Happy Birthday Little Brother

So today my "not so little" brother is turning 26. For the longest time I have thought he is "so much younger than me". Then I was reminded that at 26 I had already been married for 3 1/2 years and had Maddie. So my brother, James...or Jame as I call him, is no longer my kid brother but a grown man. And I can't tell you how happy I am to have him back in the US and safe this birthday. (he was in Iraq last year)

So to mark this special day here are my

"10 Reasons to Celebrate My Brother":


1. He is so gosh darn cute and hopefully someday soon (wink wink) will find him a great woman!


2. He can make me laugh harder than anyone...even when we are separated by many many miles.


3. Maddie thinks her Uncle Jame hung the moon and talks about him ALL the time!


4. He is the only other person out there who can relate to being a Barrett sibling...oh the stories we could tell and usually we do!


5. He is my Hero and I am so proud of him for serving our country.


6. He is just about the only person who can make fun of me and get away with it.


7. It is always good to hear his voice and see his face...I remember the first time we got to see him on the web cam in Iraq...it had been 7 months since we had seen him and just being able to see him gave me peace.


8. He is still a kid at heart (and mind and actions....Ha Ha!)


9. My sweet Wyatt will be able to learn so much from him. I see Jame in Wyatt every day!


10. Because without him my life would be less than what it is....he is my friend, a source of joy and someone I love very much!


Happy Birthday Jame...can't wait to see you!!





Jame and I...I think in 2000.


Jame and "little" Maddie



Jame and Sweet Wyatt



Me and my Bro

My almost 3 year old.

My sweet Maddie will turn 3 at the end of October...I could swear though that she has had the attitude of a 3 year old since she was born. (I should know...I work with this age all day long)
In the middle of October we are going to the State Fair with my parents....Maddie has been asking every morning if she can go to the fair and we keep telling her "Not today" and we have shown her on her calendar when we are going. (A Princess calendar of course!) Yesterday she got SO mad at Nick because he wouldn't let her watch Little Einsteins...because this is FOOTBALL season and he was not going to share his t.v. time. Maddie shook her little finger at him and said, "Dad, I am going to call Santa and tell him you can't go to the Fair!"
Now can you guess what we use as bribery around our house....right now it sure is Santa and The State Fair....I'm surprised she didn't throw her birthday into the mix as well.

Just wanted to give you a glimpse into our lives as parents of sweet Maddie. She definitely keeps us on our toes.

11 Months Old

Today Wyatt is 11 months old. It is so hard to believe. He has grow so much this past month. He now weighs 23lbs. 14 oz. and is 29 inches long. He has slowed down on his weight gain (due to crawling) but has not slowed down on how long he is. (He was 26 inches just 2 months ago)
He now has two pearly whites, pulling up on everything, clapping, waving bye bye (some of these things he was already doing...he has just perfected it now!) He is an absolute joy to be around and a blessing to our family.

Eating his green beans

Look at my happy smile...and you might see my two teeth!

Almost asleep!

Great Afternoon for SWIMMING!

My friend Kathy invited us over Saturday evening to swim at her parents home. The bought this amazing slide/pool for their sweet grandson, Noah, and were so kind to invite us over for some fun swimming time and even cooked us a wonderful dinner. Noah and Maddie are becoming quite the little duo and Wyatt got to get in on some action too. Thanks Noah and Kathy...we had so much fun!!!

Here she comes....

Splash!

Talking it over!

Noah and Wyatt

Sesame Street LIVE!!!

We took Maddie to see Sesame Street Live today. She had a blast and was mezmerized the entire time. We have been talking about this for weeks now...she was so excited she woke up at 4:30am this morning and we had to put her back to bed kicking and screaming. Enjoy!






Lovin on Elmo



Big Bird and Grover



The Whole Gang





Giving her best bud Luke a hug




Cheesin it up with her new Zoey doll

Dancing Queen

We bought Maddie this little singing troll at Lowe's about a month or so ago. She has made up a little dance to go along with the music. Enjoy! Oh and at the beginning she says, "Hit it dad!"