carpet is on the darker side of neutral and it's a shag, so I was being extremely careful as I walked (it wouldn't be the first time I have stepped on poopy-so from previous experience, I knew it was something I would like to avoid). It didn't take me long to find it in three different spots.

Me: "Luuuuuke! Buddy, why did you poopy on the floor?"
Ellie: "Luke poopied on the floor? That is really yuck, mom!"
Luke: Shrugging his shoulders. (very nonchalantly...not worried about it at all) "I sorry, mom."

I kept asking why, as if he was going to give me some answer that would make the poopy go away. He would say "But, I didn't mean to." I hugged him, told him it was okay, and (sigh) said we would eventually get the hang of it. Needless to say, we have nixed that method.

And so as not to leave Andrew out-he is doing great. Still loves to nurse! An answer to prayer. When I was pregnant with him, I prayed for him to be my smallest baby and that he would be an excellent and long nurser. God has been so gracious to grant me both of those requests. He is also loving baby food. I am buying some/making some. Sweet potatoes are a piece of cake to make and freeze. Others not as easy.

That's about it. Check back soon for pictures!

Here and There and Everywhere

This blog post will be all over the place. I guess that's how it is when you only blog once a month. Lot of random things to catch you up on and a little rambling as well...

I saw that I am last on some of my blogging friend's blog rolls (is that what they're called?). And it's been 3 weeks since I last posted, so while my two oldest are asleep and Andrew is happy in his bouncy seat, I thought I would update you on life in the Barber household. Sad news-(mainly for family)-my camera is broken and my mom's is also broken--thanks to Ellie. Note to self: if and when we get a new camera (don't really have that much extra cash right now), don't let Ellie anywhere near it.

Steven is gone for 2 weeks (gulp!). We are actually into the second week. He is teaching two different youth camps. He came home for one night (on Friday) and left again yesterday morning. Just so you moms aren't hyperventilating at the thought-you should know that my mom and two sisters are helping a ton. So to kill the first week, and because we wanted to see you, Moore family :)-we went to visit Laura Beth and Scott and their little monkey, Ada. I assume that everyone that reads my blog also reads my sister's. But in case you don't, I will officially announce on my blog that she is pregnant with baby #2. I am very excited. I love a new life in our family, especially when I'm not the one who has to carry it for nine months. (Don't want to make it sound like it isn't a privilege, but I'm a little worn out from pregnancies at this point) She is feeling pretty yucky and it brings back all of last summer's memories of feeling unbelievably sick and tired in the middle of the suffocating heat. Not fun! Mom went with us to visit and we were hoping to give her some relief, although I'm afraid it was anything but that. There is so much refereeing between the cousins when they all get together. It isn't exactly what I would call restful. Although I think we can all say it was very entertaining and we had several really hard laughs. Thanks for the visit, guys!

On to other exciting baby food news...I have decided to attempt making my own this time around. Notice I said attempt. I don't know why I have never at least tried it before. I think it will be much cheaper and it seems like it will taste a lot better. I pureed my first squash yesterday. Andrew wasn't a big fan, but we will try, try again. Any "make it yourselfers" out there are welcome to leave me advice!

As I mentioned before, Steven had one night at home in between youth camps. I nicely asked my mom and sister, Sarah (Kate was out of town) to keep all three children so Steven and I could go see a movie. They so graciously agreed. We went to see My Sister's Keeper. Definitely one of the saddest, most depressing movies I have ever watched-on several levels, actually. But most sad to me was how hopeless death is without Christ. The movie is the world's best attempt to put some sort of answer or hope into dying, but without the gospel, there is none-zero. At one point the girl with cancer says something like she isn't afraid because she thinks she will be alright. It saddens me to no end to think of the people in this world who are going about their lives with some false sense of security about eternity because they are a "good person". It says in Isaiah "all our righteous acts are like filthy rags." But praise be to God for His indescribable gift! What a glorious hope we have in Jesus! Are you ever just completely humbled and overwhelmed by your salvation? I love it when God hits me with that at various times.

Told you this post would be everywhere!

Back Already!

Can you believe it's only been a few days and I'm blogging again? I was reviewing pictures on my camera and realized there are quite a few that I should post. I know there are certain family members that would probably love to see them-Hey, Mary Ann :) Just to warn you, they will be very random!

So I found this picture on my camera. (I didn't take it, it must have been Steven) And I realized that doggie is getting some milk straight from the breast pump. Sorry if that is TMI. Also, we have found Luke a few times trying to breastfeed doggie, except he puts him up to his bellybutton.

We are getting some neighbors!!! Also, you can kind of see the project that we are working on sloooooowly. We are trying to get our screened porch painted so we can actually get it screened in. I'm dying to sit out there on a rainy summer day!

Here is the bulldozer at work. They were working for several days and Luke had a front row seat. This is Luke straight out of bed to catch the action.

First watermelon of the summer!!

My four month old. I can't resist this little guy!

Neither can Ellie.Or even little AdaOmigoodness. How cute are these two? Ada loved Andrew or just "baby" to her.

Andrew wasn't so sure. He's like "who is this chick?" And finally...this is what my living room looks like at the end of a long day. Ellie's latest game is to pretend she is making "pies". This involves tearing up lots of paper into lots of little pieces for the pie filling. Ellie's pies have also started taking over our fridge. I should've made her clean this up, but tonight I was more ready for her to go to bed than to do a clean-up battle. We'll cross that bridge in the morning when everyone is more rested.

Good night!

Not Supermom!

I can't believe it's been almost a month since I posted. I realized this (aside from the date at the top of my last post) because Andrew is 4 months today. I don't have any pictures because that takes extra time and that is something I just don't have much of right now. I feel like I am always saying something about that, (my lack of free time), and really it isn't a complaint, it's just the truth. Having three is so insanely time consuming!

Sometimes I read other blogs or hear of moms doing these super creative things with their kids or doing elaborate projects or things to their house and I have to say it confuses me a little. WHEN do they do all this and is something else sacrificing for it? On Thurs. last week I took all three to the grocery store for the first time and I have to say it went pretty well. I didn't have an extremely long list, but it was enough to take a little while. God was gracious and we left without a peep from Andrew. Ellie and Luke hung in there and with just one argument over who would open the door to get the milk out, we made it out without any major meltdowns. Anyway, that was beside the point. I wanted to bake a cake. Sounds simple enough, right? So I got home and got Andrew down, but he was struggling to fall asleep so that means back and forth to put his paci in. Ellie had several issues upstairs (bathroom). So, back and forth up the stairs. I spilt some buttermilk all over the floor. Clean that up. Switch some laundry(so we'll have some clothes to wear). And a few hours later, the cake was in the oven. Now it's almost time to start on dinner.

So, what I'm saying is, to go to the store and bake a cake is a lot for one day. And by just doing that, there are some other things that get sacrificed. I don't get a shower. Laundry is backed up (I usually need to do several loads a day to keep from getting really backed up). Dishes aren't cleaned up from lunch. So, how do "supermoms" do it? Coupon, homeschool, smock dresses for their little girls???? Oh, and the most important responsibility (which I often forget is #1 priority) to train our children -Prov. 22:6-not just meet their basic needs. It's a lot to fit in one day, as in, it can't all be done. And that is okay, we just have to pick and choose-what will be our priorities on this day?

So yesterday (Steven's day off-we often try to do something differnet and fun as a family on Mondays) we took a visit to our brand new movie theater here in town to see the new Pixar movie Up. Mom kept Andrew and we took Ellie and Luke. It was so cute!!! Funny for adults and children. It was 3D (which they charged $2 extra for!), but I really did enjoy the 3D part. Ellie and Luke got tired of wearing the glasses after awhile. But I wish I had a picture of Luke. He was so funny sitting on the seat, because he didn't weigh enough to hold it down, so his feet were sticking up in the air and he had those huge glasses on and was eating popcorn. It was so funny. They loved it and so did we. I highly recommend it!

I hate to say it, but until next month...