2010 in Photos

Good Bye to an amazing year.

Bigger than I ever could have imagined.

Filled with happy adventures.

Filled with memories.

Filled with family.

Hello, 2011.

Love, The Barton's

Bob

Meet Bob.

He is our Holiday Houseguest.

I can't wait for the Holidays to be over -

Bob leaves the toilet seat up, drinks out of the milk carton

and watches ESPN Classic all day long.

El Nino Trays

When it is raining non-stop outside

and we are without a car

we start getting REAL creative around the house

the boys are busy, busy, busy tractoring lentils, barley and penne

around on cookie sheets.

This afternoon, we will see what we can make/do with

toilet paper and decopage.

Please send help now.

Twas the Night Before Christmas....

The excitement is at its peak.

The boys are nestled all snug in their beds.

Morning cannot come fast enough.

But first, a Christmas Eve tradition.

A story from Daddy.

My Favorite Things

Looking back at 2010, here is a list of My Favorite Things:

Singing Christmas music....loudly...and watching my kids watch me sing

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Baking Sweet Treats

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Driving in the car with my family (Odd, I know. But all of us in one car is rare, so I cherish it. Nothing better than seeing little tiny faces in the rear view mirror when we are all headed to the same destination)

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REAL hugs from any of my three boys that make my heart hurt

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Sleeping with an open window under heavy blankets next to my Husband

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Capturing a photo of my boys laughing

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Dreaming up perfect family vacations that we will one day take

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Tears from laughing and making others laugh

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Saturday Family Movie Night

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My Husband's smiley eyes

And in the end, I guess they aren't really "Things" afterall.

Hoping you had year filled with your Favorite Things

See Kysa Swim...

Swim Kysa! Swim!

100m Freestyle

Bears taking a break to rehydrate

between races.

I'm not entirely sure what Mommy gave her to rehydrate,

but about 10 minutes after hydration, Bears was doin' the 'bot dance.

Whatever it was, it worked!

Two mischievous-looking spectators

SHE WON! FIRST PLACE!

So proud of you Bear-bear!

Race info

50m Breaststroke

Kysa lost her goggles when she dove in the water,

but it didn't even phase her - she swam a great race!

Great swim meet Kysa! We loved watching you race

and are so proud of you!!

Sunday in pictures

All is Calm; All is Bright

Saturday night, we decked the tree with

lights and trimmings

Then we danced until sweaty to

Pandora's Christmas Rock station

And finished off the night with a pallet of pillows and blankets

on the living room floor where we

ate too much popcorn

and stayed up way too late

and laughed way too hard

watching a Barton house favorite:

Home Alone

to kick off the

season

A perfect night, where all felt just right.

A Christmas (tree) Story

Saturday morning, we headed north,

past the urban boundry and into the full blown

country in search of a fresh Christmas tree.

The wind was blowing hard which made

for excellent snotcicles, so we took cover

in the barn and fondled gourds as we warmed our ears.

Once warm, we set out on the gravel road,

with saw in hand, said hi to this donkey

and hoped for the best.

Hi Donkey!

We passed a farm-made 40 foot slide and made a few

trips down it.

After rejecting 15 or more trees, we found the tree.

Nate, as Henry said, "sliced" the tree with the saw.

The watched daddy....in awe.

We've never seen daddy work harder.

Since Charlie didn't pull his weight with the "slicing", we

made him carry the tree back to the barn.

Ok, fine. Nate helped him.

And Charlie dilly-dallied behind.

It was so cold, that the boys and I abandoned daddy with the tree

and took cover to thaw the remaining snotcicles in the car

where we blasted Christmas music. Here, we were singing

"fa-la-la-la-la la-la-la-la" with gusto.

The End.

See Charlie Hide

I hope the day never comes when Charlie realizes that I

can actually see him when he is "hiding".

Mushmouth

I'm just sayin'