A Return

A little over eight years ago, Matt and I were married at The Hotel Roanoke.  Sadly, we had not been back there since.  We thought it would be fun to take Katie with us on our return.  Since the hotel is so beautifully decorated at Christmas time we thought that would be the best way to also get Katie excited about the trip.

First, we had dinner downtown on The Market Square at Alexandro's.  The Hotel is only a short walk from The Market - and we also walked past the Roanoke Christmas Tree on the way.  She enjoyed playing/chasing daddy around the tree  -- and of course making silly faces for this photo. 

Next, we headed across the huge catwalk bridge to the hotel.  For those of you who are familiar - its a great place to let a kid run like wild!  The best part - it goes over the train tacks.  If you are lucky, you get to see a train too.

Finally we got to the hotel.  They do a display of Christmas Trees each year - all different themes which are sponsored by civic organzations, businesses, scout troups, etc.  Its actually quite beautiful!  We all had a wonderful time viewing the trees and walking through the hotel.  Our last stop was The Crystal Ballroom -- where Matt and I were married.  Unfortunately, there was a private party being held in the room, so we couldn't go inside -- But Katie at least got to see the outside and we told her the story about our special day.

It was really cool to take Katie there with us on our return.  We hope to all go back sometime soon -- maybe in the spring when the flowers are in bloom.  :-)

Polar Express & PJs

Today was Polar Express day at Katie's Preschool.  We have been talking about and planning for Polar Express Day all week!  In fact, before she went to bed last night Katie must have asked me about 100 times...."Its tomorrow, right mommy?"  "Yes, Katie.  I promise, tomorrow is the day." 

One part of Polar Express Day - and possibly most important to Katie - is that all the kids get to wear pajamas to school.  Moms and Dads are encouraged to attend with their children - also wearing their PJs.  Katie actually woke me up at 2:15 AM this morning, SO EXCITED, and asked if it was time to start getting ready yet.  When I said "No, its still a long time before morning" she said, "but mom, this is taking forever!"  To which I responded, "actually, what's taking forever is for you to go back to sleep."  At 3:45 she finally did. 

Morning came -- much to slowly for her and a bit too early for me.  We both got dressed into our bedtime best, and I wanted get a few pictures before we left the house.  Katie was all too eager to pose for pictures - proof once again she really was into this whole Polar Express/PJ thing. 

** On the car ride she kept saying "Mommy, I cant wait to show my Mickey Mouse slippers to all my friends!" **

Finally we got to school and headed to her classroom.  Each child was given a train ticket by Ms. Hannah.  The class proceeded into the fellowship hall of the church/school where the conductor punched their tickets and they boarded the train. 

Next, the music teacher read The Polar Express book.  At the end of the reading, each of the children got their own bell and they all started singing "Jingle Bells", and "Here Comes Santa Claus."  At the end of "Here Comes Santa Claus", the big man himself appeared!  Katie was so shocked, I'm not sure she knew what to do with herself.  Her face was just priceless!!!  Finally, each of the kids got a chance to sit on Santa's lap, and talk with him for a bit about their Christmas wish list.  We finished the morning with a class picture and some snacks.

Today was a pure joy!  I know when she is older, this will be one of those moments I will look back on with a huge smile on my face.  It is so much fun to live the traditions of Christmas through your child, to see their face light up when they see Santa, and to see the excitement in their wiggly little bodies as they get geared up for this Holiday.  In the words of the country song..."Yeah, that's the good stuff."

 

O Christmas Tree!

For the past 6 years, we've had a fake tree and a Yankee Candle (for the pine scent, of course).  Matt hated the fake tree.  He simply relented to my wish for Christmas decorating convenience pre-Katie.  And the past 2 years she's been too young to know the difference. 

When we moved this summer and were packing up the Christmas items from our old house Matt said (direct quote here) "I hate this thing, and I'm definitely not making the effort to pack it, transport it, store it in the attic of another house, and use it again."  There went my fake tree.

With no fake tree - and no hope of me getting a new one anytime soon - we decided it would be a fun to head to a Christmas tree farm, select, and cut down our own.  Saturday morning we headed out together on a perfect day.  Katie split her time at the tree farm doing one of 2 things:  1) Making a nest of leaves/brush.  Then finding and putting acorns (which she called her eggs) into the nest, then sitting on them to keep them warm.  In case you are wondering...."Make Way for Ducklings" is a favorite book in our house right now.  Or 2)  Finding every tree in the field that was her height and insisting it was the best tree by far....and would fit perfectly in our living room.

Eventually Matt and I picked what we thought was a good tree.  Together we sawed it down, carried it out of the field, packed it onto the car and headed home.  Once home, Matt started to trim the tree and get the leaves out before we brought it inside.  Except while he was shaking the leaves out  ----  he BROKE the tree!  Not kidding...totally broke it!  A good 1.5 to 2 feet gone.  I just stood there looking at him.  Couldn't  believe it.

After some debate, we realized we were going to have to go out for a SECOND tree.  We knew we didn't have enough time to drive back out to the Christmas Tree farm and cut another one down (besides Katie would have been beyond impatient at that point).  So, pre-cut tree shop here we come....and $85 later...we have one tree up and one in our garage.  Matt was so frustrated that the day didn't turn out how he imagined.  Personally, I thought it was a good/funny story to tell Katie when she gets a little older and can appreciate the humor.

Here she is....our 2012 Christmas Tree (still needs the tree topper)!  Hope you all are having as much fun preparing for Santa Claus as we are!!!  :-)

Thanksgiving 2012

This year we spent Thanksgiving at Matts families' farm.  His paternal grandmother is 97 years old and after recovering from a broken hip and some health issues - she is finally back "Home!"  It had been over 2.5 years since we got together at the farm.  See below a picture of Katie the last time she was there (around 8 months old)....and then this year.

 

Katie enjoyed playing the toys left behind from generations of older kids.  Two of her favorites were a bicycle from one of Sam's girls as well as a playhouse which Sam built years ago.

I enjoyed being in the old house.  I'm not kidding about the "old" part - it was built in 1906.  Amazing really!  Visiting with Ganny was great, especially to see her back in her home.  The shot below was taken right before we started our Thanksgiving meal....pretty sure that dining room has seen a few family gatherings!  :-)

Marking Time

You could mark time on our family blog by my work projects.  Anytime you see a 3+ week gap in posts, some significant event has most assuredly happened in my work and/or family life.  Three weeks ago, my team deployed a 9 month long $1 million project.  Yesterday, that project offically ended.

So, time to celebrate with some blog posts.  That's right folks, I'm slowly catching up on  -- well -- Barnes Family life for the past few weeks.  More to come.  Just thought I should explain my absense.

Heart of the Matter

With the move to Roanoke, we have been forced to make a switch with several of Katie's doctors.  Her pediatrician in Richmond was a god sent!  I was reluctant to switch and contemplated staying with Dr. Christian for Katie's annual check-ups and just going to an urgent care facility for sick appointments.  But, the more I considered that option it just didn't seem to be the right move.  We really do need to establish a relationship with a pediatrician here.

In addition to the pediatrician change, we also made a switch on her cardiologist.  Or at least decided to test drive a new cardiologist.  The cardiology appointment - which was scheduled about 3 to 4 weeks ago - was early in the morning.  We get to the office and Katie is doing great despite her reluctance to leave the house (or the car) and walk inside the building....she does NOT enjoy the doctor's office.

She is evaluated first by a medical student.  Although he knew exactly what type of defect Katie has - he couldn't hear the murmur.  I didn't get my hopes up immediately.  Mostly because I thought, this guy is a student which is likely why he cannot hear anything. (No offense Matt!)  Finally the lead physician for the practice comes in and after some discussion she also listens to Katie's heart.  Once again, she cannot hear the murmur. (Now, I've totally got my hopes up!)  Finally, she shifts Katie's position and can very sutly hear the deviation.  Still, I'm thinking okay there must be some improvement, some healing, some closure to the hole. So, in we go for the ultrasound - and I'm a sweaty, nervous, anxious mess. 

Turns out, I got my hopes up for no reason.  Absolutely no improvement.  In fact, some area for concern.  Katie will definitely need surgery.  Timing of the operation will most likely be a little more than 1 year from now, possibly 18 months.

I could not bring myself to blog about this for several weeks.  Partially because I wasn't sure what/how to write about it.  Our blog is filled with the joys, celebrations, often bragging (which I fully admit), and all around excitment and fun we have with our daughter.  But, along with all the good things in life, there is disappointment. 

I know I should keep a positive attitude and recognize how fortunate we've been.  BUT -- who wants to put their daughter through surgery??  I know what is in front of us and I'm DREADING it.  Katie's first major surgery was at 7 weeks of age.  It will be worse this time.  She is old enough to know fear, to understand that she will be put to sleep, to know that mommy and daddy can't be in the room with her, and to know that she will hurt for some time after the surgery.  She will ask me "why" as she always does.  Why does she have to have the surgery?  Why is her heart broken?  And I won't have good answers.  Matt and I will have to hand her over to surgeons again.  Then we will wait, and pray, and worry until they call us to tell us the results of her surgery.  DREAD - pure DREAD!  

The silver lining is that we have good surgical options.  Assuming the hole doesn't move, or worsen severely, then surgeons should be able to conduct the surgery laproscopically (meaning no open heart)!  I just have to keep reminding myself that after this surgery, Katie's heart issue will be resolved.  We won't have to worry any longer (at least not about this).  She will finally be healthy! 

Ice Skating!

The Virginia Tech Hockey team uses the Roanoke Civic Center for home games.  The nice part about this for Roanoke residents is that on weekends when the Hokies aren't playing - they open up the rink for Community Open Skate.  I had not been ice skating since I was about 6 or 7, Katie had never been ice skating before and neither had Matt. So, we knew this was going to be an interesting little adventure. All the same, we wanted to give it a try.

When we first arrived there were about 3 people on the ice.  I was relieved because I was worried it would be PACKED and poor little Katie would just get run over.  Fortunately, there were a couple of other small kids there and lots of beginners like us.  Also, a nice man who had a 4 year old gave us some tips on teaching Katie.

At first Katie just wanted to bend over and touch the ice - ha!  It was a bit amusing....but for someone who has never seen an ice hockey rink before, I'm sure she was just curious.  Eventually we convinced her to actually SKATE!  Her natural tendency was to try and walk in the skates, which was pretty funny to watch.  Eventually she figured out how to glide a little....but I must say we were not moving too quickly.  I was good with going slow since most of the time I was balancing myself - and her!  Amazingly, she only had a couple falls today.  I tried to hold her hands and skate with her between my legs most of time to prevent any falls (she has already had one broken arm....really don't want to repeat that!). 

Matt unfortunately didn't skate much.  He had injured his back at the gym earlier in the week and ice skating isn't exactly good therapy for an injured back.  So....he took pictures of us instead.  :-)

After we had been there about 2 hours, I figured we had better head home for some lunch.  Katie wasn't happy about leaving and I'm sure would have stayed another 2 hours.  We had to promise to bring her back sometime soon.

Fall Festival

This will just be a posting of pictures.  Its nearly midnight and I've been going all day.  So much fun though - enjoying this beautiful fall day with my little family!!  Love this picture below because it marks the first time Katie has ever let someone paint her face.  She was a little nervous until her preschool classmate Stella went first, then Katie decided it was safe territory.

Part of the fall festival was a petting zoo.  Now, I expected a bunny or maybe a pony.  But, a chicken?  Seriously?  Most of the chickens I've seen do one of two things when people are near....RUN or FLOG!  I couldn't believe how calm these two chickens were. 

I actually got to meet Katie's Preschool classmate Stella and her parents today.  These two girls just look happy, don't they!  :-)


This one might be my favorite picture of the day!

After we got home from the festival, we finally got around to turning our Pumpkin into a Jack-O-Lantern.  Despite her smiling face in the picture below....Katie was rather grossed out by the "stringy, spaghetti stuff" and seeds inside the pumpkin.  So Matt and I did most of the pumpkin cleaning.  She did have a fun time picking what shapes to use for the eyes, nose and mouth.  And of course, we have a Happy Pumpkin.  She said she didn't want a Spooky Pumpkin or an Angry Pumpkin.

So much for only posting pictures.  HA! Our finished product below...

Pumpkin Patch 2012

I missed my usual weekend post last week, so I'm catching up a bit.  Last weekend Matt, Katie and I headed to the Pumpkin Patch.  We are new to Roanoke - in a family sense - so we had to research the Pumpkin Patches.  Based on online reviews, we selected a location called Leyman Farms located between Bedford and Roanoke. 

When we arrived I was pleasantly surprised at how large, well organized, and popular the farm was.  They had so many nice games for kids to include a HUGE Pillow (similar concept to a bouncy house), a corn pit, a cow barrell train, horse swings, a tunnel slide, farm animals, and much more! 

After playing several of the games/rides we finally convinced  Katie it was time to hop onto the tractor and ride out to the Pumpkin Patch.  She took her time selecting her pumpkin, but finally made a great selection.

  

Finally we headed back for lunch and dessert.  While we were eating I spotted a sign advertising FRIED Oreos for dessert.  I had never even heard of a fried Oreo before, so I told Matt I just HAD to try them.  What is a fried Oreo, you might ask?  Well, you dip an Oreo in funnel cake batter and deep fry it.  It comes out looking like a round ball of dough - of course with a chocolate cookie inside.  Me and my little sweet tooth enjoyed those immensely.

Katie spent the last week asking when we were going to make her Jack-O-Lantern.  More of those pictures coming in the next blog post....which I will hopefully get around to tomorrow. 

This last picture is SO Katie!  She really is such a sweet little girl....and yet every once in a while, totally full of mischief.  She just looks like she is plotting something here.  Love it!

 Probably the funniest thing about our trip last weekend was our total lack of preparation!  We knew it was going to be a bit cooler, but didn't realize it would be FREEZING on the Leyman Farm.  I had packed long sleeves and a blanket for Katie, but not an actual coat.  So, here I go 5 minutes after our arrival - back out to the local Dollar Store to buy all of us coats/sweatshirts.  So, while Katie's hot pink coat with butterflies is not my favorite on the style charts, it DID keep her warm....which was the point.  Oh well....its a memory, right?

Woolwine OctoberFest

This weekend we joined my Papa, Grandma (Gigi), Aunt Connie, Cousins Angie & Walter, and Angie's little ones at the Woolwine Octoberfest.  The festival is a fund raiser for the local fire department.  The events include apple butter making, bean bag toss (that's cornhole for you adults), toe-tapping Bluegrass music, and yummy homemade food/treats. 

I was worried that the large crowd would intimidate Katie and she wouldn't get off my lap the entire time.  As always - she's 100% unpredictable.  When other kids are around, she is much more brave than normal.  I was shocked!  She spent all day chasing her older cousins around - especially Allie.  They ran, played, danced, ate - then did it all again.  Katie even danced on the stage in front of everyone....pretty amazing for a kid who is "scared of people."

One my favorite parts of being back in Roanoke is that we get to see Katie's cousins on my mom's side of the family more often.  My grandmother was especially pleased.  With the crazy schedules we all have, it can be difficult to get everyone together.  On Saturday, Gigi had time to watch all 3 of her great-granchildren play together - and spend time with each of them.  A pretty special day!