Finally!

When the builder threw our house together they painted all the walls a very light cream color. But over the past few months Barker has finally started putting some paint on the walls. It actually looks like people live here now. We're still not anywhere near finished but after a year of being here, it's a start.

When looking though the pictures I found this one of Audrey and thought it was funny.

Not sure what she was thinking or trying to tell us with the painter's tape but her face and hair are hilarious. She loves to help.


Here are some before and after pics.

Kitchen color before



Kitchen color after

This isn't actually even the final color. It was the closest I could find to what I had in mind. And as luck would have it, a matter of days after he finished painting I found the paint I wanted. So when he gets a chance he'll go over this with the darker navy I want. But this picture gives you an idea. He also left the doors off the cabinets above the fridge so it's now book shelves for 3 dozen cookbooks.


Then he painted our bedroom.

our bedroom color before



bedroom color after


The dining room was not something I was going to make him paint originally. Our house has rounded corners inside. I knew it wouldn't be easy. But since it's connected to the foyer and living room we really needed some color, and there is no way I was going to let him attempt to paint either of those other two rooms because they're both two stories tall. So I want them left alone. We had a hard time deciding on a color and tried probably 6 or 7 samples before we decided on a rust color.

dining room before



dining room after


Upstairs I've picked a color for Audrey's bathroom. It's just a matter of getting around to it. I want our bathroom left alone, and since it's so big it would be a pain to paint anyhow. And I'm not going to paint Audrey's room or the upstairs or downstairs guest rooms until we buy her big girl furniture and decide on a theme. So we decided to paint the game room up there. I FINALLY found the couch I want last Friday so hopefully I can order it here soon. It's red and the other furniture is dark wood so I knew I wanted to keep the room light and warm. So we went with a nice tan color.

game room color before



game room color after


We also bought some shelves for Audrey's toy closet under the stairs. I figured with Christmas around the corner we would need more storage.

She always busts out her tools and helps her daddy assemble and hang things.


He also painted the wall in her toy closet with chalk board paint so we wouldn't have an easel taking up space.

toy closet finished


And Audrey testing it out. She loves it!


My next big step (after ordering my upstairs couch) is two story curtains. Quotes I've gotten for custom drapes are always around $4,000. I just want them to add color to the room since I don't want the room painted. They won't actually be functional, so I just refuse to pay a thousand dollars a panel for four drapes to hang. Luckily my Auntie Di has a friend that she's going to talk to about making me some. It's 6.5 yards of fabric per panel, plus shipping and labor. So it still may very well still be more than I'm willing to pay but I've got my fingers crossed that her quote is an amount we can live with.

See- the two story windows on either side of the living room really NEED some color. The room just looks so tall. That's a nine foot Christmas tree, and yet it looks miniature against the walls. I tried to tell Barker we need an eighteen foot Christmas tree but he pretended not to hear me. So drapes are a better option.
Barker is also planning on adding some built-ins with shelves and cabinets into those spaces on either side of the fireplace. Maybe one day he'll find the time to tackle that wood work, and the mud room. We'll see.

Warrior Dash ATX

This past weekend we went to Austin to see my older brother and his family, and for he and Barker to run the Warrior Dash.


Jeff and Barker before the dash



Barker going over the last nets. Notice he's clean. Only the last obstacle was muddy, where you crawl under barbed wire fencing. Very different from the other adventure races he's done.





Barker didn't run after the Jailbreak in September, ran maybe twice in October and not at all in November. So it took him 28 minutes to finish, which is longer than it should have. By the 25 minute mark I was worried he'd injured himself or something. Maybe now he'll listen to me every morning when I gripe at him to get up and run. I tried to warn him, and as soon as he finished he admitted he should have listened to his wife in this, and every other instance.
This Warrior Dash was quite a bit longer than the one he did in April, but shorter than the one he did in September. The next Dash he's doing is in Dallas in April, but it will be a longer race at a better location. So that will be good.



Audrey saw him and said "Daddy's shoooooey!"



Madalyn ran up to hug her dad but then discovered that was a bad idea.



Jeff and Barker after the race



Bristol, Madalyn and Beckham on the pile of donated shoes.


After the race we all went to Salt Lick. Yum doesn't even begin to cover it. It was awesome. We've seen it on the food network a million times but never thought to go. Big mistake. One we won't make again! We ordered dessert to go and took it back to Jeff's to watch some football. The kids changed into their pajamas and the real fun began.

Friday night as soon as we met them for dinner at 7, Audrey was glued to Bristol. She loves him. That first night when he went to bed, Audrey cried in our room and refused to give it up. She screamed on the floor, in the bed, kicked the door, etc until Barker decided the best idea would be to drive her around until she passed out. He drove her until almost 1am! She would not give it up! She so badly wanted to have a sleep over with Bristol. So Saturday night all 4 of the kids had a sleep over in the game room. Beckham put Toy Story 3 on and we all went to bed. But apparently he put it on repeat and I'm guessing Audrey woke up early, maybe as early as 3 or 4, noticed it was on, and stayed up watching it. By 10am she was begging to go "night night" and she doesn't normally nap until 2:30! She slept the entire 4 hour trip home on Sunday.

It was her first sleep over but we've already planned the next for April. I know she'll be thrilled. Madalyn and Beckham were both super sweet to her the whole weekend but there is just something about Bristol that she adores. She just glues herself to him. They even hold hands in the car! So sweet.

Audrey's First School Program

Today Audrey had her first program at school.

I put my newly charged battery in my camera after I put her sweater on to take her to school, but she took that as a cue to say cheese so I snapped a quick pic.



The kids from four classes came in with their feathered hats on and sang two turkey songs.

After they sang we all sat down to the feast.

Audrey's place mat and turkey.



There was a ton of yummy food and it was nice to be able to leisurely chat with the parents of Audrey's classmates.
I was especially glad Barker was able to make it. With it being at 11:30 we weren't sure if he'd be able to get away from the office.

We have lots to be thankful for this year, starting with my little turkey.

Some yays and a booooo

We've hit a few milestones lately. I realized yesterday that Barker and I have been together for well over 5 years now, finally making this the longest relationship I've been in. Which just goes to show that he can handle just about any challenge you throw at him.

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Another happy memory....It's also been 3 years since we found out a sweet baby would be joining our family.

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And finally, on a sad note, Prince William finally popped the question to that Kate. Booooo! I was so close. Okay- maybe not. Either way it's time to get excited about a royal wedding! When Princess Diana married Prince Charles my Auntie Di was living in London and made them a wedding cake. I'm thinking about going to her house to watch the wedding festivities with them over some cake and tea while wearing fancy hats. But perhaps I should run it by her, first.

Annual Family Portraits 2010

This year I booked our family portraits with my friend Melissa during the month of October. I wanted to take them in Fair Park, but then remembered that the State Fair would be going on and figured that would be a nightmare. So I did some research and found a new location, Dallas Baptist University. It did not disappoint.

When we first arrived Audrey was still in her pajamas and not quite awake. DBU is nearly an hour from our house and we needed the early morning light, so we scooped poor snoozing Audrey out of bed and threw her in the car.



I tried to wake her up and put her in a happy mood but she seemed kind of confused. Then she realized the door behind us had a handle, so of course, she wanted to open the door. From there she became very curious and wanted to run around.



So the first several pictures we took looked like this....herding cats. But she's just two so it's to be expected.



Finally she caved and sat down for a minute.



And then she even gave us a smile!



But she was still pretty clingy.



But that's okay because I love the hand holding pictures.
(Except that I look heavy in this picture. I don't know why. I'm actually at 117 pounds which is what I weighed my freshman year of college, 10 years ago. So I'll have to write that little bit of info on the back of this picture, so I can point that out to my grand kids when I'm 64. Ha!)



So then we changed clothes and headed to a different part of the campus.

We did a little rock climbing. Audrey and Barker were both in western style boots but I was in stilettos. Somehow I managed to not fall into the pond below. Whew!



Audrey loves water. If we go anywhere near a pond, pool, lake, etc. I have to watch her like a hawk. She desperately wanted to take off her boots and get in the pond to look for fish. This might be the only time I've seen her throw a wobbler so early in the morning. She's always super happy in the am but sometimes gets a little cranky close to dinner time or bedtime because she's tired. But when she's adamant about doing something like going swimming, and can't... well all bets are off.


So the next few pictures were of her pouting about wanting her boots off so she could jump in the pond.


Melissa, having two beautiful babies of her own, had the stroke of genius to have Barker throw Audrey in the air.

It made her laugh...and made for some cute pictures.


And that turned her frown upside down!


After that she was happy to be photographed.




Melissa asked me to bring a blanket. We always keep one in Barker's truck for soccer games. It also happens to be the blanket that we used on our first date (a picnic) exactly 5 years to the date, before the morning we took these family pictures!


So with Audrey in a happy mood and the sun starting to beat down on us we quickly snapped a few good pics.


And to make Audrey even happier, we took off her boots so she could run around on the grass. Luckily she didn't get attacked by the tiny ants that were hiding in the grass. Poor Melissa was not as lucky. : (


Oh, and my happy girl loved the chairs Melissa brought for her to sit on.



So we ended up with an abundance of beautiful family pictures thanks to my super talented friend, gorgeous husband that has finally learned to look at the camera and not fake smile, and sweet daughter that forgave me for dragging her from her warm bed.

Date Night in a Deer Blind 2010 Edition

Since we started out to the Ranch last weekend so Barker could bow hunt, but didn't make it because my new niece Callie had better plans for us, we went out this weekend for 3 days.

As soon as Barker put down his rifle Audrey decided it was time to dance.


Audrey and her Pop breakin' it down

I knew then she was excited to be there which meant we were in for an exhausting weekend!



Then she wanted to go outside which meant she had to bundle up.


We finally got her to go to bed in her new room. Barker went out to the ranch for a week a month or so ago to help my dad add two more bedrooms, another bathroom and a back porch onto the cabin.


5 am arrived earlier than I had expected. I don't know how Barker gets up at that time to run nearly every week day. Yuck. And I can't do coffee so hot chocolate would have to do.

This is me looking very excited to be in the freezing cold deer blind hours before I normally crawl out of bed. The things we do for love.

When we got back to the cabin Cody and Maverick were already napping in the hammock.

I was jealous.

And before I knew it, it was time to go back out for the afternoon hunt.

It's been obvious for a long time that Barker has changed immensely (for the better!) since we started dating but this was the moment that I realized how much he had changed me. We got to the blind and I realized that we left our iPhones in the cabin. I made him race back so we could follow the LSU game. It seems he's brainwashed me a bit.

It didn't take but 5 minutes for him to run there and back on the 4 wheeler.


So he could get me the score.

Oh! We also had cookies, and it was sunny and 70 something outside. Saturday night date night in the deer blind was off to a great start!

And with in an hour and a half Barker had his first buck of the season.

This is the only pic of the deer I'll post because it was quite graphic.


When Barker wasn't murdering deer he spent HOURS walking Audrey around the ranch, and they visited with and discussed all kinds of things such as fish, turtles, frogs, the cat, dogs and horses. He even tried to teach her to skip rocks.

How blessed are we to have him in our lives?


Daddy and Audrey feeding the fish our left over biscuits.


skipping stones


Daddy pointing out a teeny tiny frog


A carp eating some bread


A little girl named Angel that lives on a near by ranch came up to help us feed the fish. She walked right up and said "Hi. I killed a 9 point yesterday." My jaw dropped. She and Audrey were fast friends.


Audrey showing Maverick some love.




Audrey feed the horses some apples.


And Daddy got kisses.

**Warning** If you don't like my bad parenting, don't read my blog...especially this next bit.

We even let Audrey ride the 4 wheeler with us a little. I wasn't thrilled with the idea, even though I had free range with ours growing up and never had so much as a bruise from it. But I decided I could handle her riding it with both of us holding her and not going more than 3 miles per hour.
(please excuse my lack of make up and Barker's hat hair)

It was a fun and exhausting weekend and Audrey shows no sign of slowing down. She trashed the house the minute we got home. She pulled out every bag of blocks and buckets of toys we keep in her downstairs toy closet and dumped them out all over the living room floor. Barker and I are too tired from the weekend to bother to clean them up so we're just laying here, allowing her to bury us alive with toys.

Life is good.