The Barton Family Blog

Just laying down for a little snuggle time before bed. Natalee is REALLY into falling asleep in the bed, rather than her crib. She just won't stay in it if we leave her (: She's got this daddy wrapped around her little finger!

Sometimes I feel like we live at the library. But there are plenty of reasons for that: 1. It's free (a very good price!) 2. Story time (Natalee and Kyah love it... for a while... then they just want to go color!) 3. Coloring (there's just something about the library's crayons... WAY better than coloring at home!) 4. Kids books!!! (again, free.) 5. Internet (this came in handy this past month... but I would only get anywhere from 30 seconds to 3 minutes at a time because that was the extent of Natalee's patience!) (: 6. Kids CD's & tapes (free... and a vast supply, so we can switch it up now and then) 7. Adult books (sometimes I sit down with a book - after I haven't read in a while... and remember just how much I LOVE to read! This just happened to me this last week and I am devouring books once again!) 8. Other moms who give a smile, or share a crayon.... and who understand what it's like to be a mom! Kyah just looked so intent... rather studious rea...

ooooo! I just love her so much! Do you think she knows she's cute!??! Lovin' my new duds! (shirt & shoes!)

(WARNING: this post is photo HEAVY!) Who is this sweet little girl? What is she doing?... ...waiting for everyone one to hurry up and get to my party!!! Maga & Paga are here... Aunt April & Cameron are here, and Aunt Auttie too... Nonnie & Papa & Jen are here... Taylor & Uncle Jesse & Aunt Amber are here.... Let's PARTY!!! Family came for the first part of the party... We had pizza & yummy salads.... then present time... Legos! My favorite! (what is this Mom??? ) :) Clothes!!! (Mommy's favorite!) Although I must say Natalee was pretty pumped about some of the clothes she got... She is def. 100% girl! Two swimsuits....! "Just what I always wanted!!!" Taylor was pretty sure this was her party. It was a little tough to convince her otherwise! :) "The Portland Children's Museum?!? How'd you know I wanted to take Natalee there?!?" Thank you Jesse & Amber! Around 2:30 a few friends from church & KYAH (and her mom!) arr...

Natalee asked if she could have this piece of "Shocker'" sour candy.   I ran for the camera. Ha ha!

On with panties/chonies/undies... Away with the diapers/pull-ups/training pants! NATALEE IS POTTY TRAINED! March 16th! Woo hoo! I just have to journal this for my memory. On Monday Natalee was on the potty. We were heading out the door, I was out of pull-ups, so I wanted to make sure she went potty before we left. Me: We're going to go shopping Natalee. You have to go potty, then we'll go bye-bye N: No doe potty, put pull-up on!!!!! Doe bye-bye!! (smarty-pants!) That's when the revelation hit. She knew when it was okay to just "let it go" (when the pull-ups were on) and when she needed to let me know and head to the bathroom. So. From then on, no more pull-ups (except when sleeping!) and from then on, the accidents occurred less and less. Within 2-3 days she was a chonie pro! **Remind me of this with my next kid!

First of all. Look at this cutie! Doesn't she look so so big??? Oooo how can she be almost 2?! Just playing with the settings on my camera.   Trying to figure out how to make a photo clear w/ the background blurry. I don't know how to make it work!!  I have read the manual.  I've played with the aperature.  Can anyone help?  Obviously this setting wasn't the right one.  Would've been a cute picture if the lighting was right...  Still sweet... 

Just a quick shot of the cuties!   Kyah and Natalee were both wearing Navy.    Kyah's adorable dress used to be her momma's! How sweet is that?!?    They were being goof balls this day... Sometimes when Natalee wakes up, Kyah wants to get in  the crib with her so they can jump.   They are just two little love bugs! I am SO looking forward to summer so we can get out and do things (that are free!).  Like the fountain downtown... swimming... etc.  COME SUMMER! COME!

We're back! Stay tuned for a mega load of posts comin' your way!!! Woo hooo!

Johnny and I went to the marriage retreat. Papa and Nonnie stayed home. Now I'm not one to judge motives here, but supposedly they just didn't want to go.... and of course, since they're staying home, they could watch Natalee! Wow. That worked out great! (: I'm sure they had no ulterior motives for staying home (just two days of what Papa just might compare to HEAVEN!!!) Natalee & Papa did lots of firewood. Natalee LOVES to do firewood. She talks about it non-stop when she's not at "PapaNonnies" (as she calls them/their house!) She also did a bit of bike riding... Well she can't reach the pedals... so she just got lots of rides out of Papa & Nonnie! (: (sound familiar Paga?) We think she had a good time! I called to talk to her while I was gone, and she hadn't once asked for me ): She was just having way too much fun! I'm not sure who had more fun tho', her, or PapaNonnie!