Casa de Barrios

This picture says it all...

2011-06-16T16:02:00.004-05:00

but the good news is, after a VERY long break Casa de Barrios is back in business!!! I took several months off, just to enjoy living life with my family and not stressing over the idea of blogging every moment in our lifes.

Lots has happened, but I don't know that I'll be able to catch up with it all. I might get around to it, but I won't strees if I don't. I will just start from where we are right now.

And we are in the beginning of summer, about to go on a get away weekend to Cincnnati. So once we're back, I'll officially start blogging!

It feels good to be back! Now, I'm sure you want to see some pictures of the girls.

Bedroom Remodel, Step 1...

2010-09-22T13:01:00.006-05:00

We are finished with the first step of the bedroom remodel. This spring, my mom asked if I wanted a bed frame that used to be my grandparents. Okay, so maybe she asked after I hinted, begged, for the bed frame. I can remember being a little kid and thinking it was SO pretty. And I want to have the kind of lasting love that both of my sets of grandparents had, so why not take their old bed!

This is what is started out looking like:

Okay, so not exactly as beautiful as I thought it was when I was a kid. But definitely had potential! I'm not a fan of much gold or brass, but I loved the lines of it. So, I do what I do best - SPRAY PAINT!!!

I'm starting to wonder if there is a such thing as spray painters anonymous, because I could possibly be addicted. Michelle, I promise I won't spray your kids if they come over to play!!

After a month of crazy busyness, I finally finished the frame and actually got it put together.

Here's a before of the room:

Well, it's kind of a during shot. It was 6:30 in the morning on a Saturday morning, so I was still half asleep and didn't realize I needed to take pictures until after we had taken the matresses off. The one thing I want to say about this bed is IT WAS LARGE! Emily even had a hard time climbing up on it. And of course, the new bed is small compared to it. But I LOVE IT!!

Here's the after:

Man alive, I really need to get the iron out on those shams. But then again it was 6:30 in the morning, so there was no ironing happening at that time in the morning! :)

Next on the list is painting the room. You can see in some of the pictures we are trying to make a final decision on color.

After that, there's a few more projects left for some wall hangings and other decorations. Stay tuned!

Things, they are a changing...

2010-08-18T13:22:00.006-05:00

As you have probably noticed, I have started having a slight obsession with furniture refurbishing and thrifting/yard saleing for cute inexpensive decorating stuff.

It's pretty amazing what I have been able to find for CHEAP!!

I also have become obsessed with, well more like addicted to, searching the wonderful world of blogs for inspiration.

I've been talking about changing pretty much every room in our house for a while now. And I finally got the answer from Steve that I wanted when I asked if I could redo something!!! Which is surprising because when I ask him that, all he sees is $$$$$, which I don't blame him. He told me I could start with our Bedroom and Bathroom.

Anyway, back to the reason for this update...sorry I'm a little giddy right now with all the ideas going through my head.

Okay, I wanted to share some bedroom inspiration that I have been collecting. And I'll give you updates as our boudoir comes together.

Now that Steve is home more, our room is off limits to the girls. No toys laying around, not watching tv in our bed, etc. It's not that we don't want them in there, we just want a place that we can go to get away from the rest of the house and actually retreat from the day.

The only reason I chose to share that little bit of information is so you know why I'm looking at lighter bedding and some non-kid friendly ideas.

And, as a side note, as I was collecting the inspiration pics, I was not planning on putting them on the blog. So, I have NO clue where I got them from. Sorry if I stole your picture and didn't give you credit. Let me know if they are yours and I will add the credit where credit is due!

First Day of First Grade...

2010-08-13T11:37:00.003-05:00

It's that time again!!! How did the summer go by SO fast!?!?!?!

Here's a few pictures of the first day of school.

(those are cookies in her hands for her teach and the principal - she is such a teacher's pet!)

Okay, I don't know what's going on with my camera. It is really blurry - guess I'll have to figure out what is happening.

Here's a picture of Elaina watching her sissy.

And here's what I got when I asked Emily to give a silly pose! What are we going to do with her!?!?!?

Wordless Wednesday...

2010-08-04T15:58:00.001-05:00

Really missing my Puerto Rican friends!

Another Before & After...

2010-07-30T15:59:00.006-05:00

A few weeks ago, Holly and I hit up some yard sales to see what we could find. It was a great day! I found lots of projects to work on!

The first one was for our front porch. We had some wicker chairs passed down to us by my mom. And I love them, but they were a little too big for our little front porch. So, when I laid my eyes on these cute little chairs, I couldn't pass them up. Especially since they were $5 a piece!

Okay, now you are supposed to pretend there are two ginormous wicker chairs here. I was in such a hurry to put them away I forgot to get a "real" before pic. So you are going to have to use your imagination!

Now this is the during. I ran out of time to add any fun stuff to the table. Eventually, I would like to replace the table with a rolling cart kind of thingy and have lots more plants/flowers. But for now, this will have to do.

After a few days, I decided to shop the house to see what I might have to put out here. Just to make it look a little "homier". And this is the outcome:

Cost Breakdown:

Chairs $10

Paint $6

Fabric $2

Total: $18

Not too bad! There's so much more coming. My attic is full with lots of projects just waiting for me to find the time to do them!

Wordless Wednesday...

2010-07-28T14:49:00.001-05:00

4th of July...

2010-07-27T22:21:00.005-05:00

Better late than never, right!

Last year we met up with some of our friends and watched the fireworks in Nashville. Since we all had so much fun, even though it poured down rain the entire time, we decided to do it again.

This year we planned it out a little better and had 3 tents, just in case of rain! We got there super early so we could beat the crowd.

So I brought lots of things to keep the girls occupied, because knew they would get restless before the show began!

Emily & Elaina basically taking a bath in the bubbles we brought!

I also brought Elaina's tricycle and Emily's scooter to ride.

Little did I know the big boys would enjoy them as much as the girls!

We also brought corn hole, which kept everyone busy! They had a championship game and everything!

Emily and Elaina got in on the action. You can just see the pure joy on Elaina's face because she knew she was doing something she shouldn't!

Emily did what she does best - she bummed cotton candy from Josh! Sucker! Can't believe he fell for her charm!

Holly and I hangin out under one of the 3 tents.

All in all, it was a great day with great food, great friends, and great fireworks!

Definitely going to be a tradition at Casa de Barrios!

Big, Big New for Casa de Barrios....

2010-07-27T10:46:00.003-05:00

Steve and I have had a little secret we've been holding in since we came back from Puerto Rico.

And it is going to change our lives for forever!

And no, I'm not pregnant!!!

(somehow everytime I make the announcement about our secret that's what everyone thinks!)

I'll give you a little background about the story, because it's pretty amazing, before I tell the secret. I know, I know, it's a pretty mean thing to do, but I like keeping the suspense going a little longer!

It's been pretty much since we were married, which has been almost 6 years, when I started praying for a career change for Steve. Before you start judging, let me explain. Steve has been in the car business for like 12 years. And as much as he, opps we, love the opportunites it has granted us, it really takes away A LOT of family time. On most nights, he doesn't get home until after the girls are in bed. And that's just not fair to him or the girls.

So, as we prepared for Puerto Rico, we both asked God to completely change us. Including our addiction to our material things and our financial stability. We asked Him to change our views and to open our eyes to how fortunate we are to be a family. And to show us ways we could change our day to day life in order to have a stronger family and more time to commit to His calling.

And wouldn't you know it - as soon as we turned it over to God - He made the change for us!!!

One of the guys who went on the trip with us, and was actually on our crew, was Jeff Haskins. We've known him and his family for awhile, but on this trip he and Steve got to know each other a lot better. So, when we came back, Jeff just mentioned to Steve about possibly coming into the HVAC sales industry. And through God's timing it is happening in a week!

PRAISE JESUS!!!!!

In one week, we will be able to sit down and have dinner together as a family!

In one week, Steve gets to sleep in on Saturdays and watch morning cartoons with the girls!

In one week, I just might be able to go to the grocery store with no kids!!!

In one week, Steve and I will be able to have date night at normal hours instead of 10 o'clock at night!!!

In one week, my family will be able to be a "normal" family!!! (what ever "normal" means)

So, this is just proof that when you put "stuff" in God's hands, He will take care of it!!!

Puerto Rico...Day 1...

2010-07-26T20:30:00.008-05:00

(Steve relaxing on the flight)

From the time we left Nashville, I could feel God's presence. He SO took care of us as we travelled! We had teens who had never been on a plane, one had never been more than 300 miles away from home. And no one had any issues as we travelled. No luggage lost, no sickness, we didn't get lost going to the hotel after we landed.

It was absolutely amazing!

Once we got checked in, it was pretty much dinner time, so we went to an authentic Puerto Rican restuarant. (which is actually harder than you would think).

(our authentic Puerto Rican restuarant) (a few of the group enjoying dinner)

We pretty much took up the entire place!

(Our girls amazing us)

Okay, so we're getting to the part that gave us all chill bumps!

Our servers wer AMAZING!!!

They helped us learn about the native food and how it was prepared.

(Steve's dinner - Monfongo)

(My dinner - can't remember the Puerto Rican name, but it was roasted pork & fried plantain)

Of course we still had on our matching shirts, so they asked why we were in Puerto Rico. And of course we were all willing to share our reason - isn't that why we were there in the first place? To spread the Word of God?

This prompted one of the servers to sit down beside Mike, our incredible Youth Minister, and talk to him about witnessing to a friend. You see, our server is a Christian who is trying to help a friend get to know the Lord on a more personal level. And he wanted some advice of how to handle this. So, Mike talked with him pretty much the entire dinner.

As we were getting up to pay the tab, the server came up to Mike and said instead of any tips, he would rather us pray with him. RIGHT THERE IN THE MIDDLE OF THE RESTUARANT!!!

And of course with out any hesitation, we all surrounded him, held hands, and prayed sweet words over him and asked for encourangement for him and to open his friend's heart to what the Holy Spirit was trying to show him.

(a couple of the servers)

It was proof that God had called us to Puerto Rico to serve His people and to share His love.

My God is an AWESOME GOD!!!

Wondering Where We've Been?

2010-07-18T09:24:00.004-05:00

Well, we are back from Puerto Rico, been back for over a month now! I know I haven't blogged since April. Thanks for pointing that out Holly! So, I figure before it gets to be 3 months in between posts, I should update on a few things.

(the sunset at camp)

(Our Youth)

Puerto Rico was AH-MAZING!!!! There is no other way to describe it. Steve and I fell in love with the people. They are so open hearted, sweet, and giving. There are so many things to share about the trip, there is no way to put them all in one update. I'll try to do several updates on the trip and how God worked through us during the week. It was very difficult to leave the house we were building. See, we were the first crew to come in, so we got the foundation started, installed what we would call the sub-floor, and added most of the walls. Then there would be 2 more weeks of crews coming to finish the job. So, we didn't get to see the finished product, and that was really hard.

(What we started with)

(Steve hammering away)

(Floors are down)

(Walls are starting to go up)

(look - I'm helping too!)

(The homeowner - she was so excited to see the walls go up!!)

All of our crew cried the last night because we didn't want to leave each other. Our group really bonded and loved each other by the end of the week. It was amazing to watch these kids really learn about each other and open their hearts and allow someone new come in. We had two Puerto Ricans on our crew, Abner and Niaomi. All of us wanted to pack them up in our suitcase and bring them home. The awesome thing is we are able to keep up with each other on Facebook - LOVE IT!!! One of the sweet girls wrote me a note and said thank you for being my temporary mommy. Brought a tear to my eye!

(Knots Heads!!!! aka: our crew)

Since we've been back there's been a lot going on at Casa de Barrios, so I have lots to catch up on. Here's a list of things to blog about: (this is more for me to keep up with what I'm thinking, than for you)

1. Updates on Puerto Rico (I have over 300 pictures, so I have to decide exactly what I want to share)

2. 4th of July

3. Emily's Birthday

4. Some house projects I'm working on

5. My new toy Steve bought me (this goes along with #4)

Easter...

2010-04-23T19:47:00.004-05:00

I know it's a little late, but I thought I would share some pictures from Easter. The girls had so much fun! The Easter bunny left them so outside toys, which they enjoyed in the wonderful sunshine. ******UPDATE*************

I just found this post from April, that apparently I never finished. There wasn't even any pictures downloaded to it. I don't know what happened. And of course, I'm at work when I notice it - so I only have one picture to add. But it's a cute one!

So, it looks like I need to add Easter to my list of updates I need to complete! More to come later!

New adventure around here...

2010-04-23T19:34:00.004-05:00

I don't guess it's really new, I've been doing it for about 6 months now.

In November, I started selling Thirty-One. If you don't know what it is here's a picture:

And if you know me, you know I LOVE a bag!

So, on the side I've been having fun girl nights while selling bags & making a little extra money.

I'm loving it!

Putting on the armor...

2010-04-23T13:07:00.002-05:00

Epehsians 6:11

Put on the full aromor of God so that you can take your stand against the devil's schemes.

It's amazing to me that only 3 days ago I started this whole venture of journaling what I'm finding in my quiet time and already I'm struggling. Hence the reason I started with the verse today instead of ending with it. Why is it when you set out to start new, better habits that will make you a better person, you start hearing all these excuses to not follow through with it. I swear if you were in my head last night you would have heard every excuse in the world not to open my Bible and get into the Word. And you know what, it was a pretty convincing argument.

You see, I am a list person. On a normal day, I will have no less than 3 lists going. And most of the time they are all written down. I have the work list, which I don't know if that counts or not, but one thing is for sure, it wears me out! Then there's the list of stuff I do every night, ie: dinner, baths, homework, lunches, and the list continues. Then there's the list of projects I want to do around the house. Then there's the list...oh you get the point, I have a lot of lists.

But for some reason, when I add quiet time to my life, I come up with every excuse in the book to not do it. I'm tired, I've done a lot already tonight, the girls need to get to bed, I need to catch up on my TV shows that I don't have time to watch so I DVR them....so many thoughts go through my head.

Last night was no different. Every night this week I've been getting done with everything and then before I go to bed I have had my alone time with God. And I have to say it has been wonderful! I've slept so much better and although I've woken up late everyday this week, I've really had a peaceful week. But man alive, my mind just kept telling me I didn't need to do it. I could take one night off and it wouldn't hurt. Besides, who would know if I didn't do it. (even though I know the only One that matters would know)

But I know exactly who was behind all those thoughts - SATAN!!!! He knows I'm building a stronger relationship with my Savior by having my alone time with Him, and the devil is going to do everything possible to stop that. So, he gets in my head and starts whispering all about these other things on my list that are left to do, trying to discourage me from doing my alone time.

But you want to know the awesome thing!?!?!

I put the FULL aromor of God on and told the devil to SHUT IT! I'm going to spend time with my Father and learn more about what He wants me to be!

I don't know about you, but I'm going to put that armor one everyday!

The least of these...

2010-04-22T12:02:00.003-05:00

It's pretty amazing what you will learn if you open your heart and ears to what God wants you to hear.

As we have begun getting things prepared for our trip, there has been lots of reflecting on ourselves and how we live our lives. I feel like I have always been a pretty compassionate person. I normally feel for others when something "bad" happens to them or when life has not treated them so fairly.

But then something Mike, our AWESOME Youth Pastor, said on Sunday night really struck me - loving "the least of these" isn't just about loving those who have been hit by hard times. It's also helping those you might have helped with the same thing last month, it's about helping those who don't know how to stop the insanity of bad choices, it's about helping those whose life circumstances don't make them "pretty" to the human eye.

I'M SO NOT GOOD WITH THAT KIND OF LOVE!

Somehow as I've gotten older, I've become cynical and I don't trust people. It seems I'm looking to find the bad in people.

So #1 on my list of things I'm excited about for this trip - learning to love others. To truly love the least of these. I know I'm going to meet people who I wouldn't normally be around. And half way through the week, when I'm exhausted, sunburnt and tired of dealing with bugs the size of my head, I'm going to have to still love these people.

I'm excited to see how God can open my heart and mind to His kind of love!

I Peter 4:8-9

Above all, love each other deeply, because love covers over a multitude of sins. Offer hospitality without grumbling.

We interrupt the regularly scheduled program...

2010-04-21T12:16:00.002-05:00

So many fun and wonderful things have been happening at Casa de Barrios. And I can't wait to share them, but I'm going to take a break from our regular programming for a little while. About 6 months or so ago, Steve and I were asked by our AWESOME Youth Pastor if we would like to go on a mission trip with our Youth this coming summer. Of course, before he could even get the words out of his mouth, we both said yes! So, here we are less than 60 days away from going to Puerto Rico for 8 days to build a house for someone with World Changers. I can not even begin to describe all the emotions running through me right now. I'M SO EXCITED - how could you not be. I get to go somewhere different than I'm accustomed to being, I get to meet all kinds of new people, I get to spread the word of God to others, plus the first weekend we are doing a few fun things before the work begins. But then there's the side of me that's a little nervous. I have felt like God has been tugging at my heart and trying to reveal to me He wants something different for our lifes. And as human nature does, I've not been acting on those tugs. I know He is going to show me something while we are there, I'm just nervous of exactly what He's going to show me. I'm nervous about what changes in our life are going to come from this trip. Steve and I lead a very comfortable life. It may be crazy and non-stop, but it's comfortable. I feel like there's not much that we HAVE to be completely dependant on God for. Don't get me wrong, I know all of our blessings are from the Lord, but I feel like there's just not much we can only attribute towards God alone. Like our income, I KNOW it's from God, but it's really easy to look at it and say WE work hard for the amount we make. I just really feel God is going to have me on my knees bowing to HIS glory when this week is over. I know we are going to see poverty like we have never seen before. We've travelled and we've seen poverty to a degree, but I just don't think we've ever seen what we are about to witness. I definitely think it is going to be an eye opener for us and how we as "Americans" live our lives. I pray this will bring about change in our day to day lives when we return. I guess I should say I'm excited instead of nervous. Because I think there's a lot of both of those emotions. I'm VERY excited to see what God is going to show us, but a little nervous of what that will mean when we get home. I feel like lately I'm sitting on the side of the spiritual road. And I'm sitting there waiting on something while everyone else is passing by. Yes, I LOVE my Jesus and I know He is the reason I get up everyday and the reason I take a breath. I just feel like my life has become a tornado blowing through town and somewhere along the way I lost that fire in my heart that used to be there. I know there are things in my life I need to change in order to spark that fire again. I know it's all my doing and I'VE been the one getting in the way of HIM! So, I've decided to make some changes to get my mind, heart, and soul ready for this AMAZING experience. Steve told me he was going to fast from something to get ready for the trip, and I decided I am going to do the same thing. I thought, and thought, and thought a little more about what it is that would get me ready and then God really let me have it. All these emotions running around inside of me are there because of one thing - I'm not ready to be uncomfortable! I'm not talking about the bugs, the showers, the sleeping arrangements, the list could go on....I'm talking about I'm not ready to change MY habits. I like the fact if I see something I want, I can go buy it (well, within reason). And I normally do. I might save up for it or try to find a coupon for it, but I end up with it. Not anymore! I'm making that change! So, until we go to Puerto Rico, I will not be shopping. That's right - you heard it here! I will not be buying anything unless it happens to be groceries, and even then, we will be sticking strictly to the list. My whole thinking on this is the fact that we are going to be building a house for someone who doesn't have one, they don't get to go buy an Ipod when they want, they don't get to go buy new clothes when they are feeling down, they don't get to have their hair done every 6 weeks, and the list continues... And one thing I've always wanted to do was memorize scripture. Not just to recite it in a competition. But to tuck it away in my heart so that when I need it, it's there waiting. So, I'm going to take time each day to write a little in my journal of my plans, my feelings, my fears and anything else God brings to my mind. And along with it, I will memorize scripture to go along with those feelings, thoughts, etc. Today's verse is Matthew 28:18-19 Then Jesus came to them and said, "All authority in heaven and on earth have been given to me. Therefore go and make disciples of all nation, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. Just did that from memory!!! Yay! Please don't leave negative comments. I normally don't really care, but this is a really personal thing and I'm really using this as a way to documents my thoughts and really my prayers. Love you all!

Daddy's Valentine...

2010-03-22T20:49:00.008-06:00

Emily joined the Girl Scouts right after the new year and she has been loving it! She goes with Steve's mom and nieces, so it gives me a night to not have to do homework, which I've been loving!

Word got to me they were going to be doing a Daddy/Daughter Dance on Valentine's weekend. And we just couldn't pass it up!

She loved getting all dolled up for her BIG date. And I had a blast helping her get ready. It made me realize I will be getting her ready for prom before I know it!

They had so much fun! And they danced til they dropped! Emily fell asleep on the way home & didn't wake up until the next morning!

I was going to post a video, but couldn't get it to download. I'll update once I figure this out!

Stella got her groove back...

2010-03-22T20:35:00.007-06:00

I'm back!!! I had misplace, aka lost, my camera cord and so I've not been able to blog lately. Well, Saturday I realized I didn't need a camera cord after all! Yipee!! I have a memory card reader on my lap top, so I decided I would try to see if it worked with my camera. And lo and behold it did! Double Yippe!

There has been lots of stuff going around Casa de Barrios the past few months. I can't believe it's already the end of March, wasn't it just New Year's?

This past weekend, my parents kept Elaina for us one night and we decided to have a date night with Emily. She was so excited! We were going to go see a movie, but the movie theater we wanted to go to was only showing Alice & Wonderland. And I just don't think I want my 5 year old going to see it. It just looks a little too dark for her. So, we decided to go get something to eat and go bowling.

We went to a infamous restaurant in Springfield, The Depot. Our friend, Regina, works there and we had never been so we decided to try it out. The food was fantastic and Emily loved the fact that she got to go see Regina!

After dinner we went bowling. I think the bowling alley in Springfield may just be on the top of the list for historic bowling allies in Tennessee. You could still see the smoke from years past, even though you haven't been able to smoke in there for several years. But Emily didn't care one bit. She was smiling the entire time! Then at 10, they switched it over to cosmic bowling.

What's cosmic bowling, you ask? Well, that's when they shut down the lights, turn the music up and let the disco bowls get wild. Which really made Emily happy! She started dancing while she was waiting for her turn. It was definitely cracking me up! She was thinking she was in the club or something!

The sad thing is she almost beat me, even with the bumpers up!

We then finished off the night by going to Walmart and she got to pick out a new movie. She kept saying "This is the best night EVER!" I think we need to do this more often!

Back to my roots...

2010-03-22T20:05:00.007-06:00

This past week I stepped back in time...I was craving country music! I know that sounds wierd, but I was raised on country music. Yet, as I got older, I started stepping away from my 1st love (although the music today is not always what I consider country music).

Steve came to my resuce though! He got us tickets to a benefit concert in Hopkinsville. I really wasn't for sure what was in store for me when I went though. He had gotten us VIP tickets, so we were able to go to a little reception before the concert and got to meet the performers. I actually thought it was going to be some local person. But I was pleasantly surprised when I got there.

The performers were Michael Peterson, Ty Herndon, and Joel Brown. You might not recognize Michael Peterson. I think he's more famous for his song writing, although I did recognize his face and none of his songs. Joel Brown is actually a teacher at the school the concert was for. And if you have been a country fan for a few years, you should recognize Ty Herndon's name.

The concert actually went to benefit the Fort Campbell High School Football team. You see, they have won the State Championship in Kentucky for 3 years in a row. And apparently, this is HUGE because no other team has ever done that in the state of Kentucky. And they don't have the budget to buy the championship rings for the team. Actually, when I heard how much it was going to cost them, I about passed out - $23,000 for rings!!! Who would have ever thought it would cost that much!!!

Anywho, back to the story.

The concert was AWESOME! The teacher from Fort Campbell actually stole the show. Someone needs to give him a record deal, and pronto!

Emily and I decided to kill the time before the concert started by taking some fun pictures of ourselves.

Then Steve and I got in on the action.

Then the concert started. It was neat because it was just the guys and some guitars. They told stories about the songs and made us laugh pretty much the whole time.

Michael Peterson sang the last song and there was not a dry eye in the room. The name was "Heard a Pin Drop" and it was all about being in the military and the life the folks live. There was a video to go along with it and it was so moving! Before he sang the song, he reminded me exactly why we were there that night. These kids sacrifice SO much! Most of the kids have had a parent, possibly both parents, deployed overseas at some point. Some of them may have had parents who didn't return from overseas. Could you imagine being 16 or 17 and your mom or dad not make it home from the war? I couldn't imagine it now and I'm, well I don't want to admit how old I am, but I'm definitely older than them.

The great news is at the end of the night they had already raised over half of the money! God is definitely GOOD!

A Girl and her Dog...

2010-03-09T19:22:00.006-06:00

These are from a while back, but I wanted to share them anyways. It's been a while since I've updated and there's been a lot of fun things happening around here at Casa de Barrios, but unfortunately, I can't seem to find my camera cord. So, I'm stuck with some older photos for tonight.

These pictures crack me up though. Elaina is mesmorized with the dogs and they are so good to her. This just proofs how much she loves them!

I know a few of these are a little blurry - it is really hard to get a shot of these two! Stay tuned for lots of fun stuff! I have lots of projects in my head and we're planning a fun baby shower for a sweet friend.

Birthday Traditions...

2010-02-16T22:18:00.009-06:00

We have several birthday traditions around casa de barrios, like celebrating for a week if you're name is Steve or Emily. But one of my FAVORITE traditions is having a cupcake for breakfast on your birthday. I think I'm a little selfish in starting this tradition - my favorite thing in the world is some birthday cake, so any reason to add more of it in my life the better!

We started this tradition with Emily's 1st birthday and we have carried it through to Elaina's 1st birthday! It's so funny looking at the pictures and realizing just how much they look alike!

We woke her up early on Saturday so Steve could see her eat her very first cupcake. She didn't know what to think, but she definitely got the hang of it by the end!

Enjoy the pics!

At least she's willing to share, right!?!

Snow Days...

2010-02-16T21:59:00.011-06:00

if you live anywhere in the US, you know just how crazy this winter has been. I've lived in Tennessee all my live and honestly, I don't remember ever having this much snow!!! Emily hasn't been to school a full week since Christmas thanks to the snow...it's really getting a little old! And I don't think I've worked a full week (which is definitely not a good thing). In fact, the other night, Emily said she wanted to move to a place where it's warm all the time.

We have definitely had fun in the snow though. The first snow was a BIG snow. I think we had about 7 inches of snow outside our house. It was crazy!!! It started on Friday and I don't think it stopped coming down for a couple of days. Friday night we had Holly, Sam, Lindsay, and John come over to play in the snow. Holly & Sam packed up Bailey, the wonder dog, and just spent the night with us.

We had a BLAST!!!! Friday night we had the adult sledding time and to be honest I thought we were the biggest red necks ever!!! We took a knee board and tied a rope to the back of John's Jeep. It got even more red neck when we started blaring 70's rock music! I've never laughed so much!

Here's Steve! I was so nervous at first, but then as we went around, I realized how fun it was.

Here's Holly looking sexy! We wore the mask to try to keep the snow from pelting us in our faces - it was like a blizzard out there!

We made snow cream, drank coffee, and played Friends Scene It. It was a great snow night!!

The next day the girls got out into the snow and played. It was Elaina's first snow and she loved it! She just sat in the snow and laughed at it. It was so cold and I didn't have a hat that sat over her ears very good, so we didn't stay out too long. Emily did though, she even got to drive a 4 wheeler. She had a blast! They both slept from about 5:00 that night until the next morning because they were so pooped!

We thought this would be it for snow this year, but this was a few weeks ago and there is still snow on the ground. It's definitely an odd winter this year!

Elaina's 1st Birthday!!!!

2010-02-08T20:23:00.017-06:00

I can't believe it has been a year already! So much has happened this past year and the time has passed away so quickly! We are truly blessed with 2 amazing daughters and Elaina has definitely been an absolute joy this past year!!!! It's so wonderful to start seeing her personality coming out now that she's getting older.

This past weekend we just HAD to celebrate the apple of our eye! And we did just that with an Apple of Our Eye Party. (Okay, so this is going to be a picture heavy post - so this is your official warning if you don't want to look at pictures leave now).

As most of you know, I LOVE, LOVE, LOVE planning parties!!! And honestly, I think that's on the top of the list called "What I love about being a Mom". I know, it's sad, but at least I'm being honest.

The whole apple theme came to me after looking at some party planning blogs. (do you see a recurring theme? I think Steve is going to hide my laptop so I will stop getting all these ideas off of other blogs!)

So, once I saw the theme, I was hooked. I loved it because it was a little different than what I had seen before. And to top it off, the color scheme matched the colors of my house. So, I was sold!

The search was on for the perfect invite - but after several days of searching I couldn't find the right one! UGH!!! SO ANNOYING!!! Do you ever have those moments when you have a certain idea in your head, but can't find ANYTHING to match that idea? I despise those moments!

Then Holly reminded me about Regina. She's the best photographer in the world and she also does graphic design. YAY!!! My problem was solved! She made me the most awesome invite!

And of course, now that I'm trying to find the picture of it, I can't seem to find it!! I will have to update later with it because it's too awesome to not share!

Okay, I know I'm boring you, so I'll get to the pictures.

This is a copy of one of the pictures our awesome photographer, Regina, took. See, I told you she was the best photographer in the world!

A close up of the mantel. A little later, I'll show you my Goodwill finds that I transformed for the party!

This is the party favor table. This was taken before I sat the candied apples & cake balls out.

This was after the candied apples & cake balls. The cake balls were incredible!!!!! My friend Kenya made them and the birthday cake! I have to say, I have some of the MOST talented friends!!!!

The drink station. We had water, apple juice boxes for the kids (although almost all of them were drank by adults), Paula Dean's lime sherbert punch, and hot apple cider.

The food table! Look at that cake!!! She is so creative!!!

And here's the birthday girl eating her cake!

She loves Kenya's cakes just as much as her mommy does! I always smile when I'm eating them too!

And last but not least, the birthday girl in her birthday outfit!

Another sweet, talented friend made this for her. And then she made Emily a pair of pants that match.

Over all, I think it was a very successful party. Maybe tomorrow I will post some pics of everyone enjoying the party. Now I'm off to go spend some time with my wonderful family! Hope you have a great night!

More Before & After...

2010-02-08T20:08:00.007-06:00

Here's one more and then on to the big reveal of what I've really been working on all January.

I had seen on a blog (sorry I don't remember which one or I would link to it) an idea for a wreath. I've been wanting something new for my front door, but didn't want to spend a whole lot of change on it. So,this was perfect! It definitely was a tedious job, so this is not a project for an impatient person (just a warning if you are interested in doing this as well).

This is what I used:

I also took out my second favorite thing:

Yep, that's my wonderful hot glue gun! Although by the end of the project, I wasn't very happy with it because my finger tips were burnt to a crisp!

To start the wreath you take the floral foam wreath (I found mine at Hobby Lobby & then realized you can get them at the Dollar Store for cheaper - DANG IT!). You put a row of hot glue down & then add your beans. I used pinto beans, but you can really use anything you want - nuts, candy, etc. I tried to make mine go diagonal, which for the most part they did. Here's a picture of it towards the beginning:

This is what it looks like once you get all the beans on there:

Then you take your spray paint color of choice & spray paint it. I used Green Apple. Then you take a ribbon and use it to hang the wreath. Here's the completed wreath hanging:

Before & After...

2010-02-08T19:42:00.006-06:00

it's been a while since I've blogged...no need to say it - LOTS OF STUFF GOING ON at the Barrios household in January! So, get ready for lots of updates! I want to start off with a new hobby I have - refurbishing furniture & other thrifty finds. I LOVE it!!!! I've been a follower of blogs that do the same thing for quite a while. But I never thought I could do it. But then my sweet friend Holly called me one Saturday and asked if I wanted to go to the flea market. And I jumped at the chance! I was SO excited!!! We looked around and all of a sudden - I found HER!!! My dream chair!! Although, I don't know that it looked much like a dream. This is what she looked like: So, is she calling your name too? I know she'll be calling your name when you see the after! In fact, she might be growling your name! Here's the after:

Okay, so here's all the details. It took me what felt like 3 years to take out 2 trillion rusty, old nails. It was actually about 3 hours to take out 200 rusty, old nails. My hands have still not forgiven me - I am in dire need of a manicure!

Once I had all the nails and old fabric off, I could trash the old straw that was used for the stuffing. How gross is that! No telling how much nastiness was in the straw!!

Then I did a little sanding, but not much since she was in such great shape. And finally it was time for my favorite thing in the world! SPRAY PAINT!!! Is there a such thing as being addicted to spray paint? Cause if so, I may need a support group! I used Heirloom White and it all down. Then I cut my fabric out and used a little batting as my cushion and she was ready to go.

I think I need a little more foam in the seat, but she'll do for now.

What do you think?

I'm linking to

Date Night...

2010-01-06T22:17:00.005-06:00

As you married folks know, it's important to always take time out to date your spouse. No matter what's going on, you always need to take time away from everyday life and spend quality time with each other.

During Christmas break, Emily and Elaina spent lots of time with Grandparents. One of those nights, we decided to have a double date with Sam & Holly. It was even a "school" night and everything!

We met up at Chili's and ate dinner. Then the boys decided they wanted to go to Best Buy because they both had gift cards, and us girls went to Target to kill the time.

Then we went back to Sam & Holly's and hung out for a few minutes (actually only stayed long enough for Steve to open his new toy - it was really late for a school night).

It was so much fun to just get out and do something with the kids in tow! I think I'm going to make that a New Year's Resolution - to have more date nights with my husband!

Playing with our toys...

2010-01-03T21:14:00.007-06:00

The funny thing is she wouldn't eat it! She wanted to wait and take it so Aunt Candy could have some with her! Too sweet!

You know how when you were a kid you couldn't wait to play with each and every one of your new toys...well Emily is no different. She just about went crazy because I made her wait a couple of days before she could play with the gift Aunt Candy had given her.

She was so excited to make/decorate a cake just like our friend Kenya has made for us before. I have to admit, it's one of those toys that is pretty annoying. But I will deal with my annoyance for Emily's happiness. Emily was REALLY excited (I don't think I can emphasize just how excited she was) and I was having to read the instructions with CONSTANT questions. So that's why it was annoying. But once we got it going, it was so much fun for her.

Relaxing Day...

2010-01-03T21:03:00.008-06:00

The day after Christmas Steve was off, so we decided it would be a pajama day! We invited our friends Andrew, Kenya, and Kooper over to watch football with us. It was such a good day! We relaxed, no one cooked, no one cleaned...just total relaxation. The kids had a blast! I love seeing the kids all playing and getting along.

I will say, I know why God blessed us with girls. I don't know if I could keep up with 2 boys. Kooper never slowed down. As you can tell, I had a hard time getting a picture of him because he kept moving around on me!

Elaina, of course, was in all the cords in the bonus room. I've never seen a baby so obsessed with cords!

Then she just had to show off how good she is standing up on her own!

See - I told you he wouldn't stand still! Emily was playing music and he was doing his "booty shake". It was absolutely hilarious!!!

Christmas 2009 Wrap Up...

2009-12-30T19:41:00.026-06:00

I can't believe it's already over! It seems every year it goes by quicker and quicker!

I've already blogged about the 1st Annual Tacky Christmas Sweater Party, which was SO much fun. The next night we had the Singles Ministry over for their Christmas party. Sorry, I didn't get my camera out, so no pictures. It was a really good time. We had lots of food & fellowship. We played the traditional dirty Santa game. And then we finished the night off with a fun night of Mad Gab. That game is HARD! Especially if your spokesperson for your team has just had 1 cup of coffee & 3 Red Bulls in about a matter of 5 minutes! Yes, Kendall Bell is no longer allowed that much caffiene at one time.

Then it was time to get ready for Christmas Eve. This year we had Christmas Eve with Steve's family and we decided to do it at our house. I was so excited! We've never done anything during the holidays with our family at our house. So, I got off work early to get started, but of course God had a different plan! There was a horrendous wind storm & it knocked a power line down! Perfect! Just as I was getting started, our power went out. So, I did what I could, and we were going to pack everything up to go to his parent's instead. But then God smiled on us & the power came back on.

It was great having them here! It gave his mom a break and I think it was a nice change.

This was our table for the night. I think we need a bigger table! It was packed!!!!

The girls gave us a new camera for Christmas. I started realizing I wasn't taking as many pictures now that Elaina was around. I started thinking about it and realized it's because with 2 girls I don't want to lug a BIG camera around. And we have 2 pretty big trips planned for 2010 and I don't want to be lugging a big carry on bag around to have pictures.

Steve and I have never been good at waiting to give each other our gifts so we opened ours before his family came over. I had a hard time getting the camera to focus, so the pictures didn't turn out as good as I wanted. But I'm getting much better.

Once we finished with gifts, we pulled out the Wii and played a little bit. Then it was time for everyone to go home so we could get ready for Santa.

Emily helped me put out the reindeer food she had made at school and lay out the cookies for Santa. She was so excited!

Santa was really good to the girls! Emily got a dollhouse & some clothes. Elaina got some sort of keyboard toy thingy and some clothes.

They had so much playing with their new toys! Although I think Elaina had more fun playing with the tissue paper the gifts were wrapped in.

After we opened our gifts, we had some breakfast. Our sweet neighbors gave us Apple Barn pancake mix for Christmas, so I fixed those. They were AWESOME!!!

Once we ate, we headed to my parents for Christmas.

We hung out for a little while and had some snacks.

Then it was time to start unwrapping more gifts. This was Elaina's first gift she opened. It's a stuffed animal that turns into a pillow.

As soon as she saw it, she laid her head down. This picture is her in action!

My sister got Emily a Cake Bakery. It's kind of like Easy Bake Oven meets Ace of Cakes. I'll blog more about it later.

We took Sampson (our new puppy - I don't think I've mentioned him yet so more on him later). Here's him and Steve.

My dad told the grandkids how when he was their age his favorite thing he got was a goody bag from the church. It had fruit, mixed nuts, peppermint sticks, orange slices, and chocolate covered raisins. So, he had a bag for each of the kids. And I have to say, all us big kids were sneaking in the bags for the orange slices! Always a favorite around the Mckinney house!

I know I've lost most of you after all this. Thanks for sticking around if not. Hope everyone had a Merry Christmas!

Top 10...

2009-12-30T18:46:00.012-06:00

I follow lots of blogs and several of them had a count down type deal to end 2009. So, I thought I would do something too. This year has been a roller coaster of a year. There's been great things happen (considering I gave birth to a sweet little girl) and some not so great things (do I need to remind you I received a call when that sweet little girl was only 2 weeks old saying my house was basically demolished?).

So here's our list for 2009:

1. The birth of our precious little Elaina AnnMarie!

What more can be said. The Lord has blessed us so much with the two little girls he has given us!

2. The Flood of '09 (It still seems like a dream)

This is only a small part of the damage. Being out of our home with a 2 week old was a very difficult time. But luckily Steve's parents were incredible and opened their home to us.

3. Registering Emily for Kindergarten

We can't believe it was time for Emily to get ready to go to school! She was able to take a tour of the school & meet some of the teachers. It was so exciting to see where she was going to be going to school.

5. Our 1st Road Trip!

Our friends John & Nikki were transferred to Oklahoma and we volunteered to help them get moved. This is the view Nikki, Emily, Elaina & I had for 22 hours. It was a crazy weekend, but was a great farewell to such good friends!

6. Our trip to VEGAS!!!

Steve won a trip through Toyota and it was such a fantastic few days. I don't know that I've ever gone on that little bit of sleep! The shopping was my favorite part (of course)! We stayed at Caesars Palace and there was a 4 story "mall" with all designer stores. I actually had to pick my mouth up off the floor when I saw it!

7. Mom & Dad's 40th Wedding Anniversary

My parents celebrated their 40th Anniversary on June 9th. We celebrating by all going to Seagrove Beach. We've been going there for several years and this trip was just as great as the rest. It was a great time of relaxation, GREAT food, and lots of family time.

8. Emily's 1st day of School

This is true Emily! It makes me so happy when her personality comes out! She has loved school and she is doing so great!

9. Steve's 30th Birthday

Are you feeling lucky? Steve was! I threw Steve a surprise birthday party for his 30th birthday. It was so much fun! We had a blackjack tournament, and everyone got into it. Even the girls.

10. My sister moved to Franklin

I know it's not been an easy transition for her and her kids, but selfishly I love it. (Not that I love she is going through hard stuff, just that she is here). My entire adult life, I've wanted to have her closer. She has always been my rock and it's great having that rock closer now.

Well that ended up being more positives than negatives. I guess it is good to take an inventory of sorts. We here at Casa de Barrios hope you and your family have a Happy New Year!

Emily's 1st Performance...

2009-12-30T18:21:00.009-06:00

There's been plenty of talk on this here blog about Emily and her love of the stage. Here's her premiere! She was so excited when she found out she was going to be performing in our church's children's choir Christmas production! (WOW that was a mouth full)And she was over the moon when she found out she would have a small solo.

I actually am in the adult choir. Okay, I'll give you a second to compose yourself after all that laughter! I really enjoy it, and no I won't be singing a solo anytime soon. But it's a great way to praise our Lord!

So, I was busy trying to get all our stuff together because we were going to be at the church basically all day that Sunday and completely forgot my camera.

Thank goodness Emily had her fan base there! Holly took pictures for me so that I could have proof of Emily's premiere. Thanks Holly!

This is right when she first came out and saw her fans in the audience. Of course she had to give them props by waving to them!

This is a shot of the whole group. The kids were awesome & they had such a blast singing!

This was when she decided to start dancing to the music which made me laugh out loud a little bit. She is just like her mom and dad - can't sit still when the music is going!

This is Emily & Cate not doing what they are supposed to be doing, but can't you feel the love between them!?!

Probably my favorite part of the night was this:

They were supposed to stand back to back, but they thought they could do it better. So, they locked their arms together. These girls CRACK ME UP!!! We need prayers now for what is going to happen when they are teenagers!

And just so we can end with a laugh - here's proof of me singing in the choir:

Tacky Christmas Sweaters...

2009-12-21T19:06:00.007-06:00

We had our 1st annual tacky Christmas sweater party this weekend. It was som much fun! Our plan was for a stress free party - just come dressed in a tacky sweater and bring a little something to eat. No gift exchange, no stressing about anything. It was perfect! To see what everyone came up with was so funny! We voted at the end of the night and Sam was the winner, but I think Steve's was the funniest!

This is what the guys did all night:

We are definitely doing it again next year - but I'm going to start my search for the perfect tacky sweater much earlier!

Needless to say, we have been so busy we haven't been able to breathe because we've been so busy. But we have a very long weekend coming up, so maybe I'll be able to catch you up on all the doings of Casa de Barrios!

Update...

2009-11-23T19:01:00.012-06:00

to say we've been busy is the understatement of the year! I kept telling myself when I got a break I would blog...but some how that never happened. It's been almost a month since the last time I blogged and it feels like it was just yesterday. So, here's a quick recap of what all has been going on...

Halloween:

The girls had so much fun getting ready for Halloween! Emily wanted to be a cheerleader again. And we had the Oklahoma cheerleading uniform from when Steve went to Okalhoma to visit John, so that worked out perfect. And our sweet friend Ellie, let us borrow her costume from last year. And I do believe Elaina was one of the cutest elephants I've ever seen.

We went to Trail of Treats at The Claud's church, and it was so fun. They had tables set up in the woods with a hayride at the end. Then we went to our church's Trunk or Treat. Man, oh man, were there people there! I think they ended up with 4000 - 5000 people there! I couldn't believe it!

Steve's Aunt Lori and Uncle Mike were in town from California that weekend as well. So, there were lots of projects done around the house. That another blog all on it's own. This was the first time I've met Aunt Lori & Uncle Mike, and I was so glad to get to FINALLY meet them. We even planning a trip out to California to see them and go to Disney Land.

The next weekend we went to Alabama for my cousin's baby shower. We met up at the best BBQ place ever!

We had a lot of fun hanging out with family and getting to see my little cousin pregnant was definitely worth the drive to Alabama! It made me feel very old, but I guess the truth hurts sometimes! I remember when Tara was born so it's really wierd to see her having her own baby. But her and Jeremy are going to be awesome parents. Jeremy is always so good with Emily and he had a blast with Elaina!

Tara's friends really put together a cute baby shower for her and Jeremy. Although, you know you are in the South when this is the focus of your baby shower:

Tara and Jeremy have 2 little dauchsand dogs, and this cake fit her perfectly!

Okay, I just have to say if I had Photoshop, I would definitely crop out my double/triple chins, but alas I don't have it. From now on, I must start remembering to hold my chin up, so that doesn't happen again! This was Elaina's first time wearing a hair bow, well a hair flower. I can't believe she actually has enough hair! Barely has enough hair, but definitely has a little bit.

The proud momma and the proud grandma! (still so wierd to thank of either of them in that role!)

The next weekend we had Disciple Now at our church and we hosted 9-10 grade boys at our house. DNow is where the youth group goes into host homes and have bible studies and discusions to get closer to God. They have so much fun! There's rec time, worship time, and fun time. The boys were awesome! They were up until after 5 o'clock Sunday morning & were up at 7 o'clock to get ready for church. They learned so much! The "theme" of the weekend was passion and I will be blogging more in depth about it later.

Then this past weekend was our 5th wedding anniversary. We went to dinner at PF Chang's (which is kind of tradition for us) and stayed in Nashville for the night. It was so great to get away for a mini vacation. After dinner, we went back to the room and soaked in the quietness of the night. We didn't even turn the TV on....it was so incredible!

So now back to the grind and busyness of Thanksgiving and Christmas!

First Time for Everything...

2009-10-26T20:31:00.017-06:00

Friday night, Steve made me aware of something I never would have guessed. He's never carved a pumpkin before. So Friday night, we changed that! I have been putting off carving pumpkins with Emily for as long as I could. I've always thought it would be more trouble than it's worth. And we aren't at home on Halloween, so why would we have carved pumpkins? But this year Emily was really wanting to carve one, so I gave in.

We invited Sam & Holly over, and had thought we were going to make some pumpkin pie while we were at it. After some research online, we decided against the pie, but we did do some pumpkin seeds. Holly & Sam, both, ended up really being a big help with the carving & cleaning out of the pumpkins.

Emily was so exhausted from her week at school, she ended up falling asleep before we finished the carving.

Steve did a great job! For a first time, Emily picked out a VERY challenging design for the pumpkin. But he did it all, and it turned out incredible!

Fall Break...

2009-10-26T19:46:00.021-06:00

well as you can tell I'm a little late in posting this, but man oh man we have been SO busy...

Emily had such a great Fall Break...and to be honest Steve and I had an awesome break from parenthood. Emily & Elaina spent a couple of days with his parents and a couple of days with my parents, so it was like we were child free all week. We missed them something terrible, but man it was a nice break.

Not only did Emily & Elaina go to my parents, so did my niece & nephew. So, they did lots of fun things for Fall Break.

They started their time together with going to an incredible breakfast at the Loveless Cafe. It's a little eating place that's pretty famous around Nashville. They apparently all loved it.

Emily has alsways told me she wants to be an ice skater when she grows up, and Franklin has an ice skating rink that has open skating. So, they all went to check it out. They had a BLAST! And Emily is asking me when she can go back.

Did you notice how wet the bottom of her jeans are!?! That cracked me up!

As you can tell, Elaina had a blast too!

The next day they wanted to do something outside, so they drove out to Montgomery State Park & saw some of the fall landscape.

Then once they got home they decided to go by an apple orchad and get fresh apples to make apple butter with. When we were kids we made apple butter every year, and it's always been one of my favorites, so I was so glad Emily was able to make some.

And the best part of this is that we already have our teacher Christmas gifts! They made some in smaller jars for us to give to Emily's teacher!

As you can tell, they all had a blast!

Pumpkin Time...

2009-10-22T21:47:00.015-05:00

Last weekend we all went to the pumpkin patch in Franklin. Well, I guess I should say some of us went, it was SO cold, and we didn't think it would be a good idea for Elaina to be out in the cold. We had so much fun! But did I mention it was cold!?!?! They had tons of baby animals for us to look at. And a fun tire swing. We took 100 pictures in under 3 hours, so I'm just going to let the pictures show how much fun we had.

Surprise...

2009-10-11T20:05:00.035-05:00

so, I've been slacking on the blogging lately, but really do have a great excuse! This past week Steve turned the big 3 - 0!!! And I was planning a big surprise for him, so blogging was put on the back burner while I was working on planning a surprise party at night. I never realized how hard it is to keep a secret from someone you live with. Especially when you are trying to figure out decorations & doing lots of the making of the decorations.

But Steve was very surprised!!! He knew we were doing something on Friday night, he just didn't know what. Since we had so much fun in Vegas this summer, I automatically wanted to do something with a "Vegas/Casino" theme. So, it all kind of came together once I came up with the theme.

I have to say, the next party I plan on this scale, I will hire someone to cater the food! The food COMPLETELY stressed me out. In fact, if it wasn't for Holly, I never would have gotten it all finished. Holly & my sister Candy really helped me out! I was running behind the whole day and they stepped in and really helped me get it all put together!

Everyone said they had fun, so the party must have been a success! The picture above is of the awesome cake! Kenya has really out done herself with all her cakes lately! I just told her the theme and the colors I was using and this is what she came up with! She's INCREDIBLE!!!!!Here's lots of other pictures!

This is him as we came in the door. He was so surprised & felt so blessed to have so many friends willing to come hang out with us to celebrate his birthday!

Pictures of more of our friends:

This is the candy bar I set up. It was supposed to be party favors, but we all dug in during the party & then no one wanted to take any home. So, now we have SO much candy at the house! If anybody wants some, let me know!!!

To go along with the theme, I had a friend who knows about card games put together a Texas Hold'em Tournament. Everybody had a lot of fun playing! Some of us didn't really know anything about playing cards, so we sat out. But lots of people really had fun playing. Lots of laughing, moaning, and cheering came from the card tables. Look at that concentration on Mike's face!

And the winner of the tournament....

Now all the decorations & party stuff:

Only one more thing to say - Steve, I love you more than you could ever imagine! I can't wait to celebrate 30 more birthdays with you!

Saving Money...

2009-09-20T21:34:00.008-05:00

is a definite do when you become an adult and have to be all responsible like and have to put money away for college, weddings, etc., etc. So, I've been trying to do the coupon thing with my groceries. We have a set budget for groceries every month and I've really try to make the whole coupon thing into a competition. The whole thing really excites me...which is really a scary thought! I haven't really done as well as some other blogs I follow, but I'm definitely doing better than I did this time last year (I wasn't even cutting coupons at that point)! What was I thinking!!!!

This past week Harris Teeter & Kroger were doing triple coupons up to $.99. I normally do not shop Harris Teeter because they tend to be a little more expense on some items. But man, oh man, I'm so glad I went this week. I still spent what I had budgeted, but I saved $150 total. And I think I have enough cereal, granola bars, and wipes to last us until the end of the year.

Normally when I do my grocery shopping, I think to myself that I need to do some pictures and post what I saved. But some how between getting the groceries in the house & dealing with the girls, I just never got around to it. Well, this time I did. Actually, I need to thank Steve for reminding me. You see, every time I go to the grocery, he will come in and say "is this all you got for $___ of groceries." And so when I was telling him what all I got, I told him I wished he could see what all I got before I put it away because it was filling up our entire kitchen counter tops. So he suggested a take a picture. This is what $198 will get with triple coupons:

This is only the non-perishable food. I had already put up all the perishable food before Steve suggested the photo op, so I took some of the fridge & freezer.

Basically my fridge and freezer were empty, except the condiments in the fridge door. I also stocked up on formula, food, and cereal for Elaina.

I always hear people say they don't have time to cut coupons, but I can definitely testify that it is well worth the little bit of planning it takes!

A few pictures from this morning...

2009-09-10T14:08:00.010-05:00

Bathtime...

2009-09-10T13:39:00.005-05:00

Now that Elaina can sit up better, I have been multi tasking and letting the girls take a bath together. Emily loves it! She definitely loves being a big sister! The pictures proof that!

Labor Day means...

2009-09-09T21:38:00.014-05:00

Birthday! Around here, Labor day always means a birthday celebration! My dad's birthday is Sept. 3rd and we always use the long weekend to have a nice long celebration. This year, Steve was out of town, so me and the girls stayed at my parents for the celebration.

Here's some pics:

Mommy's Little Helper...

2009-09-02T08:54:00.008-05:00

I have a new little helper around the house. Emily has always helped me do things and is so good at it. I'm hoping her little sister does the same. If these pictures are any indication - she is going to love helping me with the HUGE amount of laundry we seem to have lately!

PS: For some reason the quality of these pics did not turn out so great - so bare with me!

Wordless Wednesday...

2009-09-02T08:50:00.003-05:00

1st Actual Day of Kindergarten...

2009-08-28T19:57:00.008-05:00

Okay, so here's the pictures of Emily's 1st official day of Kindergarten. Steve and I took the day and had some MUCH needed relaxation & alone time! I think we are definitely going to have to make that a tradition here at the Barrios Household!

You guys should so. proud. of. us - not one single tear fell out of our eyes! Emily was so excited and we know how much she is going to LOVE school, so how could I be sad. But, I'm sure it will be a little different when Elaina goes to school, since she's the baby and it'll be my last one going to school.

Hope you enjoy the pics!

1st Day of Kindergarten...

2009-08-27T15:04:00.011-05:00

It's been an eventful couple of weeks at the Barrios Household! Emily has started Kindergarten! I. can. not. believe. I. just. typed. those. AWFUL. words!!!! I was not ready!!!

She was so excited though, so how could I let my feelings rain on her parade! And I have to say, I have no clue how parents who do not have cool bosses like I do, make it through the first couple of weeks of school! We had a day of Assessment, then we had to go one morning to finish up registration, then we had to leave early one day to make it to Parent Night. And then of course we had to take a day off for the 1st official day of school!

And yes, I am one of those annoying (ugh!) parents that makes their child pose for pictures in their new clothes and with their new lunchbox & backpack. And of course I had to make her do it on both days - Assessment Day and 1st Official Day. But luckily God blessed me with a child that loves to pose for the camera!

WARNING: LOT O' PICS

(so if you don't want to see pics, better stop now)

Assessment Day:

Okay, so I was going to put the pictures from her 1st Official day on here too, but then I realized how psychotic I was with the camera and there are way too many pictures of both days to be in one post, so I will will be posting shortly about those.

And I have so much more to blog about so stay tuned!

I'm Back....

2009-08-27T14:55:00.002-05:00

As you can tell from the updated format, I'm back in the game of blogging! I don't know if that's a good thing or not...I'm finding that having 2 kids (especially with one in school now), working full time, and trying to have some fun in the mean time is really wearing on the little bit of time I had for blogging! But I really do want to share what all is going on with us at the Barrios household, so I'm going to give it a try again.

So all this to say - be looking for more updates and sorry for not updating more often this summer!

Wordless Wednesday...

2009-08-26T15:18:00.003-05:00

She's only 6 months old - why is she already standing on her own?

Update on Girls...

2009-07-21T21:19:00.006-05:00

since I've been out of the loop on the whole blogging thing, I thought I would give an update on the girls. And share a little bit about what each of them is like at this age.

I can not believe how big they both are getting! We just went for Emily's 5 year check up, and got her all immuned up for school :). She finally weighs 40 lbs. and is 41 inches tall. She's still only in the 50% for her age. So, even though she looks SO big to me, she is really not that big yet.

Of course, she is so full of drama. In fact, our pediatrician asked me if we were planning on getting her into drama/acting. I don't really know where she gets it. Oh, who am I kidding, we all know where she gets it from! :) She has such a big heart! I think she would bring home every stray animal she sees and any new person she meets. She definitely is a social butterfly! She is SO excited about starting kindergarten! We're all hoping there are certain friends that are not put in the same class at school - I think we need to warn the teachers!

I can not believe that 5 years ago God blessed me with such a wonderful daughter! I never knew I could love having a daughter so much!!!! She has changed me in so many ways and I would never want to be that old me again!

Elaina is almost 6 months old! Where has the time flown? Elaina is my little girl! At 4 months old she was only 13.5 lbs and 14 inches tall. I can not believe how little she is! She is just now in 3-6 months clothes. It's insane - Emily was in 3-6 months clothes at 3 months. Elaina is starting to sit up by herself. She is constantly smiling and laughing!!! It's hilarious! She actually starts this grunting thing when she's holding onto her toys - it's like she's getting mad at her toys and telling them about it. She's started eating cereal and food. But she definitely would rather have real food. She loves popsicles (sugar free).

The best things about our two girls - they absolutely love each other! Every time Emily walks into a room Elaina lights up and smiles and laughs. Emily is such an awesome big sister! She always helps out and has even changed a few diapers for us. I'm so thankful God made Emily & Elaina sisters! I pray they continue to love and adore each other forever! My sister is one of my best friends, always has been. I hope my girls will have the same bond as we had!

Stay tuned - I'm going to catch up on all the blogging. There's been so much going on - lots of trips, house projects, and family fun!

So many things to do...

2009-07-17T19:27:00.014-05:00

so little time to do them!!! As you can tell, I have taken a little break from blogging this summer. We've had so much going on, I haven't really had time to even think about blogging.

Well, Kelly from http://www.kellyskornerblog.com/ has brought me out of my blogging sabbatical. Kelly has been doing a special blog every Friday this summer. It started with Show Me Where You Live. This Friday she decided to do Children's Party. It just so happens we just celebrated Emily's 5th Birthday and we had an awesome Diva Party. It was our 1st sleep over and we had so much fun! Here's some pictures:

The Invite:

We decided to do a dress up party with a fashion show. I had the bonus room made into their dressing room:

I had 3 stations set up. 1 - jewlery 2 - purses/shoes 3 - make up, and then I had the dresses on the clothes rack and a full length mirror so the girls could check themselves out. They had so much fun getting dressed and posing for me. The cool thing is the jewlery was my mom's & my grandmother's, so they had a special part in the day too. I let them put their own make up on, which an adventure in itself.

Then we headed down stairs for the fashion show. My niece Kristin gave all the girls a "catwalk lesson" before we headed down. They did so great!

Look at my little rock star!!!!

Here's the runway:

The goody bags (or as Emily pointed out - they are boxes not bags):

And now my favorite part! The table setting. I had a friend make the cake and it was INCREDIBLE!!!! I made "champagne" (fruit punch & ginger ale).

And I definitely can not post about the fashion show with out this picture - of course Steve had to get into the action!

It's been a while...

2009-06-04T16:41:00.003-05:00

and I've only got a few minutes before I have to head off to pick the girls up from mom and dad's. I just wanted to let you know we are still alive! I've not had time to even turn the computer on at home, much less sit down and type on it. I have taken lots of pictures and we've had some fun times that I will be blogging about shortly. Steve and I are about to take a trip to VEGAS!!!! That will be next week, and there will be no GIRLS to take care of. It's going to be really fun reconnecting with the best husband ever! And then the girls and I are going to pack up 2 days after Steve and I get back and go to the beach with my parents for their 40th wedding anniversary. So, I will be doing lots of updating while I'm there. Maybe the week off from life will give me the time I need to get caught up. It seems like forever ago that Maria tagged me and I'm just getting to it. So here goes:

8 Things I'm Looking Forward To:

Heaven

Financial freedom

Seeing the girls accept Jesus as their Lord

10th Wedding Anniversary

Emily & Elaina's first trip to Disneyworld

Trip to VEGAS!!!!

Growing old with my sweet husband (hopefully we'll still like each other at that point! :)

My beach trip with the folks

8 Things I Did Yesterday:

Trained my bosses on my job for while I'm on vacation (job security)

Fed Elaina Cereal & laughed at her talking to me while I did it

Went to choir for the 2nd week in a row!

Folded the never ending pile of laundry

Snuggled with Emily before bed time

Read another chapter in the 3rd Twighlight book (can't remember the name right now)

Gave my sweet husband kisses

Talked to my mom about beach plans

8 Things I Wish I Could Do:

Be out of debt and not have to work any more

Take a road trip around the US

Make a difference every day

Make my husband and kids feel happy and loved -- every day

Move to a city I've never lived in (maybe somewhere with a coast line and warm sunshine)

Adopt a child or be a foster parent

Go on a shopping spree without worrying about money!!! (that will never happen - look at the first thing I wish I could do)

Go on a mission trip

8 Shows I Watch (This is going to be hard - I rarely watch TV)

Who's wedding is it anyways

Clean House

Tori & Dean (yes, I know, bad!)

Bachelorette/Bachelor (when I realize it's on)

Hannah Montanah (Thanks Emily!)

Jonas Brothers (reminds me a little of The Monkees)

Biggest Loser

UFC (thanks Steve)

So, I'll follow Maria's lead and tag 8 people:

1. LeAnn 2. Holly3. Regina 4. Lindsey 5. Michelle 6. Deanna 7. Elizabeth 8. Christi Be sure to let me know when you do the post so I can read it. Tag eight more friends when you are done. Have fun!!

Wordless Wednesday...

2009-05-20T22:35:00.002-05:00

Accountability Revisited...

2009-05-06T19:48:00.004-05:00

Okay, so as I drove home today I started thinking about how the whole topic of the relationship with my body may start thinking I have deeper issues than I really have. Which is not the case. No worries of me starving myself, as we know, I LOVE to eat. And I know that God loves me no matter what size I am, what color of hair I have, etc. etc. I just seems that I feel better when I work out. Which I guess goes without saying.... So I've decided to do something I never thought I would EVER, EVER do. I'm going to give you my stats. Just please remember that I have never weighed this much or been this, um how should I say this, wide. So, every once in awhile, I plan to give you updates as to how I'm doing. Hopefully this will keep me motivated and will keep the pounds coming off! So, without further ado.... Weight: 165 lbs. (Okay, even when I was pregnant with Emily, I didn't weigh this much! But I have lost roughly 37 pounds since having Elaina - at my last doctor's appointment I was 197!!!) Now for measurements!!! This is scary! Chest: 40 in. Waist: 38 in. (pretty sad when your waist is 8 inches bigger than your husbands) Hips: 41 in. Thighs: 23 in. Okay, so now for the goals: Weight: somewhere between 140 & 145 - would LOVE, LOVE, LOVE to be in the 130's but I just don't think that's realistic for me at my age and having had 2 babies (Can I get an amen from all the moms out there?) Chest: 34 would awesome, but I will settle for 36 Waist: 32 (still bigger than Steve's waist - how is that possible!?! Oh yeah, he hasn't hit his 30's yet!) Hips: 36 Thighs: 18 (don't really know where they should be, so this is just a guess) Hopefully, soon I will be able to see a difference! Stay tuned for a post on what being a mom means to me.

Accountability Needed...

2009-05-06T16:16:00.004-05:00

So, I have been doing some soul searching in the past couple of weeks. Two subjects have been at the top of my soul searching...my relationship with my Lord and my relationship with my body. I know it sounds a little odd that these two would be together, but they are so in together. I have found, through many years of low self esteem and self disgust, that if one of these relationships is out of wack, the other is out of wack. So, that being said, I have made two decisions. No one really knows about these decisions, hence the need for accountability. Because if I don't have accountability, I will never do it. (Have you noticed that pattern on here?) So, here goes. First, I have a difficult time figuring out a way to have quiet time with my God. I think revival really hit home this past week. I had already felt God pulling at my heart strings that He was missing me, or is it that I was missing feeling Him in me!?! And all the words that God spoke to me through Jeremy Kingsley just drove the point home that much more to me. I can definitely tell when I haven't had enough time with God - and I know my family can tell when I haven't had enough time. On several occassions I've caught myself thinking, wow, did I really say, do, mean that!?!?!!? And I know Steve, Emily, and Elaina have all felt it, well maybe not so much Elaina, but definitely Steve and Emily. So, my first decision I made was to be diligent about being close to my Jesus again. And the first step was to pull my study Bible out of the drawer. This Bible has been with me since before I had Emily. My sweet friend, Lisa, gave it to me and I have used it so much that when I open it, it opens to the same page everytime and has creases in it. And there's writing and highlighting all in it. I love this Bible, because I have learned so much while having it, and I do believe if you look close enough, you can see marks from the sweet and tears that have dripped down while talking to my friend Jesus. The second step is hopefully going to happen soon. Get a small group of women started to help keep me accountable and to help me feel not so isolated. (No one made me feel isolated, except myself). But it's funny how God works. I had been thinking about trying to find somewhere to plug in and then the other day sweet Sharon and Elizabeth started talking to me about possibly starting a small group that meets in the mornings, which is one of the only times I can do it with Steve's hours and having the girls. I'm so excited!!! We don't know what we are going to do yet when we meet, but it will be great. Of course it will, it's in God's plan!!! And the third step is to carve some time in my day to have some prayer time and just plan ol' God time. That takes care of my first decision & probably the most important one - my relationship with God is going to take center in my life. Okay, so I didn't know this post was going to be this long, but I have to get all this out of my head so that it won't fog up my brain any more than it already is. My next decision is to take care of my relationship with my body. Since having my second baby has led me to some HORRIBLE habits when it comes to eating and working out. Why is it that both my girls made me crave sweet stuff!!!! And regular coke/dr. pepper. It's so hard going back to the diet stuff! Many of you may not know that Steve and I ran a triathlon a few years back and I loved it. It was the year I turned 30 and I couldn't believe that I actually finished it! I was next to last, but hey, I crossed the finish line!!! So, I don't know that I want to run a triathlon again, but I'm thinking about a 5k wouldn't be quite as hard. So, I went to that wonderful world wide web and started some research. And I have to say, I'm so excited!!!! There are several out there for charities/ministries that are dear to my heart. And that's just in the Nashville area! I'm sure there are more if I looked outside of Tennesse. So, I'm going to train to run a 5K. I know there are some of you out there thinking that's not much - but let me tell you if you had my knees and ankles, you would be saying it's plenty. I was not very nice to body as a younger me, so I struggle to run down the driveway much less a 5K. I know the main one I want to do is the Race for the Cure which is in October. I have several others that are before that which I'm interested in, but Race for the Cure is a cause that is near and dear to me. Both of my grandmothers had breast cancer. One had a mastectomy, and eventually the cancer came back with a vengence and took her from me. So, I want to race in her memory. Now, what I need from you. Encouragement, prayers, and questions. I want you to ask me about how I'm doing in both of my decisions. That's why I'm putting it out here. I want, no, I need to know people know about my decisions or else they will never happen. I love you guys and you have helped me through more than you know! Oh PS - I think on I'm going to join the choir at church. I have really felt God tapping on my shoulder saying I should, but it is SO out of my comfort zone to let anyone hear me sing!!! Don't get me wrong, I love to sing. But in the privacy of my car or shower (or as Steve as caught me on numerous occassions, while I work out by myself in the garage). So, if you happen to come to FBCJ and see some crazy lady in the choir shaking in her boots that would be me! Well, probably not boots, more like shaking in her flip flops! Wish me luck!

12 weeks and counting....

2009-05-02T21:36:00.006-05:00

I can not believe Elaina is already 12 weeks old. It seems like just yesterday we were bringing her home from the hospital. She is so alert and smiling all the time!!! God has definitely blessed me with 2 happy girls!

She is just under 11 pounds. She's so tiny! She is only wearing 0-3 months clothes! It's totally different from Emily! She loves sitting up and laughing and the ceiling fan. She constantly sits and looks up at it and just laughs as loud as she can!

Here's some pictures of her on her 12 week birthday.

Busy Days....

2009-05-02T21:20:00.007-05:00

So, I haven't been very good about blogging lately. It seems that we have been going non-stop lately, so I haven't had any time to get on here. I have been keeping up with the whole planning out menus and sticking to them. It actually is not as hard as I thought it would be, it helps me not stress about what's for dinner. I haven't taken any pictures of the food though, it hasn't been as "pretty" as what I thought it would be. I'm clipping coupons and trying to come up with different things to do in order to save us money. We are really trying to look at our budget and start trying to figure different ways to help out with our savings account. We don't really have a lot of debt, so it's really hard to figure out ways to stop spending as much. I have found some great websites that give good ideas. Here's a few:

http://www.southernsavers.com/

http://www.afullcup.com/

http://www.bargainshopperlady.com/

I'm still working on organizing the house. And I've been successful so far. I'm probably midway through my scrapbook/bill organization. Here's the picture:

John and Nikki gave us the desk and I'm on the hunt for a bookcase. I am planning to make an inspiration board to go above the desk and I have several "pretties" to put in my corner. Of course, I will need a different chair too. I should have this completed in the next week or so. Then my next project is this:

Steve's closet!!!! It isn't too bad. There's just no organization to the stuff other than the clothes. So look for an update.

Kindergarten Round Up...

2009-05-02T20:16:00.012-05:00

Today was the BIG day!!! Emily was so excited! We went and registered her for kindergarten and she was able to tour the school. My little girl has grown up so quick!!!! She said it was the best day EVER, so apparently it was a success.

While we were registering, Danny, Michelle, Carah, Cate, and Caleb showed up. So, Cate and Emily got to tour the school together. I'm so overwhelmed with the fact that my little girl is old enough to be in school. I never thought we would make it to this day! It's such a bitter sweet time. On one hand, I'm so excited for her to be going, on the other, I'm so sad that she is going to be 5 soon. The time has flown by SO FAST!!!!

Here's a run down of how the day went:

This is the two of us before we left to go to the school. I didn't really want to post this picture, but she loved it, so I had to.

This is what we saw when we first pulled up. Emily has always been fascinated with school buses and she is so excited about riding the bus one day!

This is Emily in the Library. I was amazed how nice everything was at the school and how great the staff was. It did make me feel a little better about her going to school.

This bus is actually Cate's big sister, Carah's, bus. They went up and checked it all out.

This is the last picture - don't they look so small inside those huge halls!?!

Quick Question...

2009-05-02T20:12:00.004-05:00

Why is it that I do a load of laundry every night when I get home from work, and yet this is the pile of laundry I had to do today...

Does anyone else ever feel the pressure of laundry? I couldn't imagine if there were more of us in the family!!!

Wordless Wednesday...

2009-04-30T09:19:00.004-05:00

I'm a little late on this, but I couldn't help but post this!

Just imagine what it's going to be like once hormones start coming in to play!! I think I'm going to need lots of prayer! Check out all the other pics from our photo shoot here: http://www.catchaglimpsephotography.com/blog/

Happy Easter...

2009-04-08T10:26:00.002-05:00

Wordless Wednesday...

2009-04-08T10:24:00.004-05:00

We are definitely in trouble when she gets older - look at the sassiness!

(By the way - Nikki and I made the tutu. So easy and fun - if you want one, just let me know and I'll make it for you!)

Leave a bib, a dog, and a 4 year old together...

2009-04-01T12:54:00.002-06:00

and this is what you get...

Organization update...

2009-04-01T12:31:00.010-06:00

Okay, so I've been able to get a lot accomplished on the organizing of it all. I have gone through all the scrapbook supplies and I have them organized, now I just have to find a desk and bookcase that Steve and I agree on. I've set up our card table, in the meantime, to be my desk. And it actually is making it so much easier to scrapbook! Here's some of the proof:

(don't know why it downloaded like this)

I did all of these in one night. Steve watched a movie, and Emily & I scrapbooked together. It worked so great! When I went through my scrapbooking stuff, I sat aside things I didn't think I would use and some of the pictures I didn't really want to scrap (some that were out of focus or I had doubles of). And I put together a basket for Emily, that way while I'm scrapping, she can scrap too.

This is scrapbooking area (of course not complete) as of right now:

It's still a little cluttered for my liking, but hopefully once I find a desk and bookcase, it'll look better.

This is what I accomplished in the Bonus Room closet:

Before I did this, our movies were a little bit of everywhere. Some downstairs, some in the closet, some sitting out. So, I have sorted between VHS, DVD and video games. And yes, they are all alphabetized.

And finally, this is the last thing I want to accomplish:

These are all of bills and things, in the bottom of the Bonus Room closet. I'm going to try to find a CHEAP bookcase and organize all of this. And then I should be done for a while! The flood of '09 has really made me realize how quickly all of this we think is so important can be taken away. I definitely feel very blessed with all that Steve and I have. Although, if all the "stuff" was taken away, I still know my God would provide for my needs!

Here's some websites that I check out every once in a while for organization ideas:

http://orgjunkie.com/

http://www.home-organizing-ideas.com/organizing-a-scrapbook-room.html

http://www.makingmemories.com/Products/categories/Organization

http://www.organizeit.com/index.asp

My new best friend...

2009-04-01T12:25:00.003-06:00

This is my new best friend. I can program it to start brewing whenever I want. And this is why it's my new best friend: I have gotten so much accomplished the past few weeks! I have always drank a cup of coffee in the morning, but lately I've had several and then one in the afternoon. Wow, what an energy boost! I've been able to cook dinner, give the girl's their baths, spend some time with my husband, read a little, and even stay up late enough to get everything ready for the next morning's routine. How awesome is that!?!

THIS IS MY NEW MOTTO!

Like Father, like daughter....

2009-04-01T09:44:00.004-06:00

Okay, so I couldn't pass this up. When Steve got home last night, he was exhausted from working hard on month end at the dealership. So, I was reading a book and Elaina was asleep beside me on the bed. Steve laid down and was talking to me, then I looked over and this is the scene I saw.

I've always said Emily is so much like her daddy it's not funny. And now, it looks like Elaina is going to be taking after him as well. They looked so much alike laying there in the same positions - I couldn't have placed them any better than this! It put a huge smile on my face! I would be one lucky mommy if both my girls were just like their awesome daddy!

Wordless Wednesday...

2009-04-01T09:43:00.001-06:00

Wordless Wednesday...

2009-03-25T12:02:00.003-06:00

So, Saturday morning this was the scene out of my back door. You see, this is our middle dog - Ginger. Ginger is actually the oldest of our dogs, she's about 10 years old. Why is she on the table you ask? She is trying to get as far away from our puppy - Makayla. Makayla isn't really a puppy, she's 2 years old and is about 5 times as big as Ginger!

Life at Casa de Barrios...

2009-03-24T09:01:00.007-06:00

is definitely spontaneous! When you have jello and cool whip for desert, this is what you get:

Emily thought it was hilarious! No one could ever accuse us of being boring!

Bathtime...

2009-03-24T08:56:00.008-06:00

Here's a few from Elaina's bath on Sunday. Emily loves to help with everything! She is such a great big sissy! As you can tell, Elaina is not a big fan of the bath just yet. It's like she is being tortured. But as soon as you get her wrapped in her towel, she stops crying. It's so funny!

Hanging Out...

2009-03-24T08:36:00.009-06:00

Here's a few pictures from this weekend. I was busy doing more organization, Emily was playing in her room, and Elaina was hanging out in her Boppy seat. Elaina is definitely more alert than ever and is starting to "talk" to us. She was smiling and cooing, so I tried to get pictures of it, but they don't show how much she was smiling!

Still haven't completed all the reorganizing, so no pictures yet of everything I've done. This past weekend, I worked on my scrapbooking stuff. I've set up shop in the bonus room, so now I can spend time with the family and be creative at the same time. I do have a new toy to help with all the organizing. I'm so excited to labeling everything!

Here's a picture from dinner last night. Steve didn't think he was going to like it, but he LOVED it. It's cheese stuffed jumbo shells. It made a ton. In fact, I had to put in two dishes. The whole cooking at home and not eating out as much has really been working good for us. We've only eaten out once in 1 1/2 weeks. Which is amazing for us - we are normally a 3-5 times per week family. I've been packing my lunch with all the good leftovers and only eating out once a week. (I would go crazy if I ate at my desk 5 days a week, sometimes I just have to get out of the office!) That alone will save us at least $50 per week, which is $2600 per year!!!

Some of you out there may not know this about me, but chicken on the bone pretty much grosses me out. I can handle poop & throw up all day long, but something about chicken meat and all the grissly grossness I can't handle. So, be very proud of me - I roasted a whole chicken on Saturday. Which isn't a big deal I do that quite a bit because it's pretty easy. But then last night, I took it out and cut all the meat off of the bone in order to use it in other things. I was gagging the whole time!

Sleeping Beauties...

2009-03-19T09:48:00.005-06:00

I just had to have a picture of this! Elaina normally wakes up between 4 and 5 am for a feeding, so I bring her into the bed with me and Steve so that we can spend some cuddling time with her before the craziness of the morning begins. She normally falls asleep after she eats and then I'm up around 6 to get into the shower. While I'm in the shower Steve goes and gets Emily and brings her to our bed until after I get out of the shower. Although, I had to actually ask Steve where Emily was this morning because she was so buried under the covers I couldn't see her.

This morning I couldn't pass up the photo op.

I love seeing my girls curled up beside each other in our bed!! It puts a smile on my heart and makes me realize how blessed I am to have two little girls!

Look at how big Elaina is getting!! She is growing up too fast already! I told Steve we are going to just have to plan on having another one since she's growing so quickly! :) I don't think he liked that idea!

One eyed jack....

2009-03-18T10:22:00.004-06:00

I call Elaina my "one eyed jack". She is constantly closing one of her eyes. Especially when she is trying to fight going to sleep. You will be holding her and you'll think she's asleep and all of a sudden she will open one eye and look around to see what's going on. Pray for me - I have 2 girls and 1 husband who all are afraid to go to sleep because they might miss something!

Kisses and Jealousy...

2009-03-18T10:20:00.004-06:00

This was the scene last night when Steve got home from work. He bent down to give Elaina a kiss and Gracie, the ever so jealous dog, couldn't stand it. I thought it was too funny!

Organization...

2009-03-18T09:53:00.004-06:00

is my best friend! When we moved back into the house, we had to put basically everything back into closets and into our rooms. So I took the opportunity to purge and organize while I was at it. I mean, there's no reason to put something back into a closet or drawer if you are not going to use it again. So, last weekend was all about keep, sale, or trash. I think I've watched one too many episodes of Clean House. I even had a bin for each, but at least I didn't have flower in my hair like Nissy Nash! (Only true Clean House fans are going to know what I'm talking about) I haven't taken any pictures yet, but I'm planning on it. 8 hours later and 5 large trash bags full, the house is almost completely organized! There's actually room in Emily's toy box for more toys! I have started 2 new rules at the house: 1. if a new toy comes home, an old toy has to be given to charity 2. before you can get a toy out to play, you have to put the previous toy up. And I think for her birthday we are going to ask for donations to the church's children's ministry instead of toys. She has WAY too many toys!!! I said the house was almost completely organized because I still have a few things I want to do. Like my closet - you see, I still don't have my clothes back from the water damage, so I'm waiting to do it once I get those back. And my project for this weekend is my scrapbooking stuff. I want to take it out of my closet and put it in the Bonus Room since I have room in that closet now. And maybe if it is more organized and in a place I can get to it better, I will actually scrap more. I have even made a wish list room by room for the house of stuff that I would like to eventually buy to help life around the house. With a husband who works 60-70 hours a week, me working 40 hours a week, 3 dogs, 2 daughters, and a crazy social schedule, I'm trying to simplify our life. In fact, Steve and I both are on the simplify bandwagon. So, I'm starting to make a meal plan every two weeks, clipping coupons, and doing everything possible to simplify our life and our budget. In fact, I suggested to Steve we should get rid of his car, because honestly we don't need it. He rides to work with his dad pretty much every day. It might make things a little bit more difficult but in the long run I feel like it would be worth it. He didn't go for it, but I'm still working on him! With this new, simple lifestyle I need some accountability. Steve and I have always been a couple who would rather go out to eat every night and if we want something we just go buy it. But with the new mouth to feed and of course all the talk about the economy (Steve is in sales and my company is a staffing agency, so the economy could affect our jobs, hence our budget, drastically), we have to cut some of those luxuries out. That's where you come into the plan. I'm going to start using my blog as an accountability avenue. My plan is to start posting the different things we do to help us with our simple lifestyle that we are choosing. Whether it be a great deal that I found or a great meal that I've made. Don't worry, I'm not going to be going to extremes at this point. I don't think I can keep up with the CVS stuff like others have. I'm just trying to come up with little ideas that will help us out. I will also share different websites that I find useful for things like organization, menu ideas, and fun things to do with the kids. Like for instance, last night it was just Steve and I for dinner. I made an awesome recipe that I picked up at Publix. If you have a Publix around you, I'm totally jealous! They have this great section near the produce. You can pick up a recipe card and they have all the ingredients right there, so you don't have to look around the entire store for them. And they normally have someone cooking the food, so you can sample it. So last night, I made Sicilian Steak and Strawberry Poppyseed Salad. It was incredible! And it cost roughly $15 for the whole thing, which makes the meal roughly $5 per person (we had enough left over for another person). I didn't take a picture of the steak because it wasn't very pretty, but this is the salad:

It was delicious! In fact Steve said it was the best thing I've made in a long time.

I'm sorry this has been such a long post. I wasn not planning it to be this long. Next week, be looking for before and after pictures of all the scrapbook stuff and more pictures of the yummy food I'm going to cook!

By the way, the simple life plan is working. Our family has sat down to eat dinner together at the table 2 nights in a row. Which never happens because of our crazy schedule. Normally, it is just Emily and I.

The prodigy...

2009-03-18T09:46:00.005-06:00

So, when Elaina was born Steve wanted to come up with a nickname for her. You see, he calls Emily "The Beast" because he says she's sweet until you start wrestling with her and she becomes a beast. The only name he could come up with was "The Prodigy". I didn't know if I liked it at first, but then last night we had Elaina on a blanket having some floor time while I cooked dinner, when I looked over at her this is what I saw:

If you can't tell what I'm talking about here's a closer look:

Yes, that is my 5 week old holding onto her pacifier. When I went into the kitchen it was laying besider her and when I came back she was holding it. Who knew a 5 week old could do that? :) (Yes, I know she didn't intentionally pick it up, but I thought it was cute anyways!)

Growing up too fast...

2009-03-18T09:39:00.004-06:00

Having Elaina has really made me realize how much Emily is growing up! Emily has always been my baby and now I realize just how big she is getting. I mean, she is going to be in kindergarten this fall, which is craziness!!! I'm already planning on taking the first day of school off because I have a feeling I'm going to be in the fetal position crying the rest of the day!

I just can't believe Emily was ever the size of Elaina! Her hands and feet seem so big to me! I'm trying to document some of the differences between the two. It's really hard to get either one of them to hold their hands and feet still!

Sorry if these are boring posts, I'm really just doing it for myself. So that I can remember all of this. The first few weeks of Elaina's life I didn't take nearly enough pictures, so I'm trying to make up for it and document everything. I did good at getting the pictures with Emily, but not documenting when it was taken. So, now I'm left guessing when everything happened.

Sisterhood...

2009-03-18T09:30:00.003-06:00

So, everybody keeps asking me how Emily is doing with Elaina and not being the only child anymore. I think the picture above says it all! I didn't even have to ask her to do it! She absolutely loves being a big Sissy!!! (I used to call Candy Sissy and she hated it, but now she loves it!) Emily loves holding Elaina and helping me out whether it be feeding her or helping with the daiper change. I'm sure once Elaina starts getting mobile it will be a little different. While I was pregnant, I really tried to get Emily excited about all the things her and Elaina can do when they get older and how they will be the best of friends. And really think that helped. Emily did get a kick out of me telling her that her and Elaina will be able to share secrets about boys! She thought that was hilarious! I had, and still have, such a sweet bond with my sister. I hope Emily and Elaina have the same!

Prayer Request...

2009-03-18T08:53:00.004-06:00

Okay, so my dad would probably kill me for doing this. But I'm going to anyways. It's not that he doesn't believe in prayer, or that he doesn't want anyone praying for him, but I think he would kill me because he doesn't want to admit it is this bad.

You see, my dad has had a degenerative eye disease since he was a boy (I think he was in the 1st grade). And it has progressively gotten worse. So last summer he decided to bite the bullet and have cornea transplant surgery.

Little did he know that the eye drops he had to use after the surgery can cause cataracts to increase. So, his eye sight went from about 20/60 to 20/800 in 2 months. Needless to say it stinks to not be able to see!

The thing that breaks my heart is Emily used to go stay with him on Thursdays (his day off) and they would spend the whole day just the two of them. She has done this from the time she was 3 weeks old. And they have such a special bond because of it. The other day she asked him when was it going to be just the two of them on their day because she was ready to spend the day with just him. You see, he can't keep her by himself right now because he can't see to do a lot of the stuff you have to do when you have a 4 year old around.

And to continue the breaking of my heart, while we were at mom's birthday celebration I tried to let him feed Elaina. But he couldn't see to keep the bottle in her mouth. He got frustrated and just gave her back to me. It kills me to think that he hasn't been able to really see his grand daughter yet.

Okay, so the reason for the prayer request is to pray for another upcoming surgery. His original eye surgeon was Dr. Wang. If you live in Middle TN, I know you have heard of him. He's the one with the ball room dancing on his commercial. Okay, so Dr. Wang has said dad should wait until his transplant is healed, which would be sometime around August '09. And the cataract specialist in Dr. Wang's office agreed. Apparently, the cataract surgery can put pressure on the transplant and possibly cause the new cornea to come apart from the eye. Well, dad is desperate to see again and found a doctor that will do the surgery and has decided to take the chance.

So, my prayer request is for the surgery to go well and the transplant to stay intact. And if not, that Dad will be okay.

Birthday Celebration...

2009-03-18T08:29:00.012-06:00

A couple of weeks back was my mom's birthday, so we went and stayed the weekend with her. My aunt and cousin came into town, and my sister was at mom's too. So, it was a fun weekend filled with shopping, eating, laughing, and walking down memory lane. We ate dinner at Sperry's in Franklin. That's one of mom and dad's favorite places to eat. Which I can understand why, the steak was so tender you didn't even need a knife to cut it. After dinner, we all changed into our stretchy pants and had GiGi cupcakes and opened presents. This is what my sweet friend LeAnn has to say about GiGi's cupcakes: http://morethanwecouldaskorimagine.blogspot.com/2009/02/heavento-me.html

And she is absolutely correct! I so should have taken a picture of the cupcakes, but I forgot. You all know that I love me some sweet stuff - especially cake - but I couldn't eat a whole one by myself! They were huge!

My mom got lots of great things for her birthday. Probably my favorite was her 1 1/2 hour pedicure gift card my dad got her! My dad is so cute. He gave my aunt and my sister a certain amount of money and asked them to pick it all out, because he says they know what to get her better and probably the fact that he can't see right now because of all the issues with his eyes right now. The cute thing about is that he has been stashing money away here and there so that my mom wouldn't know how much he spent.

This was the first time my aunt, Bonnie Jo, and her daughter, Tara, had met Elaina. So, needless to say Elaina was spoiled by the time the weekend was over. Not only did she not want to be put down, but she came home with a whole new wardrobe! Bonnie Jo has always been so great to Candy and I. And she has continued with our children! She brought Elaina a hand sewn quilt from the rodeo in San Antonio. It is GORGEOUS!!! It is the one Elaina is laying on in the picture in my last post. I'll have more pictures shortly.

The next day, we did lots of shopping and hanging out. That's really all we do when Bonnie Jo comes to town - shop & eat. But, man, we found some deals! Bonnie Jo brings out the bargain shopper in me. Then we had a fun dinner. We all made our own personal pizzas and for dessert we had chocolate fondue. It was so much fun and Emily had a blast! I don't think she stopped talking until about midnight that night thanks to all the sugar and caffine!

At one point she even had it in her eye brows! And isn't it appropriate that she has her shirt on that reads "i want candy"!!!

I think Elaina was a little jealous that Emily was able to eat all that chocolate - this is the face she was making all night.

Wordless Wednesday...

2009-03-18T08:22:00.002-06:00

I saw this idea on some other blogs I was looking at yesterday, and I love the idea of being able to post one picture and not have to write anything. So, I'm going to start doing it weekly. (Of course from now on I won't type any words at all.)

We're back in...

2009-03-16T15:31:00.003-06:00

Because we have an awesome contract, we are back in the house! Jason & Martin really worked their rear end's off so that we could get back in without too much of a hassle! We were actually only out of our house 3 weeks total. God has definitely blessed us with wonderful friends who work hard to take care of us and a wonderful family that takes us in when we have no where else to go. Thank you so much for all you did for us! I haven't had a chance to takes any pictures yet. I've been busy cleaning out and organizing. I figure since I have to put it all away, I might as well get rid of some of it that we haven't used in a while. I basically went through every closet, every drawer, every spot that I could find anything and either threw it away, put it back up neatly or put it in the newly organized closet for the garage sale. The only room I haven't done is our bedroom and closets. Since I don't have much hanging in my closet still, I figure I can wait on it. And I was wanting to get the Bonus Room closet cleaned out so I could organize all my scrapbook stuff and start storing it so I can actually get to it and use it. Hope everyone is having a great Monday! We've had some fun times in the midst of all of the chaos of the "flood of 2009", so I will posting those pictures soon! I just wanted to stop by and let you know we are back in the house! YAY!

Why I've been lacking in the blog area...

2009-03-02T18:37:00.014-06:00

So, at first I was lacking because I was getting adjusted to a 2nd baby. But now there's so many more reasons it might get sporadic on the blogging front.

On the 20th, Emily, Elaina, and I left the house around 10 am for a full day of running around. We had Elaina's 2 week check up, I had to stop by work, we went to lunch with friends, and then that evening I had a pre-sale for a consignment sale. It was a fantastic day, that is until about 10 pm. I'm still in line at the consignment sale and Steve calls. He has just gotten home and says our house is flooded. I thought he was crying wolf, but then I heard the smoke detectors in the background and then I noticed the sheer panic in his voice.

I rush to my parent's house to get the girls and head home. Can I just say for once in Steve's live he was not exaggerating! Apparently, Emily had clogged the toilet before we left and the toilet was running for 12 hours straight. The entire house was flooded, except the kitchen. I was in shock at the amount of water in our house!

We called the insurance company - by the way, don't ever let your homeowners insurance lapse!!! They sent out ServPro to dry everything out. They came in and pretty much demo'd my house in 30 minutes! Dry wall, carpet, vinyl, toilets, and the list continues. I think I cried pretty much the entire weekend!

We have now met with the adjuster and feel much better. Our dear friend Jason is going to be the contractor and has already started getting the ball rolling. It looks like we are going to be living with Steve's parents for about a month or a little more.

Here's what it looked like when ServPro was finished with the drying out, just to give you an idea:

This is my laundry room. The washer and dryer are now in my garage. And there's actually a little section in the dry wall that is open to the garage and there's a section open to the section underneath my stairs, which is open to the crawl space.

This is our Master Bath Floor, you can see where the water stopped.

These pictures are of my closet. Yes, all my clothes and shoes were damaged. They are trying to salvage the clothes, but they don't know if they are going to be able to do anything for my shoes!

This is from our bedroom looking into the living room.

This is the ceiling in the downstairs hallway.

This is the top of our stairs. And the hallway upstairs.

This is the bathroom where it all started.

And this is the Bonus Room. There was even more damage in the garage, but I didn't get pictures of it for some reason.

Fortunately, none of our furniture was hit! And I keep all of our important papers and all of my scrapbooking and pictures in my closet! God was really looking out for us by not letting any of it get wet!

First Day at Church...

2009-03-02T18:33:00.005-06:00

When we had Emily we took her to church when she was less than 1 week old, and so we wanted to take Elaina that first week too. Being at church is such an uplifting feeling to me that I didn't want to stay away! This little dress is the same dress Emily wore her first time to church, so I thought it would be perfect for Elaina although it was too big. She was great at church - slept the entire time! Hopefully she will keep it up! And the best part - we were there on time and no arguments about us running late!!! Now that's a God thing! :)

Happy Valentine's Day...

2009-03-02T18:23:00.007-06:00

I know it's late, I do have a good reason (which I will be blogging about shortly). These were the morning of Valentine's Day. We went to the Adventure Science Museum with Kristin and Christopher. We had never been, and it was so much fun!!! Emily had a blast!! And so did her Daddy! We will definitely be going back!

It looks like my mom and sister had fun too!

More Visitors...

2009-03-02T18:09:00.010-06:00

I told you we had so many visitors that I couldn't put them all in one post. It definitely reminds Steve and I just how blessed we are! A lot of my pictures from the hospital ended up blurry, so I can't download those, but we also had lots of visitors once we were home. Several of our friends from church brought us dinner that first week, thank goodness! I don't think I would have been able to cook that week! Lisa Baker brought dinner over on Sunday and brought Makayla and the Hines twins with her. We finally know how to tell the twins apart - which is so exciting because I never know which one I'm talking to! I think that's part of the reason God has not blessed me with twins - I'm not observant enough to be able to tell them apart! Then on Tuesday Michelle brought the girls over because they were dying to meet Elaina. Although, I think they were more excited to play with Emily. Caleb was a little jealous of Michelle holding Elaina. We've had lots more visitors, but some how I can't find the pictures. I'll update more once I find them.

Being a Big Sister...

2009-03-02T17:58:00.005-06:00

I was pretty nervous about how Emily would do with me having to give my attention to someone other than her, but she has been a fantastic big sister. She absolutely loves her "sissy"! And I love the fact that she calls Elaina her sissy. I used to call my sister that and it brings a smile to my face to think Emily is going to have a sister bond with Elaina, like I did (and still do) with Candy.

I'm breastfeeding but Emily was dying to feed Elaina a bottle, so I let her feed Elaina some water. Elaina liked it and Emily loved being able to give a bottle to Elaina. Emily's reaction to me breastfeeding was hilarious! She looked at me with pure disgust and said "That's gross." I couldn't help but laugh!

This picture is so sweet to me! I love the fact that Emily was feeding her baby while aunt Candy fed Elaina.

She's not my baby anymore...

2009-03-02T16:54:00.005-06:00

Emily has definitely seemed more grown up to me since Elaina has made her arrival. It's amazing to me how even her hands seem bigger to me now that there's little baby hands around here.

Last summer, we started having some behavior issues out of Emily. Not anything major, just a little talking back, and some smaller issues like that. So, I was watching Super Nanny one night, and saw how she used the marble jar. It seemed like a good plan, so I sat Emily down and told her we were going to start using the marble jar concept. I asked her what she wanted to do once she got her jar full of marbles and her reply was a very excited - "GET MY EARS PIERCED!!!" So, she worked really hard and filled her marble jar. We kept putting it off because I wasn't ready for anything extra while I was pregnant.

So, while Steve was off we decided to break down and let her get her ears pierced. I can't believe my little baby has grown up so much!!!

She was so brave! She had a couple of tears but nothing major! She loves them!

We're Home...

2009-02-13T11:05:00.008-06:00

So, we've been home for a week and we are getting adjusted. Steve had to go to work on Monday and Tuesday, so my sister came and stayed with me those days. Which really helped out a lot. And our sweet church family has stocked us up on so much food that we might weigh 400 lbs by the time this is all over with. We have definitely been blessed with our friends and family! Elaina has lots of folks out there that love her so much and she's only a week old.

I haven't done very good getting lots of pictures this week, but I'm working on it. We've gotten lots of pictures of all of the visitors she's had. But I haven't done very good getting all the fun ones at home.

We had so many visitors while we at the hospital. John and Nikki were the first ones there besides the family. They have been so excited to meet Elaina!! At first John was scared to hold her, but once he held her he didn't want to let her go.

As most of you know, I was induced. And when you're induced they don't want you to eat after midnight the night before. And let me tell you - by the time you pop out a baby - you are starving. It was almost 2 o'clock before they brought me food. So, Steve just had to take a picture of me enjoying my first meal as a new mom.

We had lots of visitors that first night in the hospital. In fact, it was standing room only. Somehow, we didn't get a picture of Heather from work. I think I was still feeling a little loopy from the pain medication in my epidural. It was very sweet of her to come by, I think Elaina recognized her voice from all those Sushi lunches we went on while I was pregnant!

My mom, dad, sister, and Emily came by. Steve's family came by too, but somehow we didn't get any pictures of them either. It was like a whirlwind that night!!! Sam & Holly came by and our favorite neighbors Ben & Amy came by too! And Colleen, my roomate from college, and her new husband and her boys came by. It was like a party in room 7722!

We had lots more visitors the next day and we've had lots more since we've been home, so I've got to work on downloading those pictures. And Emily has had some fun this week, so I will download those pictures and blog about those soon.

Elaina has already made her first trip to Wal-Mart, church, and to the mall. So, there's lots to update. I just hope I can keep up with it all!

Couldn't resist...

2009-02-07T14:20:00.004-06:00

Our sweet friend Maria made Elaina some bows and I just had to try one on her. I love it! The bow is almost as big her head! I just couldn't help post a picture of it!

Photos...

2009-02-06T16:45:00.009-06:00

Okay, so I got to the downloading of pictures quicker than I thought. So, here you go...

This Elaina with Dr. Burch. He is the best doctor in the world!!! He's been my doctor for 9 years now and has seen me through so much!

Emily is so proud to be a big sister! She was the first in the family to hold her! She actually did really good and was very sweet with Elaina. Here's another one, Emily is moving the blanket back to check everything out:

I was so excited that my sister was able to be here for the birth, and Steve's Grandma Phyllis was in from CA. It was definitely a hen party! Steve was the only male at one time!

We have lots of more visitors that have come or are coming and I will update more either tonight or tomorrow. Steve actually has to go to work for a few hours tomorrow, so I will probably be blogging while he's gone.

Elaina is here...

2009-02-06T16:08:00.004-06:00

I don't have pictures downloaded yet, but I will soon. We got here around 7:00 this morning and they started pitosin around 7:30/8:00 and she arrived at 12:29! I literally pushed 3 times and she was out! Steve and I were in shock - completely!!! She weighs 7 lbs. 4.5 oz. and is 20 inches. I will get pictures downloaded shortly. She looks just like Emily did when she was born, just a pound or so smaller. So, check back soon for pictures!

Update...

2009-01-31T13:08:00.003-06:00

Or more like, no update. I went to the doctor on Tuesday and I hadn't progresses any. Apparently, taking time off from work has slowed the whole process. I am officially on maternity leave and I've been able to relax, so I think Elaina has decided to relax with me. I've cleaned the house, all the bags are packed, laundry is caught up, and now we just wait... We are definitely starting to get anxious and we are definitely ready for her to be here. Although, Steve and I are not known to be the most patient people in the world. Steve's mom has finished the glidder cushions and the curtains. And they look incredible! The room has really come together! There's still a couple of little things I want to do in the room, but I'm going to wait until after Elaina comes. I want to get a collage frame for the ultrasound pictures and the maternity pictures. And I want to get a different basket for on top of the chest. Michelle brought me a bunch of baby toys, so I need a bigger basket for up there. I have another doctor's appointment scheduled on Wednesday. They are going to do an ultrasound just to check everything since it will be after my due date, and then I guess we just wait for Friday, February 6th. See, Michelle, she might make her debut on your birthday afterall! :)

Update...

2009-01-21T08:14:00.003-06:00

Don't you love how creative I'm becoming with my titles. I just don't have the brain capacity right now to even think about fun titles. Last week was lots of fun. I had two baby showers. The first was at work. We actually have 3 of us expecting. With only 10 employees in our office, that's a pretty high percentage - so don't be drinking the water at my office!!! We got lots of fun things! I didn't get a single picture - it was on a Monday and it's really hard to remember anything on Monday mornings. We got our laundry basket, cute little outfits, our bottle drying rack, and so much more. Then on Saturday, my sweet friends from church threw me a shower. It was so much fun! Once again, I have no pictures. This time I remembered my camera, but not the charged battery pack. Thankfully, Holly and Michelle had their cameras, so I will be able to get some pictures from the day. It was such a great time. We ate, opened gifts and just relaxed and talked. It was supposed to be from 2-4, and most of us ended up staying until after 5 o'clock. It's always so much fun to get together with a bunch of "hens" and just sit and chat. (that puts a smile on my face - Grandaddy always said he was a rooster stuck in the middle of a hen party - even while he was in the hospital he joked about all his hens that took care of him!) I got so many great things at the shower! Lots of cute outfits and blankets. Lots of necessities like bath stuff, diapers, wipes, thermometers, etc. We got our changing table pad and cover, so it's ready to go. I was a bad friend though, I put everything away as soon as I got home without taking any pictures of it all. Sorry! I just was really excited and wanted everything to get put away before Elaina makes her debut. Then on Sunday, Steve and I went to Babies'R'Us to exchange a few things we got duplicates of and we ended up buying our stroller and car seat. It was kind of funny how things turned out. We weren't going to buy on Sunday, we were just going to look at the options and then look at our budget and make our decision. But the stroller ended up being on sale and we had coupons for 15% off the stroller and 15% off the car seat. So, we bit the bullet and bought it. I'm so excited! It's the one I wanted from the beginning. The stroller works just like a travel system and I can use the infant seat in it. But the stroller is a smaller stroller and I will be able to use it until Elaina is Emily's age. So, no more hunching over the umbrella stroller - which makes me really, really happy! So, now for the progress report: Went to the doctor yesterday. I am dilated 1 cm and I am 70% effaced. So, he said I made LOTS of progress in the last week. If Elaina doesn't make her debut before February 6th, that will be the day for induction. But I'm having contractions on and off, so I think it will be before then. In fact when Steve came home last night, he didn't have his house keys, so I had to let him in. I was in the middle of a contraction and he didn't know, so he bent down to kiss the belly and it hurt so bad for him to even kiss the belly. He jumped back as soon as his lips touched my belly and was like - "what's up with the belly - it is super tight". So I had to explain to him what was going on. He was so excited!!! He keeps telling her to come out already. He's so ready to meet his new daughter! I have Elaina's diaper bag packed and sitting in the pack n play in our bedroom along with her boppy (Thanks Michelle!) and now I'm starting to get my stuff together, just in case!

Maternity Pictures and Update...

2009-01-14T20:41:00.003-06:00

So, there's really no update. Elaina is getting a little bit more ready, but still no big progress. I go back to the doctor next Tuesday, so we'll see if I have any progress there. This past week we had our friend Regina come over and take some maternity pictures. I wasn't really for sure how they were going to turn out. I'm not one of those women who loves the way her belly looks while she's pregnant, but I really wanted some photos of our family during this stage. I'm so glad we did it! It was stress free because she came to our house and took them. And I absolutely love the fact that it's our house that is the background of the pictures. Here's a link to Regina's blog: http://catch-a-glimpse.tumblr.com/ She is fantastic! So, if you need some photos taken - you should give her a call!

Elaina Update...

2009-01-08T18:33:00.003-06:00

Just wanted to update everybody. I went to the doctor this week and her head is down, so she's in position. I've still not dilated any yet. So, it looks like Elaina may be taking after her big sister and stay in until the end. I go back to the doctor next Tuesday and will get checked again. In two weeks, we'll get an ultrasound to check her size since Emily was a 9 pound baby. Sunday we are doing some maternity pictures and I'm so excited! Our friend Regina is taking the pictures and will hopefully do some newborn shots when Elaina makes her arrival. I'll update more later once I've gone to the doctor again.

Elaina's Room...

2009-01-01T20:33:00.009-06:00

is almost complete. We got the dresser today, thanks to John and Nikki. John and Steve went to Franklin today and picked it up. Then Nikki and I put away all the clothes and hung some pictures. The only thing that's lacking is the cushions for the glidder and the valance Steve's mom is making for us. Oh, and Elaina. I guess it wouldn't be much of a room without a baby to go in it. Here's some pictures of the progress. There's still a few little things that I want to add, but I'm not going to be stressing over them if I don't get them all complete.

This is a picture of the dresser. We will be using it as the changing table, so we will add the changing pad and the basket holds all the supplies for changing diapers.

Okay, I just had to add this picture. I know the drawers won't stay like this, but I just had to have proof that I was trying to be organized before Elaina's arrival.

This is a little pillow Mom and I found while out doing some Christmas shopping. I couldn't pass it up. I think it is so cute! It, of course, will be taken out once she gets a little bigger. But for now it works.

This is the monogram above Grandaddy's chest. I love the way it turned out! Here's a closer look:

And these are pictures of several of the outfits and things Elaina got for Christmas. I couldn't believe how much she got and she's not even here yet!

I had to put a picture of this bib my aunt Bonnie Jo bought for Elaina. I just love it! It makes laugh out loud every time I see it.

I'm sure by now, you can tell we are definitely getting excited about the arrival of Elaina. Steve even came in to check the room out during the USC/Penn State game today. We're on the final count down!

35 More Days...

2008-12-27T18:58:00.003-06:00

Wow, I can't believe we've only got just over 30 days until Elaina is due to join us! Now that Christmas is over, Steve and I both have started the nesting. Yes, I know Christmas was only 2 days ago, but we've already gotten a lot accomplished in the past two days! Yesterday, Mom and I went and purchased the changing table/dresser. We get to pick it up on New Year's Day. I can't wait! I can then put away all the clothes and goodies Elaina got for Christmas! Can I just say I'm so glad Belk was having great sales on baby clothes! We got several outfits for under $10 each! Today I've been working on getting Emily's room cleaned out and re-organized with all the new stuff from Christmas. I actually came out with 2 bags of garbage from all the stuff that needed to be thrown out. So there's only a few more things I want to get accomplished at the house before Elaina comes. Mainly, organize her room. Also, there's two closets I want to orgainize. And Steve's mom is sewing me some curtains and cushions for my glidder. I can't wait to see it all together!!! I'll post pictures when we get it all completed. I'm so excited!

Christmas 2008...

2008-12-27T18:05:00.017-06:00

I have finally gotten all the pictures downloaded from all the Christmas festivities. It really takes a while when you are so backed up on blogging! 2008 has been probably the hardest year for my family. There has been so much negativity and bad circumstances, it seemed hard for my family to get into the Christmas spirit. But when it came down to it, everyone really rejoiced the reason for the season and being able to celebrate the fact that the bad stuff this year has drawn us closer together. Here's some pictures, hope you enjoy!

These two are from Christmas with my sister and family at my parent's house. It was the Saturday night before Christmas. By the end of the night, my feet were so swollen they were red. So, Emily and I just ended up spending the night. Steve had to go home because he had to go to a basketball tournament the next day. By he was concerned about me driving at 10 o'clock at night and feeling as bad as I did, so he told me just to stay. It really helped, and Emily and I just made a weekend of it and stayed all day Sunday. This is from Christmas Eve night, we went back to my parent's house. My aunt Bonnie Jo came into town for Christmas and we wanted to be able to see her and mom open their presents. With the passing of my Grandad this summer, I knew this Christmas would be difficult for them both. My sister and I decided to give them a sentimental gift this year in honor of Grandaddy. I put together a shadow box for each of them with different pictures of Grandaddy and them throughout the years. They really turned out great, in fact, I'm a little jealous. I'm thinking about making one for myself. Here's a picture of Bonnie Jo with her shadow box (somehow, I didn't get a picture of Mom with hers) Okay, so the next picture is not really my favorite, but I have to share just how huge I'm getting. I can't believe how big my belly is!

Emily got a new jewlery box from Me-maw and Pe-paw. She absolutely loves it. We've already filled it with all her jewlery.

This was the scene on Christmas morning. I've never seen so much stuff!

Seeing Christmas through a child's eyes is so amazing! Emily has really enjoyed this Christmas, and she actually sat on Santa's lap without crying! This is the first year - I couldn't believe it.

After Christmas morning at our house, we went to Steve's parents house.

Steve's grandparents sent this table for Emily. It is so cute! It came with 2 chairs and a bench.

This is Steve's dad's reaction to our gift. We had a great day at their house. After opening gifts, his mom sat out some amazing snack food and then Steve and I took about a 3 hour nap on the couch. Somehow, every time we go over there we end up asleep. Then we woke up in time for dinner, prime rib and ham. After dinner, Steve went and got our Wii and we played it for a long time. The girl's loved playing it! Emily played and actually knocked a guy out boxing! It was a great day and the best thing was being able to spend time with both of our families!

A Note from School...

2008-12-26T18:53:00.005-06:00

is normally something you would be nervous about, but I have to say the one I received this past week brought tears to my eyes and I just had to share it. This is what Emily's daycare teacher wrote:

"Mr. and Mr. Barrios,

Emily is such a joy to have in my class. She is always making me smile and is a wonderful helper. You guys have an amazing daughter and have taught her well.

Anytime I need a smile I walk in the classroom with her and she comes running to hug me. She brightens everyone's day.

Thank you for being so helpful in the classroom. Have a very Merry Christmas and a happy New Year!

Love,

Ms. Heather"

So, I'm thinking I'm going to start a poll as to whether Elaina will be as good of a student as Emily. Going off of how she's been so far, I'm thinking not! :)

Guess What....

2008-12-26T17:58:00.001-06:00

I'm back to the blogging world thanks to my sweet husband. I'm sitting here on my bed, in my PJ's, typing on my brand new LAPTOP! I'm so excited because now I can update the blog without having to worry about my work schedule! YAY! I hope everyone had a very Merry Christmas! I will update more about the happenings of Casa de Barrios later, right now I have a 4 year old begging me to feed her.

Wow....

2008-11-25T16:20:00.007-06:00

Okay, so there is no excuse I can put here that would make up for the time that has passed since my last post. It's been busy and we've had lots of fun. So instead of trying to write about everything, I will just give some quick updates.

First, I'm still pregnant, and still getting bigger by the hour it seems like. So far, I'm feeling good and the doctor says I'm progressing fine. I'm a little tired and have a ton of heart burn, other than that I think I'm doing good.

We had a great Halloween. We did the Fall Festival at the church again this year and Emily had a blast. We also did goody bags for her school party - which she thought was pretty awesome since she got to help this year. She's definitely all about helping out in the kitchen, which I love, well on most days I love it.

Emily was a princess for Halloween of course. And she had to show off her pink high heel shoes she was wearing under her dress (just like Holly at her wedding) she thought she was something else. Which of course she was, because she is the cutest kid in the world.

And here is a picture of the 3 mario brothers. I had no idea this costume would be such a hit with the kids. And yes, my overalls were way too little and my belly was way too big! I had to have them all the way unbuttoned the whole night.

I have more pictures to post and lots more to update, but I just realized I don't have the photos downloaded yet. Dang it! I actually have time and have no pictures....well, I guess I'll have to put it on my to do list for tomorrow.