Life With The Barnhills - lifewiththebarnhills

there's a new page in town

For journal entries with a few pictures here and there, go to http://lifewiththebarnhills.blogspot.com/.

For all the rest of life with the barnhills, stay here.

Simple as that.

momentous occasions...

There have been quite a few exciting things happen around here as of late.

First up, Hurricane Irene. This was exciting, but not in a good way. This may be the worst hurricane I've ever been through, not that I've been through a whole lot of them, but I have been through at least 4 or 5. Anyway. This may have been the scariest. Mostly because our house started to fall apart. Okay. That's a little dramatic. We did lose quite a bit of vinyl siding, and we experienced leaking through the windows and the ceiling. But it can be fixed. We're just having to be patient, as we're waiting on an insurance adjuster to call us any moment now. And if you've never smelled 2- and 3- and 4-day-old wet carpet...whew. I hope you never have to.

In much, much, much more exciting (in a good way) news, Julia started Kindergarten today!! We're so proud of her, and she was beyond excited to be there! The first thing she said when she came in the door was "Kindergarten rocks!" Her teacher even told Ti today while he was picking Julia up that she would have to bring some of her first grade books to class for Julia to read! I am so, so, so proud of her!! And I'm so thankful that she loves school. I hope that trend continues...

Now for some very exciting future news: we'll be leaving for Disney soon! I cannot wait!!

summer wrap-up

Obviously my journaling has taken a backseat since our vacation to the beach a few weeks ago. So now I'm just going to wrap up the summer with one last post.

I've never actually talked about our beach vacation here on the blog, and I really should have sooner than now, because it was such a fun week. I can't remember day to day details right now, so I'll just list all of the highlights:

~Yummy DQ Blizzards (We don't have a DQ in Greenville anymore, so if we're around one, we jump on the opportunity.)

~Tons of time with Uncle Matt, Aunt Beth and Layla (We also don't have them in the Greenville area anymore, so we love to take all the time with them that we can when they're here.)

~Sandcastles and waves (We were out at the beach EVERY DAY soaking in all the beautiful scenery.)

~The aquarium (We LOVE that place! Especially this trip, because we were there for Pirate Night.)

~DQ Blizzards (Have I mentioned these yet?)

~Fudge from The Fudge Factory (Wow. I love food.)

~Tons of time together as a family. (I just love being with my family. At the beach. It really doesn't get much better than this!)

So now we're prepping for Kindergarten, which will start in a little over a week. It's really hard to believe that Julia is old enough to be starting Kindergarten, and even harder, for some reason, to believe that she has a loose tooth! Both Julia and Lily are growing up so fast. Time is flying right before my eyes! It just makes me want to soak in every second.

summer: day 59

Praise the Lord! Lily is on the mend! We've been fever- and throw up-free for 24+ hours now!! As I type this, Ti is in the pool with the girls. I quickly found out this summer that swimming in our backyard pool is their favorite thing to do. And they have improved SO much since last year. (Julia just did a canonball.)

summer: days 55 through 58

I had way more things planned for this week, but alas, those plans have been put on the back burner. Lily has been sick with some sort of virus (I can only assume it's a virus) since Tuesday morning. She tossed her cookies twice on Tuesday morning and then once again this morning, and has run a fever off and on all throughout. We took her to the doctor earlier today and they did a quick strep test on her, but it came back negative. So...we guess it's just a virus? Please pray for her if you think about it.

summer: day 54

Today: church, lunch, nap, church, supper, bed. Yep. That sums it up. See you tomorrow! :)

summer: day 53

Oh boy, was this a yummy productive day! I left this morning around 8:15 to meet my mom and dad at a blueberry patch (farm? I'm not sure what you call a bunch of blueberry bushes.) here in town. Why so early? To beat the 100+ degree temps, of course. (Crazy heat.) The three of us ended up picking 10 pounds of blueberries! Then we drove no more than 1/4 of a mile over to another produce farm where I bought 2 dozen ears of corn, a few potatoes, a few squash, two onions, and a big red bell pepper. All for 13.50! My parents bought some squash, potatoes, onions, and peaches.

When we got home, we got right to work prepping the corn. The girls helped to shuck and clean the corn, then we cooked and blanched it so I could freeze it. I ended up getting 6 bags worth. Not bad. I could've had 7 bags, but Lily ate enough to fill one bag. Not really. She did eat a big helping of it, though, and wanted more, but I had to cut it off somewhere.

During the corn cooking process, we sorted through the massive amount of blueberries to remove the stems, throw out the bad ones, etc. The girls helped some doing this too, but they got bored quickly and went inside. After all was said and done, we ended up getting 13 or 14 pints of blueberries.

Now to the yummy part. (I know I'm getting older because I'm getting excited about eating veggies.) We drove over to my parents' house and had--get this--grilled pork tenderloin, grilled onion and red pepper, potatoes, sauteed squash, corn, garlic toast and blueberry cobbler and vanilla ice cream!!! Everything but the pork, the bread and the ice cream came from the farm today!! Lily had three small potatoes and two helpings of corn, and Julia ate the meat and had two small potatoes. I absolutely LOVE to see my girls eating vegetables.

Now. Something I'm equally as excited about--we get to eat tonight's leftovers tomorrow for lunch!! (I'm really sounding old now.)

summer: day 52

Ti took the girls out for a swim today, while I balanced the checkbook and washed 3 huge mounds of laundry. (Only 2 more to go!) Not much in the way of excitement and adventure, I'll admit, but, hey, what else can you do in 100+ degree heat?

summer: days 44 through 51!

We're back! We've been out-of-town on a little trip, but I'll get to that later.

Last Wednesday (day 43), I felt funny all day (and even ran a low-grade fever that night!), but still managed to take the girls out swimming for an hour. (I think I have mentioned this already, but still, I need to set a little background story.) I already wrote about how I got a nasty sunburn. On Friday, that sunburn turned into the WORST ITCHY SUNBURN EVER. I've had a few of these sunburns in my life, and I think I have definitely, definitely learned my lesson this time. After taking two Benadryl pills, I slept most of the day. :( (Thank the Lord for my wonderful husband taking care of me and the girls!) So that was Friday.

Now on to Saturday and our trip.

We've been in Charlotte for the past several days because of our annual FWB National Convention, and Julia and Lily couldn't have been more excited. To stay in a hotel, that is. I really think that Lily still thinks Charlotte is a hotel. I'll make a long story short and say that in the 4 days we were there, we saw some old friends, visited Ikea, walked around the Concord Mills mall and got some delicious ice cream, stayed up too late every night and...spent lots of time with Aunt Beth and Layla!! (Be sure to click over and see all the adorable pictures of my sweet adorable niece!!)

And now after a not-so-long drive, we are back. And I am thankful.

summer: days 41, 42, 43

The past few days we've been doing a little bit of driving. Back and forth to Kinston, that is. Mimi offered for Julia to spend the night with her so Julia could attend a couple of nights at Bethel Church's VBS, and of course Julia hopped right on it. So we took her to Mimi and Papa's house on Monday, then Ti and Lily went back to get her last night. It's all been so worth it for Julia. She LOVES going to VBS. It really doesn't matter which church it's at. She just loves it. (Lily was too young to attend this year if you're wondering why I didn't let her go.)

And today I actually took the girls out to the pool for a swim. Most of the time I stay indoors with them because of the heat, but we had already gotten bored inside today by 10:30, so I asked them if they wanted to go swimming. Their response? YEAH!!!! (As they're running to their rooms to start putting on their swimsuits.) Julia spends just about as much time under the water as she does above water. She LOVES to swim now. Something I didn't know she could do now: cannon balls off the ladder. That money we spent on swimming lessons for her was seriously well worth it. Lily's even getting better too. Something I never forget to do in the rush of getting out to the pool: coat the girls down in sunscreen. Something I almost always forget to do in the rush of getting out to the pool: coat myself down in sunscreen. So I've got a sunburn on my shoulders and back. Ouch.

Also, I've mentioned before, Lily's started playing my iPad now, so in order to avoid fights between the girls, we have officially started an iPad playing schedule. It worked out pretty well today, so we'll see how long the sharing and patience lasts. Oh brother.

summer: days 38, 39, 40

Our weekend has been quite subdued, if you can believe it. And hardly ever do I use that word to describe anything involving my kids. Because they are wide open from sun-up to sun-down.

They are both finally over this cough virus thing, thank goodness, which means I am probably going to start "Operation Take-the-Pacifier-Away" with Lily this week. Don't hold me to it, though. I'm hesitant to take it away because she is IN LOVE with that bop. ("Bop" is Lily's unique word for pacifier.) But I know that I need to because she is only 3 months away from turning 3 years old! First we'll try and tackle the bop issue, then we'll work our way on to a big-girl bed.

Now. On to this weekend's low-key events...

On Friday, Ti and the girls got in a quick swim before lunch, then later in the afternoon, the girls and I rode over to La Grange to visit Uncle Brian, Aunt Jenny and Brennan. We don't live far from them, but we don't get to see them as often as we'd like. Julia, Lily and Brennan ran around the backyard after supper, and I got to snap a few shots of them together. (I am EXTREMELY looking forward to our upcoming beach vacation where maybe all the little cousins will finally be in one picture!)

On Saturday we slept in (!) and later grabbed lunch out. We had a great time eating dinner and playing Wii with a bunch of friends later on in the day.

And today, we went to church of course, then came back to a crock-pot chicken and rice lunch, with corn and rolls. As a side note, the girls are making small progress in the area of eating their fruits and veggies. Lily has tried and eaten corn twice now and has actually told me she likes it. And on Friday she ate a half of a baked potato. I know this sounds like not a big deal, but you have to remember, these are the only vegetables she has eaten in a LONG time. (Besides the veggie chicken nuggets I sneak in on her.) Julia tried a fresh peach today and seemed to enjoy it. That's huge progress for her too. I'll keep working on both of them; maybe they'll come around and start enjoying fruits and veggies soon.

Wow. I just read back over that last paragraph and realized how very boring it sounds. The only person interested in any of that information has to be me. But hey, I'm a mom. It comes with the territory. And this is our summer.

summer: night 36! and day 37

Not much to talk about here, except that for some unearthly reason, around 2:45 am, our fire alarm decided to go off for about 5 seconds. I still have no idea why it would go off when there was clearly no smoke in our house. Ti said that maybe it was because the battery was low (I thought they only chirped at you when the battery was low?!?), so he promptly changed the batteries in ALL of the smoke detectors today. Here's hoping for a quiet night's sleep tonight! :)

PS-Just got caught up on some laundry today, while the girls made a tent in the living room...

summer: days 35 and 36

On Tuesday this week we made another trip to the library to return and check out more books. Julia has always loved books, but it thrills my heart to see how much she still loves them and how eager she is to learn to read. We checked out 10 books this go-around, and before the day was over, she and Mimi had read them all!

After supper, Ti and the girls took another dip in the pool while I fished the bugs out of the pool and watered the garden and flowers. Most of the time Ti swims with the girls and I stay dry so when it's time to get out of the pool, I'm ready to sit Lily in the bathtub. I sound like a party pooper, I know. Everyone still has fun though, so it's a win-win.

On Wednesday, we stayed around the house again, but this day I decided to bring the Play-doh down from the playroom to the kitchen table. Let me just say that I have a love/hate relationship with Play-doh. I admit that I love to play with Play-doh, especially with a new can of the stuff. But I'm one of those people who doesn't like to mix the colors, and my girls obviously could care less if it's mixed or not. So of course I let them mix it. And things tend to get pretty messy. But, things can always be cleaned up, and what's important is that everybody had fun (we did!).

summer: day 34

Happy 4th of July! Today was an exciting day, because we were able to get together with our friends and eat supper and watch the downtown fireworks! I even squeezed in a little craft with the girls in the morning. It was a little "painting fireworks" project that turned out quite nicely. The girls were pretty proud of their art when it was all said and done. (I'm pretty sure that painting is one of my girls' favorite things to do.)

The rest of the day was spent doing things around the house, until it was time for dinner and fireworks! The fireworks show was a tad disappointing this year because of the rain, but we still thoroughly enjoyed ourselves.

summer: day 33

On Sundays, we usually don't get out and do much in the way of summer activities, but today was a little different. We didn't have an evening church service as we normally do. So we got together with Mimi and Papa and grilled out and swam in the pool. Classic summer activities if you ask me.

summer: day 32

Today we visited one of my absolute all-time favorite places in the world: the Crystal Coast. More specifically, the Atlantic Beach/Emerald Isle area. We got off to a later start, I guess, because packing up to go to the beach for the day takes a lot of planning ahead. We got into Morehead City around lunchtime, so we stopped at Chick-fil-A for lunch.

By the way, have you ever noticed how unbelievably busy every Chick-fil-A always is? That had nothing to do with anything.

We had told the girls that we would visit the aquarium first, then later on we would get out on the beach (when it was a little cooler). But Lily was intent on getting out on the beach first, so on the way she repeated the same phrase over and over. "I don't want to go to the aquarium, Mama. I don't want to go to the aquarium."

We did go to the aquarium after lunch and Lily did enjoy herself. Both girls had a fabulous time petting the stingrays! I wish I would've had my video camera on me. The stingrays actually acted like they were enjoying being petted! I've taken the girls to the aquarium a few times and we always visit the touch tank, but I've never seen the stingrays act like that before! It really was pretty neat.

After the aquarium, we drove over to Beaufort to walk along the water front and ultimately get some yummy fudge from the Fudge Factory. It was SO good! Then we drove down to Emerald Isle to check out the house where we're staying in a few weeks for our beach vacation. :)

We then had to drive around a bit to find a place to park so we could walk out to the beach, but we finally ended up finding a parking lot that usually charges $10 to park. But after 4 pm parking is free! (By now it was about 4:30.) So we changed the girls into their swimsuits in the bathhouse and walked out to the beach. The temperature was absolutely wonderful! And another plus about going out at this time is I don't have to grease the girls down with sunscreen (or "suncream", as Julia calls it sometimes). We stayed out for about an hour or so, then headed back up the beach for supper. We ate at a local pizza place called Circle Pizza, then went to Dairy Queen for a BLIZZARD! (Ahh, Dairy Queen. Greenville misses you so much.) After stuffing ourselves, we finally headed back home.

Is it just me, or did this trip seem to revolve around food?

summer: day 31

Today was not the most exciting summer day as of yet, but I will definitely take it. :) I got A LOT of housework done that I've not been able to motivate myself to do all week. So now that the chores are all done and the house is all clean, I feel better. I do not like to do housework, but I sure do like the feeling that comes after it's all done.

In other exciting news...I downloaded an app so that Lily can have a game to play on my iPad. Yes, my 2 1/2 year old daughter is now asking (a lot!) if she can play the iPad. I guess it was only a matter of time. Although I'm pretty sure I was in high school before I even knew what a computer was. Okay. That's a really big exaggeration. But, really. A 2 year old? Playing an iPad? Kids these days...

summer: day 30

Yesterday I was really excited to take Julia and Lily to the movies. Our local theater has $1 movies for kids during the summer, so I thought this was a great opportunity to get out and do something different. I've taken Julia before (to see the same movie, in fact) with some friends a couple of summers ago, and the experience was great for everyone involved, so this was shoe-in for fun...right?

Maybe.

We left the house around 9:50 and the movie started at 10:00. (Typical of the Barnhills, but totally my fault.) When we pulled in to the very full parking lot of the theater, I noticed there were buses, and vans, and more buses and vans. I knew that meant there were summer camp-ish groups there, but, oh my goodness. There were TONS of kids there.

We then stepped into one of two lines to buy our tickets. Of course our line was comprised of the adults that were buying the one million tickets for the children on their buses and vans. I thought of going into the other faster line more than once, but I knew that once I moved lines, the line I was currently in would move faster. So I didn't move lines. And my line didn't move faster.

After getting our tickets and going into the lobby, we had plans to buy popcorn and drinks (it was probably 10:10 by now), but the lines for popcorn were also filled with children from the buses. I convinced Julia and Lily that (maybe) we would come out later when the lines went down.

As we were walking down the hall, I thought this would be a great photo op (of course I had my camera!). This was Lily's first time to the movie theater after all. But I turned my camera on and it displayed the words I hate to see--Insert sim card. So there are no pictures of this memorable day because I left the memory card at home. In the computer.

When we entered the VERY DARK theater where the movie had already started, we quickly found seats on the back row (this was one of those theater rooms without steps where you enter in the back) and got situated. Julia got into the movie right away, but Lily. Oh Lily. She got in and out of her chair no less than 50 times. She also asked "why" a million times. "Why is he doing that? Why is he there? Why did he make that noise?"

After about 30 minutes, I heard those words that I hear every time I'm in a restaurant and the server has just brought me my food. The words I hear after I've tucked Lily into bed and have shut the door. The words I hear after we've been driving for the first 30 minutes of a 10 hour trip.

"I need to pee pee!"

"Can't you hold it? If we leave, somebody will get our seats."

"No! I need to pee pee!"

So I had to take both of the girls to the bathroom, then they remembered that they wanted popcorn. So we stood in line to get popcorn and a drink. When we got back...our seats were taken. But there were seats beside our old ones, so we slipped in and got settled again. After this there was a lot of shuffling, a lot of moving around, a lot more "why's?", a lot of popcorn dropping, and at least one drink spill in both my and Lily's laps. By then the movie was over.

And a side note: the movie was Madagascar, which is funny I guess for an older kid or an adult, but there are some serious innuendoes, fake cuss words, etc., that my kids could've done without. But that's a whole 'nother post. (Again. Totally my fault.)

So to sum up our day, we did get out and do something different, but maybe I'll plan ahead a little better next time. I'm thinking the new Winnie the Pooh movie won't have any fake cussing...

summer: days 21 through 29

Wow. I've tried to keep up with this, but, wow. So many things to catch up on.

First, Ti and I left on Sunday (the 18th) to take our youth group to Orlando for a leadership conference. They had an amazing time, and let me just say, so.did.I. I've come back with such a fresh excitement for helping Ti lead our youth. Just a few of the things we did while there: we spent a day at Sea World (the dolphin and whale shows are awesome!), spent a day at Universal Studios/Islands of Adventure, and spent approximately 22 hours in leadership training sessions. We got back on Friday afternoon around 5, and we were SO excited to see Julia and Lily! (I think they were pretty excited to see us too!)

Let's see...since then, there's been a lazy day around the house, a storytime at Barnes & Noble, and a new Wii game that Julia's starting to beat us at.

That brings us up to today. My mom and I took the girls to a berry/produce farm and picked 5 pounds of blackberries! Julia and Lily were so good at it! So good, in fact, that it only took us maybe 20 minutes to pick all 5 pounds--and we even had to go back under the shelter once because it was starting to rain! After lunch we transformed the blackberries into jam. Kinda hard too, because of straining the seeds out, but totally worth it! The jam turned out SO yummy! Julia even helped us during the process.

I'm really looking forward to all that July has in store for us...fireworks, seeing family and old friends, trips to the beach...can't.wait.

summer: days 18, 19, 20

Staying busy...stay tuned...:)

summer: day 17

Today was pretty un-adventurous.

Ti and I both took the girls to see the doctor. (Julia's been coughing and running a fever, Lily has had some #2 bathroom issues...) They're fine. It's just viral. (Anybody else heard that one before?)

Ti went to work. I took the girls with me to Target and the mall. (I needed some things for myself and the girls because of the youth group trip next week.) At the mall the girls started complaining of hurting feet, so while I shopped for a small purse, they laid in the floor in JCPenneys. (GASP!!) (Note to self--DO NOT FORGET TO TAKE A STROLLER WHEN WE GO TO DISNEY WORLD.)

Ti met back up with us for lunch at Chick-fil-A, then we came back to the house for naps, avoiding 2 wrecks on the drive home. (Thank You, Lord!)

We later dined for supper at Texas Roadhouse with some great friends, then came home for bed. This is when we discovered that Julia's fever has come back. Again.

Ok...today was adventurous.

summer: day 16

Today was Julia's last day of swim school, and I am SO proud of her!! Before last week's first lesson on Wednesday, we couldn't pay her to stick her head under the water! But now, she's so excited about swimming underwater, jumping off the ladder, and floating/swimming on her back. During all of the previous lessons, parents weren't allowed to stay and watch, but since today was the last day of the program, parents were invited to stay. The most impressive thing I saw Julia do (in my personal opinion of course!) was jump into water that was over her head and then tread water for about 5 seconds. I'm really hoping she'll just take off this summer and become an even better swimmer. After she would do a "trick" she would look at me and ask "Are you really really proud of me, Mama?!?" :)

Also, while on a trip to the library to take back and check out some more books, we unexpectedly got to sit in on a magic show in the theater room of the library. Julia really enjoyed it! I think Lily would've enjoyed it, she just wouldn't stay still long enough to watch. Lily and I left and went to the children's library and put puzzles together while Julia and Mimi watched the remainder of the show. Both Lily and Julia got to pet the magician's bunny afterwards!

summer: days 12, 13, 14, 15 (!)

Aaaaaaand.....I'm back. I really want to make sure I write a journal entry and post a few pictures every day (or every other day at least) this summer. I don't know why I've taken the challenge to do that, I just have. I love taking pictures of my family and I love looking back at those pictures as time passes.

With all that said, I've failed miserably at keeping up with my entries! Other things came up (good things!) and I just haven't taken the time to sit down and write. Also, we haven't gone on any "adventures" this week either, partly due to the timing of Julia's swimming lessons. They start at 1:00 pm, but I have to start "greasing" Julia up with sunscreen by 12:15 in order for us to leave by 12:40 in order for us to be at the swim school by 1. (whew.) Which also means I have to start lunch early, etc., etc., etc. It's all been extremely worth it though. I MUST post a video of Julia swimming underwater for all to see!

summer: day 11

Whew. Today's been busy. We did get to sleep in a little, but after that, our feet hit the ground running. (Okay, my feet hit the ground running.)

We were invited to a graduation party/lunch at the church today, and--forgetful me--I was at the mall yesterday and completely forgot to pick up the gift. So just before the party, we drove over to the mall to pick up a gift and I wrapped it in the car. We pulled into the church parking lot right at 11:30 (party time).

After lunch, we stayed at church for a next-to-final rehearsal of all of our songs we'll be singing during church tomorrow night. (Our quartet has a "concert.") That lasted until 3:00.

When we returned home, it was definitely time to put Lily down for a nap. Then I had to run out and pick up another gift. (I know...why can't I get them all at once instead of taking a million trips?!?) This time for a birthday party.

So next was the birthday party at our friends' house. The girls and Ti swam, we had hamburgers, hotdogs, chips and cake, the guys played football--it was great. The weather was perfect and the mosquitoes were biting...

At least the weather was perfect. :)

And now here I sit, after practicing my music again...

summer: days 9 & 10

Now we're really getting into the summer swing of things (even though it's not officially summer yet), when 90+ degree temps and dips in the pool are everyday occurrences. As I type this, I hear faint rumbles of thunder in the distance, and I really hope that rain is headed our way. (My vegetable garden and my daylilies would be especially grateful!)

As of yesterday, Julia has taken 2 swimming classes at a swim school here in town. Before starting said lessons, Julia would only go underwater by accident--never because she wanted to or because we tried to get her to. And now? After TWO lessons? Not only does she go underwater, but she SWIMS UNDERWATER, swims on her back, and jumps off the ladder. Call it what you will, but I'm calling it a miracle. :) Everytime she gets in our pool, she progresses a little further. I'm extremely proud of her and a little sad at the same time. She's not the little toddler that has to be kept in a float with swimmies on her arms anymore. :( And just to rub a little salt into the wound, Lily now dunks her head underwater. Yep. I said LILY. After being in the pool today, she learned (I think she taught herself) how to jump off the ladder and hold her breath while going under. She pops right back up because Ti bought her this swim vest thing that helps teach kids how to swim. I think she's a little more fearless than Julia when it comes to things like swimming.

Also today, Julia had her first piano lesson! Right now we're going over the extreme basics (white keys/black keys; loud sounds/soft sounds), but I'm really excited about her potential. She already knows how to play "Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star" with one finger, and she taught that to herself (on my iPad!). So I know she has an ear for music.

I did get a video of Julia and Lily swimming...maybe somehow, someday, I'll get it up here on the site...:)

summer: days 7 & 8

Let me start this post by admitting that every time--every time!--I drive to Raleigh, whether I'm going to the mall, a concert, a museum--whatever--I get lost and I have to turn around before I arrive at my destination.

Okay. That's done. Now on to the day's events...

Ti had a doctor's appointment in Chapel Hill on Tuesday, so we made it our "trip day" this week. Only we went to a museum, not Ti's doctor's office. :) Specifically, we visited the NC Botanical Gardens while Ti was at his appointment, and the NC Museum of Natural Sciences after lunch. The girls had their friend Ana along for the ride, and we also had Mimi with us (she was a BIG help!) and we all had so much fun! The girls were all so sweet and well-behaved. My favorite part of the science museum was the butterfly room. I think it was technically called the Dry Rainforest Exhibit, but butterfly room sounds more fun, I think. Anyway, it was a room that was made to look like a real rainforest--I'm pretty sure I saw a vanilla bean plant and a pineapple plant in there--and it had tons of butterflies flying around everywhere. We went in a second time (after we had a snack of cookies and milk at the cafe), and this time a butterfly landed on my head. Now, any other time, if a bug was on my head I would go crazy, but there's something about a butterfly that makes you want to be its friend. :) I think all the walking wore the girls out, because both Lily and Ana fell fast asleep on the way home.

Today was another stay at home day, but we had lots of fun playtime: blowing bubbles, riding bikes/trikes, playing food and dishes, reading books in the Thomas tent, and eating popsicles.

summer: days 5 & 6

Since yesterday was Sunday, we didn't take any big trips to the park or the pool, but we did plan out our Disney trip with the Askews. I've been excited about it up until now, but now I'm really looking forward to it. Today the girls and I watched a youtube video of the fireworks show at Magic Kingdom. We're pumped.

Speaking of today, it was another stay-at-home kind of day. A catch-up-on-laundry, clean-the-bathrooms, put-all-out-of-place-toys-in-their-place-again-and-again kind of day. Also, the girls had a friend come over to play with them today. They LOVE having friends come over! When I got Lily up from her nap, first thing she asked was "Where's Ana?" I told her that Ana had already gone home. Her response? "But I love Ana!"

summer: day 4

Today was another great day. After sleeping in and eating a late breakfast and lunch, we drove on over to Mimi and Papa's house for our family get-together for Ti's birthday. His 30th birthday, might I add. :)

After supper and cake, we all drove over to Frenchman's Creek in Kinston to feed and watch the ducks. Both of my girls LOVE animals--especially Julia. We almost had to drag her away when it was time to go.

summer: day 3

Today was a bea-u-tiful day!! The past few days have felt like mid-August weather, but today was sunny, breezy, and in the mid-80's. So needless to say, we had a wonderful time on our picnic in the park. The girls were really excited about it because they picked out their own "Lunchable" meals from the grocery store a couple of days ago. Today was also National Doughnut Day, so we ended the day with a free doughnut from Krispy Kreme. (Free? Doughnut? Can it get any better than that?)

summer: day 2

Today is Thursday, obviously, and I'm hoping that I can make Thursdays our "special daytrip" days. You know, trips to Marbles Kids' Museum, the Nature Center, etc. But we took a special trip to the beach this past Monday for Memorial Day, so that was our trip for the week.

So today's fun consisted of going to the grocery store (yay...) and waiting for the temps to cool off so we could go outside. After supper we went out to the front door step and sidewalk (the only place with afternoon shade!) to draw with some new sidewalk chalk. Afterwards I let the girls run through the sprinkler again. It is so fun just to watch them play and laugh as they interact with each other!

Tomorrow the weather's supposed to be a little cooler, so I'm thinking a picnic might be on the agenda?

PS-I'm going to try (TRY!) to take pictures everyday as I write these journal entries...

the not-so-lazy days of summer: day 1

Julia is out of school now for the summer, and after one extremely lazy day of the three of us girls doing nothing around the house, I am ready to get out and get busy! I've already started to make a little summer calendar for us to follow. I'm thinking we'll be going to museums, parks, the aquarium and the beach, the library, and wherever else we can find! Julia will also be taking swimming and piano lessons. Bottom line--we want to have a great summer experiencing all we can! I think I'm gonna try and take pictures everyday too. Starting with today-- Today Julia, Lily and I went to the library to get Julia a library card and to get her started on a summer reading program. The programs don't start until June 13th, but we went ahead and checked out 7 books, one of which Julia read almost by herself! She's doing so well. I really can't even begin to believe that she'll be in kindergarten in September and that she'll turn SIX YEARS OLD in December! All the more reason to fill up the summer calendar and experience life to the fullest!

thankful for mama.

I couldn't let Mother's Day go by without saying how thankful I am for my mama. I know I was not the easiest child in the world to raise, and the Lord knows that I was as stubborn as they come. But my mama never stopped teaching me, never stopped believing in me, never stopped praying for me, and never ever stopped loving me. I am blessed beyond measure to have such a godly example to follow. I love the memories that I have of sometimes walking in on my mama kneeling beside her bed in the morning before we would leave for school. I hope and pray that I can be the godly mother to my children that my mama was to me!

thirty-one.

Yes, I'm now the big 3-1. My birthday was this past Saturday, and I absolutely LOVE that I was able to spend it with my family.

We were able to make the 10-hour drive to Nashville last Thursday (and the girls did fantastic, might I add!) to visit my brother and sister-in-law and their new baby girl. Ti kept the girls busy for me on Friday while I got to spend time with Beth and Layla. (Wasn't that so sweet of him?!?) I was able to hold her and rock her and feed her and love, love, love her!! She is the sweetest baby, and makes the cutest little faces. I'm so proud of Matt and Beth, they're such great parents already. For supper we went to O'Charley's, where Ti surprised me with an IPad and some cupcakes from GiGi's Cupcakes!

On Saturday (my birthday), Ti, the girls, my dad and I went over to Opryland Hotel mainly to kill some time, but also to show Julia and Lily the "jungle hotel" (that's what the girls called it). The whole time I lived in Nashville, I don't think I once visited Opryland Hotel in the daytime. I should have. It was beautiful. And the girls really enjoyed themselves.

After the hotel, we met up with my mom and the Edwards' for lunch. And for supper we went to a fancy Chinese restaurant, where my mom showed Lily how to eat with chopsticks! Then for dessert...oh my, for dessert! We went to a place called Sweet CeCe's. It's a cute little frozen yogurt shop. I had--get this--dulce de leche frozen yogurt with cheesecake chunks on top! DE-LICIOUS! I seriously would've gone back to this place if we would've had more time in Nashville.

On Sunday we went to Cofer's for their Sunday morning service, then went to Monell's (a country-cookin' type little restaurant) for lunch. The rest of the day we spent at our hotel/condo watching the Duke/Carolina game, talking, laughing, holding Layla, and just spending time together. At some point, my dad and Julia and I tried to go to Hobby Lobby, but I found out they were closed on Sunday after I walked up to their automatic door and it wouldn't open. We ate Jet's pizza for supper, then said our good-byes to Matt and Beth and Layla, and headed for bed.

The next day (travel day) we turned a 10-hour trip into a 12 1/2-hour trip. Fun times.

I know it seems like all we did was eat on this trip, and I guess that's partly true. But really what we did mostly (and gladly!) was ooo and ahh over sweet little Layla. And I truly can't wait until I get to see her again. What a happy birthday.

welcome layla kate!

After a long 9 months (I'm sure it felt longer to Beth!), little Miss Layla Kate Edwards made her grand appearance. She was born on Saturday, February 26, at 3:13 in the afternoon. She weighed 8 pounds and 1 1/2 ounces, and was 20 inches long--and she couldn't have been more perfect! She has the sweetest little cheeks and dimple that you have ever seen! Congratulations to her wonderful parents, Matthew and Beth! You're already such great parents!

Eavesdropping...

Here's another short conversation between Julia and Lily that Ti and I overheard last night in the van...

Lily: "I'm gonna miss you Julia."

Julia: nothing

Lily: "I'm gonna miss you Julia!"

Julia: "I'm not going to another country, Lily. I'm just going to cheerleading practice."

A Place for Everything...

Over the last week or so, Ti and my dad have worked on installing some cubbies/shelves in our upstairs bonus room/playroom. I never once doubted that they could do it, but I just want to say how impressed I am with their handiwork! The cubbies are built-in's and you would've thought that they were built in when the house was built. A big thanks to Ti and my dad for helping us get more organized!

Too good not to share...

This is a really random post, but I just had to share this particularly gross conversation between me and my girls on the way to church last night:

Lily: "Yum, yum, yummy."

Me: "What's yummy?"

Lily: "Yummy boogers!"

Me: "GROSS! Lily! We don't eat boogers! That'll make you so sick. Do NOT eat your boogers. Put them in a Kleenex."

Julia: "Yeah, Lily, it'll make you sick forever. If you find a booger you don't like, don't eat it. Just put it back in your nose."

Yep. Told you it was gross. No harm done though. We're just working on building up our immune systems.

Christmas has come and gone...

Since my last post we have decorated the tree and the house for Christmas, and as of today we have un-decorated the tree and the house for Christmas. It's so strange how you can't wait to put out all the decorations before Christmas, then you can't wait to take them down the day after. (I hope I'm not the only one who feels that way the day after Christmas.) To get all that stuff back into storage just feels good and uncluttered. This is what it's supposed to feel like at the start of a new year. Fresh, new, spacious.

Goodbye Barnhill Christmas tree. (I promise I'll be excited to see you again in about 11 months.)

And Hello 2011.

To Albany and Back Again

We had such a wonderful Thanksgiving holiday! We were privileged to be able to travel down to south Georgia to spend the week with Ti's wonderful family. The trip started out a little rough, but everything evened out by the time we made it to Albany.

We left on Monday of last week and planned to knock out about 3-4 hours of the trip and stay in a hotel in Florence, SC. Everything was fine until we realized that Lily can now climb out of the pack-&-play. (With great ease, might I add.) So after we FINALLY got her to go to sleep in her bed, we woke up about 2:30 am to her crying and--thud!--she had climbed out and was headed for our bed. It probably took another hour or so to get everybody settled and back to sleep. And of course as soon as the light of day hits the horizon, my kids think it's time to wake up. So we got ready, grabbed breakfast, and got back on the road and made it to Albany by about 4:30 in the afternoon (I think) on Tuesday. I was really preparing for a week of horrible sleep, but wouldn't you know it, Lily NEVER climbed out of her bed again and she slept like a baby the entire week. Well, she is a baby, but you get the picture.

The rest of the week was spent visiting family and eating wonderful food--including juicy steaks at Ti's sister's house on Thanksgiving night. They were delicious! Julia got to help ReRe decorate her Christmas tree and--this was probably her favorite part--play with Pop and ReRe's new dog, Sam.

When we got back home (finally-after a long day on I-95!), it felt like we had been gone a long time, but we honestly loved every minute of it. God has blessed my children with two wonderful sets of godly grandparents, and even though Julia and Lily may not truly know how to appreciate that fact now, I know when they get to be my age, they will be so thankful.

I Want Candy!!

Halloween 2010 was a great success! With Julia dressed as Cinderella and Lily dressed as Nemo, we were all set for a glorious night of candy collecting. The Thomas family was gracious enough to let us trick-or-treat with them in their neighborhood, and you should have seen Julia and Brooklyn. They were trick-or-treating pros! I know this seems like no big deal, but watching them walk up to the doorstep by themselves while we adults stood at the curb was kind of sad. Sad in a good way, I mean. It's just that time goes by so so fast. (We did walk Lily up to the door every time, in case you wondered.)

After we finished trick-or-treating, we stayed at the Thomas' house for a little while until all their candy was passed out. Someone in a Nemo costume, who will remain nameless, was extremely attached to her candy bucket. After explicitly telling her not to open any more candy, she did, and I had to take the bucket away. I have never seen someone fling that big of a fit over candy. She was on her face flat on the floor. And, again, I won't mention any names, so she won't be embarrassed. It's okay, though. She gets her sweet tooth honest. Another candy lover, who shall also remain nameless, has been opening and eating candy all day.

Was It Something I Said?!?

When the words come out of my mouth, I know right then and there I've done it.

You know those times when you say "never?" And then you look around for the nearest wood or wood-like substance to knock on so you won't doom yourself to the one thing you said would never happen?

Of the many times this has happened to me, the most recent has been in the last week or so. The words, "between Julia and Lily, I've only had to give antibiotics once. I'm thankful that they've been so healthy," just came out of my mouth as I was speaking with my mom on our way back from the mountains two weekends ago.

Maybe it was because I didn't knock on wood, maybe it was "coincidence." But today--TODAY!--maybe 8 days after I uttered the previous mentioned sentence, Julia was diagnosed with strep throat and has been prescribed--you guessed it--10 day's worth of amoxicillin. She has gone almost five years without having to have any antibiotics. A major "PRAISE THE LORD!" is in order, I'll say.

So, lesson learned: Think before you speak.

Also: "Every good and perfect gift is from above."

Mom Genes

If you're a mom, do you ever remember thinking, before you had kids, that you would never be able to tell whether or not they had a fever by feeling their forehead with your hand? I do. I had (still have!) lots of worries like that.

Like whether or not I'm brushing their teeth well enough.

Or if I let them watch too much TV.

Or if they're eating enough fruits and vegetables. (they're not.)

Or if I worry too much...

Julia has come down with a fever tonight and no amount of worrying or second guessing myself will make anything any better. I just have to trust, first of all, that God will always take care of her, no matter what, and second of all, that He will equip me with everything I need to do the job that He has called me to do.

And that includes equipping me with motherly instincts.

Or Mom Genes.

How 'Bout Them Apples?

This past weekend, we took our much anticipated trip to the mountains to visit an apple orchard. We had SO much fun! We left on Friday morning and took our time getting to our "hotel" in Black Mountain. (I put hotel in quotation marks because it was more like a dorm or camp than a hotel.)

Anyway...

We got up at a decent time on Saturday morning and started up the winding mountain roads to get to Stepps Farm. The leaves are just starting to turn wonderful shades of red, yellow, and orange, so the 30 minute plus drive was simply beautiful. The closer we got to Hendersonville (NC), the more apple orchards/roadside markets we saw. I wish we would've had time, because I would've stopped at every one! I don't know what draws me to them, but I love them! Especially all the bright orange pumpkins displayed out front.

After we arrived at Stepp's Farm, we took a few pictures, grabbed a box, some baskets, and a map of the orchard, and set out to pick a few apples. And boy did we pick! We ended up picking a bushel of at least 5 different types of apples, and we were able to sample every kind. I mean we picked it right off the tree, wiped it off on our shirts, and took a big bite. How awesome is it that God created something so sweet and beautiful and good to eat! There's nothing like a fresh apple right off the tree!

We finished picking our bushel of apples, headed back to the main barn where you pay, and purchased our treasures. We also bought t-shirts, a magnet, some cider, some apple butter, an apple pie...I guess you could say we really enjoyed ourselves!

After that wonderful experience, we left to grab lunch, then went to the Asheville Farmer's Market, where we had an incredible fried apple pie. Again, all the fresh veggies and fruits and nuts and honey make me wish I had my own farm (yeah right). We did plant two Fuji apple trees and three blueberry bushes this summer, though, so we've kind of got our own garden, right?

To wrap up our trip, we wanted to visit Chimney Rock on Sunday, but a small bout of carsickness (we think it was carsickness!) kept us from our plans. Oh well, you've just got to go with the flow. There'll be other times to go see "the rock," as Julia kept calling it. ("When will we get to the rock? When are we going to see the rock, Mama?")

So that, in a nutshell, was our "Apple Mountain" trip (again, Julia's words, not mine.). This will definitely be something to mark on our calendars for next year!

Help is on the way...

I'm not saying this to "toot my own horn", but I do a majority of the cleaning around our house. It is part of my job as a stay-at-home mom, after all. But after doing a lot of cleaning this past Tuesday, I decided it was time to start training the reinforcements.

So after I got Julia up from her "rest," I showed her how to clean the hall bathroom. She's a smart kid, so wiping the counter and toilet with a Lysol wipe shouldn't be that hard, right? She did a great job, and she even cleaned inside the toilet. (We have one of those Scrubbing Bubbles toilet wands that lets you flush the cleaning sponge thingy. One of the best inventions ever!)

The great part of it was how excited and eager she was to do it all. I think I'd better take advantage of it while it lasts! I think my next lesson for Julia will be "How to Grocery Shop, Cook Supper, and Wash Dishes."

Just kidding.

Yay for fall!

I know it's not actually fall yet. (Or as Julia would say, it's not accidentally fall yet. She has been using the word "accidentally" in place of the word "actually" lately. For example, this is what she told her friend Emma last night: "Accidentally, I already ate supper." Funny.)

Anyway, even though it's not fall yet, I can see the signs (mums, pumpkins, Halloween candy...) and I can feel the (slight) coolness in the air in the mornings and evenings. We bought an $8 mum today from Lowe's that was already on clearance for $4. (Ha!) I guess it wasn't as pretty and full as the others, but I'll take it!

I'm also highly anticipating fall/October for a few reasons: for one, Lily, who it seems like was just born yesterday, will turn two! I still haven't decided what kind of cake to get her. I ask her what kind she wants, but the conversation usually goes like this:

(Me, obviously) "Lily, what kind of cake do you want for your birthday? Imagination Movers or Dora?"

(Lily) "Dora!!"

"Dora or Elmo?"

"Elmo!!"

"Princess or Imagination Movers?"

"Movers!!"

So, you see, she only repeats whatever word you...well you get it, I think. She is a very funny almost-two-year-old.

Another thing I am really looking forward to is our little family trip with Mimi and Papa to the mountains. We'll be visiting Stepp's Hillcrest Orchard in Hendersonville, NC (www.steppapples.com) to pick apples and pumpkins, take hayrides, and do whatever else they offer for us to do. I'm also super excited that Uncle Matt and Aunt Beth (and Layla!) will be joining us!!

And to sum up this post, in honor of the wonderful season of autumn, Julia and I will now go to the kitchen and make some pumpkin bread from scratch.

I am so kidding. We will make some pumpkin bread, but it's from a Pillsbury box. Happy almost fall everybody!

Cinderella and the Denim Princess

Yesterday after I dropped Julia off at school, Lily and I went out to a few stores just to browse. One of those stores happened to be Once Upon A Child. While shopping there, I found a Cinderella costume in Julia's size that was only $6.50. Every other time I've looked at getting one of those princess dresses, it was going to be at least $20.00. I also found a cute Old Navy jean skirt for Julia for only $3.50. (Before you start feeling sorry for Lily because I didn't get her any clothes, you must know that Lily gets ALL of Julia's hand-me-down's plus new clothes. So she gets by!)

Later on in the day, after the girls' naps, I got out the dress for Julia, which she promptly put on (and didn't take off until around 8:00!). Lily started protesting because she didn't have a dress to put on, then looked in the bag and found the jean skirt. She had to put it on. I pulled it up to her chest and it still dragged the floor! She wore it around the house for at least a couple of hours! They were two very differently dressed princesses, to say the least. So...one of Lily's birthday presents will probably be a (real) princess dress-up gown!

Another school year begins!

Earlier this evening we went to Julia's school for orientation. I had originally signed her up for a Pre-K 4 year old class, with the intentions of moving her to a Pre-K 5 year old class if a spot opened up, but I never heard anything from the school. So I figured she was in with the 4 year olds. But we received the letter from her new teacher today (It was sent to our old address, then forwarded to our new one.) which said she was in with the 5 year olds. (Her birthday is just before the class cutoff of December 31.) It's so hard to believe that she is almost five years old. When I was watching her and all her new classmates painting at their little tables tonight, I couldn't believe how big they all looked. Has it really been five years since my baby was born?!? Julia will be taking her own lunch box this year (just for snacks!), so we've got to go shopping tomorrow for a lunch box and a bigger backpack. She is so excited!

Good times, great friends.

Tonight we got the chance to go out to dinner with some very dear friends. Two of those friends, Joshua and Allison, along with their three boys, are moving to Oklahoma on Wednesday. Thus the reason for our get-together tonight.

We had such a fun time! Although I am kicking myself for not getting together more often with them. Sometimes life gets too busy and you don't take the time to stop and simply catch up with friends.

Where we are...

The last time I posted, we were still living in an apartment. So it's been a while, to say the least. (I feel as though I start a lot of posts saying something like that.)

Anyway, we are LOVING our new home. It is everything we hoped it would be, and more. And one of the greatest things about it is that the girls have their own playroom where their toys stay. Which means I'm not constantly picking up toys from around the house. Yep, it's great.

Also, Ti and I have been to Chicago and back with our youth group from church. We went on a week-long mission trip to minister alongside Northwest Community Church located in the heart of Chicago. It was an incredible experience! I honestly believe we all came back with a deeper passion for seeing the lost come to Christ.

Which brings us to today.

In a nutshell sort of way.

We are two weeks out from Julia's first day of Pre-K4. I guess that's what you call it. She's in the class before Kindergarten. Anyway, she'll be going Monday through Friday this year, from 9 until 12, and she couldn't be more excited. I couldn't be more excited. We're all pretty excited. To be honest, I'm really looking forward to getting on some sort of scheduled routine. I love summer and all, but I feel more comfortable when we have a real routine going. I've always wanted to be one of those stay-at-home moms who always does the laundry on Mondays, the bathrooms on Tuesdays, the floors on Wednesdays, etc., etc. Something about that just appeals to me. But I just can't discipline myself to do it. My laundry piles up quicker than most families' laundry does I guess. I said all that to say that Julia starts school soon. :)

What a funny kid!

So tonight during our family devotions, I asked Julia, "Did you know that even before you were born, God knew who you were, and He already had a special plan for your life and for what He wanted you to be when you grow up?"

Julia: "What does He want me to be when I grow up?"

Me: "I don't know. That's why you have to pray."

Julia then folds her hands, looks up, and says, "God, what do you want me to be when I grow up?"

Me: "Well, Julia, you won't be able to hear God talking out loud, but if you have Jesus in your heart, He'll speak to you in your heart and tell you what He wants you to be when you grow up."

Julia then looks down at her heart and says, "Jesus, what do you want me to be when I grow up?"

Kids are so funny.

Looking forward to...

I'm excited for Julia this week because it's VBS week at our church. She has been out of preschool for a while now, and since we live in such a small space and it's so unbelievably hot outside, there hasn't been a lot for us to do. So she's going to have such a great time this week at VBS. I wish Lily was old enough to attend, but she's a few months shy of the cutoff age. She'll get her chance next year.

A few more things I'm looking forward to:

*A visit from ReRe and Pop on July 4th weekend.

*Our family vacation to the Outer Banks in July.

and...

*Moving into our house this weekend!!!

I love living in NC!

One of my favorite places in the world to go is the Crystal Coast, here in North Carolina. We live about an hour and a half away, but that's just close enough to be able to take a day trip down to the beach. Which is exactly what we did on Saturday. Our very good friends, the Thomas', were beginning their vacation there at Atlantic Beach and asked us if we would like to come and swim in their resort's pool and go to the beach. And we did.

We arrived around 11 am, made a few wardrobe changes, slathered on some "sunscream" (another Julia-ism!), and jumped in the pool. The girls LOVED it! The water was very cold at first, but for some reason, my kids didn't seem to notice. The kiddie pool was just shallow enough for Lily to walk around in while wearing a float. We went back and forth between that pool and a bigger one, and when the girls got tired of swimming in the pool, we got out and headed for the beach.

Julia, in the past, has had a fear of walking on the sand, but, thank the Lord, she has finally made a breakthrough. She now LOVES playing in the sand. Only now, she's afraid of the waves in the ocean. Which is okay, because we can set up an umbrella and she and Lily can play in the sand to their heart's content. At least we can actually walk on the beach now. Lily's the same way about the waves and the sand. Hates the former, loves the latter. We finally decided to leave around 1:00 to go and grab some lunch.

After eating at McDonald's, we drove over to the NC Aquarium. We bought a family membership there at the aquarium in Manteo, NC, which means we can get in for free as many times as we want for a year. Any NC aquarium, the NC Zoo, and many, many other zoos and aquariums across the country. We think it's a pretty good deal.

Anyway, Julia especially loved seeing the river otters while we were there. They were really active and it seemed as though they were "performing" just for Julia and another little boy that was standing there. You should have heard them squealing and laughing. Lily, of course, then wanted "out" of her stroller, and she joined in the squealing and laughing. (Monkey see, monkey do.)

After leaving the aquarium, we went to an ice cream shop to get some of my favorite kind of ice cream: Hershey's banana pudding. It is SO good.

After a fun day at the beach, we started heading home around 5:00. The water was gorgeous, the weather was gorgeous...everything was absolutely gorgeous. It was a perfect day for the beach.

Strawberry Pickin'

I decided kind of on a whim today to take the girls to one of the local strawberry patches.

And I'm so glad I did.

Only I forgot to take my camera. So the only shots I have are on our little back porch here at our apartment.

We had so much fun, though. The place is called Strawberries on 903, but strawberries is not the only thing this family farm has.

First, let me add that right after I decided to take the girls strawberry pickin', I also quickly decided to call my mom to see if she wanted to join us. She did, and she was so much of a help to me. (She always is!) Because if you've spent any time at all around my two sweet girls, you know that if they are awake, they are going full throttle. In other words, they've got no lack of energy between the two of them. They keep me well on my toes. (Ti was at a youth discipleship class at the church, by the way.)

So while we waited for "Mimi" to meet us at the farm, we went to visit the animals they have there. First we stopped by the little pigpen. I'm pretty sure these were "teenager" pigs. They were small, but not piglet small. They made the girls smile. (Me too.) Then we saw some goats (and some kid goats), some blue-eyed rabbits, and some chickens. The most interesting animal we saw was the peacock. After a few minutes, he proudly fanned his feathers. That's a pretty amazing sight. He was huge.

After we saw the animals, Mimi finally arrived, and we headed over to pick up our basket to pick our own strawberries. Julia and Lily were so excited. Julia picked her own and Lily tried to pick her own. But Lily squeezed too hard most of the time. So we mostly handed our strawberries to her to place in the basket. It didn't take us long to get all we wanted, and Julia wanted to stay and pick more. They also had other fresh fruits and veggies and flowers to purchase. Mimi got a tomato, some squash and some onions. I got some sweet potatoes and a couple of roses.

We had such a blast today, but I'll have to admit, it was a little warm for my taste. I think

when Mimi comes next weekend, we'll go back and get some of their homemade icecream!

Our temporary residence

It's been a while since my last post, but I feel as though I have a good excuse. We have been in the process of moving. Not just moving from one place to another, but moving from one place to another, while preparing to move once again to another place. We've finally settled down in the middle place, our 2 bedroom, 1 bathroom apartment in Greenville.

We closed on our home of almost 6 years last Friday, and I'll have to admit, I felt pretty sad leaving it for the last time. We worked really hard cleaning and getting everything ready and said goodbye on Thursday afternoon. It was such a good little home. We'll miss it and our neighbors dearly.

Where we are now has taken some time to get used to, and we're still adjusting. For example, the girls had seperate rooms at our old house, and now in the apartment they have to share a room. Lily goes to sleep at 7:30, then we quietly usher Julia in around 8:30. We're still working out some kinks, but all in all, it's going well.

Our next move should take place (Lord willing) around mid- to late June. An inspection of the plumbing was supposed to take place yesterday so that the concrete foundation could be poured today. Maybe we'll go out tonight and see what's been done.

In the midst of all this, I'm ashamed to admit, I have not cooked a meal in probably two weeks. I can't believe it. I'm so horrible. But tonight! I have full intentions to cook tacos and rice. Not the grandest of meals, but a hot meal at home nonetheless. So we'll take it.

PS-Lily can now say lots of things-the cutest is when you ask her what a cat says!

Back to normal.

After a week of fighting the stomach bug, the Barnhill family is finally healthy again and everything is back to normal. Juila couldn't remember "stomach bug" for some reason. She kept calling it a throat bug or a tickle bug. Whatever it was, I'm praying that I never see it's effects around here again.

And because of this particular stomach bug, I still have not yet met my new nephew, Brennan. But tomorrow, I'll get my chance! I CAN'T WAIT!

Welcome Brennan Cade!

My sweet little nephew was born today! I haven't seen him in person yet, but he sure looks cute in the pictures I have seen.

We couldn't go to the hospital to see him today because the stomach bug is still making its way around our family. Lily came down with it on Sunday, Ti on Monday, and Julia today. I really wish there was some kind of vaccine for this illness, because I and my family would be some of the first ones in line to get it!

Busy, busy, busy

So as the title indicates, we've been busy lately.

Since my last post, we have been to Nashville and back. Ti signed up to attend a youth minister's conference there, so we decided that the girls and I would go along for the ride. We really had a great time. Ti stayed pretty busy at the conference, but the girls and I and ReRe took it easy and had fun together.

Not only did we get to spend time with Pop and ReRe, but we also got to see Uncle Matt and Aunt Beth. We had a great time just hanging out with them every night. They are two of my/our favorite people on earth, and we miss them dearly now that they have moved away.

All the while we were in Nashville, we still were dealing with our search for a new house. There was even talk about flying me home and back one day so I could take a look at one particular house. That fell through though, (whew!) and the search continued.

I was able to dine at one of my favorite restaurants while at Nashville--Bread & Company. They have the BEST tomato basil soup and fruit tea! I just love the atmosphere there, too. Wish we could get one here...

We also got to see and visit with some dear friends while we were there. Time flies and before you know it, it's been years since you've seen or even talked with some of your best friends. But I'm really thankful that we got to meet up, even if it was short-lived.

After coming back from our trip, we had pretty much decided on a house. (We had lots of time to talk with each other about it in the car!) And after much prayer, we've met with all the appropriate people and have now (as of last night) signed all the appropriate documents, and are now...

Drum roll, please...

Officially building our next house!

Part of the stress of it all is over, but I AM POSITIVE that there is much more stress to come. I'm truly thankful, though, for all the ways God has blessed us in this process. He knows exactly where He wants us, and He has provided for us every step of the way.

Contract Pending!!!

Well, it's (almost) official! Our house is sold! It felt as though it took a long time, but I guess it really didn't. Time always seems to go by more slowly when you're waiting. Tomorrow we go house hunting, and we have a little over a month to find our next abode. I'm really excited, but my excitement will probably fade a little when I'm drowning in packing boxes...

This Saturday, we leave for Nashville, TN. Ti will be attending a youth minister's conference there on the campus of Free Will Baptist Bible College, so I decided that the girls and I would come along for the ride. We really can't wait to see Uncle Matt and Aunt Beth again. Ti's parents will also be traveling up to Nashville and staying with us, so we're really excited about seeing them again too. Ti and I have both separately been back to Nashville since we moved away in 2003, but not together. We're hoping to see some of our old college friends while we're there. I think it'll be a good trip all around.

For Sale

For a while, we have been wanting to move into a house with a little more square footage and a little more storage. So in January, we put our house on the market. We've shown it maybe 5 or 6 times here and there, but this weekend has been busy. We showed it once on Friday, twice on Saturday, and once today. I love it that people are interested, but I can't keep up this kind of cleaning! Don't get me wrong, I keep our house clean (sort of), but with two little tornados running around, it's hard to keep every little toy picked up and every little dust bunny vacuumed. I'm praying that somebody (anybody!) makes an offer soon!

Hello Sunshine!

After many days and weeks of cold, cold weather mixed with the occasional snow or rain shower, today was sunny and in the 50's. So I decided to take the girls outside to swing. There's nothing magical to share about it, really. I'm just excited that we got to get a little fresh sunny air. It seems like we're stuck inside day after day because of the cold weather. The warm sunshine feels so good. Let's hope spring is right around the corner.

What we're doing...

Both yesterday and today have been filled with preparations for Brian and Jenny's baby shower. Neither I nor my mom have ever "thrown" a baby shower before, so we'll see how it turns out. If you know me at all, you know that I love going to showers and receptions mainly, I hate to admit, for the good food. Which leads me to sadly say that there is a ton of reception food in my refrigerator and I can't eat any of it. At least not until tomorrow. Veggies and dip...fruit and dip...cheese ball and crackers...punch...I love it all.

Julia just keeps asking us when she can go to the shower.

Lily is just as sweet and cute as ever. She's starting to babble more and more now. A few words in her vocabulary as of now: more, no, ball, diaper, nana (banana), dada, mimi, papa, mama. And her answer to almost every question is yes. Well, she nods her head and says "uh huh."

Ti is doing somewhat better these days. He's back in the full swing of things, but is still having some pain in his chin. It comes and goes, really. Sometimes it hurts when he talks, and sometimes it doesn't hurt at all. The doctor said it could be a fracture (!?), or the nerves "waking up," or who knows. All we know is that Ti would rather be pain-free as soon as possible. I need to post a picture to show how much different his profile is. Maybe sometime this week.

3 Days, 3 Doctors

Today is only Wednesday and I've already been in the doctor's office three times.

On Monday, we drove to Chapel Hill to visit Ti's doctor. As an update, Ti is doing very well. He just thought he might have had an infection where they did the surgery, so he made an appointment with the doctor just to make sure. He did not have an infection, it turns out, and everything looks good, according to Dr. Turvey. Ti is down to alternating Tylenol and Ibuprofen now. He experiences some pain here and there, and sometimes it's rather uncomfortable, but it's slowly fading. Another bit of good news on Ti's condition, his bottom lip is, and has been numb since the surgery (the doctors warned him about this, and said it could be days, months, or even a year before he would get the feeling back in his lip). But today, Ti said he could feel a little bit of burning in his lower lip. Not quite sure what the burning is, but, hey, he can actually feel something there.

On Wednesday, it was Julia's turn to see the doc. Only this was her 4-year well visit appointment. We (both Julia and I) were prepared for the shots. I had already purchased a small vtech "laptop" for her as a prize if she was "brave." (Brave meaning she doesn't pitch a fit. Crying is okay, we just don't want it to take 5 nurses to hold her down.) She was weighed and measured. She had to pee in a cup. She had her blood pressure taken. She had a vision and audio test. She had all the regular check-up tests. (Did I mention I had Lily with me?) Then she had her shots. She was SO brave!! She cried and resisted a little, but she did so well over all. I can't remember the last time I had to get three shots in a row.

And finally, today was Lily's turn. She had her 15-month well visit scheduled, but she woke up this morning with a really runny nose, red watery eyes, and a lot of sneezing. So it turned into a sick visit. And little did I know just how much of a sick visit it would be. She has an ear infection in her left ear, and was working on getting one in her right ear. I had no idea! She didn't have a fever, wasn't pulling at her ear, and she slept through the night last night. (All classic symptoms I would guess, but this is my first experience with an ear infection.) So needless to say, she didn't get her vaccines (we'll go again in 2 weeks), but she did get a prescription for antibiotics and hydroxyzine. As of tonight, she's still her usual "getting into everything" self, but she looks pretty pitiful. I'm praying she'll get over this quickly. I haven't seen her this sick since she had RSV last Christmas.

As for me, I really need to make an appointment to see the eye doctor (I need to order some more contacts) but I think I'll wait until next week...

Ti's Surgery

Today has been a long day and it's only half over.

We had to be here at the UNC Hospital in Chapel Hill at 6:30 this morning for Ti's surgery, which was scheduled for 8:30. After after a little while in a holding area, they wheeled Ti back right on time, around 8:30. No more than 2 1/2 hours later, we heard from the doctor who performed the surgery. He told us that everything went well, that Ti's tumor/lesion was a very large one. The doctor didn't have to extract any teeth (that was a possibility), but the roots of some of his bottom teeth were exposed, so root canals may be in Ti's future. The doctor also said that it may take anywhere from 9 to 12 months for Ti's chin to return to "normal."

Ti is now in a semi-private room and will stay overnight. He looks pitiful, but is doing okay.

We are extremely grateful for all the prayers that have been prayed for Ti. I know that God has blessed him with a successful surgery and will continue to bless him as he recovers. God is good and He is worthy to be praised!

Happy Birthday to my big girl!

Julia turned four today, and as I have done for the past 2 years on her birthday, I am about to watch my videos of her coming home from the hospital. I love looking back on those first days as a mommy, even though they were pretty rough. When you're in the thick of changing diapers, you're losing sleep because of a screaming baby, and you're counting the hours between feedings, you want the time to pass more quickly and you wonder when and if it will ever get better. But then you're sitting in front of the tv watching home videos four years later wondering how the time flew by so quickly.
It makes me want to pay closer attention to each and every moment I spend with my family, to remember every laugh, every tear, and every hug. Because before I know it, I'll be throwing a 16th birthday party.
Happy birthday to my beautiful Julia Elizabeth.

He Lives Where?

A couple of nights ago, during our bedtime devotions, Julia and I were talking about how Jesus and God are the same Person. I told her, "Jesus and God and the Holy Spirit are all the same Person, Julia." And she said, "Oh, oh, oh! The Holy Spirit's the One Who lives in your tummy."

Giving Thanks

Thanksgiving this year turned out to be such a wonderful day! God has blessed us as a family in more ways than we will ever realize. For starters, he has blessed us with salvation and the promise of spending eternity in heaven with Him one day. He's also blessed us with each other. Ti is such a wonderful husband and father, and I couldn't ask for two sweeter, more beautiful daughters than Julia and Lily. God has also blessed us with health and with a happy home.
"Thank You, God, for all You have done. I will enter Your gates with thanksgiving and Your courts with praise. Thanks and praise be unto Your name, for You are good and Your love endures forever. Your faithfulness continues through all generations."

Family Vacation Recap

We are back from our best family vacation yet. We left on Thursday, November 12, and drove down to Orlando, Florida to spend four days at Disney World. We had such a great time there! The weather was wonderful! I always think that the weather's perfect when you don't really notice the weather, and that's how it was. Not too cold, not too hot. I think 80 degrees was the hottest it got.
On Friday, we went to Hollywood Studios. We were able to meet characters from Little Einstein, Handy Manny, and (probably Julia's favorite) Mater and Lightning McQueen from the movie Cars. We ended our time there watching the parade.
On Saturday, we went to Animal Kingdom, which is like a zoo and a theme park rolled into one. We went on a (quite bumpy) safari ride and saw elephants, giraffes, ostriches, lions, and hippos. Lily fell asleep. While at the park, we met Mickey, Minnie, Goofy, Donald, and a few other characters. We ended our day with a parade there as well.
On Sunday, we went to Magic Kingdom. Lily wasn't a very happy camper, because all she wanted to do was get out of the stroller and walk around. (Can you blame her? Everybody else was doing it.) After seeing a parade and getting lunch, we went back to our resort and dropped off Lily and Ti's parents, then took Julia back to Magic Kingdom. We rode "It's a Small, Small World," the Peter Pan ride, the carousel, and the teacups. We also met Cinderella, Belle, and Aurora.
On Monday, we went back to Magic Kingdom. We got a few family pictures, rode a few rides (Julia rode her first roller coaster!), then took Lily and ReRe back to the resort. We brought Julia back after lunch and stayed through until the Spectromagic Parade at night and the fireworks over the castle. It really was beautiful!
We left Orlando on Tuesday and drove to Albany, Georgia, where Lily was finally able to meet her great-grandma. Later we went to Ti's Nanny and PaPa's house so we could see the Barnhill side of the family.
On Wednesday, we went to lunch at Sonny's (one of Ti's favorite restaurants), then took a "nature walk" around Pop and ReRe's yard (it's really big and woodsy--right up Julia's alley). We then went to see Ti's grandma once more before leaving to travel back to NC. There was still more family to see before leaving Albany, though. We paid a visit to Ti's oldest brother's house, where Julia and Lily got to see their cousins, Dallas and Riley. We also stopped by Ti's sister's house, where Julia and Lily got to see their other cousins, Griffin and Daniel. We stopped by Pop and ReRe's new property on the lake before heading to Atlanta to spend the night.
And finally on Thursday (one week later) we made our trek back to Greenville. The car ride wasn't easy, and there was quite a bit of tension at times, but it was all worth it. We'll just stay at home for a while, though. (until our next 10 hour car ride to Albany in April...)

Christmas already?

I don't know how you are, but I just love Christmas and everything having to do with Christmas. I think I could listen to Christmas music, stare at Christmas lights, and buy Christmas gifts for people all year long. Well, the last one might be easier (and cheaper) said than done. I just LOVE Christmas and all the family traditions that come with it. Such as...driving around looking at lights, putting up the tree and recalling every memory about every ornament, wrapping presents, baking Christmas cookies...the list goes on and on. It's even taken on a whole new excitement now that I have children. I love starting new traditions with them, but I also love passing down traditions that my parents started with me when I was little.

I especially love telling Julia the Christmas story. (Lily doesn't quite understand now, of course, but she loves playing with the Little People Nativity set!) When you've heard it so many times as an adult, and you read it again and again, year after year, you tend to skip over some of the wonderful details. It's so great to tell the story of Jesus' birth to a 4 year old. As I was doing just that this morning, I was telling her the part about there being no room for Joseph and Mary in the inn so they had to stay in the stable. I could see that she didn't quite understand what all that really meant, so I explained it this way: "It's the same as if we went to Disney World and stopped at the hotel we're planning to stay at and they told us there were no more rooms for us to sleep in. Where would we go?" Julia replied, "To the other hotel."

I love it.

The countdown begins...

One week left until we leave for our Disney vacation!!! I know Julia's really excited about it but, truthfully, so am I. We'll be in the parks from the 13th until the 16th, then we'll drive back up to Albany to visit with Ti's family for a couple of days. This will be Lily's first trip to Albany, which means she's never met the Barnhill/Brewer side of the family. I've got so much planning and packing to do!

Happy Halloween!

The moon was full, the air was sticky, and the fog was thick, but the Barnhill family went trick or treating for the first time tonight! We weren't planning on it, really. We were just planning on going to a neighbor's house or two, but the more houses we went to, the longer we wanted to keep going. Lily really enjoyed herself, even though she wasn't in costume and she didn't get any candy. She just smiled, laughed, and waved. Julia had such a good time! She said "trick or treat" and "thank you" right on cue. My favorite quote of the night from her, though, was when she said, "Mama, this is the night of trick or treating!"

It's a Boy!

I can't tell you how excited I am to officially be an aunt! I found out yesterday that Brian and Jenny are having a boy! Julia is already talking about how her new cousin is coming to her house. I'm not sure that she really "gets it" or if she has any idea how long it's going to be, but I know she's excited about it. I'm already thinking about all the things I want to buy for him. I can't wait!

Infant no more...

Lily is officially a toddler! She took her first steps about a month ago, so I was thinking that by now she would be running around the house. But after those first few steps, Lily had no intention of walking alone. She would draw her legs up and fuss everytime we would try to get her to practice. She was perfectly content to "cruise" along the wall and furniture.
But ever since last week, something has changed in her. She is now walking all the way across the room, all the way down the hall, and all through the kitchen. It's a good thing those diapers are so cushy, because she falls down on her bottom A LOT.

Questions

If you've ever met Julia, you know one thing she loves to do is talk. Talk, talk, talk... I'm willing to bet she asks about a million questions going to and from school. "Why is that dog in that car, Mama?" "What does that truck do, Mama?" "Did you see that airplane, Mama?" "Does that plane look the same as the one we rode on to Uncle Matt and Aunt Beth's wedding?" "Where are we going after school, Mama?" "Where are we going after home, Mama?" "Where are we going after church, Mama?" "Where are we going after that, Mama?" "Why did you say 'Oh my goodness', Mama?"
On and on and on it goes...
I know it may sound like I'm complaining, but trust me, I'm not. I don't think I'll ever get tired of hearing her ask me questions or just talking to me.
It reminds me of myself when I was young asking my dad questions. I distinctly remember thinking, "How does he know everything about everything?!"
I know that I'd better cherish this time in Julia's life, because all too soon, she'll be a teenager and she'll think I don't know anything!

Happy (Early) Birthday, Dear Lily

In honor of little Miss Lily Madelyn, I've posted some pictures from the past. Hard to believe it's been a whole year since we first met Lily, isn't it? She's grown so fast!

As I predicted...

Lily has taken her first steps!!! (See the video above.) She's been standing on her own quite a bit lately, so I knew it was only a matter of time before she would take that first step. I'm so proud!! Don't you just love watching your children grow and learn?

Just a Thought...

What if everytime I tried to spend time with my girls or tried to talk to them, they completely ignored me or acted too busy? Isn't that how I sometimes act in my relationship with God?

Bloom

I'm starting something this week that I'm really excited about. I'm participating in a (huge!) group study on the book, Crazy Love, by Francis Chan. Ti read this book a while back and was really encouraged by it. In fact, for a while, all I heard from him was "Francis Chan" this and "Crazy Love" that... (just kidding Ti)
A little background...after our last girls' Bible study, my friend Tiffany was telling me about a blog she was reading (I love to read blogs!), entitled "Bring the Rain." It sounded interesting, so I checked it out. I kid you not, I spent hours reading this blog! It's like a good book. I couldn't put it down! The author, Angie Smith, is the wife of one of the singers for the group, Selah. She has an amazing testimony! Just be sure to have a few tissues handy if you decide to read her story!
Fast forward to now...I keep up with her regular blog, and she and a friend have decided to host a group book study on this book, Crazy Love. I just now have finished listening to their video post on the discussion of Chapter one.
If you ever get a chance, even if you don't participate in a group study, please pick up this book and read it. After reading the first chapter today and watching the videos that go along with it (there's a main website that goes along with the actual book.), I just sat and wept. I got a fresh reminder of the greatness and awesomeness of our God. He is SO big, and I am SO small, yet He loves me more than I can imagine. HE loves ME. What an awesome truth.
If you want to participate in the study too, (anyone can!!) there's a link to both sites on the right of my page. Bloom is the book study website (this particular link takes you to my page inside the main "Bloom" site, but you can click on "main" to create your own page and also see what everyone else is discussing), and Bring the Rain is Angie's personal website, where you can go back in to her archives and read her personal testimony.
Have a great week everybody! I'm so excited!

Long Week

For some reason, this seems to have been a really long week. I even "had the day off" on Monday. My friend, Laura, asked me if I wanted to go shopping with her in Raleigh. So Ti kept the girls for me, while I hit almost every Target in the Raleigh area. I have no idea why going to Target is so fun to me, but it's just something about those clearance deals on the end caps that really catches my eye. I was able to get Julia some much-needed fall clothes for school, as well as a book that helps teach her how to use scissors. It's so funny to me to watch her mouth as she cuts out the little pictures.
So, back to the long week...Julia, of course, was out of school on Monday for Labor Day, then on Tuesday, she came down with a fever. Her first words when she awoke on Tuesday were "Mama my nose is stuffy." She had about a 100-101 degree fever all day, so I gave her ibuprofen before putting her to bed that night. She acted completely normal all day, by the way. (If there's one thing I've learned about kids and colds, it's that the way they act is a huge indicator of whether or not you take them to the doctor. When I first had Julia, I thought you only went by the number on the thermometer.) When she got up on Wednesday, there was no fever, no stuffy/runny nose. But (according to the rules) I couldn't take her to school. So we stayed home all day. When I stop to think about it, I'm so thankful for the way God designed our bodies. There is no telling what Julia's immune system was fighting off. Thank You, Lord, for our health. All too often, we take it for granted.
On to Thursday...the girls and I were home all day, except for the children's crusade at church that night. That lasted until about 8:30-8:45 pm.
Then today we had school, lunch with the visiting children's ministers, naps, and another night at church. Now that I've written it out, I feel kind of wimpy that I said it was a long week. When I look back on the "long" week I've had, I can start to see all the blessings that are there.
For example:
*Neither I nor my girls had to visit any type of doctor for any reason this week.
*Ti had to visit the doctor in Chapel Hill, but his tumor is benign.
*There wasn't one meal (or snack time!) that any member of my family went without food or water.
*Everytime I went to take a shower, I had running hot water.
*I was able to go to church (5 times already this week), read my Bible and pray, with no fear of persecution.
*I have heard the beautiful sound of both of my girls' laughter this week.
These are just a few of the many, many ways God has blessed me just this week. "Isn't He good? Hasn't He done what He said He would? All that we have, all that we are, comes from above."
One last thing. If you think about it, please pray for me as I prepare to lead our next girls' Bible study on September 17th. I feel really inadequate, and I'm not that big on talking in front of others, but I know God will give me what I need to say.
"May the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be pleasing in Your sight, O Lord, my Rock and my Redeemer." Psalm 19:14

First Day of School, etc.

Tomorrow is Friday, and this will wrap up Julia's first week back to school. She still loves it just as much as she did last year! Here's a recap of this past Monday (the first day back):
Ti and I both wanted to take Julia to school so we could take pictures, video, etc. So what's the weather like on Monday? Rain, rain, rain. I really don't mind the rain, it just sometimes makes getting out more of a hassle. (You never realize just how much of a hassle until you have to buckle kids in their carseats.) So we're getting everybody out of the car, it's pouring rain, and Julia somehow falls on her behind. She starts crying, not because her rear end hurts, but because it's wet. (I really can't say that I blame her, though. I wouldn't want to walk into school the first day looking like I had wet my pants.) Of course since this is preschool, we have to pack Julia an extra set of clothes in her bag, which came in mighty handy. We changed her clothes, and she was as good as new.
After we shot a few pictures, Julia asked me if we had to leave. For a split second I thought she was being sentimental, but I asked her, "Do you want us to leave?" To which she quickly replied, "yes." Ah, that's my Julia. (Check out the pictures above in "First Day of School.")
For this first week, we have to actually walk Julia into school to her classroom, but after this week is over, I can just drop her off under the shelter and someone will come and get her out of the car. So rain won't be a problem anymore. (This is also the way I pick her up.) You know, this process makes me feel old, because not long ago (only about 10 years ago!) I was waiting in line to pick up someone else's kids from school as a babysitting job in college. Can I say it again? Time flies. Sometimes I think that should be the title of my blog. :)
Miss Lily will turn 11 months next week, and she is starting to stand alone for a few seconds at a time. I'm afraid it won't be long before I'm posting a video entitled Lily's First Steps. She has four teeth now, two on bottom and two on top, and she is constantly grinding them. It makes me cringe to think about it. I'm sure she'll stop once the "newness" of her teeth wears off. In addition to putting a telephone to her ear (to pretend she's talking on it), she's also putting a brush to her hair to pretend she's brushing it. She also now puts a bottle and her pacifier to a baby doll's mouth. And Ti and I will both tell you it sounded like she said "baby" the other day. It really won't be long before she's chattering right along with Julia.

My Sweet Jumpin' Monkeys

My title may be a little misleading. Let me explain...
This morning, we took a little trip to a place in town called "The Jumpin' Monkey." It's a wonderful place, really, where several "moon bouncer" type inflatable things are set up for your kids to jump on. It's only $4 an hour, and for a limited time, they get a free bag of popcorn. Awesome.
So we set out to jump this morning at 11:00. We met Beth and Brooklyn there, and everyone was psyched. Until we got inside. Julia didn't want to jump. On anything. She spent most of the hour playing in the area where the toddler toys were.
Lily, on the other hand, did want to jump. And she got her chance. There's this cool inflatable in the corner of the room that's for toddlers ages 2 and under. She crawled, bounced, fell, and crawled around some more. She really enjoyed herself.
It's so odd, the last time Julia went to The Jumpin' Monkey, it was the week after Lily was born, and she jumped and crawled around on every inflatable. Yet this time, I couldn't have paid her to get on one. I actually tossed her up on one inflatable. She dramatically protested, and I had to get her back down.
So...back to my title...
Maybe it should be "My Sweet Jumpin' Monkey and My Sweet Finicky Preschooler"
PS-Check out the pictures and video from today!

Day to Day Stuff

The Barnhill's have been here, there, and yonder, but now we're finally settled back at home. The summer is quickly coming to an end, and Julia will soon start school again. Don't think for a moment that that is bad news for her, though. Her first day back at school couldn't come soon enough! She loved school last year, and I'm praying she'll enjoy it just as much this year. She'll be in the 3 year old class, going three days a week this time, instead of two. I'm excited for her. I just love her school and everything about it. On a questionnaire the teacher sent home last year, I commented that I only wished that they would start an elementary and high school so Julia could finish her schooling there. I really love it that much! I'm thankful that the Lord led us there.
Lily is quickly nearing her first birthday, October 7. I absolutely cannot believe how fast this year has gone by! I'm truly thankful for every single moment. (A quick update on Lily...tonight I discovered that her two top front teeth have come through!)

Seven Wonderful Years

Happy Anniversary to me and Ti! It's been 7 years today since we tied the knot. Time really has flown by, and for some reason, it seems like I'm so much older than what I was on August 3, 2002. A lot has happened since then.
We got married on August 3 of 2002 in Kinston, NC, then took a wonderful honeymoon cruise to the Western Caribbean. Our first home was in Nashville, TN, where Ti finished his last year of college and was a part time youth pastor at Cofer's Chapel FWB Church. I found a full time job at a company that created gift cards in Franklin, TN. Then, on August 3 of 2003, we moved from Nashville into an apartment in Greenville, NC, where Ti became the full time youth pastor at our current church, Temple FWB Church. I worked full time for a week at ECU as an admin assistant, but it wasn't a fit for me, so I resigned and started another job hunt. In October, I became the part time secretary at Unity FWB Church in Greenville, and absolutely loved it! Things stayed pretty much the same until the beginning of September of the following year, when Ti and I moved into our first "official" home. It's a cute little house, and it fitted (still fits) our needs perfectly.
In November of 2004, we were privileged to be able to fly to Hawaii with Ti's parents and Brian and Jenny for a week long vacation. Some people may not think it's that big of a deal to go to Hawaii, but I do. We had such a fun time. I won't ever forget that trip.
Now...2005 changed the course of "Life With The Barnhills" forever. In March of that year, I became pregnant. My pregnancy was a breeze, really. No morning sickness, no varicose veins, no weird cravings. In October, I resigned as secretary at Unity and became a stay-at-home-mom two months early. And just like the pregnancy, the labor and delivery was a breeze, too. I was induced at approximately 1:00 pm on December 19 of 2005 (my due date), and at 8:20 pm, Miss Julia Elizabeth Barnhill was born.
When I was pregnant, people would casually say that my life was about to change, blah, blah, blah...But no one IN NO WAY can ever prepare you for how your life changes when you bring a newborn home. IT AFFECTS EVERYTHING. EVERYTHING!! Needless to say, our lives changed that year, but boy did they change for the better. Nothing compares to the joy you experience when you see that first little smile, hear that first laugh, or change that first poopy diaper. (just kidding on that last one.) We had many, many, many wonderful experiences as a new family of 3 in 2006 and we have the pictures to prove it. (Thank goodness for digital cameras!) The good times continued to roll on through 2007, and then in January of 2008, it happened. I became pregnant with our second child. This pregnancy wasn't as smooth, but comparatively speaking, it could have been a lot worse. At 18 weeks, we found out by ultrasound that we were having another little girl, (Yay!) but we also found out that she had a few choroid plexus cysts on her brain. This could have been a marker for a chromosomal disorder such as Downs or Trisomy 18, but, to God be the glory, there were no other indications on the ultrasound that she had either of these. We prayed and waited until I had another ultrasound at 23 weeks, where we found out that the cysts had completely disappeared! Even before she was born, God had already done an amazing miracle in my daughter's life.
My second labor and delivery went fairly smoothly too. I was induced on October 7, 2008 (the day before my due date) at 7:00 am, and at 3:13 pm, Miss Lily Madelyn Barnhill was born. By the way, nothing anyone ever says to you can EVER prepare you for how your life will change when you have another baby. EVERYTHING CHANGES AGAIN!! Maybe I'm a wimp, but it really took me a while to get adjusted to life with two little ones. Julia was freshly potty trained (maybe freshly isn't the best word to describe it), but she was still very dependant on me. Needless to say, Julia became a very independant little 3 year old. (We're so proud!) In December of 2008, (yes, right at Christmas time) Lily became very sick with RSV. Some children have to be hospitalized when they get this virus, but thankfully it never got that far with Lily. She, of course, recovered, and was healthy when we rang in the new year--2009.
Fast forward to now...August 3, 2009... (Sorry this post was so incredibly long.) I journaled it all simply to say that God has truly blessed me and Ti in our marriage, in more ways than I can count. I just can't imagine how many memories I'll be able to look back on when we're both 100! :)

Family Vacation

Well...we survived our first official family vacation. We stayed for a week in Myrtle Beach, SC, and when I say we went to the beach, I mean we went to the pool. Julia has this phobia of the sand, and will not stand on it. It doesn't matter if it's hot, warm, cool, cold, wet, or dry. She just does not like sand. But she loves the pool. Thank goodness our resort had one. And, boy, was it a good one! It had a lazy river, a small pool that gradually reached a depth of 1 1/2 feet, and a pool that had all sorts of water spraying everywhere. (Julia liked to walk the perimeter only of that particular pool.) It really was fun. Lily even got in the small short pool and splashed around. That girl loves the water!
We also visited the aquarium on our vacation, and a place called Broadway on the Beach. For those of you who aren't familiar with Myrtle Beach, Broadway on the Beach is a huge outdoor shopping area, with tons of restaurants and shops. You could really walk around all day at that place. We actually went two separate days, the first of which my dad bought Julia tickets to ride the rides. She loves rides! I'm so glad! She and I rode some of the rides together--the carousel and the tea cups. The tea cups were her favorite, I think. (I can't wait to ride the tea cups at Disney World in November!) The age Julia's at is such a fun age...except when she throws a tantrum...that's not so much fun. She is such a sweetheart, though. And she's so funny. I just love my Julia.
We ended up going to the beach one time. (HA!) You know, because of Julia's whole sand thing. We were there maybe 20 minutes, took pictures, then left. Lily had a great first time seeing the beach, though! She seemed to not mind the sand at all (when I put her feet down in it), and laughed at the water lapping at her little feet. She's probably going to be Julia's opposite. That's okay. They both already have their own unique little personalities.
All in all, it was a great trip, but I now know what people mean when they say they need a vacation to get over their vacation! It's good to be home!

More Catching Up...

There's a lot to catch up on, so let's get started...
First of all, the sleep training (explained in my last post) has stuck with Lily. She is such a good sleeper now! Praise the Lord! She has also started snacking on Ritz crackers, and boy, does she love them! I just videoed her today with a cracker, so I'll be posting that later. It's pretty funny, as all of her videos are. She's just a funny kid. She's also experienced her first Independence Day (see album above), and has been in the pool a few times. She LOVES being in the water! I've got high hopes for our beach vacation next week! :)
Also, get this...Julia has started to write her name!!!! I was so amazed the first time I saw her do it. I'm SO proud of her!!! I actually got her to write it really big on a piece of paper, then I dated it and put it in her baby book. Another first for her...we went to the movie theater together! The theater here has a children's program in the summer where you can get in to see older animated movies for only $1! There's also $1 popcorn and drinks. We saw Madagascar. I just love doing stuff with my big girl! Speaking of which, Julia and I just returned from a "big girl" trip to a waterpark in Williamsburg, Virginia, called Great Wolf Lodge. We were invited to go by some friends of ours at church. WE LOVED IT! I've posted a few pictures of Julia enjoying the water. She's still wearing her armband that you have to wear to go in and out of the park. She doesn't want to take it off!
I think that's all for now. Our next big adventure is our family vacation to Myrtle Beach, SC. Come to think of it, I think it's our first official family vacation as a family of four. I know it will be Lily's first time at the beach. Rest assured, there will be plenty of pictures and videos taken!

SLEEP!!!

After almost 9 months of little to no sleep, all four of the Barnhills are finally getting a FULL night's sleep! With Ti gone on his mission trip, I thought it would be the perfect time to "train" Lily to sleep through the night. She strongly opposed at the beginning, but she didn't take long at all to get the hang of it.

As you may know, we were rocking Lily to sleep for her naps and bedtime. There's absolutely nothing wrong with that, and it's very sweet and enjoyable, but babies come to expect it every time they wake up and need to go back to sleep. So needless to say, Ti and I were getting up sometimes 4 and 5 times a night. Most of the time, it would take giving Lily some milk to get her to go back to sleep. This made for very long nights, and everybody was tired the next day. (Except Julia, of course, she slept through it all.) So, we started the "training" the day before Ti left for his trip.

For the first nap, Lily cried 1 hour before she finally went to sleep. That was brutal. I didn't just leave her in there for a solid hour by herself, though, thank you very much. I would check on her after 10 minutes, then 15, then 20, etc. (This was what worked for Julia.) After this initial "cold turkey" episode (with no rocking), the longest she cried was 20 minutes, then 10. If she woke up during the night, I would only go in after 10 minutes, then 20, etc. until she went back to sleep. But since I've started this whole process, I've only had to go in to check on her during the night maybe twice. Tomorrow will be 2 weeks.

Now Lily sleeps from 7:30 to 7:30--yep, a 12 hour stretch with no rocking, no milk, nothing. Just sweet, sweet sleep. Thank You, Lord.

Happy Father's Day!

Today is Father's Day, and I just couldn't let it go by without saying a huge thank you to all the dads in my life.

First of all, my dad...Words can't express how thankful I am for such a godly Christian father. Not only did he work tirelessly and sacrifice to provide everything I ever needed--food, clothes, shelter, a Christian education--he also consistently taught me about Jesus and what it means to live the Christian life. I always have been so proud of my dad, and every day it seems like he's doing something else that makes me even prouder. My daughters are so fortunate to live so close to their "Papa" and to be able to see so much of him. I know they love him so much, and so do I. I love you Daddy!

Secondly, my father-in-law...Even though I've only known him for the few years I've been married, I have definitely grown to love and admire Mr. Dan. He sacrifices so much for his family and for his country, and I am so proud to call him my father-in-law. I absolutely love to watch Julia and Lily when "Pop" comes to visit. They love being with him so much! Julia loves being called Pop's "little rabbit." We love you, Pop!

And last, but certainly not least, Ti...I can't even begin to express how thankful I am for such a wonderful husband to me and father to our children. Ti is so involved in Julia and Lily's lives. From changing diapers, to giving baths, to reading at bedtime, to getting up at 2:00 am..."Daddy" has done it all. And you will never hear him complain about it either. (I have so much to learn from him!) He is such a devoted, loving, giving father, and it's obvious that it comes so naturally to him. I love to watch the girls (especially Lily now) when Daddy comes home for lunch. They run to him as soon as he walks in the door. (Well, Lily crawls as fast as she can!) I know with work at church and his school work, it can be hard to balance out time with the family, but Ti works hard to be home and spend time with us. And I know that the girls can't fully appreciate it now, but one day, they will be so thankful that their Daddy took the time to push them on the swing or read them a book or play "food and dishes" with them. I know it means so much to me. So I say all that to say this...I am so thankful for you, Ti, and I know Julia and Lily are too. We love you so much! Happy Father's Day, Daddy!

Out With the Old...

This weekend marked the beginning of the end of the "baby era" for the Barnhill family. We went through Lily's (formerly Julia's) "old" clothes and had a yard sale. I was really surprised at how much clothing this one tiny little person had accumulated. Also, it's strange, but even though you know it's so impractical to keep all those little clothes, there's a small part of you that wants to hold on to every last stitch of clothing they ever wore. I think that it's because there's a memory attached to each sleeper, each sock, each dress, even each stained bib. A memory that you never, ever want to forget. Because even though having an infant at home can be so physically draining, you wouldn't trade any moment for all the money in the world. Moments like rocking them to sleep, giving them a bottle, seeing them smile, hearing them laugh... *Sigh* Nonetheless, in case you're wondering, we are selling all those clothes, except for a few extremely sentimental outfits. Those will be the ones I keep and pull out when I have an "I miss having a little baby" moment. However, I know that there are so many more wonderful memories yet to be made in the Barnhill home.

Applause!!

Just thought I'd let everyone know that Lily's clapping now...I'm trying my best to get a video of her little chubby hands in action, but it's easier said than done.

Summertime

I can't believe it's June already! In just a few days, Lily will be 8 months old, and Julia will be 3 1/2 years old. I know I've said it about a million times already, but, time flies!!!
Julia is starting to really realize that school is out for the summer. Today she told me that she missed school and she wanted to go. I miss it too, to tell you the truth. It was just a good experience for everyone involved. Well, I can't really speak for Julia's teachers, but I can speak for all the Barnhills. Julia got to play with other children, do crafts, sing songs, and play on the playground, and I got to have a few hours (almost) to clean house, etc. I'm researching, though, to find interesting summer things for us to do together in the next few months. For example, I'm looking into swimming lessons at the aquatics center and storytimes at the local library and bookstore. If anybody else has any ideas as to what we can do, please let me know!

Catching up

I have got to keep up better with this blog! There are so many things to update!
First of all, Julia is officially on her first "summer break." She had such a great first school year. I hope next year goes just as smoothly. I was speaking one day after school with Lucas' grandmother (Lucas, as you may know was Julia's friend at school.), and she told me that his mother had signed him up for the MWF 3 year old's class as well. So maybe Julia and Lucas will be in the same class again. I know Julia would love that.
Since the ending of school, we've kind of been sticking close to home. We're still a little bound by Lily's routine. But she's going longer in between naps now, so maybe soon we girls will be able to get out more.
Speaking of Lily...WOW. She has done so many new things this month. Crawling, pulling up (on everything!!), saying mama and dada...these are just a few of the things I've been able to write on her little calendar in the month of May. She has also now gotten her two bottom front teeth. I'm almost sure she's working on some more teeth (two front top?), because she's been extremely irritable today. So that's her latest accomplishments in a nutshell. Keep watching for new videos to see the latest on Lily and Julia!

Our Family Day Out and Another Milestone for Lily

Ti had the day off yesterday, so we decided to visit River Park North, the nature center here in town. Julia really loves the outdoors and all that goes with it, so you know she enjoyed herself. Lily seemed to enjoy the day, too. There was a 10,000 gallon aquarium and a turtle touch tank, as well as live snakes (behind glass!) and stuffed animal displays. After seeing everything inside, we walked around outside and threw some rocks in the river. Julia just loves to pick up rocks and throw them in the water. She still keeps her distance, though, from bugs and from sand. There was some sand underneath the playground equipment there at the park, and Julia wanted Ti to carry her so she wouldn't have to walk in it. She had her Crocs on, and the sand would seep in the holes and she did NOT like it. I hope she does better at the beach this summer!
Later in the day we visited a place called Frenchman's Creek, where there are ducks that you can feed. I got lots of video of Julia there. She really enjoyed those ducks! Check out the videos of her that I posted today. She's so funny.
As for Lily, she has cut her first tooth! It's one of the bottom front teeth. She's been extremely fussy over the past few days. So there's more fun to come in the next few months!

Our New Camera!

We got a new camera today!!! It's so fun and easy to use! I've already added two new videos to the site. Rest assured, there will be many, many more to come!

I can't keep up!

Wow! It seems like Lily's doing a new "trick" every day now! Yesterday, she got into a sitting position all by herself! I think she might turn out to be my little climber. (Uh oh...) Also, I've been wrestling with trying to post more up-to-date videos on my share site, but neither our dvd camcorder nor our pc will cooperate. So I'm thinking of selling a few things around the house and saving up for a digital camcorder. Then it'll be so much easier to upload videos so everybody can see Lily and Julia's new tricks.

We're Crawling!

Yep, yesterday Lily finally decided to crawl! I think she's been trying for about a month or two now, but yesterday she finally put two and two together and did it! Like Julia, she's starting out with the "army man" crawl, but hey, they both have an army man in the family, so they're probably just trying to make their Pop proud!

And the winner is.....mamamamamama!

I think Lily has said her "first word!" Sort of. Today she started saying mama(mamamamamama, to be exact). It may not technically be a word, but it's close enough for me! I'm sure I'll hear it a million more times in the coming years, but it is so sweet to hear for the first time. Julia, if you remember, said dadadadadada first, so I'm really excited that Lily chose my name for her first word! There's nothing else new to report, except that Ti finally sold his truck today. Speaking of today, we spent most of the afternoon and evening together as a family. I LOVE it when Ti is home and can spend time with us without interruption. And truth be told, I think Julia likes to play with Ti more than she likes to play with me. My feelings aren't hurt, though. I think it's so sweet. Even though Lily is as young as she is, we think that she is a "mama's girl" and Julia is a "daddy's girl." It's so amazing how different their little personalities are. And you can already tell that they really love each other. Lily loves to watch and laugh at Julia playing and running around. And any time we're out and another child is talking to or looking closely at Lily in her car seat, Julia makes sure to get down really close to Lily, almost as if to say, "she's mine." I am so thankful that God has blessed me with such a wonderful, caring husband and two beautiful, sweet, healthy daughters.

Venturing Out

I am so proud of myself and my girls! Today I actually got out of the house with both Lily and Julia by myself!!! I took them to JC Penney's and to Toys R Us, not just for the sake of going, of course, but because I had things to pick up. We got it all done in about an hour. The girls behaved themselves so well. Maybe this is the start of many more outings to come! Who knows? Maybe we'll head to the park one day, especially since the weather is warming up.

Do They Favor?

Check out my latest photo album entitled "Do They Favor?". I've wanted to create an album like this for a while now. See if you can see any resemblance in the girls. Ti and I see some, but they definitely have their own unique characteristics. I hope to add to this album over and over again. Please comment and tell me what you think!

Julia's "Milestone"

So Julia had a first this week...she had her first stomach virus. We were on our way home from having Lily's 6 month old pictures made (in Kinston!), when Julia tossed her cookies...actually her pancakes and maple syrup from breakfast. Thank the Lord Mimi was with us! We had to pull over into a gravel/dirt parking lot to clean/change Julia and do our best to clean the seat she had to sit in for the rest of the trip. Oh, and it was pouring rain! Of course! One of our first clues that Julia wasn't feeling well was when we asked her if she wanted any goldfish, and she said "no." When Julia Elizabeth Barnhill doesn't want goldfish, something is definitely wrong. She was puny for the rest of the day after we got home and gave her a bath, and actually fell asleep on the couch. She only threw up once more. This bug really wiped her out. Her fever reached 102 overnight, but we kept her on ibuprofen. Tonight, she is getting back to her normal, chatty self, so maybe this was just a 24 hour thing. I've been praying and asking God to keep Lily healthy, and so far, she's been fine (Thank You, Lord!!!!).
Speaking of Lily, she hasn't been sick, but she did have a well visit today at the doctor. Here are her stats: 16.11 lbs.(50-75th percentile), 26 1/4 inches tall (75-90th percentile), 17.5 inch head circ.(90-95th percentile). She did so good! She never fussed once, until she had to get her vaccinations. She had to get an oral vaccine, and at least 2 shots (I'm not sure if it was 2 or 3, I can't watch needles going in skin!). She did cry pretty hard, but not for long. She is so strong--just like her big sister. The doctor said she looks just perfect! Another blessing to thank the Lord for!

Happy Easter!

We had a great Easter Sunday yesterday! We Barnhill's were all decked out in our "new" duds--Daddy had a new tie, Mama had a new top, and Julia and Lily had fairly new dresses on. Julia and Lily looked so adorable, although I may be a little biased. I just love their big blue eyes and the way they show up so beautifully in the Easter pics. Julia racked up at the church Easter egg hunt, but she shared half of her eggs with Ana after the hunt was over. She's so sweet (most of the time!). After church, the family got together for lunch at our house, complete with a spiral ham. Everything was delicious! Both of the girls fared pretty well with a visit from the Easter bunny. Julia got her first "big" chocolate bunny, a book, a magnifying glass, and some Peeps. Lily got some new sippy cups (yes, we're introducing a sippy cup!), new paci's, new bibs, and a "magical" tea set. Wouldn't you know it, Julia went right for Lily's new tea set. (I can't blame her, it is pretty cute.)
Also, just as an update, Lily did well with her carrots, and now we're on to "greener pastures." We've tried all the orange/yellow veggies, so now we've moved on to the green ones. With the carrots, squash, and sweet potatoes, Lily made a funny face when she got her first bite, but with the peas, there was no funny face! I think the peas may be her favorite so far! She's also had her first taste of fruit juice, and she's now eating in a highchair. I can't believe how quickly she's growing up!

Carrots?...check!

Lily tried her third veggie today...carrots. She wanted more, but I'm just giving her a little at a time right now to see how her little tummy reacts. I've noticed that she opens and closes her mouth as a signal that she wants to eat or wants more food. It sort of reminds me of a fish. You know, those fish in ponds and lakes that you feed out of the quarter machine.

Happy "1/2" Birthday to Lily!

No long update today...just wanted to say that I cannot believe that 6 months have already passed since Miss Lily Madelyn was born!!!

Update

Wow! It's almost been a month since my last post, and so much has happened since then! Where do I begin?!? First of all, after a few weeks of only rice cereal, Lily has now ventured into the wonderful world of jarred baby food. So far, she's tried sweet potatoes and butternut squash. She liked both, although the sweet potatoes caused a unpleasant side effect, to put it mildly. I think we may try carrots in the next day or so. I can already tell Lily will be a more hearty eater than Julia. :)

We also took our first overnight trip as a family of four since my last post. We were invited by some friends of ours at church to spend the night at their house at Lake Gaston, NC, and although the trip was short, we had a great time. Julia got to play with Brooklyn (the Thomases also went), Lily slept marvelously in her Pack 'n' Play, and Ti and I got to play games with other adults! The view from the house was beautiful, even though it was pretty cold and cloudy outside. I may post a few pictures of it later this week.

Also, we had Lily dedicated at church last Sunday. All of the family was able to make it to the service, which made it extra special.

Lily is rolling over a lot more now, and is actually getting on her hands and knees and rocking back and forth, which I think is a sign that crawling is coming soon. I'm excited and anxious at the same time, for obvious reasons. She's going through a little clingy phase now, too.

Julia has her first school Easter egg hunt this Wednesday and I think it's going to be cold.

:( Oh well, she won't care. I'll probably take lots of pictures and post them later this week, too.

Well, I think that about covers it. More to come later!

Watch out...Lily's gettin' mobile!

So we've hit a few milestones this week--myself included. First of all, Lily had her first bite of "real food" last Saturday: rice cereal. (see pictures below in "Latest Lily Pics"). She did really well with it, although, to me, she acts as though she could care less if she gets it or not. (And just a side note, she is still not sleeping through the night even after we've given her cereal!!!) We'll be trying a veggie pretty soon, so that should be fun! Also, Lily has now proven that she can roll both ways (from back to tummy to back). Yesterday, she did this about 6 or 7 times, which means it won't be long before she's rolling all over the house! This was the way Julia got around when she was about 6-7 months old, too. It's pretty funny, because one minute you put them down on the floor on a blanket on their backs, then you turn around for another minute, and they're way across the room. They're quick little boogers. Also, Lily has started what I think to be early (emphasis on early) crawling. She puts her head down (while on her tummy) and brings her knees up and pushes herself forward. It's kind of a "scoot" really, but it's something! Like I said in the title, watch out, because she's going to be following her big sister all over the house soon!
Lily is also starting to show early signs of "babbling." I'm trying my hardest to get her to say "mama" first, but some people have told me that it's just natural for babies to say "dada" first. (?)
About my "milestone," I turned 29 yesterday, which means the big 3-0 is approaching fast. Yikes. That's way too close to the big 4-0 for me. I think I'll stay in my twenties, thank you very much.

Still trusting...

Well, today didn't go so hot for Lily or me. Lily woke up 45 minutes into her first nap, but I was able to get her back to sleep with not much difficulty. But the day only went downhill from there. The second nap only lasted 40 minutes, the third nap maybe lasted an hour (she was in the crib for two, if that tells you anything!). So, needless to say, when I gave her a bath and a bottle at 8:00, she had no trouble going to sleep. We'll see how the night goes. It's just so strange for her to behave this way when we had such a great day yesterday. Oh well. I know I need to keep praying and keep trusting in God. I have to ask Him for wisdom and trust that He will give it to me exactly when I need it. I don't know how anybody raises children without help from the Lord!
PS-Keep praying for me and for Lily!

One small step for Lily...one giant leap for Mama

So as you may know, we've been having trouble with Lily only taking 30-45 minute naps. She's been very persistent, to say the least, about not going back to sleep after her short naps, too. So we've been trying sort of a "cry it out" method. For example, we've been going in after 5 minutes, then 7, then 10, etc. etc. etc. until she goes back to sleep. So...to be honest, there's been a lot of crying in the Barnhill household! Until this morning...
Lily went back to sleep at 7:30 (she first woke up in her crib at about 6:15 am...early, I know, but both Lily and Julia have always been early risers) and has been sleeping ever since!!! It's now 9:10 am and she's still sleeping soundly!! Thank the Lord for small victories!
I'm reminded of the Scripture I read just yesterday in Exodus where God called Moses and Aaron to go to Pharaoh and tell him to let the Israelites go, and in turn, Pharaoh only made the Israelites work even harder. We know the rest of the story, though. The Israelites were finally let go, after God's miraculous power was shown over and over again through various plagues. So...what does that have to do with me? I think maybe sometimes God allows things to get worse before they get better so His glory and power may be revealed even greater. That's just my thought...
So if you're reading this, say a prayer for me and for Lily, that the good napping trend would continue, and that God would give me the wisdom to train up Lily and Julia in the way they should go.

Milestone: Julia visits the Dentist

Yes, we finally took Julia for her first check-up/teeth cleaning. Actually, Ti took her, so all my information comes from him! She did very well, as well as can be expected. She is only 3, you know! They put fluoride on her teeth, counted her teeth (she has 20!), and--here's the kicker--flossed her teeth. She did not like the flossing, I am told. I think one of the pictures tells the story best (see album above). All in all, she was very brave. I mean, I feel like crying when it's time for me to go to the dentist, how can I expect Julia to be any different? :)

Lily's Doctor Visit

Lily had her 4 month well visit today and I must say, she handled it marvelously! She did have to get 3 immunizations, only 2 of which were shots. (The third was an oral/liquid vaccine.) She only cried for a few seconds, then it was over! What a strong little lady! An update on her "stats": she now weighs 14.2 pounds (almost double her birth weight!), and she is 24.5 inches tall. The doctor says she looks great! Praise the Lord for such a healthy baby girl!

Catching up...

It's been a few days/weeks since my last post, so I'm going to try to get this up-to-date in one post...
Two weekends ago, Ti and I got to "get away" for an overnight trip. It was a surprise for me, but what an awesome surprise it was!!! We got to dine at The Melting Pot (which is one of my all-time favorite restaurants!). Then the night was free for us to do whatever we wanted! I have said recently that I miss the days in college where you could just decide at the last minute that you want to go to Krispy Kreme (at 11:00 pm!), and you could actually go! So Ti and I got to go to SuperTarget and just look as long as we wanted, then we went to Starbucks and ordered hot chocolate. The next day we got to do one of my all-time favorite pastimes--shopping!! (I'm not sure Ti was as excited about it as I was, but he didn't act bored!) We shopped at the mall and headed home around 4:00 on Saturday. By the way, my parents kept the girls at home. I am so blessed to have my parents and brothers and sisters-in-law living close by!!
Speaking of the girls...Lily just turned 4 months old this past Saturday! Hard to believe, I know. Time seems to pass by even more quickly now. She's doing all sorts of new "tricks" now, too. She just gave us her first real laugh last week, she smiles and coos all the time, and she's almost rolling over from her back to her belly. At the end of the month, we'll probably start her on cereal and solid foods. Now that is hard to believe!!!
Julia is still loving preschool. In fact, I just pre-registered her for next year's preschool class this past Saturday. She'll be going on Mondays, Wednesdays, AND Fridays in the fall. I have no doubt that she'll love it just the same. Her teacher told me today that her friend, Lucas, was not at school today, but it was okay, because she seems to have taken up with another friend named Hunter. (I hope this doesn't mean we're going to have lots of boy problems when she's a teenager!!!) She gives out her first valentines and has her party this Wednesday. She keeps asking me, "Mama, is it Valentimes Day?" I love how she pronounces things.
Ti has been out of town for a Pastor's Conference in Jacksonville, FL for the past few days, but will return on Wednesday, THANK THE LORD!!! Really, being by myself with the girls hasn't been as bad as I thought it would be. Probably because my mom and brother and sister-in-law are here to help me at night. AGAIN...I am so thankful to have my family close by!
Finally, on a totally seperate, unrelated note, I came across a quote that I liked in my devotional book last week:
"More than some of the time, God does things in the oddest ways with the least likely people under the most implausible circumstances--all so that you will realize the work is fully His accomplishment and none of your own."
Have a great day!!

Brrrrrr!!!!

Well, we finally got a decent snow here in eastern NC. I think we may have gotten an average of 4 inches here in Greenville, although Ti measured 7 inches in one spot in our backyard! Julia has had a blast playing with her daddy out in the snow yesterday and today. She loves to hear it crunch beneath her boots. She sledded down our backyard hill and helped Daddy build a snowman today--and I snapped tons of pictures, as you can tell by the "Snow Day 2009" album above. Every time we try to get Lily bundled up to go out, it's time for her nap, so that's why there are no pictures of her out in the snow.
The overnight trip we had planned for Tuesday and Wednesday was canceled, of course, because of the snow. We were kind of disappointed, but excited about the weather all at the same time. Maybe God knew we weren't ready for an overnight trip yet! :) Oh well, there'll be other opportunities later, I'm sure.

Whew!

That's what we always feel like saying after Sundays are over. They are always so busy, with Ti being a youth pastor and me being a church pianist. We got the opportunity to go out with some friends for lunch and dinner yesterday and share some laughs, which was nice. Julia always has to go potty right when I'm getting ready to eat my meal though. :) Funny how she always picks that precise moment. I'm just thankful she's potty trained! And Lily cried off and on until I took her out of the carrier, then she was all smiles. Stinker! You can't help but love those two girls!
Ti sang "Crucified With Christ" yesterday morning in church and did a beautiful job. That's such a great song with such powerful lyrics.
The only other news here is that we are probably going to be taking our first overnight trip as a family of four next week. We'll see how it goes! Stay tuned!

A Normal Life?

Yes, life is slowly returning to somewhat of a normal life after the birth of our second bundle of joy, Lily Madelyn. When Ti and I look back over the last three months, we both agree, it's been a long three months, but we both also agree wholeheartedly that God has blessed us abundantly above all we could ever imagine. He has given us two beautiful, healthy girls, and we can't ever thank him enough.
Lily is doing great after a short bout with RSV over Christmas. She was such a trooper! And Julia has returned to preschool after a lengthy Christmas break. She was ready to see her friends again (especially Lucas!).
We've recently started going through a new family devotional book at night before Julia's bedtime. It's so refreshing to be able to sit down with each other after a busy day and read God's Word and teach Julia (and one day, Lily) all about our wonderful Savior. Tonight's devotion was about how sin came into the world and how God redeems us. Isn't it amazing how children just take it all in without any questioning or skepticism. I love it.