It's a....

Stubborn baby something!! The night before our 20 week ultrasound, we copied a cute idea from my cousin and made a half pink/half blue cake and frosted it white. Supposedly, whatever color you cut into is what you are having. So...according to this test, we are having a...

 

 BOY...

Plain white cake...I had to cake on the frosting to cover the colors

Just to prove that it is half and half

 

 

 

 

But here's the funny thing....we still do not know what were are having! So we had the ultrasound on March 9th. I had rescheduled it from the 2nd to the 9th since we went out of town, so I was really ready to find out. I got a call from the doctor office that afternoon and they said my dr. was in emergency surgery and asked if I could reschedule. I told them I really wanted it that day since I wanted to know the baby was healthy. So they just had me come in later. I finally got into the ultrasound at 5:30pm (my doc does all the ultrasounds in office), and after all the measurements and knowing the baby is healthy, he tried to see the gender...No luck! So by this time, it was after 6pm and he told me I could come back anytime and he would look again. 

So I went back a week later in the morning, drank a lot of juice ate Lucky Charms before, and he looked around for 5-10 minutes...still no luck! This is one stubborn baby and "it" is already on the naughty list :-) 

My next appt is this Thursday afternoon. The doc will do another ultrasound so there is a chance we may find out..but we won't be getting our hopes up too much! Hopefully we at least know before the baby makes its appearance...It's kind-of ironic, since I'm the person who is always like "Why the heck wouldn't you find out if you could," and here I am 2 appts later with no clues!

St. Patrick's Day

We celebrated St. Patrick's Day by going to the annual parade downtown. In all our years here, it was the first time we had been. It was fun because we were there with several couples/families from church, but the actual parade was a little lame! Not to mention the fact that Brooke was a little overwhelmed b the crowds/noise so we had to hold her entire time. Maybe next year she will be a little more brave if we decide to go...

For dinner, we had our traditional corned beef and cabbage, carrots, and potatoes, complete with Irish Soda bread, green pina coladas, and green jello cake. It was a yummy dinner, and a great way to celebrate our Irish blood!

Mardi Gras

A few years ago, we decided to add yet another "holiday" to celebrate! Fun necklaces + masks + jambalaya + King Cake = A great way to celebrate Mardi Gras! It is now an annual tradition and we look forward to the fun and food. The jambalaya recipe we have it SO GOOD! We got it from a native Southerner. And my King Cake was much more successful this year (I didn't kill the yeast), so it was a fun Mardi Gras celebration! 

V-day

 Valentine's Day was low key this year, but so much fun! I got a little box of chocolate for the kids, made strawberry crepes for breakfast (even got up at 6:45 to make them for Curt), and Curt and I cooked a delicious Steak Dinner at home while my dad watched Brooke. It was so fun to celebrate our love and was rejuvenating!

My Handsome Valentine!

The chocolates were a hit! My parents used to do that for all of us kids each Valentine's..we'll carry on the tradition!

Our little Strawberry lover! "Strass" as she calls them..she made me peel the chocolate off of this one..weird child!

Superbowl!!

We have never cared much for the actual football game associated with the Superbowl, but we do take our food seriously! This year was no exception. With lots of people to help out, and lots of fun ideas from Pinterest, we had quite an impression selection of delicious food!

The only pictures we took of people were of the kiddos! We were sufficiently stuffed by the end of the game!!

Groundhog Day

This year on Groundhog Day, we had a fun Groundhog Dinner!

Complete with Groundhog pancakes, "Groundhog" biscuits and gravy, and even Groundhogs peeking out of our hot cocoa. It was lots of fun!! It's so fun to celebrate fun little holidays..we just hope Punksatony Phil was wrong and that there isn't actually 6 more weeks of winter..

Our little girl is growing up--Brooke @ 22 months

It's hard to believe that almost 2 years has gone by since our little girl entered the world at a much unexpected time. Now she is a toddler with spirit and attitude! She is so smart and it always amazes me how much information she soaks up without us even knowing. I want to record some of the special things she loves, reasons we love her, and things going on in her life right now.

• For Christmas, she got a little table and chairs from grandma and grandpa Murphey. You will find her there at every meal, and many times in between when she wants a snack. She does really well eating there all by herself, and if she does happen to spill something, she won't relax until she has picked it all up (an awesome habit!!). Often I'll turn on Sesame Street and let her eat while watching it..I just have to remind her to actually eat while it's on :-) 
• If she wants something, she will come, grab your hand, and lead you to what she wants. We never really went through the frustrating unable-to-communicate needs stage because she has always been able to tell us what she wants, either with words or showing us, which has been so nice! She is obsessed with strawberry jam right now, and at least once a day, that is what she wants out of the fridge. 
• She is very vocal about her food. She often says, "Yum" of "dishiss" (delicious) while eating and it's very fun to hear her reactions! 
• I wouldn't really say she is a picky eater (my parents would argue), but she knows what she wants and doesn't want. She still doesn't really eat meat (other than hot dogs and lunch meat), but I did get her to eat some tuna yesterday. We need to work on chicken and beef...We have had somewhat of a vegetarian on our hands for the past many months, and we are hoping to change that soon!
• Along with that, she finally has enough teeth that she may actually be able to chew meat! She has had 3 of her front teeth for months, plus 2 molars on top, and just a couple days ago, her 4th front tooth came through! She has had such a hard time teething, and the teeth take forever to come up, making her miserable for weeks each time. She got her bottom i-teeth a couple weeks ago, and those were definitely rough. So now are still waiting on several more molars and top i-teeth, but we're getting there!! I hope she just gets them all at once so she doesn't have to endure the pain time after time...But I doubt that will happen! (Since I'm actually posting this weeks later than I wrote it, now all her i-teeth have come in! yay!! they were super rough. Lots and lots of tylenol and ibuprofen. Now just her 2 years molars to look forward to someday...hopefully not for awhile.)
• She loves music. In church, she loves to lead the music, and she can't help but wiggle her bottom when music is on. I hope she will have more rhythm than her parents (she doesn't yet..) and we will definitely have to get her in dance classes in a couple years! For now, we have dance parties in the living room and she giggles her head off. Such fun! She got Rockin' Elmo for Christmas and has to play one of his instruments while he's singing/dancing (usually she chooses the tambourine) and it's really cute to watch her play.
• She loves babies. Anytime we are anywhere and she sees a baby or a carrier, she says "baby, baby." Of course, I am hoping this means she will like her new baby sibling, but only time will tell on that one. She also gets a bit possessive when I am holding a baby and usually wants to be held as well (which I'm sure will be the case when #2 arrives!)
• She has started showing a little interest in potty training. Nothing crazy, but she does want to sit on the toilet, and although she hasn't done anything yet and I'm not going to rush it, I'm just glad she isn't scared of the toilet like she was a couple months ago. I am only hoping that I can potty train her before July and maybe avoid buying diapers for two...
• She is an awesome napper! We never really had 2 naps a day figured out (because she sleeps in so stinkin late), but the 1-nap a day is awesome! She usually wakes up around 10am (keep in mind she does go to bed later than most kids {like 10pm}and then takes a 2-3 hour nap in the afternoon. She is awesome! This morning, she woke up crying at 7:30 (I knew that was way too early for her) and Curt was already gone to school so I brought her in my bed, she snuggled up and slept for a couple more hours. I got up before her and was upstairs when I heard a little klompity klomp up the stairs. Glad she got out of our bed safely in the dark! 
• She love loves Books! We often read the same books 10 times a day. And she is always bringing us books, climbing up on the couch, cuddling right up, ready to read. I am so glad she loves books! And even though I get a little tired of Elmo, Good Night Sesame Street, etc, I am grateful for her attention span and love of reading. She is going to be a smart cookie with her love of books!
• She is talking like crazy!! She will mimic anything and everything (including hiccups, sneezes, burps and coughs) and especially words. She loves saying "grapa," "grama," "Tate," "Ty ty," "Toy" (for Troy), "Sas" (for Sam), "Tent" (for Trent), "Esa" for Alyssa, "Coopie," "Sasie" for Sadie, "Meme" for Millie (the dog), Nana, Papa, she knows ALL the Sesame Street characters and especially loves saying "Osca" (Oscar). She is constantly saying "baby" which is actually also what comes out when she wants her blankie. She still babbles in sentences that aren't comprehendable, but she really understands the value of words and it is so fun to see her vocabulary expand! She loves saying "Osha" at the ocean and "in" (meaning orange of course) has been used to get herself many Cutie oranges! "Stras" (strawberries) are one of her favorites and she will down them amazingly fast. 
• She is obsessed with "outsi" (outside) and several times a day brings us her coat, gloves, boots and puts her hat on ready to go outside! She loves it when grandpa pulls her in the sled around the block and up and down the hills across the street. She is still getting used to the fact that it's okay for snow to be on her gloves...This girl knows how to have fun and is always up for a good time!
• She almost always wakes up happy, and usually goes to bed super easily! We went through a long time of having to let her cry herself to sleep (which is hard) so for her to agree to go to bed and to do it happily is a-mazing! 
• She loves listening to us sing, and snuggles right up. When I ask what she wants to sing, she says "Jesis" so we sing about Jesus and last night, we taught her about "Neffe" so she wanted to sing a song about Nephi, and now wants to every night. Soo cute! She loves "Popcorn popping," "Itsy Bitsy Spider," "Head Shoulders Knees and Toes," and anything with actions! 
• Before nap or bed, she always point to the rocking chair and says, "sans" (songs), so we get to cuddle and sing her songs. Would I turn down cuddle time?! No, never!
• She is getting so much spunk and attitude. When she doesn't get what she wants, she often throws herself down on the ground right where she is and buries her face in her arms and whines/cries. So far, the temper tantrums have been mild..But I'm feeling the terrible two's coming on. So not ready for my sweet girl to turn into a little crazy thing!
• She is starting to talk using (almost) sentences. The other day, my mom and sister took the kids to McDonalds. Sadie (my niece) took Brooke's french fry and she tattle-taled in her first documented sentence "Say say eat fry fry" (Sadie eat french fry.) It's fun to see her vocab grow. We count with her a lot, and now we say one, and she'll say "two, free" She still doesn't know colors, but her favorite color is "peep" (pink), or so she says :)

We couldn't ask for a sweeter, more special little girl to have in our home! We feel blessed to be her parents! I'm only afraid that we won't get lucky twice in a row...But only time will tell :-)

 Here are some pics as of late. Lots and lots of FUN cousin time!! We have loved the Alyssa came out west to help out her sis-in-law's family in Seattle..it means we have been able to see her and kids every weekend for about 6 weeks!! Lucky us! Just wish they lived closer...

2011 Re-cap

Here is our sorry and late attempt at our 1st "Annual" Christmas Letter...I'm thinking in order to get it out before Christmas I'll have to start in like October this year. We'll see if that happens..

Barnes’ Blessings of 2011

1. Began a part-time job at a Skilled Nursing Facility in January (Ashley), thanks to wonderful babysitters (Grandma Murphey and my sis-in-law Ashley). It’s the perfect job...5 minutes away and awesome hours. It’s good experience for taking care of our parents someday…

2. Brooklyn celebrated her 1^st birthday in animal-print style on April 1st. She was cracking everyone up with her clapping and throwing her arms in the air while her presents were opened. She has the sweetest, most fun personality and is our favorite source of entertainment!

3. Brainiac Curtis successfully completed his 1^st year as a Physical Therapy student, and has begun his 2^nd.. Only 1 ½ years to go! (June 2013 can’t come soon enough!)

4. Boise Internship--we survived 5 weeks apart while Curt was doing an internship in Boise. Luckily, in the middle, Brooke and I were able to visit for a couple days and we celebrated our 3^rd anniversary!

5. Busted out of Spokane to the East Coast to visit my sister and her cute family. In 10 short days, we visited Philadelphia, Niagra Falls, Palmyra, New York City, Washington D.C. and State College. We had SO much fun (especially with our 3 strollers with kids ages 1,2 and 3 on the streets of NYC!) Alyssa and Spencer were such good sports and we are so grateful that we were able to spend such a great vacation with them!

6. Brooklyn started nursery!! And she might cling to us and cry every week when we drop her off, but she has stayed every time and we have never had to go in with her. She seems like she is liking it more every week.

7. Birthday Party for Curt’s grandpa Barnes’ 90^th. We traveled to Utah and had a great time spending Thanksgiving down there. The entire Barnes’ family was together and it was a lot of fun! (And we got to go to many of our favorite restaurants and stores!)

8. Busy serving in the church...Curt was just called to serve as the Teacher’s Quorum Advisor (and is excited for camping adventures) and I’ve been serving as the Primary Secretary

9. Being so close to our families! We are so spoiled and are loving it!

10. Beach bums--We spent the week after Christmas with the Murphey fam at the Oregon Coast. The house was right on the beach and we had so much fun playing games, shopping, celebrating Ash’s b-day, and playing on the beach. Brooke loved the “osha” (translation: ocean). It was a blast!

11. Baby Barnes --Coming this July! We are so excited and know that Brooke will be a great big sister.

Blessings, blessings! That is the overwhelming theme for 2011! We are grateful to have such wonderful family and friends in our lives and wish everyone a happy 2012!

Christmas 2011

Better late than never I suppose. We had a wonderful Christmas season, with several attempts at pictures with Santa, looking at Christmas lights, shopping for gifts, watching movies, making gingerbread houses and Christmas candy, playing games, and Curt had a whole month off school! It was lots of fun, especially spending the week after Christmas at the Oregon Coast with my family.

Brooke loved opening presents and got all things Elmo (she is obsessed!) We love the holidays and spending time with family! We got to talk to Uncle Troy who is on a mission in Poland, ate traditional Quiche breakfast, had our annual Christmas eve "talent" show and game night, and then went to church Christmas morning. We went over to the Barnes' and had Christmas afternoon there.

Brooke loved hearing Christmas songs, and said "ho, ho, ho" anytime she saw anything Santa (but yet, she was deathly afraid of Santa himself). She loved spending time with uncles and aunts and as you can see in the above pictures, she has developed a very attractive "cheese" face. She's a character!

I'm Thankful...

To finally be catching up on blogging! I decided I should load pics onto the computer so now I can finally catch up from the last month-ish.

We had some fun Halloween celebrations..., Carving pumpkins with grandma and grandpa, Dinner in a Pumpkin for Halloween Eve, decorating sugar cookies with Nana and Papa, Jack-o-Lantern pizza on Halloween and of course, trick-or-treating (at least to a few houses).

And since then, we have been having fun around here, but wishing we could be in PA holding our new nephew, Parker David James. Grandma and Grandpa got to go visit the James,' and we were left home alone. Brooke will be glad to have them home tonight..I'm sure she's bored of just me all day :P

We are SO excited for Christmas and have been listening to Christmas music for weeks now! But of course, we don't forget Thanksgiving. But to everyone who is opposed to all things Christmas before Thanksgiving, here's what I have to say to you: I'm thankful for Christmas..so the holidays go hand in hand if you ask me.

We are excited to drive to Utah (ok..not for the driving part) for Thanksgiving and to celebrate Grandpa Barnes' 90th Birthday..and that's a big deal!


And a Brooke update.. At {almost} 20 months, our little girl is the sweetest bundle of energy and personality!
Recent favs:

• Climbing up on her highchair and into it (albeit backwards..kinda awkward and dangerous). Today she moved her highchair over to the counter, climbed on it and was reaching into the basket on the counter for an onion saying "apple." I was nice and stopped her. But when we do have apples sitting on the table, most of them have a small mysterious bite removed from them...
• ELMO...not necessarily a new thing, but oh my, she is obsessed! She loves looking through toy magazines and no matter how small Elmo is, her eyes are instantly drawn to him. It does make me happy though that she appears to have fantastic eyesight (she didn't get that from me). I am already planning her 2nd b-day party in {ahem} 4.5 months. Never too soon to start planning a party if you ask me :)
• Making all kinds of animals sounds..quack, baa, neigh, meow (more like a whine), tweet, woof (at ANY dog she sees ANYWHERE!)
• Mimicking pretty much everything! She is our little copycat, in word and action. She is good at saying "thank you" when we ask her to (and occasionally on her own). She says, "nigh nigh," "bye bye," "Tate," "Chase," of course grandma and grandpa, nana and papa...and many others I can't think of. Tonight, Curt patted my leg, so Brooke reached down and patted my leg. Curt is trying to teach her that mom says, "no, no, no" and dad says, "yes, yes, yes." But she is still a momma's girl... When she says "no, no" she scrunches her face and shakes her pointer finger..so funny {at least for now :P}
• Mostly an awesome sleeper..usually 12 hours at night. She has been teething for months straight, so occasionally she is a little needy and just wants someone to lay by her crib. So we have learned that although the floor is uncomfortable, it is better than lost sleep :-) She has almost 11 teeth (at least that have begun coming through), and the 4 molars were rough...we have gone through a fair share of tylenol :-)
  
• She loves reading books, is obsessed with shoes, loves to help with laundry by putting clothes into the washer, or from washer to dryer, loves playing with fresh warm clothes from the dryer, and is great at letting me get stuff done for a solid hour while glazed over watching Sesame Street.
  
• Finally enough hair for a decent side pony tail. She doesn't love letting me do it, but I just gotta do it fast! It's the only way I can get her to keep a flower/bow in her hair!
  
• Recently, she has developed weird eating habits. She really doesn't eat meals, she just snacks all day. While this is frustrating for us, we know she won't starve herself, and fruit is better than nothing, right?! She almost single-handedly went through a 5lb box of tangerines in the last week or so...she had 3 today...She would actually prefer an orange or grapes over a donut--weirdo! She used to love breads, but now, she really only eats Jimmy John's bread (and she prefers holding the entire loaf)..but at least she has good taste!
  
• Still mostly a vegetarian...other than hot dogs and lunchmeat, and occasionally, we can sneak in a bite of chicken. Hopefully someday she learns to deal with the texture..until then, I'm sure she is iron-deficient but what do ya do?!
• Swimming like a fish and blowing bubbles in the bathtub. She continues to love bath time, and chokes almost nightly drinking from the tub water..gross I know.
  
• Un-plugging and trying to plug things in. {Dislike} She loves trying to connect the cord into the laptop and often hides in the corner unplugging the lamp, laptop plug, etc. She also loves holding the laptop on her lap like she is so grown up. If she is being quiet in the living room, I can almost guarantee she has the laptop (and if I hear a thud, that's a good indication as well). She's our little tech girl :)
  

(Ok, so I'm actually not caught up on blogging since I wrote this like a month ago and haven't written since..oops)