Christmas, Jake Turns SEVEN!

Well, its only a month after Christmas so I'm doing pretty good. Christmas was a little different this year because I had to work Christmas Eve. Jake and Drew drove out to Bama ahead of me the Monday before Christmas and I flew out to meet them in Birmingham on Christmas morning. I was afraid I might not get to go since it snowed all day on Christmas Eve while I worked and many flights had been cancelled that night..... but thankfully it cleared up enough by morning that it didn't effect my flight. We did the Lloyd family Christmas at his Grand Dad's house that day and our family Christmas that night. Jake was SO SWEET because he had decided that he didn't want to see what Santa had brought or open any presents until his Mommy got there. So he had Andrew get up that morning and put away all his "Santa stuff" so he wouldn't see it until that night when I could be there. :) :) :) As you can see, Timber had a great time opening presents..................So Andrew put everything back, just as Santa had it ;) And this was Jake's face when he came down stairs....... The Heisman pose................Santa knows how much he loves to wrestle and how important it is to protect your brain:) So he got Jake headgear. He was so creative and spelled out Jake's name with chocolate candy. And got him a UFC champion belt for when he beats his Daddy in wrestling.

Sarah got to come home from Japan! We were so glad she was there too.

Andrew's friend Mark came by to visit. They've known each other since they were little kids.Jake challenged Mark to a wrestling match. And I'm not real sure why he's not wearing his new head gear. ?? Looks like he probably needed it right about now.

By the way, we didn't do Christmas cards this year (or a tree or any decorations- because they're all in the very back of our storage unit) .... so thats why you didn't get one from us:)

We celebrated Jake's birthday while we were in Bama. Jake chose to invite his friend Will and his brother Joshua over for his party and then they went to Pump It Up.

The boys had a lot of fun together and they invited Jake to spend the night so he was really excited about that. I still can't believe he's SEVEN, that makes me feel really old!The weekend of New Years Mom, Dad and Clayton came up from Austin for our family Christmas. We played with Jake's games and had a lot of fun-

I never though to get out my camera and take pictures. But here are some from Thanksgiving when we went to Main Event. Thats right- Jake got second in bowling and I beat Clayton!

Look Out 1st Grade........

Here comes Jacob, or should I say JB.... thats what he recently told us we COULD call him. "You call me Jake and Jay a lot, Mom. So it's either Jacob or..... JB. You can call me JB for now on."

So he started FIRST GRADE this past week (which I can't believe) and the first day came with some pleasant surprises. We searched through the class lists to find that, not only is Emma in his class (his best friend:), but his teacher is Miss Cole again!!! She was his teacher last year and she moved up to teach 1st grade this year. His class is also very small - only about 11 or 12 kids, which we are very excited about. Reading and math will be individualized for each child, so if he continues to do so well with his reading, he'll be able to keep moving up levels. He got a "smiley face" every day this week and came home in a great mood, so we are hoping for a great, successful year :)

VACATION!

Jake & Bubba after watching "Up" in3-D
Jake is pretending to be a grandpa :)

I had 20 days off of work for vacation.... SO nice! And SOO hard to go back;) We were gone almost that whole time. First we spent a week in Austin with Mom and Dad. While we were there, we all went down to San Antonio for a few days. We went to the Childrens Museum, the Alamo and the Riverwalk one day and then to Sea World for two days. It was a lot of fun....... Jake rode almost all of the rides (except two of the fast roller coasters) and loved them! His favorite was the Atlantis, which is a big boat that goes up really high and drops down a HUGE hill and splashes in the water. He really enjoyed the water park there too. His favorites things there were the body slides and the wave pool. He also liked being able to 'stay the night' with Nonni and PawPaw in their hotel room. He had us all laughing pretty hard one day at the hotel when he came to our room with mom and dad, knocked on the door and said in a high pitched voice, "Room service... Hot coffee and massage." Dad said, "What kind of hotels have yall been staying in?" But we got Andrew a massage gift certificate for Fathers Day, so I'm pretty sure that is where that came from. :)On the RiverwalkThe boys at the AlamoNonni showing us how she answers the phones at work:)Jake milking a 'cow' at the Childrens Museum

We had one day at home to unpack, do laundry and repack before driving to Alabama for a week. We got to spend some time with cute little babies....... at the hospital with our friends Josh and Jennie after they had their fourth daughter. We also stayed the night with Alan and Sandahlyn and their adorable new son, Ridge who was four weeks old. He was such a sweet baby and so cute!! I think he just might have helped to kick Andrew's 'baby fever' into motion:) We had a really great visit with all our family and friends. Jake spent a lot of time at Uncle David and Aunt Carol's house in the pool and has become a really great swimmer. He even started doing front and back flips off the diving board (good thing I wasn't there to witness that:) When it was time to come home, Pop and Bobbi told Jake he could stay at there house by himself for another week or so and they would bring him home. He "thought about it for a while" and decided he would. So he had his own little vacation for a week (and so did Mommy and Daddy:)

CHICK TRIP: bath houses, diamonds and pink poodles

I went with Carissa B. and her friend, Shannon on a much-needed chick-trip a few weeks ago to Hot Springs, Arkansas. What a fantabulous (thats my new word- because fantastic and fabulous just aren't good enough;) adventure we had!! It was a five hour road-trip and we made a detour before we got there, through a small town to dig for diamonds. That's right! We came equipped with our own tools and got our hands dirty, looking for real diamonds. Unfortunately, we walked away with just some nifty looking jasper and quartz stones, but I had the best time spending my imaginary fortune in my head while I was digging for it :) Carissa was REALLY pumped as we got ready to dig.....We were excited to arrive at the historical Arlington Hotel on the main strip in Hot Springs. It has one of the few running bath houses left there in the city and part of our package for staying in the hotel was to have a mineral bath and massage. The whole bath house experience was quite unique and one that must be told in proper Misty form- in person, for the full-effect:) But it was overall relaxing and we can now mark it off of our to-do list. (Next is sky-diving, by the way.) We went on a dinner cruise one night and saw some really pretty views. We spent the rest of the trip eating at great little restaurants, going to tons of shops, laying by the pool and hanging out. Carissa and I always have so much fun together. And I am so glad to have met her friend Shannon. She is such a sweet person, who loves God and is fun to be around. Here is a pic of our hotel........ This is the ceiling in one of the bath houses........And I can't forget Katie Belle, the pink poodle! We saw her at Snazzie's (one of the shops we went into a couple of times). She has been dyed pink (with some kind of cake frosting) since she was a puppy. She was so cute........ And don't feel bad for the boys......... Drew and Jake spent that weekend with our friends Dustin and Jill at their lake house. I don't have any pictures, but Andrew said they had a blast. Jake loved jumping off the diving board into the lake and swimming around with their dog Macy Lou ("the Lou dog"). We are looking forward to going out there for a weekend with them sometime soon!

--We just home from a two week, multi-state vacation, but I'm too tired to post anymore. So, to be continued......

Catching Up

I've been wanting to post for weeks but haven't had a chance to sit at the computer and do it. So let me catch yall up on whats been going on at the Barrett house. I celebrated my 6th Mothers Day this year and the guys made it very special for me. After church they took me to lunch and Jake was very sweet. He told me I am the "best mommy in the whole wide world." When we got home, they gave me a card and gifts that Jake had picked out himself. The card shows Jake's personality all the way.... I laughed so hard, tears came to my eyes. The best part was it was a birthday card, and he knew it! He said, "Do you think its funny, Mommy? I know its a birthday card, but I had to get it for you because it was too cute and funny." I had to sleep for a while after that so I could go to work that night. When I woke up, Jake surprised me with the most beautiful purple tulips........ Aren't they just the sweetest? Timber had to get in for a picture. He can't stand to be left out and, as you can see, his fur is already growing back in from his haircut a few weeks ago.

The next day there was a Mothers Day tea party at Jake's school. The moms were "queen" for the day so Jake made me a crown. He also wrote a poem called "I Love My Mommy Because" and read it to me in front of his class. It was really sweet!

Jake is enjoying the end of this kindergarten semester, but counting down the days 'til summer! He has grown and learned so much this year. He is reading on a second grade level now and his brain never stops working! He loves playing Wii games and his favorite toys right now are a tiger and his action heroes. We missed the sign-up for soccer, but he has been playing football and baseball with daddy a lot lately. His famous long, shaggy hair is no longer. He decided it was time for something new, so last weekend he got a faux-hawk. He looks "awesome" :) I added a few new quotes, so be sure to check out his latest comments.

Easter.....just a 'lil bit late :)

We had a great Easter weekend in Austin with Nonni, Paw Paw and Sugar. We went to a Round Rock Express Baseball game one night. Jake had a blast watching the game and it didn't take him long to find their kid-friendly zone with a rock-climbling wall, bouncy house, playground and other cool things to do. He climbed the rock wall, which was his first time, and he did a great job! After the game there was a fireworks show to top it all off. Nonni made a great lunch for us on Saturday :) And Jake had an Easter egg hunt after church on Sunday. We tried to make it tough for him this year so it took a little while for him to find the last few. We had a nice, relaxing weekend and, as usual, Jake tried to bring Sugar home with us when we left :)

Spring Break

HAPPY BIRTHDAY GRANDMA NANCY, SWEET AND FANCY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!Last week my Grandma celebrated her 60th birthday and our family came together to throw her a surprise party. It was a great time celebrating with her. Here are a few things you need to know about my grandma: she is an amazing cook. She used to own and run a cafe and kept everyone fed in our little town. If you come over to her house, she will cook up anything you want (her pancakes and 'Angel' biscuits are the best.... the list could go on and on). She gives great back- scratches:) She loves purses and usually has one big enough to carry EVERYTHING she could possibly need. She'll listen anytime you need to talk. She told me and Clayton we could have any pet we wanted at her house (but mom and dad vetoed that anyway). She's really good at Rummy and she WILL get mad if you try to cheat (I only know this because of Clayton:) She loves her kids and grandkids and she loves the Lord with all her heart. I love you, Gma!


Last week we also went to a wedding for a friend of mine. Nicole and I have known each other since we were wee-little. Our parents and grandparents knew each other when they were young too, so we've always been like family. Her wedding was beautiful and we had a great time at the reception. Heres a pic of me and the beautiful bride................ Congratulations Nicole and Michael!!!

Me and my cousin Angela at the wedding...........
Jake and his cousin Kaden kept each other entertained at the reception.......This past week was Jake's first Spring Break and he got to travel to Alabama to stay with his Pop and Bobbi by himself!! (We met them half-way and then they brought him back at the end of the week.) He had a great time! They went with some friends to the zoo, had a picnic outside and he got to play in his daddy's old treehouse in the backyard. Pop and Bobbi said he was great all week. When they drove him back, they got to stay with us for a few days so we could all hang out. We tried to take them to Reunion Tower but found out it is still under construction, so went to an area in Downtown Dallas to walk around and had dinner outside on a patio. Heres Jake riding an alligator............He has many Transformer toys that are extremely difficult to actually 'transform', but the other day he finally sat down and did this one all by himself in no time. He was SO proud :)Jake and Timber with their matching band-aids..........Timber also had an exciting week...... he got his first haircut. He always sheds so bad this time of year, so we decided to shave him. Instead of paying a groomer $50-$75 for one time, we decided to buy a whole razor kit and learn to do it ourselves so we can do it again. Hehehehehehe...... wish we had this experience on video. Poor Timber looked like a mangy mutt there for a few days. But we worked out the kinks and figured out how to use the different blades and guards and learned that something with THAT MUCH FUR is gonna take a while!!! And, of course we had to give Timber a cut that went with his personality. So we gave him a mohawk...........