Emma's "Spa" Birthday Party Sleepover

Emma started planning her 8th birthday party months ago. (She loves to plan events). She had almost every detail picked out! We had decided that she could invite 5 girls and that one could spend the night. ... WELL, that 5 turned to 8 and all but one of them spent the night! I cannot complain though, they were all very well behaved and we all, myself included, had a great time. Emma said it was her best birthday ever- which made the lack of sleep well worth it! Here are some pictures to mark the event.


Face Masks were a huge hit. They were hilarious while I was putting it on their faces!







Making cookies

The awesome cake was made by Jenny box. Everything you see was edible. Even the fingernail polish tops unscrewed from the bottles. It was perfect for this party! I let the girls decide which activity to do and when. For SOME REASON I did not think through eating cake at 10PM!! They were WIRED after about 15 minutes at 10PM!!! I learned a lesson from that one! BUT, we danced through a few Miley Cyrus songs to burn some energy then got back to spa "ing." I couldn't have asked for them to be better behaved. They are all really sweet girls!




They all had to be in the bathroom at one time to brush their teeth. This was their rule! ...at least they brushed their teeth!

Sleeping arrangements. I have no idea how these girls have so much energy but require little sleep. They outlasted me. I crashed at 2 but they lasted until almost 3! Then they were up around 7 am!!!!


Donuts for breakfast.

Here are the spa products each girl got to make and take home. We made bubble bath, soap, lip gloss, lotion, cookies, and paper dolls. The girls also enjoyed decorating their containers.

Ella and Nanner

Ella and Nanner spend an afternoon together and Ella was SO excited. She loves Mouse (Mickey Mouse) and really thought she was all decked out in her ensemble (her shirt matched her huge purse). Being the baby, she doesn't get much alone time with people so when it is her turn, she relishes it!

Happy 8th Emma and Happy Thanksgiving

Emma turned 8 on Thanksgiving day this year. I can't believe it. She has really grown into such a sweet, beautiful girl. I am so proud of her. We scheduled her friend party for a later date so we could "celebrate" outside of the holiday but Nanner had her a little party at her house.

Thanksgiving was very memorable this year. On my side of the family, we celebrated our big meal a few weeks early because my brother, Andrew, was going to be deployed over the holidays. We did get together early in the day on Thanksgiving to watch the parade and eat, but it was bittersweet with Andrew being overseas. Aaron was also unable to come home.

On Burt's side of the family, however, they had family come in that hadn't been here in years. It was very nice to see them. Most all the family was able to be under the same roof for a few hours. I don't know the last time this happened.

We are such a blessed family. My favorite thing to take away from this special holiday this year was the passage of scripture that refers to thanking God for all He has given us- and if we did, we wouldn't have enough lifetime to list everything.

How very true!

Eva Grace lost her first tooth (literally) and the Tooth Fairy went on Thanksgiving Break!!!!

Eva Grace came to show me something. She had her first lose tooth. It was very lose and I'm surprised she didn't notice this before this point. It wasn't long until she and Emma got it out. (I am a super WUS with teeth pulling. I can handle all the other yukky mom jobs but I can't handle tooth pulling!)
After pulling it, Emma pumped her up for the tooth fairy visit. 'At our house, we don't like to part with our teeth so the girls leave the tooth fairy notes to leave the tooth. Here is Eva Grace's letter...
She insisted on taking it to church the next day and leaving it for the tooth fairy the next night. Even though she was advised not to do this because if you lose your tooth, the tooth fairy can't come, she did it anyway. Sure enough, she lost the tooth.
About a week later, she lost the other bottom tooth. She was more careful with this one but didn't want to immediatly put it under he pillow. She quietly changed her mind (without telling Burt or I) and slipped it under her pillow. Two days later we were eatting at Grandma's house and I happened to overhear Eva Grace telling Grandma that she had placed her tooth under her pillow the past 2 nights but the tooth fairy hadn't come. Without missing a beat when hearing this story, Burt assured her that the tooth fairy was off on Thanksgiving break. The next night this note and gift was under her pillow.


Here is a picture of the toothless beauty. She thinks the best 2 things about losing her teeth are being able to tell all her friends and drinking with a straw stuck through the hole in her bite!

Eva Grace's Thanksgiving Feast

Mrs. Jami's class had a Thanksgiving Feast. It was very cute. The class dressed up like pilgrams and indians, sang some cute songs, then tasted a bite of all things Thanksgiving! She is loving Kindergarten!

Cirque Dream Holidaze

Nanner and Poppy got season tickets to the Orpheum and we all went to see Cirque Dream Holidaze. It was a great show. We even got to eat at Panchos before the show.

Decking our Halls. Christmas 2009

The Barrett Five LOVE Christmas time! We put our tree up very early this year (early-mid November). I get super busy with my business in November and if I don't get the tree up early, it is too stressful to enjoy. We also already had Thanksgiving with the Browns so it just felt right to decorate for Christmas!

Every year since we have been married Burt has gotten me a new snow village piece to go with our collection! This year he got the school house since Eva Grace started school!
We always get to open an early Christmas present when we are finished putting up the tree. This year the girls got these cute snowman flannel sheets. They loved them. I loved them too so I went back and got some for me later. Burt loves sleeping on them! haha.

Frightfully Adorable.. Halloween 2009

Halloween was very busy this year. Emma picked out our costumes and designed most of them. She planned the entire layout months before and decided we would all be the family of Sleeping Beauty. She was so proud of herself!
Some of our Halloween festivities included the fall festival at church, class parties, Andrew's visit and the Browns' Thanksgiving, etc... We also did our traditional Trick or Treating party/hayride at Nanner and Poppy's. This year we were joined by the Reed, Collins, Muhammad, Timmons, Parnell, and Brewer families. Here are pictures to mark the event.
Emma, aka Merryweather.
Eva Grace, aka Flora.
Sleeping Beauty family - the sweet witch was our cousin, Hunter!
This picture was prompted by the girls. They thought it was hilarious.
...and they all lived happily ever after!

Cowboy Up. Rodeo with Adam and Granddad

Ghouls night out

I used to love making ghost suckers as a kid! My girls loved it too! Even Ella enjoyed making them. Of course, she loved eatting them much more. Suckers are one of her favorite foods!

Emma's Field Trip to Pioneer Homestead

The Second Graders at UHE went to the Pioneer Homestead. They got to explore how life was 100 years ago with many "hands on" activities such as handwashing clothes, a church service, a typical school day, making kettle corn and sorghum. It was very interesting! During the church service the preacher had everyone sing Jesus Loves Me and most of the kids did not know the words. I found this to be very sad!


These were our Halloween outfits for this year. I did the shirts and Lori did the ribbon pants.

Walking in High Cotton

It was that time of year again when we made our annual trip to Hornersville / Senath, Missouri to look at the cotton fields. This is Burt's favorite place to be this time of year. He loves teaching the girls about cotton and reminiscing about growing up on his old stomping grounds. Emma and Eva Grace even got to "help" drive on the backroads.

The "Lesson."


The cotton was as high as Ella Ruth's eye!

Andrew's visit HOME!

Andrew got to come home for a week in October! We made the most of his visit here with lots of quality family time.
One thing we did was have a few cookouts at Granddad's! There are lots of fun things to do there.
Feeding the fish with Uncle Adam.
Feeding the horses with Granddad.
Race with Uncle Andrew (this is a must do every trip!) READY, SET, GGGGGGGGGGOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!

Andrew and Mama Ruth

We were all excited that Andrew got to come home for a week but sad that he was going to have to be deployed for Thanksgiving and Christmas this year. We made the most of his visit and spent lots of quality family time together. We did Thanksgiving a few weeks early so we could all be together (minus Aaron...). His visit was very nice and he will be missed, as always. The girls didn't want him to go as you can see from this picture of him and Eva Grace as they were saying goodbyes. We are looking forward to April/May when Andrew will be back from deployment and visiting again!

Toil & Trouble... Pumpkin Carving 2009

My brothers have carved a pumpkin with my girls every year. It is a tradition! Unfortnatly, Aaron couldn't be here for this one but it was a rare treat that Andrew was able to be here!

Pumpkin pose #1. Emma and Eva Grace were all about cleaning that pumpkin out. Ella wanted nothing to do with getting her hands dirty!

Pumpkin pose #2. We like to torch our pumpkins! We always end up doing this every year for some reason.


After pumpkin carving we all enjoyed some carmel apples. YUM!