A Barnes Family Friday

This past Friday was filled with lots of family fun for the Barnes crew. Things got started on Friday morning when Popa came over for a visit. When Popa arrived, Katie walked immediately over to her book stash, picked up as many as she could carry, brought them to where Popa sat, and handed the books to him. Translation.....you need to read these to me! Oh, and can I sit on your lap for this exercise? haha! My mom - being a reading specialist - spends a great deal of time reading to Katie each day and Katie truly enjoys it.

Friday evening, the Barnes crew got together at Popa and Abu's hosue to celebrate Rob's Birthday. Dinner was delicious, as always! Thanks again Coral...can't wait to try the recipe. Below are a couple of pictures from the night.

Katie spent at least 1/2 the night giggling at Dottie (Popa and Abu's dog). And also saying "woof, woof."



We were able to get the 2 cousins to hug one another. Although this camera angle makes it look more like a head lock than a hug....it was pretty cute! :-)

A really cute family picture of Rob, Kat and Claire bear!!!

On a bit of a sad note.....this was the first time all of us got together at Turkey Oak since Jake left for college. It was a little weird being there without him.....We miss you Jake!

Nana

I was looking back at my blog posts over the past year and realized there are virtually ZERO pictures of Nana (my mom) and Katie together. On one hand I find this very odd, since mom keeps Katie 4 days out of the week. On the other hand, I know how mom feels about having her picture taken.....much less posted online for others to view! Ha!

I took this picture yesterday while Nana and Katie were playing together on the deck. Nana, you might not like me posting these, but too bad! (Seriously, I hope you aren't mad.) I just wanted to say Thank You for all you do for Katie....and Matt and I. You made a huge sacrifice to leave your job, move to Richmond, and help care for Katie. I appreciate it more than you know.

Bubbles

As and adult, you forget about the simple pleasures of life. Probably because we are all so busy with work, house chores, and various responsibilities. When you have a child you are reminded of the simple things that can bring so much joy. One of Katie's favorite things right now is bubbles. Yes, bubbles! All the baby books recommend bubbles as a fun, inexpensive activity and I can see why. You can get a gallon size container for about $3.00.....and Katie absolutely LOVES them!

For Katie's first birthday Aunt Sally gave her a bubble making machine. Aunt Sally may have been thinking of me and Matt as much as Katie with this gift....its very tiring blowing bubbles continuously. Either way, the machine has been quite a hit. Almost every day, weather permitting, we take a trip onto the deck and within seconds Katie will say "bubbl - bubbl" -- requesting the bubble machine be turned on. I used our bubble time today as another opportunity to get some pictures with the new camera.

She chases them and tries to catch them. Its really pretty funny to watch! :-)

Katie also loves the waterhose - ha! After we finished with the bubbles we headed into the backyard. She gravitates to anything water related. Maybe she will be a swimmer one of these days?!?!

1 Year Old - Professional Photos

On Katie's 1st birthday we had a photographer come into the house and take photos to mark the special day. The photographer, Lauren Elle, is the official St. Mary's Hospital baby photographer. She photographed Katie when she was only 24 hours old. Anyways, it took us about a month to get these back which is why I'm just now posting her 1 year pictures. I had a hard time deciding which pictures to put on the blog....so I just posted a BUNCH!

I love this one....We were getting her into her clothes. Meanwhile, she's chewing on her Virginia Tech tennis shoe.

Notice the toy in this picture?!?! The popcorn popper was around when Matt and I were kids. I guess some toys are classics and never change.

Peek-a-boo.....I see you!

We were singing "If you're happy and you know clap your hands (CLAP, CLAP)." One of Katie's favorites....second only to Itsy Bitsy Spider.

Lauren thought it would be fun to get out Katie's kiddie pool and take a few pictures. It was a wonderful suggestion as these turned out to be my favorites!

Who needs a bathing suite....or a diaper for that matter?!?!

This is probably my favorite picture ever of Matt and Katie....

New Camera

I can't believe we did it.....but we decided to buy a new camera today to replace the one we lost on vacation. I've been eyeing the D-SLR cameras since Katie arrived thinking it would be a good investment. Once we made the purchase today I couldn't wait to get home and start playing with it. Below are a couples pictures from bathtime tonight. It was our first effort with the new camera, but we were able to get a couple decent shots. Tomorrow is our neice Claire's 3rd birthday. I hope to officially break in the camera for her special occasion! :-) Rob, Kat, Claire - can't wait to see you guys tomorrow!

My friends Whitney and Matt said "you won't regret a single penny you spend on a good camera." Matt and Whitney....I hope you guys are right. Because I don't want to regret spending that much money!!!

Vacation

This past week Matt, Katie and I took some vacation time. We traveled back to my home to visit family. Its a long story, but about 2/3 of the way through the week, we lost the camera and camera card which has a TON of pictures - UGH! Still not completely sure how/where we lost the camera....or if Katie randomly stuffed it behind some piece of furniture (yes, she's only 1 and already I'm blaming her). Either way, I was quite disappointed to lose the pictures/memories from the first part of the trip. I did manage to get a few shots with my parents camera over the last 2 days. Below are a few of Katie playing in the creek and me and my dad before the JMU vs. VT game. In case there are any Hokies reading this....yes, it was a horrible experience on Saturday. For my sister-in-law Katherine....congrats to you and your DUKES! :-)

Conversations

I'm blog happy the past few days....possibly out of guilt from not posting for nearly a month. Anyways, I took this video of Katie a few days ago and thought it was funny. She started to go up the stairs, and I wanted to catch her on video to demonstrate just how fast she is. Unfortunately, as soon as I got the camera out, she stopped climbing. She decided instead to stare at me and the camera and just talk.

She and I have conversations each day. Her responses don't really make sense and the word "ma" or "mama" gets dropped into almost every sentence.....but hey, building language skills is a process.