how cute..

are these plates.

I need them, want them, anyone want to buy them for me!

I will have them....

someday.

http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_noss?url=search-alias%3Dgarden&field-keywords=fred+food+face

My "blog friend" (ha,ha) Nienie has them! JeaLous...feel free to send them to me! :)

I remember...

Going to grandma & grandpa’s Smith’s aka “the farm”

which used to have animals but then only had wild cats

we would catch and give them names: Shadow (black cat)
Wizard (no tail) and Corny (yellow and found in the corn field).
playing outside on the tire swing hung from the trees, or the fort

built in the trees, and even the chicken coop made into our

playhouse back in the trees.
driving with grandpa in the combine through the fields.

Having donuts and cookies under the glass cookie tray,

rectangle hasbrowns fried in a pan with tons of butter,

rocky road ice cream, butterscotch candies in a dish and

nuts in a bowl that you had to crack with the red suited nutcracker.

Grandma sitting in her chair with a book and behind her the

bookshelf of already read, talking to us kids as we sat at the

table coloring, eating, or doing puzzles as her police scanner

beeped in the background.

Grandpa in his brown leather chair watching wheel of fortune

yelling the answers at the t.v “oh hell” or out in his beautiful

flower garden as we climbed in the apple tree.

Easter picture on the front step

Riding the old Polaris snowmobile in the fields and ditches with

a rope and saucer attached trying to trying to whip each other

off without rolling it.

Playing upstairs with the guitar, looking at the old Twin’s photograph

of Gary Gietti, in which my brother and sister told me that was

“actually our dad” that is why he was gone during the week…

he played for the twins (really he was working as a banker in

Litchfield while we lived in Benson and would stay at “the farm” a

couple nights a week instead of the long drive)

Playing in the basement on the chalkboard, the shelf of games, or

on the mini organ. Pinocchio painted on the wall by uncle Dan.

The fridge always full of fruity pop & adult beverages :)watching

old reels now put on DVD's for us to enjoy, watching our parents as kids,

us as kids, and grandma's travels.

The Christmas tree that took up ¼ of the living room and the piles

of gifts that took up the other ½! Christmas dinner so filling, nap time

on the living room shaggy brown carpet next to the heater reading

the Family Circus hard cover comic book.

I want more....please add to it!

Stacie Jones said...

- Laying on the living room floor paging through the big Norman Rockwell book.

- Getting in trouble for spinning in circles on those awesome-fun-black dining room chairs, the minute they weren't looking, we were spinning.
- The creaky blue floors in the bathroom.
- The candy inside the right hand door of the buffet, there were always Andes mints, still my favorite! We'd give them hugs and kisses and head for the buffet. I know they stocked it up just for us ;)

Four months....

Yes, he is wearing a pinguin hat from the Gap...hope G'ma can make him
a matching one, because I CAN'T spend $16.00 on it, even though
I LOVE it. And I think his expression says it all...he loves it too!

Ago, my Breck was born!
Can you believe he is already four months old…
What a BIG boy he is.

He LOVES to sit up, no more laying down
This means he doesn’t like his swing or bouncy seat anymore
But loves his exersaucer, bumbo, and high chair!

He LOVES to chit chat, to anyone or anything
he doesn’t like being left alone for a long period
but loves when people talk to him, sing to him, read to him, pay attention to him

He LOVES to giggle.
Squeezing his little thighs, blowing on his belly, or making funny noises!
He thinks it funny when you change clothes or diaper
His little eyes just light up!

He LOVES his cereal & bottle.
We go through formula like crazy since he drinks 6 oz every 2 hours..yes really!
Also means we go through diapers like crazy!
But so lucky he sleeps through the night 830p-700a without eating!

He LOVES tummy time.
He lifts his head up and swats his arms around trying to reach for things!
But drools everywhere and on everything!

He LOVES everyone.
We are so lucky he isn’t a fussy baby and is so easy going!
He loves hanging out with his grandma’s, grandpa’s, aunts, uncles, and especially his cousins!
But has made a few bad impression on them by having a “blowout” for them.
Maybe he just knows you’ll give him a bubble bath!

He is a JOY!
4 Month Appointment Tuesday…then we’ll find out just “how healthy” he is!

Back to work...

Wasn’t as bad as I thought it would be.
I think I may have cried more when I found out that I had to go back

a week earlier then I originally thought

(may have been having a pity party for myself)!

The day went fast and I posted pictures all over my office so I could

stare at his cute little chubby face when I needed to have a mommy moment!

I felt better knowing that grandma Nina was going to be taking care

of my little man and starting off at our house…
This means I get to go see him at lunch!

So I went home to visit at noon and all was well
He was on the schedule I told her he would be on…made me feel so proud

that I know my boy so well

I quickly made my lunch, shoved in my purse to eat at work, so I would

have more time to snuggle!

At first he was to busy looking at his toys to notice me, but then he saw me…
And gave me the biggest smile and giggle, then reached for my hair with one

hand, necklace with the other, and drooled over the front of me!

That’s my boy…he missed me!

Just remember...

To hug, snuggle, & kiss

your little angel everyday.

xoxo

Beautiful day to...

Fly away like Mary Poppin's...that's what I said to the kids,

and they said "but we don't have an umbrella"

Have a picnic!

And that's just what we did.

I LOVE breezy summer days, reminding me that fall is near..

T-shirts, jeans, sweatshirts,

picnics outside/supper on the porch,

bonfires without roasting "ourselves"

It makes me uneasy to think...

I have to start work in a few weeks,

sending Breck to daycare ~in very good hands~ I'm just that crazy mother

and only seeing my Ellery & Calvin after school :(

So we are enjoying the last few weeks!

Picnic lunch, Park & Playgrounds, Sleepy baby, Playtime & snuggles!

The kids play, and although I love being outside and bringing the kids to the park,

it gets a bit boring at times...I love when i see other mom's out...today, not so lucky!

So i monkey around with my camera and found this:

Calvin in the front

can you see Ellery in the back!

Now I best get busy ordering Breck's 3 month pictures!

I have empty frames laying around...and he is going to be 4 months in two days!

And

I am going to attempt to push mow the lawn to surprise Jerod!

I'm crossing my fingers it won't start! ha!

Funny farm Barrick style.

We had a wonderful..semi relaxing weekend,

worth writing about, mmm sure.

Pictures to do along with it, ummm no.

I am BAD. but i'll give you a visual!

Friday night we had friends over to our place so everyone could visit...

while the children were at play. 9 adults...one billion kids.

Not quite, but felt like it! 5 kids = 5yrs, 1.5yrs x 2, 4 months, 2 months!

It kind of felt like the movie "Funny farm" p.s I love that movie..oh Chevy!

We ordered pizza's

3 large, 2 family orders of sticks, chicken fries, & apple desert pizza...

only to return one large

1st we didn't end up needing it

2nd it wasn't cooked..uggg..i heart doughy pizza.

The boys spent some time outside throwing around a football

"for the kids to chase" but really for their own entertainment.

Only to come inside after 30 min of play

drenched in sweat because of the 100% humidity and 90 degree day!

Kids ran around in diapers to cool off...i bet the boys wish they could

have done the same thing ;)

An the ladies stayed inside oohing and awing over the babies!

It's nice to have friends that know when you are getting all

worked up over a crying teething fussy uneasy baby...so they

snatch them out of your arms and cuddle them! That also made

room in my arms for the newest addition to the "friends family"

and what a sweet little thing she is. Its also so neat to see all

our friends having families and the children growing up kids

around their same ages....

it will be nice for the mom's and dad's too

"go play" and then we can too :)

Oh how times have changed. Everyone was gone by 11ish. and we

were beat. We sat outside on the deck for a bearable hour

just chatting. Then my most loving romantic man said,

"well, that's enough talking, I have to go check my email"

Now that is love. Yes, In LOVE with his computer!
That's ok. Bed was calling my name.

Goodnight fun weekend.

Some of his favorites...

His home made taggie blanket
made by a good friend of mines mother!

She is so crafty! Quilts, aprons, blankets, toys...l
He LOVEs to suck on it helping his poor

little gums feel better & he sleeps with it because he LOVEs the silk!
Breck Loves his spider, best toy EVER.
given to him by MY godparents

when they first met him two months ago. WOW. Two months ago, he was

TWO months old. Time flies.
it's colorful, has many textures,

makes many sounds, and has eight legs to shove in his mouth!

Great for my little teether.

My favorites....my growing boy!

My funny boy.

He loves his bumbo because he can sit up and see EVERYTHING.

Hates laying down or being cradled not being able to look around.

P.s. he has that silly hat on bc he has itchy head

& he scratches it and makes it bleed :(

So I lubed it up & covered it! Please be all better soon.

This weekend consists of very little events...

makes me :) to be able to spend some time at home

with my little family!

We get to meet the Huntley's new addition

little miss Chloe..another potential candidate for Breck!

And a friends bridal shower..the soon to be MRS.

Then relaxation!

and of course, Jerod is in a golf tournament Sunday.

I asked why I wasn't invited

(I really didn't care, don't play golf, but wanted to see what he had to say)

and he said you must have a handicap.

I asked what that meant, then said, "You know what, I don't really care"

See ya! That means I get to go shop! woohoo!

So will Breck pick golfing with daddy, or shopping with mama

when he can finally choose ;)

The three amigos.

I've a summer with these three little people.

Although a BusY summer trying to keep everyone entertained

a fun summer with MANY laughes!

I'm seriously going to miss not seeing these munchkins everyday

all day when they all start school in a couple weeks..

and they are ALL very much ready for it too!

(thier mom may not be though!)

A Kindergardener who is most excited for the playground...

and asked me the other day how Breck got his name

"did you get it at Walmart?"

& 3rd Grader a.k.a little miss mom,

who is looking forward to taking babysitting classes...

in 2 years! ha!

And Breck has to start daycare too starting in September!

It's only part-time & he'll be in good hands, but I'm still sad.

(I may cry thinking about it, not the first, and not the last...

wow, I've turned into that mom ha)

I will be good for all FOUR of us! I love these kids!

And i will look forward to next summer, the next summer, and the next

to do it ALL again...till I'm not that cool aunt anymore! NEVER! :)

This is what happens...

when you go visit grandma & have a bad diaper a.k. BloW OuT!
Mom-of-the-year (me) forgot clothes
because I figured we would stop by for a quick visit.
Turned into bath time.
And instead of going home "naked baby" with diaper
grandma checked her "baby stash closet" and found
this
Little Pumpkin Outfit!
He was so snugly in it.
We got home and Jerod was there to greet me & my pumpkin...
Breck had a huge grin on his face & Jerod laughed...
then asked WHY! I explained the ordeal...and he laughed some more!

I love the end of

Summer

begining of

Fall

Perfect day to be at the park.

Wearing Sweatshirts & Jeans.

Grilling supper & eating on the deck.

Dressing my boy in his cutie bib's & shoes!

Just an FYI

especially working at a daycare center/infant room for many years:

These shoes: Robeez/Ministar are the BEST for keeping socks on your little one!

Plus they come in EVERY style/design you could think of!

From dressy, sporty, boots, sandals & sizes N~4 years!

Find them at target or www.robeez.com or amazon.com

I THINK both brands are good....and have one of each!

Lions & baseball ones for this winter (a tad bigger)

Nuks.

(see picture below)

Wish he would have taken his thumb.

He tried so hard...but his thumb was always tucked inside his hand.

Nuks.

I really don't like them.

and Breck doesn't really like them either.

Only every once in awhile...usually spits it out.

but sometimes necessary?

Hope he doesn't want it soon and we don't have to struggle.

The end.

Vaca from vaca.

This is my VERY tired baby after a long weekend

of traveling & playing at the cabin.

We had a wonderful trip up to Park Rapids.

The car ride (3 hours) up (3.5 hours home..Jerod left his phone

at the cabin & we had to turn around to get it! This is after he

asked me if I had MY phone right before we left..figures)

Breck traveled great..not as good as he used to, but still...

I give him all the credit because I hate traveling too. Jerod & I

started off in the front seat, me excited to chit chat and catch up

on things since we seem to be SO BUSY lately with life. But both

ways up we ended up jumping over the seat to sit with little man to

a. keep him company (he just loves attention like his momma)

b. throw his nuk back in

but I did realize that I may be slightly over my car sicknesses! Yah, me!

Arriving at the cabin at 9:30pm made for a little out of wack little man.

He is used to going to bed at 9 for the night and since he slept in the car...

he wanted to play! We played, he went to bed, only to wake up all night

made for an early "vacation" day :) That's pretty much how the whole

weekend went! He wasn't on his usual schedule, but he was still a
VERY very good boy. He LOVED all the new friends he met and loved

playing with the kids/or the kids playing with him! This also helped mom

and dad get some fun free time!

Free time: Well when it WASN"T storming out or windy as all getup (25% of the time)

We sat on the tubes in the lake, went on a pontoon ride (cut short by big black clouds

rolling in), sat on the beach, bean bags, grilling, and some water volleyball

(cut short by a mishap..someone lost their wedding band...lets just not talk about it)

We spent much time searching for that ring...even pulled out a metal detector

(who has one just laying around..oh yah right Pete ha!) Never found it,

but now there is buried treasure on the bottom of Eagle Lake and a story to tell.

When it was raining we sat inside playing games..new fav. Farkle or "Bamboozle"

or our old fav. What If... Good times, many laughs!

Lets not forget about the food, oh the food! We all chose to make a supper meal

and let me tell you, I ate better then ever. Thank God I was in a wedding the weekend

before...or my dress would have popped!

BTW i need some of those recipes!
We had pork chops/cheesy potatoes

Kabobs with fresh peppers, onions, tomatoes/sweet corn

Chicken fajitas/sweet corn

and the famous last meal...Egg bake!

Wonderful weekend, but missed MANY people this year!

Next year must be a MUST be there weekend.

Now, a vacation from vacation!

Up at the Lake

reminiscing on old picture from the cabin...don't even ask what happened

it was good ole' fun!

first off. I have a cold..poor me, right!

I hate summer colds

they are the worse, but on med's & slowly feeling like myself.

Now. Packing for our much needed annual summer vaca

up to Park Rapids cabin with friends!

this is the first year with a little one and let me tell you one thing...

1. i feel as though i am forgetting everything (just as long as i don't forget baby)

2. i feel as we are packed for a month vacation rather then three days

3. i need a nap already & may need a vaca from our vaca

4. our car has ALREADY outgrown us (and i want three more kids & refuse a mini van..hmm)

Its been a busy morning preparing while still having children running around

but also helpful in many ways.

Miss Elle & Mr Cal have helped me with Breck...feeding, burping, playing

while i have been baking/cooking for special treats for up at the cabin...

but I may have overdone it..to myself..

things were flying everywhere, timers beeping, food burning uggggghhhhha!

but the end results:

fresh baked banana chocolate chip muffins for the morning

(they contain banana so they must be good for you!)

Chicken salad sandwiches...a reoccurring recipe

&

Puff corn/Carmel corn

(first timer on this, may have burned it a bit, but still yum)

So.

Now waiting for my main man to get home

pack the car & off we go!

Happy weekend all.

I will be lounging in the lake!

w/ a cold one in hand!

Sure going to miss the BIG group this year...maybe next year.

!

For sale..

LemonadE, BraceletS, and Fresh baked Cookies

..out of a package of course ;)

What else do you do on a 90+ degree day but have a stand!

Keeping them busy for over 3 hours!

The kids made signs & bracelets

while I

baked cookies & made lemonade

They wanted to post signs down the streets so more people would come..

I didn't care...they were busy & happy!

Calvin got jealous of the girls making bracelets to sell so he asked if he could

sell some of his old cars he "didn't like" anymore! I told him not this time.

Then I overheard Mitch say "Calvin this is a lemonade stand, not a Walmart" hee hee!

They were surprised to have grandma, grandpa, and their mom & dad show up

(I called them all telling them to bring some $$...expensive little folks!)

I sat inside (air conditioned) & brought them out a picnic lunch & kept refilling

their lemonade (because they drank it all & ate the cookies too) while they

patiently waited for costumers! We have such a wonderful neighborhood

everyone came out for a quick refreshment & treat!

I could tell they were winding down when they started taking turns coming

inside to play a game of Wii to cool off! Perfect time for a NAP/REST!

They made out with $14.25 wow...maybe that should be MY full time job :)

Sooo the next day what did we do with their $ made:

Well since I needed to walk uptown to run some errands

we made a pit stop at Park View for malts & basket of fries!

ps it was at 9:30 a.m. shhhhhhhhhhhhhhh.

Yup sitter of the year!

I told them not to tell their parents/they thought that was even more fun!

Soo BIG...

My Mr. Breck is getting SO big..this month is his 4 month appointment.

He LOVEs to sit in his mega saucer & play with his toys.

He can reach for toys, grab them, & shove them in his gooberie little mouth

He can giggle out loud

when playing peek-a-boo, sooo big, & when squeezing his chubby thighs.

He LOVES to talk

last night he had a conversation for five min with us

with ohhhhh's and ahhhhhhhh's & big eyes

Such a personality! We just love him!

The Wedding.

What a wonderful wedding...brought back all the feelings of OUR wedding

& I would love to do it all over again

well maybe not,

so much planning, time, $

but

maybe the dress, friends, family, dance, food!

The Woods/Worden wedding was P.E.r.F.E.c.T!

The gloomy hot humid rainy morning turned into a

SUNNY WARM BUT BREEZY DAY.

The planned pontoon ride "bar hopping/stealing of the groom/bride" originally canceled

turned into a

NICE FLOAT AROUND THE LAKE WITH BEVERAGES IN HAND.

Docking us at Peters for a night of

eating,

dancing,

dancing,

dancing!

Along with special songs sung to the bride & groom for thier first dance

WoNdErFuL.

& a special song sung to the groom by the Father Of The Bride

during the father daughter dance..."Take Good Care of My Baby"

Loved it! What a great day!

Cheers to the happy couple!

Short & Sweet.

It's almost "THe biG dAY"

My Shashy is getting married in less then 3 days, about 55 hours,

3300 minutes, 198000 seconds!

I'm so LUckY to be part of her special day...

where she will marry her best friend.

I'm so lucky to have married mine too. xoxox

CheErs! To

a

wonderful DAy fiLLEd with

NicE weAther,

GooD friEnds & Family,

DanCing,

LauGhter,

MemOries!

ps if i don't get the chance to tell you...

you look beautiful & i love you!

My Husband is soo funny...

Or so I thought!

Found out our "friend" Ryan Photo shopped this photo

&

then Jerod hacked into my facebook account & posted it as my profile picture!

I'm still not sure how long it's been on there before I noticed....

kinda funny,

kinda not.

Ryan was just paying back the favor because last week Jerod tagged Ryan

in one of Breck's ultra sound pictures....

hmmm

how did I get involved in this!

Who wants to follow the rules...

Not I.

Having a baby isn't the trouble or hard part.

It's

Taking everyones idea, opinions, doctors advise (that's just it, it's advise)

So WE do it OUR way :)

And

So far....so good.

Breck started on cereal

LAST NIGHT.

He has been drinking NON-stop...up to 10 oz at a time... wowza!

so we decided its time

to give him some cereal..not to help him sleep at night

since he's got that down, but just to fill him up! Poor kid is hungry...like his momma!

So here is his first time eating cereal

and he did SO well.

So FULL...definitely a team effort...to keep those hands out of his mouth!

Lets Go Fly A Kite!

This past weekend we had visitors from "Up Nort"

our beautiful cousin's & their children!

Busy fun weekend...

play, eat, play, sleep, play, eat, pool, sun, play, eat, play, movie, sleep, play, eat, pontoon ride, kite flying, eat, play, packed in the car and hopefully SLEEP!

And us adults got some time to sit down & chit chat a bit too :)

Love when they come to visit us

and

we will be back up there visiting them soon.

We are lucky to have such good family friendships!

Many funnies from the weekend I MUST share

these all came from the kids ages 1 to 8 years old...

Jerod's brother stopped by and must have came in the basement door,

saw ALL the kids on the floor watching a movie in sleeping bags and ran away!

The kids came upstairs and said

"someone just came in the house and ran out..we're FREAKED. AND he was a black guy"

ha! Jerod's brother has nice dark skin...tanning easily in the summer! ha!

Our friend Jeff hung out with us this weekend while his prego wife (finding out the sex of the baby TODAY...so excited for them) was a bachelorette party (that I couldn't attend...but thought of all you girls and hope you had a blast) He told Jerod he had no "supervision" this weekend and Ron (cheap Captain Morgan) was coming out! ha! Anyways back to the story...

Jerod and Jeff had gone golfing ALL day, 2 rounds of 18 + beverages

So when they came home, they were full & continued to throughout the evening!

Jeff was talking to one of the kids, just asking about what sports he likes and so on...

he comes into the kitchen and says

"mom, you know that guy with glasses? I think he has had way to many beers!"

Ha! It was so true, but still so funny!

Other funnies included telling me that
"Breck's hair makes him look like a monster"

And while on the pontoon ride "wow, there's a lot of water"

What an entertaining weekend...this is why i love kids!

We ended the weekend out on the lake

Grandpa Tom brought the kids out for a quick pontoon ride around the lake...

nice for a hot humid muggy Sunday morning!

We laughed as he made the children (& Stacie) MaRcH down to the dock

as though they were in a parade!

The KITE was our flag!

When we got onto the lake grandpa decided he wanted to fly a kite,

yes, off the pontoon as we strolled around the lake!

I bet nobody has seen this before...either have we!

ONE problem, changing direction caused the kite to flop in the water...

and when it was finally reeled in...

THERE WAS NO KITE AT THE END OF THE LINE!

we were laughing so hard

as grandpa made the kids march back up to their house

with their head dropped in memory of the KITE!

ohhhhhhh the fun he has with those kids!

Best part...this is what he used to do with us...and we fell for it too!

What a great dad/grandpa!

Up at the house grandma had grilled for us

yes eating again!

tummies full, hugs & kisses goodbye, packed in the car, waving g' bye

till next time!