Preschool "Graduation"

Barrett's last day of school (Mother's Day Out or whatever you want to call it)was last week. We are looking forward to not having to rush to preschool twice a week and just hanging out some. Barrett has had a wonderful year. He has lots of friends that he enjoys playing with. He liked his teacher, Ms. Mary too. She is a very patient and calm person, which I guess you have to be to teach 10 3 and 4 year olds. They had a little "graduation", even though he is just going to the next class and then a cookie reception afterwards. Brooklyn will be in the 2 year old class next year and Barrett will be in the 4's class. I really love the school and feel lucky we found such a loving place to send Barrett. Here are a few pictures from the day.

Barrett and his class getting their certificates

Barrett and Ms. Mary

Brooklyn eating a cookie and looking so happy

Barrett and his friend, Addison. Isn't she so pretty? Barrett has had a crush on her all year!

Hanging Out

This weekend we had a great time just hanging out as a family. And we took advantage of the
nice sunny and warm weather. It was a beautiful weekend here. We got out the slip-n-slide for the kids, but Derek soon joined in. We went to the pool, played outside, had some picnics, watched some movies. We also made our annual blackberry picking trip to Marble Falls. We got tons of blackberries (like 30 cups) and some strawberries too. They are all so good!! I don't know who had more fun Derek or Barrett. We saw some horses and goats too. Of course, after or picnic, we had to end the trip with some ice cream and Popsicles. We grilled out and had some homemade blackberry cobbler made with our pickings. It was a wonderful weekend for us all!

Do The Shuffle

Ok, I am always in the market for new songs for my IPOD. I use mine all the time- to work out, listen to while I cook, in the car, in the bath,etc. So, I have a variety of types on songs that I listen to. So, I decided to share some of my songs and hope the few people out there that read this will actually comment and help me out with some new ideas. I decided to hit the shuffle button on my IPOD and these are the first 10 that came up. Here's a sampling of what music I listen to:
1. Born To Be My Baby by Bon Jovi
2. If I Could Hold You Tonight by The Bodeans
3. Angel of Harlem by U2
4. These Are The Days by Van Morrison
5. Jenny by Cross Canadian Ragweed
6. Complicated by Avril Lavigne
7. Feels Just Like It Should by Pat Green
8. Here is Gone by the Goo Goo Dolls
9. Heavenly Day by Patti Griffin
10. Life Got in the Way by Sister Hazel
So, now it is your turn. Press the shuffle button to shuffle all your songs. List the first 5 songs that come up. Hopefully, I can find some new songs.

FOUR

WOW! It is so hard to believe that Barrett is four. He turned 4 on Monday. We have had lots of celebrations to mark the occasion. He had a guitar party at Chuck E. Cheese with some of his friends. Then we celebrated in Houston with my parents. On his actual birthday he got to eat donuts, pizza, chicken nuggets and rice krispie treats- all of his favorites. Here are 4 things I want to remember about Barrett at this age.
1. He is so sweet. He gives the best hugs and just out of the blue says the sweetest things to me, Derek or Brooklyn. He is a kind older brother to Brooklyn and takes care of her, shares with her and tries to cheer her up. He really care about other people, especially if he sees that they are sad or upset.
2. He loves fruit, especially strawberries. I mean, he asks for strawberries at every meal! He could eat them all day, every day! He just gobbles up almost every kind of fruit. We are going to the blackberry farm soon. They are another of his favorites. He also likes to snack instead of eat big meals. He doesn't like to eat breakfast right when he wakes up, so it sometimes throws all of his meals off schedule. He does have a sweet tooth and always has that extra space for dessert.
3.Barrett loves to play. He plays really well by himself. He has a great imagination and I love listening to him playing and talking to himself. He is really big into pretending right now. I often ask him what he said and he is like"I am not talking to you mommy, I am talking to _____!" He plays with cars, trucks, trains, superheroes, army men, and just about anything else he can make do something, go somewhere or save someone. He also has fun dressing up and pretending he is different people. He makes me laugh and I love that he is so creative and imaginative.
4. He loves to read books. He reads in the car alot. He also wants me to read to him and for Derek to read to him. And he asks lots of questions about the story and the pictures. He reads all kinds of books. I love that he is inquisitive and interested in reading.
And here are Barrett's favorites according to him:
Food: chicken and strawberries
TV show: Backyardigans
Thing to do: play with trucks
Place to go: Firebowl
Person: Tate
Book: The Bible
Song: Blue Skies and Rainbows
Color: blue

Here are some pictures of Barrett's birthday party!

Grandbob and the kidsBarrett and Chuck E. CheeseBarrett playing some gamesDriving with Daddy. Do you think Derek will be smiling like that when B is 16? Brooklyn had a fun time too. She is wearing a shirt that says" My Brother Rocks!"Barrett eating with his buddiesHaving some SpriteBarrett's cake. He requested a guitar cakeBlowing out the candlesB opening his presents

Mother's Day

I hope all of you that are moms had a great Mother's Day and that you felt loved and appreciated. Mother's Day was a great day for me. We had lunch at Manuel's and my food was awesome. It was so good! I also got a nap. I felt special, pampered and loved all day. My kids were good and Derek took over alot of the kid duties so I could have some time to myself. I love my kids and enjoy being a mom.

Here is a copy of a card that Barrett made for me at school. It just made me laugh to see how he thinks of me.

My moms name is Kim

She is 30 years old.

She is 6 feet tall.

She weighs 40 pounds.

Her hair is black.

Her eyes are silver and green.

Her favorite food is hot dogs.

Her favorite drink is lemonade.

Her favorite tv show is General Hospital.

Her favorite place to eat is Firebowl.

Her favorite thing to do is cook.

Her favorite thing to do with me is watch tv.

And one more thing, my brother Kurt and his wife Suzy, just had their third baby today. Congratulations on your little girl! We love you!

Crowe's Nest Farm, Cousin visit

We went to Crowe's Nest Farm with several moms and kids from Care Group. The kids had a blast. We started out by eating lunch. Then we saw a cow get milked, then looked at some turtles, snakes, and spiders. Then we went on a hay ride and saw some ostriches. There were 2 babies that were about a month old. We then walked around and saw lots of animals. Brooklyn is really into animals and enjoyed seeing them and petting the ones she could. it was a fun time and the kids fell asleep on the way home.

Brooklyn looking at the chickens

Barrett and Blake by the turtles

Brooklyn and Tate on the hay ride
The Ostriches
B and B looking at the goatsOn Friday afternoon, we headed to Round Rock to get Elizabeth. She stayed with us the weekend so Kara and Shane could get some rest and hang out with Peyton. Barrett and Elizabeth and Brooklyn had a great time playing together. We enjoyed getting to hang out with Elizabeth.

Barrett and Elizabeth getting ready for bed
I just wanted to add this picture of Brooklyn. She decided to drink the water off of the porch the other day. It was too cute!

The boy loves girls

From an early age Barrett has had crushes on older women. Barrett's first crush was on Julie and he liked her for A LONG TIME! Then he moved on to other women. He loved his teacher at Ladies Class, Ms. Marla. She moved at Christmas, but was visiting last week. Barret sat by her in church and sat cuddled up next to her, still as could be. He likes all the pretty ladies and asks randomly about people and will tell me he thinks they are pretty. Barrett also loves Hannah Montana. He has a picture of her in his room and every time they mention Hannah Montana or Miley on the tv or radio, his ears perk up and he says, "They are talking about Hannah/ Miley". He has his first crush on a girl his age. He will tell me that Addison let him sit by her at lunch, or he played with her and he thinks she is cute!! I guess we have a ladies man on our hands. One more thing, he has been telling me for a few months that he does not like my hair in a ponytail. He wants it down long and wants it to grow to my knees. Well obviously that will not happen, but today he said, "Mommy, I am so glad your hair is down like that. That is how Hannah Montana wears her hair." So, I guess he is trying to get me to look like her- yeah right! He is a funny guy! I wonder who is next crush will be!