Sunflowers: Week 1

This is our fourth year planting sunflower seeds, but, I am always just as excited as the kids when we find that first sprout! It only took five days this year.

April 26, 2013, Day 5: Our first sprout!

 

Once that first sprout appears, it not too long before the rest of them catch up. Sure enough, just a couple days later, and we have nine pots with at least one sprout in them. Our neighbors haven't seen them yet; Clara and Colton can't wait to show them off!

April 28, 2013, Week 1: 9 out of 15 have sprouts!

We can see the dirt being pushed up in a few more, so it won't be long before we can add more pots to our list of sprouted ones. They're sure to take off from here and we'll be planting them in the yard before we know it.

April 28, 2013, Week 1: Posing blue-eyed blondies!

They're Back!!

It's Sunflower Time at the Barrett house! We've got a new house, which means a new yard, and that means finding a new place to plant our sunflowers. We have a few weeks to decide for sure. This year, we recruited the help of three of our neighbors to help with the planting. Everyone is so excited to see how quickly they will grow. We have 15 pots and will be watching those babies sprout before we know it!

April 21, 2013,  "Planting Day"

Nutcracker, 2012

Clara with "Clara" , "Franz", and a Snow Fairy

My little girl and I made our second annual trip to the Nutcracker yesterday. I love live theater and I am thoroughly enjoying fostering this love in Clara. The community theater in Elizabethtown is the perfect place to start. The Nutcracker performed by local dance groups and "Clara's Tea Party" just before the show are a highlight of our holiday season.

Clara just loves the tea party. She can meet and talk to the dancers and take pictures with them. There was such a difference  in her personality from last year. Last year she wouldn't approach any of the dancers on her own, but desperately wanted to take pictures with them like the other girls were. This year, she could have cared less about eating; she only wanted to go talk to all the dancers and take picture, after picture, after picture, with them all! She confidently approached them, introduced herself, asked questions, and posed beautifully. I was so proud of her.

Me and my girl

As I expected, she was enthralled with the performance. I loved watching her sitting on the edge of her seat with an ear to ear smile on her face. I absolutely love taking her to shows. Now that she's getting bigger and understanding that she needs to be quiet and sit still, we'll start finding more shows to go to together. It will be fun to explore the local theaters in North Carolina when we move there.

Christmas Cookies with Cousins

The yummy, over-decorated delicious
cookies of childhood

One of my favorite family traditions since we've been in Kentucky has been Christmas cookie baking with the Sandersons. Knowing that this is our last year doing it makes me pretty sad. It has been wonderful having family so close. The memories and time spent together these past three years have been great. Whether we were having sleepovers, watching each other's sick kids, babysitting for a date night, having dinner together, hanging out, or baking cookies, I have loved every minute of it. Michelle was there to help me adjust to baby number two and cope with deployment number two. She was always there and I knew I could count on her, no matter what. I'm gonna miss her so much. Well, back to the baking...

Nick, Colton, Scott, Clara, & Hailey cutting out cookies

Colton, Hailey, Michelle, Clara & Nick hard a work decorating

Colton, Daddy, & Clara icing the cookies

Four Generations

I am so incredibly lucky. I have so many fond memories of my great grandparents growing up. I remember visiting my Great  Grandma and Grandpa Schmidt's house. Great Grandma Schmidt would always give us a dollar or two when we said good bye and Great Grandpa Schmidt would squeeze our cheeks and kiss us on the forehead. I remember thinking their refrigerator was so fancy - the freezer was on the bottom! I had never seen such a thing growing up; now, I love mine! They had these butterfly and bug magnets that popped out on springs; I loved flicking them and making them move. And, I remember hours spent in Great Grandma's Stefanski's yard; smelling flowers, picking fruit from her trees, watching her garden. I wish I had some of the marbles from the large jar of them that held open her bathroom door. We'd spend hours playing with them on the floor while we listened to the tick-tock of her cuckoo clock. I was so fortunate to grow up knowing three of my great grandparents. Clara and Colton are lucky enough to also have great grandparents. My Grandma and Grandpa Sally are so special and important to me; I want so badly for Clara and Colton to know them and love them like I do. That's hard to do when we only get to visit them a handful of times each year. 

Four Fabulous Ladies

Imagine my joy when my mom suggested she bring Grandma and Grandpa Sally down for a visit before we moved to North Carolina. They made the trip down and we had such a nice time. We did normal things like go to the Commissary and out to dinner, but, mostly we just hung out and enjoyed the time together. Having four generations under one roof was something special. We learned some pretty important things about each other. My grandma, my mom, Clara and I cannot wink with our right eye. Strange, but, apparently hereditary.  It's funny, that all these years I thought I was just weird, I was not alone with this peculiar non-ability. However, I am alone in the fact that I'm the only one of the four females together this weekend who cannot curl my tongue. 

Kiss from Great Grandpa

Colton became instantly attached to Grandpa Sally. If I tried to put his shoes on, I would hear, "No, I want Grandpa to do it." He wanted Grandpa Sally to do everything. Sweet Grandpa Sally was so patient. The same cannot be said for Colton; he didn't quite understand that Grandpa moves a little slower than mommy does. Grandpa even got Colton in and out of his car seat, which was not easy considering ours are a little tricky compared to the non-existent car seats Grandpa buckled his kids into when they were toddlers. 

Snuggles with Great Grandma

Snuggles with Great Grandpa

It was such a wonderful visit. The memories of the laughing, smiling, cuddling and talking with four generations together will be in my heart forever. 

Kiss for Great Grandma

Trick-or-Treat!

Phew! That was a lot of work! But, it was well worth it. One toddler, one pre-schooler, one wagon, some wind, a cooler than preferred temperature, and this mom is pooped! The kids have definitely caught on quickly to the idea of "more candy" and begged to go to "just one more house, mommy!" many times. We were out a little longer and went a little further than I anticipated, but the kids were having so much fun. We finished off the evening Skyping with daddy so the kids could "share" their loot with him. They kept holding gooey candy up to the computer screen so he could take bites. It was so cute! Now, my little Peter Pan and Princess Tiana are sound asleep in bed and mommy will be sneaking just a couple treats from their bags to enjoy before bedtime - just a couple!

Peter Pan and Princess Tiana all ready to Trick-or-Treat

 

Our friendly, resident Jack O'Lanterns