A Little Swingin' and a Lotta Gigglin'

The Last Visitor

Jeremy's sister, Mandi, came to visit us last weekend and stayed a few days. She cooked, baby-sat, made us laugh, played the tourist, fell in love with Lewisburg, and completely spoiled us. And it was supposed to be her vacation! Anyway, she is last person who was scheduled to visit us here. No one else has a trip planned. Any takers?

Mandi arrived at noon on Thursday. We had pizza from The Bakery (so divine) for dinner and I headed for the Lady Antebellum concert at the State Fair of West Virginia with a friend. Jeremy drove her around town and they had fun taking care of Noah.

She began the visit by winning Noah over with her wit, charm, and love for farm animal sounds.

And further wooed him with her chocolate cupcakes.

Friday, Noah and I showed Mandi around the downtown shops and she fell in love. That night we all went out to the Stardust Cafe for dinner and enjoyed the cupcakes for dessert.

Saturday was a full day. We did the Wild Bean for breakfast, followed by the Lewisburg Farmer's Market. I took Mandi out to the Greenbrier for a little tour and lunch while Jeremy did nap duty. That evening she made dinner and we just had to introduce her to the state fair and all it has to see...offer, I mean. We picked up doughnuts for breakfast since we had heard how awesome they were. Cinnamon sugar deliciousness.

After our Sunday morning doughnut feast, we took her out on the Greenbrier River Trail for a walk and took some pics out on the rock.

She made dinner again on Sunday and sent Jeremy and I off on our own for the evening while she entertained Noah and got him off to bed.

Sadly, Mandi left us on Monday, with a promise that she will return to stay, requesting that I find her a loft apartment in the downtown area. No problem. :)

Just a little plumber crack shot.

You are missed!

What Goes Up...Must Come Down

So I haven't posted anything in a while because not much has been going on. Here are the boys dressed up to go to church. We have re-tried two churches and settled on which one we are going to stick with. Just gotta stay committed to it! Noah does not enjoy the nursery anywhere we go, even the gym, so we need to get him used to doing that. When I say that he doesn't enjoy it, I mean that he turns into Velcro Boy as soon as we walk in and screams mercilessly when we walk away. Poor nursery workers.

We've had some different types of visitors lately. Not the ones we enjoy. Jeremy has now ended life for two mice in my kitchen and countless yellow jackets on the back deck. This particular little einstein found the pantry and feasted on everything he could chew a hole in! I am still disgusted by it as I type.

And I've made a lot of ice cream! I have experimented with the fat content, seeing how much can be minimized and still have a decent texture. My latest creations have been S'mores, white peach (made from organic peaches from a local orchard), and blackberry (from the same orchard). All were delightful!

Here is where I tried to capture video of Noah dancing to the rhythm of the ice cream maker.

Just doin' life, like a Barclay does it!

In My Next 30 Years...

I will try to have as much fun as we packed into my long 30th birthday weekend! Words cannot express how much fun was had!

To begin, the weekend before my birthday was also the weekend of the first Greenbrier Classic in a long time at the Greenbrier Hotel. With the PGA came a lot of activity, including concerts with Rascal Flatts, Carrie Under wood, and Brad Paisley. So Thursday night, Jeremy and I headed to the Rascal Flatts concert. They put on a great show!

Friday was supposed to include Jeremy and I going out to dinner, then my local girlfriends coming over to surprise me at home with cake and a little party. I will admit I was a little disappointed with Jeremy for telling me about the surprise and thought it was odd that he would not be doing a whole lot for my 30th, since I threw a surprise party for his 30th and totally got him. It did occur to me that Jeremy might want to try to outdo me...and boy did he. :)

As we left the restaurant, who should appear around the corner, but my dear, wonderful friend, Carolee! All the way from West Texas. My chin hit the ground, I burst into tears (something about this girl always has me crying when I see her), and I could barely carry on a conversation as we were directed to walk over to the lawn of Carnegie Hall, where an outdoor concert was playing, and my party was only beginning!

I have to give props to Jeremy. He is terrible with surprises and had been planning this since March!! He took Noah home and paid for me and all of my friends to have a night out on the town in L'burg!

We started out with a yummy cake made by Kala.

Then headed to Del Sol.

Kala, Paula, and Carolee

Stephanie

Then we moved the party to the Sweet Shoppe, which I was warned would be a little rough. It ended being the most fun! A bluegrass band was playing and we danced the mountain jig! Carolee took this absolutely priceless picture with the old guy who tried to haul me off the dance floor.

Just jiggin' with Laura and Paula.

Just us girls dancing the jig.

The end of the night, if you can't tell. :)

The next day we used our PGA passes to visit the golf tournament and show Carolee the hotel. Here is Noah petting one of the Anhueser-Busch clydesdales. Sorry, no cameras allowed on the course.

Then, Saturday afternoon and evening, Jeremy took care of Noah while Carolee and I shopped downtown and went to see Carrie Underwood and Brad Paisley.

Both were awesome performers. Carrie sang "Jesus, Take the Wheel" and then burst into "How Great Thou Art". Such a worshipful moment. Then Brad started singing "Water" as he made his entrance and it poured on us for the whole concert. We left a little early and it was 64 degrees and we were soaked!

I had dreaded this birthday a bit but it turned out to be the most fun birthday ever! I am so blessed and so thankful to my awesome husband and sweet friends. I realized that Carolee and I had not spent that much time together since we graduated from HSU in 2003! I savored every moment.

To top it all off, Jeremy got me a morning at the Greenbrier Spa on my actual birthday. Wow. That place is wonderful. I enjoyed a massage, manicure, and pedicure. Thank you all for a fabulous milestone!

15 Months

Well, he's almost 16 months now, but we just had his 15 month checkup today.

Stats:

Height 31.6 inches (50%)

Weight 21 lbs, 6 oz (25%)

His head measured in the 10th percentile but I did not get the exact measurement.

We got 4 shots this morning, which were no fun at all. Luckily, other than Hep B and a flu shot, he will not need anymore until he starts school they say.

It seems that Noah's curiosity is growing all the time. He is almost never still and is getting into everything. He seems to be particularly driven to get into all the things he should not be into (the DVD player, toilet, trash can, etc.). He is walking forward and backward, learning to climb all over everything, and loves to be chased ("I'm gonna getchu!"), tickled, wrestled, and thrown around. Boys. :) He points to everything but is not talking yet. At least not in English. He loves to go outside and to swing. Elmo and Baby Einstein continue to be favorites. He loves to watch "the babies" as I call it--"Baby Noah" DVD by Baby Einstein. "Best of Elmo 2" also rules at our house.

I think that's about it for the update!

Wrestling with Daddy

His Backyard is a Wonderland

Here we are starting the construction of the SwingAlong Castle.

Noah wanted to help.

Or perhaps just sit in the swing.

Yes, Jeremy is too big to go down the slide.

Here is one of these funky flower, turned ball of fluff things by my back deck.

Thank you Mamaw and Papaw for the fun, new toy!



I also got Noah a sprinkler toy, which we have since moved by the deck and baby pool, for even more fun.

Just us enjoying the West Va summer action!

Meet Rylie

So much to catch up on! On July 16-20, we did it up, Bar-Nutt style! In other words, we visited our friends Brian and Stacie Nutt in Tulsa. The occasion was the birth of their first child, Rylie Sophia Nutt. Rylie was born June 22 (a bit early) and we booked our tickets for mid-July just in case she was late.

My parents drove up from Paris since it is only a 3 hour drive. They stayed in a hotel and kept Noah for us, which was really nice. We were able to focus on the Nutts a little more that way. It felt strange sending Noah off to spend the night "at his grandparents.'" :)

Here he is sporting his Sooner pride. Not so strange in Oklahoma!

We dragged ourselves in from the day's travel and were so excited to meet this beautiful girl!

The guys and their kiddos.

Noah and Scripps became good friends. Or at least Scripps enjoyed Noah's love for throwing food on the floor.

I got in some sweet snuggle time.

And the guys put up the beautiful glass tile backsplash in the kitchen that Stacie has been wanting to do for the whole four years I have known her. :) It looks great!

Miss Rylie snuggling with her um...rat paci. Yes, its a pacifier attached to a stuffed mouse.

Tired babies. I love this picture.

Did I mention we ate a lot? Here are some family pics at Ted's Cafe Escondido. Of course, we had to have Hideaway too. :)

Here is the playset that Noah became addicted to. Unfortunately, he wasn't able to spend too much time with it due to the horrific heat that I had almost forgotten the feeling of.

Rylie has great toys awaiting her next summer.

For now, she didn't care for the cold dip on her feet.

We had such a great time and miss our buddies all the time! We really like Tulsa and wouldn't mind ending up there one day. :) And for those of you who were thinking it (you know you were), Rylie, as beautiful, sweet, and perfect as she is, did not inspire my eggs to scream for another one! Heehee...