The Barton Family Blog

Our month in pictures... December 8 my dear friend Cassie and I hosted a Christmas Holiday Bazaar fundraiser for Jason and Naomi's adoption.  It was A LOT of work and we could NOT have done it without a ton of help from friends and family.  Namely, my mom who literally facilitated the majority of the funds raised.  Between gorgeous handmade wreaths and hundreds of household items for sale... she really took our event to a whole new level.   One part of the original plan was for Cassie to do free hair cuts while Mackenzie Rice did free family photos.  The whole thing came together beautifully and was just so great! A big thanks to Naomi's best friend Jaime O'Halloran for driving all the way here to help cut hair with Cassie. In all we raised $1,500 and we were thrilled to see Jason and Naomi that much closer to their goal! Hollie snuck in on the free hair cuts & got a fab new do! This little guy is just a little love bug. He'll be 18 months ...

God decided in advance to adopt us into his own family by bringing us to himself through Jesus Christ. This is what he wanted to do, and it gave him great pleasure. So we praise God for the glorious grace he has poured out on us who belong to his dear Son. He is so rich in kindness and grace that he purchased our freedom with the blood of his Son and forgave our sins. He has showered his kindness on us, along with all wisdom and understanding. Ephesians 1:5-8 NLT

I love going to our traditional Christmas Tree farm. I love parking in the mud, getting our tag, and heading out in the midst of trees to find that perfect one. I love hiking, in and out, searching and rejecting tree after tree until we find that one we were looking for. I love my kids' excitement as they point out trees and tell me their favorites. I love the pictures we get and the memories we make. But this year... it just wasn't in the cards. So we settled... for a $5 tree from the lot on the corner (what's not to love about $5????). And yes. I did have to crop Bi-Mart out of the picture below.... (both photos the tree-guy took were blurry & Hollie's eyes were closed... ) I think the people who ran the lot did a double-take when 6 kids & a pregnant lady joined Johnny in searching for a tree. HA. and no. I couldn't crop the highway out... But the kids didn't mind too much... and heck... we've got a GIANT tree in ...

Grocery shopping... with 4 munchkins... always quite the chore... I'm sure we got a few odd looks when the girls sat down in the orange juice section and shouted "take our picture! take our picture!"  Clothes shopping... with 3 munchkins.... stopping by Santa's house to see if he was in town yet.... brrrr...! shopping at an outdoor mall can be chilly!  hangin with Papa... auditioning for a look-alike contest!  getting big.... 25 weeks getting bigger... 26 weeks FINALLY getting used to taking kids to school every day.... I'm going to be doing this for the next 18+ years... I guess I'd better get used to it! Watching my little ones play sweetly together... for approx. 1 second, granted... but hey... made for a cute picture!  Falling more and more in love with this little guy EVERY SINGLE DAY! Celebrating Thanksgiving with family... we are so grateful for so VERY much.  God is faithful.... And lastly, spending treas...

My posts have been few and far between this last month...  one of the blogging funks you get into from time to time.  I'm not taking pictures either  - at least on my camera... so that explains a big part of it (: But I made myself a promise that I would blog Brock at 16 months... so here goes! Right now, He: * Says a handful of words: Mama, Dada, Papa, nana (banana), hi, bye, me-a (me! with a hand raised), no, ball, ba-ba (sippy), ba-ba (binky), ba-ba (bottle), ba-ba (baby) (That's 4 distinct words!), all done (with the sign), more (with the sign), bath (with the sign, currently his favorite word), miii (milk, w/ the sign), diaper. * Signs (but doesn't verbalize) "shower" - thanks to Eugene Thompson teaching Koa and Brock this! (: *loves balls, cars that go on their own, "No David!" book, putting on hats (mostly the girls' easter hats), taking baths/showers *loves to eat: popcorn, fruit, jar food veggies, pizza,  FINALLY starte...

Such a fun, yet exhausting day!  We started bright and early Wednesday morning outfitting the 3 musketeers for their big day.  The tutu's you've seen before, on the fairies from last Halloween .  The new additions to the outfits were the corsetts (?), hats, feathers, swords and boots! *thank you Maga for making these outfits so dang cute!! We love you!! A little monkey had to join the photo shoot before we headed out for the day...  People confused the girls with pirates a few times throughout their day, but they were quick to set the record straight! (:      "All for one and one for  two   all!! " they'd shout!  Pictured above, the Kinder-girls participated in their very first, and only Kindergarten Halloween parade.  It's one of those moments that's not really all that special in itself, except that it's special to them, and that makes it o-so-important to attend!  They of course, were the abs...

Announcing Barton Baby #5... A word of explanation... Today at our ultrasound we asked the u/s tech not to tell us the gender. She wrote it in an envelope and sent us off. We dropped the envelope at a local party store and left while they filled the box with the surprise balloons.  We picked up the sealed box, wrapped it and waited for family and friends to arrive. The girls gathered around and helped us open the box to release the balloons. Hollie's reaction: if it's pink it's a girl. if it's blue, it's a girl. (SORRY HOLLIE!) Shy's reaction: I'm sure Kenzie captured it best in a picture, but she was the MOST excited.... wide mouth and eyes... thrilled. Natalee's reaction: cautious, hesitant as always. I'm pretty sure I saw a little smile somewhere in there tho! Johnny & my reaction: thrilled!! Thrilled for Brock and thrilled for us! (: Now we desperately need to find a name.  It's going to be TOUGH. It was so fun having frien...