Everything but jelly!

Yesterday Burt wasn't feeling well and my little nurses (Emma and Eva Grace) felt the need to cater to him. I wouldn't let them mess with him while he was asleep but when he woke up there was no holding them back, "Daddy, do you want something to drink?" "Daddy, do you want the tv tray?" "Daddy, do you want some crackers?" "Daddy ......." Finally they asked him for the tenth time if he wanted a sandwich and he said, "YES!" So, Emma got to work making the sandwich and Eva Grace was telling her what Daddy wanted on his sandwich. The sandwich ended up having turkey, lots of mayonaise, lots of mustard, pickles, cheese, and peanut butter on it. Burt, much nicer than I, ate the sandwich and bragged and bragged about how delicious it was. This is all that was left - I was very proud of him!!!!

We did it!

This morning a group of us did the Chili's 5K benefit for St. Jude's. (Me & Ella, Sabrina  & Jared, Erica & Addison, Amy &; Berkley, Nikki & Carter, Ashley & Ella, and Jessica & Grace)  All the babies did great, no whining was heard from any of them. They were relaxing, eatting Cheerios and drinking juice - they had it made! The weather was perfect and we even got our picture made by the magazine people- so look out!

Emma's first week of First Grade

Emma started First Grade last week and absolutely loves it. She loves her teacher, Mrs. Mitzi and came home every day last week talking non stop about her fun filled days. We had fun preparing for the big week, she got to pick out her backpack and we put her name on it. We also decorated her school box just the way she wanted it. She went shopping with Grandma to buy her school supplies and then Nanner took her school clothes shopping. As listening to the radio this morning while taking her to school, they were reading this letter. It was perfect!










Dear world,

I bequeath to you today one little girl in a crisp dress , two twinkling eyes and a happy laugh that ripples all day long and a flash of shiny hair that bounces in the sun when she runs. I trust you’ll treat her well. She’s slipping out of the back yard of my heart this morning and skipping off down the street to her first day of school and never again will she be completely mine. Frail and proud she’ll wave her young and independent hand this morning and say “Good Bye” and walk with little lady steps to the school house. Now she’ll learn to stand in lines and wait by the alphabet for her name to be called. She’ll learn to tune her ears for the sounds of school bells and deadlines and she’ll learn to giggle and gossip and look to the ceiling in a disinterested way when the little boy across the isle sticks out his tongue at her. And now she’ll learn to be jealous and now she’ll learn how it feels to be hurt inside now she’ll learn how not to cry. No longer will she have time to sit on the front porch steps on a summer day and watch an ant scurry across the crack in the side walk. Nor will she have time to pop out of the bed with the dawn and kiss the lilac blooms in the morning dew. No, now she’ll worry about those important things. Things like grades, and which dress to wear and whose best friend is whose. The books and learning will replace the blocks and dolls. Now she’ll find new heroes. For 5 full years now, I’ve been her sage and Santa clause and pal and playmate and father and friend. Now she’ll learn to share her worship with her teachers which is only right but no longer will I be the smartest greatest man in the whole world. Today when that school bell rings for the first time she’ll learn what it means to be a member of a group with all of its privileges and disadvantages too. She’ll learn in time that proper young ladies do not laugh out loud or kiss dogs or keep frogs in pickle jars in bedrooms or even watch ants scurry across cracks in sidewalks in the summer. Today she’ll learn for the first time that all who smile at her are not her friends and I’ll stand at the front porch and watch her start out on that long lonely journey to becoming a woman. So world I bequeath to you today one little girl in a crisp dress with two twinkling eyes and a flash of hair that bounces in the sunlight when she runs. I trust you’ll treat her well.

Our Inside Edition Experience!!!

I got some interesting and fun emails today, The first one was from Phil at Kiddly Toes telling me that the lady from Heelarious, founder of the high heel shoes Ella has, had contacted him to get my information again. (She contacted me months ago about putting Ella's picture in the high heels on the company website). Heelarious wanted my information because the tv show, Inside Edition, was doing a special on them and they needed a customer to showcase them! YAY!!! So, later I got this email from Inside Edition!
__________________________________________________________________
Hi Amy!

My name is Sage and I'm a story-coordinator at the syndicated television show INSIDE EDITION. I'm working on a story about the new crib shoes from HEELARIOUS and Phil from Kiddly Toes mentioned that you may be a great person to talk to. Would you and your baby or anyone you know who has purchased the shoes be interested in appearing on camera soon with the shoes to talk about how/whether you like them? We've already filmed a spot with a spokesperson in LA and just need a customer to showcase them. We can send our camera crew anywhere to film!

If interested please contact me at .....or on my personal email ......

I hope to hear from you!

Sage Garner, Inside Edition
__________________________________________________________________
HOw exciting!! So, I called and apparently I returned her email too late because they were under a deadline and they already had gotten in touch with someone in New York :( Bummer! But, just knowing that they wanted to use my sweet Ella on their National Television show made my day! I had to share (or brag, sorry)! Thanks anyway, Phil!!

Busy! Busy! Fun! Fun!

We have been busy at the Barrett house and not a lot has been posted so I'm playing catch up before school gets started and we go running!

First up, Our friends, the Cheathams, went to Florida last week and Haley (7 years old) called to see if we would fish sit! I immediately said yes thinking "how hard could it be to watch fish?" On the day before they left Haley brought me the fish with a page long of information on how to take care of her fish, a feeding calendar, fish food, 2 tanks, special water, and name tags she drew to go in front of each tank! (I also got specific instructions from Lori to run to Petco if anything drastic happened. I informed her I'd already thought of that and she probably wouldn't know either way ;) After getting strict instructions from Haley I was a little worried about this responsibility I so easily volunteered for! Here is a picture of Cody and Theresa. The kicker to this story is that these fish don't move. I've never really seen fish that don't like to swim around in their tanks but these don't. We had to bump each tank at least once a day (not in the instructions) to make sure they would swim. It was so bad I had to email Lori - on vacation- to see if I needed to run to Petco. She said this behavior was typical! Thankfully, Cody and Theresa are living comfortably back at their house!

Thursday night we went to Emma's open house! She has been excited all summer about going back to school! She will start 1st grade in Mrs. Mitzi Young's room! She has enjoyed her yearly shopping trips with Grandma to get her school supplies and Nanner to get her school clothes (I enjoyed both of these shopping trips too!) More pictures of her first day to come soon!

Saturday I threw a shower for my brother, Andrew, and soon-to-be sister-in-law, Sarah Greenwood. It went really well and was a lot of fun! Here is her mom,me, my mom, and Sarah. Andrew and Sarah are getting married in December.

Saturday night the girls and I hung out on the couch all night watching the Olympics and tickling backs, feet and brushing hair. Ella's new thing is brushing your hair so she was brushing Eva Grace's hair and getting so tickled. Eva Grace kept showing her how to do it and getting aggravated because Ella wouldn't do it right.
When I stopped recording this, Ella started hitting Eva Grace on the head with the brush. It sounds bad (and was) but it was so funny. Eva Grace was getting mad but that made Ella laugh even harder. We did take the brush away from her after a few times! We all had fun night - even Grace!

Well, I thought I was through with this post until I checked my friend Ashley Treadway's blog! For those of you who don't know my sweet friends Ashley and Chandler they tried several times to have a baby and now they are about to. Check out sweet little Adalyn Grace smiling! She should arrive in a couple of weeks. Isn't this ultrasound picture awesome!!!

Barrett Craziness

Today was wild. I have really enjoyed this summer with my kids and dread school starting back but many days like today and I will be ready very soon. Tonight I went to boot camp, when I got home this is what had happened while I was gone...Ella had climbed on top of our kitchen table without a diaper on and pooped, got it all over her and everything around. Either Emma or Eva Grace started eating a Popsicle and laid the rest on the table, which melted all over the kitchen floor and got everything super sticky and about 50 spools of my embroidery thread were scattered all over the kitchen floor. Amazingly, none of the thread had Popsicle or poop on it - THANK GOODNESS! And, I must add that Burt had cleaned up Ella and the table before I got home!

Just when you are about to lose it, God sends you bits of humor.  As we were eating dinner (on our very disinfected table) this conversation took place.

Emma: "Daddy, you need to eat like me and mama so you will be little like us. At school Lexi and Claire, and Olivia, and Carl, and Adam, and Chloe, and Rachael, and Breigh all say their dads are little like their moms."

Me: "So, what do you say about your dad?"

Emma: "I say my dad is not."

Thank goodness for humor - it seriously is the best medicine...

Walkin' In High Cotton!

A few days ago we took a trip to Senath and Hornersville, Missouri! That is where Burt grew up and loves to be around this time of year. His family owns farm land and grows cotton on it. He loves everything about the process of farming (except the hard work of doing it). It is always fun to road trip up there and see the crops. The girls enjoyed the trip too. Burt even walked them out to play in the irrigation systems, Ella hated the surprise of the water.
Another thing great about growing up in the boot heel is that you never have to buy watermelons or cantaloupes. The girls enjoyed seeing both kinds of fields, observing how each fruit grows and then getting to pick their own.After this Burt let both girls drive on the gravel roads. Emma did perfect and took it very seriously. Eva Grace's experience was nothing like that.

~Our Anniversary~

Today Burt and I have been married for 9 years. Thanks to my mom we got to spend the entire day together without our sweet children. woohoo. The day was spent reminiscing about the big day and how much we have grown to know each other since then. Here are some of our memories.

*The wedding took place at First Baptist Church in Bay, Arkansas. A lot of the guests had no idea where Bay, Arkansas was at.

*Our sweet friend that Burt grew up with, David Thomas, wrote us a song and sang it at our wedding. My mom still loves him from all the hours she talked to him as he was researching my past for the lyrics! He is awesome!

*My Daddy B. was sick and they thought they weren't going to be able to make it to the wedding but my cousins Tim and Carol flew them in just for the ceremony then flew them home!

*Andrew Moore sang at our wedding. He also sang at Chad and Lisa Waggoner's wedding in Missouri the same day an hour later so he had to be flown by crop duster to Missouri right after he was done with our ceremony!

*My hometown church was packed. I have never seen it fuller than on that day, there were people standing outside.

*IT WAS HOT and the air conditioner in the church kept freezing up.

*Two of the tux coats got switched in the dressing room. When the big guy, John Bibbs, put the smaller coat on he stressfully said, "Oh no, fat guy in a small coat."

*We didn't get to eat any of our own cake - groom's or bride's, except the little bite you feed each other. The topper of my cake is still in my mom's freezer. (9 years later)

*They fixed us a goody basket when we left the church with fruit, cheese, meat...  for us to eat on the way to the airport. We forgot about it when at the airport and left it in the car, in the August heat, for a week while we were on our Honeymoon. That was fun to ride home with!

*Our photographer took FOREVER!

*We had 3 preachers, one was my dad, and several prayers. - That's what you get when you grow up a preacher's kid! It was not a short ceremony.

*When it was time for the kiss, Burt leaned in for a long one. After the initial kiss, I started leaning back and he still went for it. Everyone laughed.

*My dad, who pronounced us man and wife, choked up and could barely say it. Then Burt cried, then I followed...