Happy Birthday Emily!

Emily's birthday was on Tuesday, January 27. She has been such a joy in our lives for the past year. We can't wait to see what happens in the years to come. We love our little girl.

1st Birthday cake. Made my mommy, with love. I made the same cake for Josh... without the pink bow. I think I'll make it a first birthday tradition. Everyone will get to get a bear cake.

Emily enjoying her cake. If you notice throughout the collage, she begins by tasting the icing, then she really dug in. We gave her the entire ear, all for herself... in was only a cupcake. But it had a TON of frosting on it. Boy, was she a mess.

Josh enjoyed his share of her "birthday" too. He'd been asking if we could make her "birthday" for a few weeks. So, he got to help a little with it too. I guess the fact it was a birthday cake for her birthday is a difficult concept. It always surprises me what comes out of his mouth.

Opening a few presents. She actually figured that out very quickly. Maybe it was because Christmas wasn't too long ago.

Emily is such a girl. She saw this doll, and stared for a moment, then got a huge grin. When she first got the doll in her arms, she gave it a huge kiss and a big hug... which is what you see here. At least she understands that we love our babies.

And then she got this stroller to put it in. Wow! She's having so much fun with her new toys. She loves to push this thing around almost as much as she likes to climb in it herself... no she doesn't fit, and does need help to get back out. I need a picture of that, I think.

She really did make out like a bandit this year. Thanks Grandma and Grandpa!

And last, but far from least, Emily got this adorable little dress from Grandma. Grandma is such a talented seamstress. By the way, she makes beautiful blessing gowns to sell. If you are in need of one, let me know. I'll get you in touch with her so you can find out what she has. Or what she can make. I am so proud of her. But, back to Emily. Isn't she so cute in this new dress?

Learning to Be a Model

A few weeks ago, I was trying to get rid of all the rest of my Mary Kay stuff I had stashed in my closet. So, I pulled everything out to get it ready for the thrift store. This included pulling all my makeup samples out of my nice little sample organizer, and throwing them in a pile on the bed. Of course, with me going through all this makeup, Josh wanted to make sure he got to participate. Below are some pictures of what ensued.

Josh putting on some lipstick with perfect form.

Here we are with the eye shadow.

And now for some blush. He was very thorough.



Here's the finished product. What a great job, Josh! Especially for a first try.

And here he is all cleaned up, but ready to practice posing for some shots. My silly little boy. :D

What does a stay-at-home-mom do?

So, credit should go to Leighanne for posting this on her site. But I wanted to put a link to the actual article here.

You can also see one SAHM's response to this woman's question here.

I thought it was very good. Sometimes I wonder what I do each day, and why I don't get anything done sometimes, but then I look at my kids and realize they are so much more important than making the beds. I love them and am so thankful for them everyday.

Random Pictures

So, I've been taking pictures, but there's not really a theme to them. Some are new, some a little older. I hope you enjoy them all.

Here is Emily sitting INSIDE the bathroom stool. Apparently it's a ton of fun. I should have tried it out myself. :)

Here is Emily learning to use the computer. She sees her brother at it all the time. I think she'll pick it up as quickly as he did. Such smart kiddos.

One Sunday, before church, I made French Bread for dinner. Josh is such a big help. He can clean out a bowl much faster than the dishwasher.

Emily and Daddy. She must be concentrating hard. Look how far she's got that tongue sticking out.

Emily's first encounter with Santa Clause. The ward arranged to have Santa stop by at the Christmas party in December. Someone got a picture of Josh with him also, but I'm not sure where that one is. I'll have to locate it.

KC joined us for Thanksgiving. We were very happy to have him here to visit with for a few days.

Here's our most recent family picture. KC took it for us back in November when he was here. We actually had several good ones that he took of us at a park here in town. I was so excited to look at them when we got home that I managed to delete ALL of them off of the camera before saving it to the computer. KC was kind enough to head over to the complex's playground for another round of pictures. I think this one turned out great. Thanks KC!

New Train Set

Josh's favorite new toy is probably the new train set with the waterfall. It's pretty cool. And with all the other pieces we have, Peter and Josh can make some really neat tracks.


Here are a couple examples of what we've been filling up our front room with lately. Josh is so proud of them. He wants a picture of all of them. In the bottom right corner, you can even see him taking a picture of his own on his own new camera.

Christmas Morning

For Christmas, we travelled. First, we went to Texas for a couple days to visit Doug and Jill and their girls. Then we headed to Louisiana to Heather and Travis' house where my family was congregating for the big day. We loved every minute we spent outside of the car. : )

Since we had to squish so much into the car, we opened our presents to each other the Saturday before Christmas instead of taking them with us. Here are a couple of the pictures of them opening gifts.

At the top, you can see Emily getting her second doll ever... she got her first one the Sunday before from a wonderful sister at church... She was so excited, she started saying "oooo" which is what the next picture is.

At the bottom, you can see Josh opening his first present. We managed to convince him it was a big piece of candy... until he opened it and found a soccer ball. He was not disappointed at all. He also got a new Curious George book. As you can see, he absolutely loves Curious George.

Here are the pictures from Christmas morning. We were at Heather's house. They got new robes that blink when they move with their new pajamas. (New PJs are a Barker family tradition) The kids had a blast playing with Josh's new Thomas Waterfall set. In the bottom right picture is Josh with his Aunt Robyn and cousin Kaity. This picture was too cute to pass up.

As much fun as the gifts were, we really enjoyed the opportunity to teach the kids about Christ's birth during this season. Someday, that will make an impression. We hope everyone had as wonderful a Christmas as we did. And wish you all a joyful year to come.

Josh's Artistic Side

I always knew Josh was talented. But I never knew he was so artistic. One day, I was checking email and then I looked over at the kids and they just smiled back at me... Josh with pen in hand, and Emily with his handywork all over her face. That'll teach me to look away for 2 seconds ever again. :D


So proud of his work.

Emily obviously thought this was such a special chance to be his canvas. She enjoyed it every bit as he did.

Breakfast

Emily has a thing for feeding her hair. I guess it's hungry and she wants to make sure it doesn't stay too thin... I don't know.
Here she is on a morning with french toast. Yummm...


Did I get caught??? Oops!

The Kids

I just really love this picture of the kids. So, I thought I'd share it.
Enjoy!