Merry Christmas!

I'm back on the blog! At least for a little while. My parents flew in to spend a week in Lewisburg over Christmas and they kept me busy. That, and we are getting ready to move next week! Not that we have to do much packing (just clothes and things we want at the hotel). But we did have the first showing of our home today and frantically cleaned and straightened and went for the best possible "model home" look we could give the place. I must admit, though it is a pain, we are pretty darn good usually at showings. Someone should hire me for that stuff.

Anyway, back to our little Christmas celebration. It was pretty quiet this year, with just the 5 of us here. I forgot to upload all the pictures from my mom's camera, and since I rely on her so much for photo taking, I don't have quite so many. But here goes.

My nativity scene. Not sure if I've ever posted this before, but it might be one of the coolest things I own. Someone brought it back from Africa to my great-grandmother, who gave it to me when I was a baby.

The Christmas Morning Biscuit Trifecta. Apple butter, blueberry jam, and honey. Did you hear? I totally made these from scratch. :) It's so fun for me to make special breakfasts on holidays. Ones that you don't eat very often and are usually not very healthful.

Noah playing with his wooden shape sorter I got from FAO Schwarz.

This shot is here so you can fully view the Christmas PJs that we picked up at the outlet mall in Round Rock. It's supposed to be Santa, not Mr. Incredible.

Trying desperately to get some good shots in the Santa suit.

Proof that my mom was here. Just a hand though.

What are we doing, Mom? It's cold outside!

First Spritz cookie! Think he liked it.

Of course, we took my parents out to see the lights at the Greenbrier. Beautiful!

Noah received a size 2T tuxedo from his great-aunt Brenda and great-uncle Tony for his birthday and we needed an occasion to dress him in it. We thought he'd fit right in at the Greenbrier.

Mostly it was a lot of wrangling but we did manage to get a few pics.

Noah and his Papa.

He learned to say "Pop Pa!" while he was here and laughed everytime Papa answered him. He finally understands that the big people have names! It is just about the cutest thing ever. Nevermind, that he says "Da Dee" all the time, just not directly to Jeremy. And forget about Mommy or Mama.

So handsome it hurts me!

Where's your nose?
Without all the pictures, it is difficult to narrate! The day after Christmas I took my parents back to the Greenbrier for the bunker tour, lunch at Draper's, and a little shopping. We also did some shopping downtown in Lewisburg, but mostly hung out at the house all week. I did a lot of cooking and dishes it seems! It was so cold that it made getting out not as much fun, especially with Noah. The day Mom and I went shopping it was 21 degrees, with snow flurrying, winds gusting the breath right out of you, and wind chill around 5 degrees. Murder! We did make it over to the Wild Bean for peppermint hot chocolates one morning and went to the toy store, where I spent Noah's Christmas money from his great-aunt Susan, and Mimi bought him his first tractor. The boy is all about the tractors! It's so cute when he says it. Sounds sort of like "Dack dur!" I have got to get some videos of him talking. His Mamaw and Papaw gave him a book of farm words for Christmas and I found him, with the page open to the tractors, pointing at them, saying "Tractor, tractor!" over and over. He is putting together puzzles like a pro and Jeremy realized yesterday that Noah is able to pretty much able to identify and say all the farm animals. That Baby Einstein is good for something!

I hope that everyone had a blessed Christmas and kept the reason for the season near to their hearts! See you soon!

The Barclays Are On the Move...Again!

In case you haven't heard...

Cedar Park, Texas, here we come! We are very excited to announce that Jeremy interviewed with another CHS hospital, located near Austin, and will be transferring his position as Chief Operating Officer effective January 10, 2011! I am so proud of him. He has crossed the lines into a new division, and will have the opportunity to work in a new, larger, and prominent hospital within the company. We are so excited to be close to our families again. And excited to miss out on the rest of the winter! God has blessed us yet again.

But, there are people and things we will surely miss in West Virginia. It has been a great learning experience for us. Before we leave, I must blog about all the wonderful places I will miss, and make sure I have pictures of all of them. We have made some dear friends and experienced so many neat things here.

Life is never dull when you're a Barclay! At least things don't stagnate around here. ;) More to come!

Playing Catch-up

Since it took me forever to get all the New York and Thanksgiving visit pictures, there's been some small "events" I have missed out on blogging about lately. Here we go!

It got cold! This day was our first snow, December 1st. It was just a dusting but I wanted to take Noah out to touch it. His hands got cold from picking up a frozen ball and he was not happy!

I stuffed him into his new snow pants and his warm coat.

Feeling adventuresome in the cold at first.

Which turned into a nice little tantrum. He was so ticked off! If only he would keep some mittens on!

So December 4th we got about 4 inches. We decided to take Noah out to try the sled again this year. You might recall the happy baby in the sled pics from last year. Not so much this year. From the time we started getting him dressed, he was screaming. I guess he was remembering the trauma from earlier in the week. :/

He only stopped crying for the 2 minute pull around the yard.

Poor buddy.

"I want to go inside! Did you not get the message?!"

Jeremy has equally warm and fuzzy feelings toward the snow. ;) I, however, was determined to make the best of this first dump of snow.

So I made snow ice cream. Pretty yummy!

This has been Noah's latest favorite game. Yes, putting these rings on his head. It's even more fun putting them on Mommy or Daddy's head though.

Little angel! 0;-)

The other day I found this little pile on the floor. Noah frequently makes careful little piles of puzzle pieces or lines of cups, etc. Wherever did our baby boy get this OCD-like behavior from??

And the pièce de résistance. The other day I looked down and noticed that Noah's diaper was not where it should be! The diaper was not too wet but his socks sure were!

A sweet boy posing with the Christmas tree. Oh, wait. What's that hanging out of his pant leg?

This is especially for my mother. :)

Lastly, the shutters that Jeremy and his dad built are all hanging, adding such a great touch to our house! Love them!

Stay warm out there!

Happy Thanksgiving!

For Thanksgiving this year, we had Jeremy's parents come to visit us. They stayed from November 18 through December 1st, so I think they got their fill of West Virginia and us! We had a wonderful time and Noah had lots of fun with his extra companions!







Thanksgiving Day was to be the last pleasant day of the year, I think. After watching some Macy's parade, Daddy and Papaw even took him to the park so that Mommy and Mamaw could finish getting lunch ready.

Our Thanksgiving table.

The apple pie.

The night before Thanksgiving, it is always the tradition that Debbie makes chicken and dumplings. This year, I found a chicken farmer from Renick who agreed to kill his "lazy hen" for us to use in the dumplings. Renick is a little bit of a drive, so these were some very special dumplings!

After naptime, it was over 60 degrees so we headed up to Beartown for a little hike around the boardwalk.

Here is proof that Papaw has actually changed a diaper in his life. Wet ones anyway. ;)

We celebrated Papaw's birthday while they visited! For some reason, Blogger keeps flipping this photo, even though it is correct when I upload it.

Mamaw and Papaw spent a night at the Greenbrier while in town and we joined them for dinner. This is Noah watching a video on Papaw's cell phone. He was a mess that night.

A lovely time was had by all. I even got my Christmas decorations up. Minus the stockings I can't find.

New York, New York! [Day 3]

Have I mentioned that I love, love, LOVE New York?! Because I do. Seriously, this was the most fun trip to the coolest city ever. I have read books, watched movies, and seen it on TV but you really can't experience New York like that. The smell of nuts roasting and sewer wafting up through the grates, the roar of the subway, the honks of frustrated drivers, the hair-raising, shut-your-eyes cab rides, and the walking through masses of people. I think the city could feel very claustrophobic after a short amount of time. And pretty lonely considering how many people you are surrounded by.

We started Monday off by heading up to Rockefeller Center to check out the Today Show. I have literally been watching this show every morning since I was about 5 years old, if I had to guess. At 30, I am a huge fan. However, Jeremy read that you need to be there no later than 6:00am to get into the plaza. We were already wearing out by this point so I agreed to sleep in and head down there around 8:30 instead. I wish I had just gotten up and gone! We did get to stand outside the window of the studio where all the goofy people stand and wave and watch a little bit of happenings on the inside though. Next trip, I am totally there, holding my sign, cheesing and waving for the cameras.

You can see the Christmas tree in the background a bit.

Covered with scaffolding, being prepared for the tree lighting.

Bad picture, but you can see Natalie Morales at the newsdesk! The studio is a lot smaller than I thought it would be.

Bruno Mars was performing on the plaza.

Lenny! I don't know the story behind this guy, only that he is there everyday for the show! Jeremy shook his hand and talked to him for a minute.

Closest thing I got to having my picture made with these guys.

We went the the 2nd floor of the Nintendo store so we could get a better view of the plaza.

After they cleared everyone out and allowed people to pass through the plaza.

The skating rink.

Pretty sure this is St. Patrick's cathedral. Unfortunately, our pictures from the inside didn't turn out so well. Beautiful though!

Ah, a New York bagel from a deli we stopped at for breakfast. with cream cheese and egg. Best. breakfast. ever.

Next, we walked all the way down 5th ave to Central Park. Beautiful, peaceful place in the midst of the concrete jungle. Loved it.

Alice in Wonderland statue.

We were pleasantly surprised that there were still some leaves on the trees. Remember this bridge from, like 100 movies?

:)

Lunch at Serendipity 3! It was decorated beautifully. You know the movie Serendipity from 2001? It was filmed here. I'm about to re-watch it. Jeremy endured this place for my sake.

The reason we came: frozen hot chocolate. Oh yes. It was delightful.

We spent the afternoon shopping on 5th Avenue!! :) We went in Bloomingdale's, Tiffany's, and FAO Schwarz. I bought a few things for Noah in the toy store and had to go in Tiffany's just to say I'd been. Remember, when Reese Witherspoon gets to "pick one" in Sweet Home Alabama? Well, it wasn't exactly like that for me, but they did have a tiffany blue carper rolled out on the sidewalk to welcome me. ;)

We ended up back in Little Italy, craving some more Italian, that night. Sofia's Ristorante.

With my new phone that was great help to us on the trip thanks to its Google Maps feature. Love my Droid 2 now!

We needed to make one last Macy's run for some surprises! And, surprise, they were getting ready for Thursday's parade! Here they are laying the big green square that everyone performs on in front of Macy's. Maybe someday I will get to watch the parade in person.

The windows are decorated with scenes from Miracle on 34th Street.

One last stroll through Times Square.

The next morning we drug ourselves out for one last New York breakfast and headed for JFK. I have never walked so much in my life or been so sore from just walking. Well, walking fast as Jeremy drug me by the hand through the town. There were times we could have fit in an extra activity but the thought of putting one more foot in front of the other was killer.

We were super thankful that Jeremy's parents were willing to keep Noah for us while we were gone. We kept realizing how hard it would be tote him around him around the city.

We are already making plans to go back next December with the Nutts! I have to see a Broadway show and really do the Today show. And definitely have more Crumbs cupcakes. And more of everything else. I really do love New York.

I can hardly wait.