Visiting The Boys

A little while ago Nora and I got to visit with our friends Emily and Meg- and their sweet little guys Jonas and Gavin. The two of them are about three months apart and believe it or not, Gavin (in the stripes) is younger.

He might have a few pounds on Jonas...

Nora was the big kid in the group this time, and had fun playing with all of their toys, eating lots of snacks, and chasing Megan's cat. Oh, and playing with a giant bouquet of fake flowers. I'm not really sure where that came from.

I can't get enough of these two boys- they're both so sweet- and adorable!Don't you just want to reach out and give 'em a little pinch?

On a completely different note, Nora had a little run-in with a dog this past week- she's fine, though, and recovering like a champ. Actually, she doesn't even notice the bite except to pick at the scab every now and then. We did bring her to the doctor's the day it happened and she's had a nice little dose of antibiotics just in case, but she really doesn't seem traumatized and is not scared of dogs at all. We were lucky that the incident was as minor as it was and thankful that everything is healing so well. Whew!

And on another completely different note, I'm debuting my website! It's pretty close to finished, although I'm sure I'll be tinkering with it on and off for a while. So go explore it, play around, and let me know what you like/don't like about it. I look forward to your comments!

Caitlyn Barker Photography

Oops...

Sorry about that last (deleted) post everyone. Apparently I can't trust my husband for any amount of time when the blog is open. There's a reason I keep the password a secret from him...

An Afternoon in January

As I mentioned in the last post, we spent a recent afternoon skiing and snowshoeing with Hayley and her boyfriend Evan. It was quite cold out(though not as cold as it is supposed to get tomorrow and the next day!) but Nora was well bundled in her pink, down snowsuit.

We took all of the dogs out on the trails, though you can't see any of them. As soon as we headed out they were off, running all through the woods, but (almost) always keeping within sight of us.

Barkley has his winter coat on now and tends to collect clumps of snow when he's out running in the winter. It takes a little longer for him to defrost once we come inside, but he doesn't seem too concerned about it.

The weather was just beautiful- crisp air, a deep blue sky, and as we came out of the woods and into the field the sun had just set and the sky was a beautiful deep peach color.

Nora's nose and cheeks were a bit red for quite awhile after the walk, but her hands and feet were fine. (Don't worry, Nanny!) We'll definitely be heading out again soon, though maybe for not as long. The promise of single-digit temperatures in the coming days will certainly make for quick trips! Stay warm, everyone!

The big three!

Kalen turned three this weekend, so we all headed down to his house to celebrate and have a nice visit. There were plenty of goodies to eat (and awesome paninis- both gluten-full and gluten-free!) There were also lots of presents to be opened. I was a little surprised at how jealous Nora was, but I think she may have been remembering Christmas and all the gifts she got to open.Luckily, there were plenty of relatives and toys to distract her.

Tara made an amazingly delicious (and also gluten-free) strawberry shortcake per Kalen's request. He requested it last year as well, and I expect next year we may have the same; nothing wrong with strawberry shortcake!

Nora loved the strawberry shortcake. She ate her entire piece, then most of mine, then a few more bites later of the strawberries Kalen had left behind on his plate.

Wylie was so great during the party. Every now and then you would hear someone yell, 'Who wants him next?' and off he would be to the next set of arms. By the end of the night he was ready for a little alone time and went right to bed.

Before the end of the party we got to watch a puppet show put on by Tara. We set the kids down in the 'theater' and the show began!

It really was an academy award-worthy performance.

Unfortunately, the audience didn't realize that it wasn't an interactive show. Nora had to be distracted for part of the show so she wouldn't pull it all down.

The kids (and adults) had a great time helping Kalen ring in his third birthday. Later we headed home to our dog/house sitting job where we're staying for the week. Yesterday we went for a nice ski/snowshoe, so be sure to check back tomorrow for those pictures!

A scary night...

Last night was particularly disturbing for me. Nora stayed up late, as usual, and Shane eventually put her to bed, falling asleep himself in the process, of course. It was past midnight and the wind was whipping around outside, howling at the windows and sounding more than a little intimidating. I was huddled up on the couch, trying to ignore the ominous creaking sounds coming from the basement as I did my work, when suddenly, it was time. With trembling fingers, I reached forward and pressed the one button on the computer that could change my life: DELETE. I had just deleted off of my computer over seven thousand pictures. You read that correctly folks, seven thousand, the majority of which were Nora! Thankfully, all I did was transfer them to an external hard drive, but still, the what-ifs linger in my head, even today. What if I lose the hard drive? Drop it in the sink? Drop it in the toilet? Accidentally throw it away?? (This isn't as impossible for me as you might think.) I know, I know, I probably won't be carrying it with me while I go to the bathroom (you hope) or holding it while I do dishes, but all the same it's a little scary to think about the possibilities, so I won't. I think I'll just welcome the weekend, get excited about an upcoming party for a special boy, and enjoy my little peanut. Oh, and take plenty of pictures of everyone. Just in case. A big thank you to Ashleigh for the adorable skirt (one of many)
and to Tara, for the sweet knit hat.
Happy weekend!

Back to the old grindstone...

Well, Shane's vacation has come to an end all too quickly. We all enjoyed having him home to visit and spend time with. It's nice, though, to return to the rhythm of our days as the school year continues. And as Shane pointed out, there are only six more weeks until his next break! We really do love the public school schedule!

While Shane was home we decided to embark on an ambitious venture- bathing Barkley! The poor dog hasn't received nearly enough attention since Nora's birth, um, eighteen months ago, so we decided to give him a luxurious spa day. Unfortunately, I don't think dogs always understand that you're trying to pamper them when bath time rolls around.It doesn't really show in the pictures, but I think he might have actually liked it. Or, at least he didn't hate it. He stood still the entire time and let me towel him dry. Of course, as soon as we opened the bathroom door he bounded out to go sulk and lick his paws.

Once Barkley was brushed and trimmed we headed outside for a walk. The sun was just setting over the horizon and looked gorgeous with the trees silhouetted against it.

We returned home and spent the evening playing with our new Christmas toys- Nora with her doll, monkey, stroller and bed, me with my new flash and Shane with his copy of The Tales of Beedle the Bard.

It only took Nora a few minutes to realize she could use the bed, too.

Of course, once that novelty had worn off, she decided to test out her muscles.
I was impressed.

Here's a random picture of the stir-fry I made for dinner.
Looks lovely and delicious, doesn't it?

A few days later we took Nora on a trip to Bangor where we met up with some friends and their daughter and all visited The Discovery Museum. The museum is geared towards kids of all ages; in fact, I think I might have had almost as much fun as Nora.

We spent a good amount of time in the 'cafe', where Nora and her friend cooked us up some lovely treats, including soup, tiramisu and lobster.

Nora was too short for the kitchen, so we let her work on the counter.
Hey, equality for all, right?

After the visit to the musuem we made a quick stop to visit Nanny at her work, then headed over to our friend's house to continue our visit, have dinner and play a trivia game about The Office. We all had a great time, but I got my butt seriously kicked. I obviously don't watch enough television.
The next night was New Year's Eve, and believe it or not, I only have one picture from the whole night. When Kalen and Nora get together, things get just a bit chaotic, and more often than not I don't get around to taking any pictures. Actually, you're lucky there's even a kid in this picture, but we just couldn't resist when Wylie fell asleep nursing- on my chin! What a cutie.

It was so nice to welcome in the new year with both my sisters (that hasn't happened in a long time!) and all the kids. Happy 2009, everyone!

Christmas morning!

Christmas morning dawned bright and early at my parent's house, although the 6:30am wake-up call we had imposed on ourselves went right out the window. By the time 7:30am rolled around we were finally rolling out of bed and the kids were getting excited to head downstairs. I snuck down right before them to take a picture of everything Santa had left.

While we were waiting for everyone to get ready to go downstairs the kids went into Hayley's bedroom and played with the doll house that Nanny had set up for them.

Finally, we were all assembled and ready. You can't see Hayley in this picture, probably because she's still in bed. She has a hard time waking up before noon.

Kalen was pretty excited to see what had been left under the tree. Here he is realizing that Santa went way overboard this year.

Nora received a small horse from Nanny. We can't wait to bring it home. All we have to do is get rid of all of our living room furniture and it should fit.

Here are Kalen and Wylie in their matching pj's from Christmas Eve- so sweet.

Josh was testing out Kalen's new puppet theater. I was pretty excited for him to open this present from us as it was homemade. Yes, I know I'm a genius. You don't have to tell me.

Once all the presents had been opened and we had settled down
Wylie was able to fit in a short nap.

Nora, on the other hand, wanted to model her new clothes. Unfortunately, her father doesn't know that you don't tuck your dress into your pants.

Later in the day we headed to southern Maine to visit with the extended family and have Christmas dinner. Once we arrived Hayley decided to do a little posing for her upcoming fashion shoot. She really wants to be a model.

Yeah, I'm just kidding. I received an external flash from Mom and Dad for Christmas and was testing it out all afternoon. Here, I'm testing it on Rey and Trinity, my cousin's twins.

Kalen received a xylophone for Christmas and luckily he was willing to share with Nora. (And I don't think they even bit or hit each other!)

This next present was a big hit. My cousin Tiffany bought Nora this wooden toy that consists of fruit and vegetables attached by velcro that you 'cut' with a wooden knife. She loves it.

Another hit of the party was the joke kit we bought for Rey. He spent a good amount of time playing tricks on everyone, including these fake teeth. I'm not sure everyone else was so happy about this gift when he started squirting everyone with the fake gum...

Wylie was just ecstatic about his Christmas gifts. See?

All in all, it was a really wonderful Christmas and reminded me of how much we have to be thankful for. Nora didn't want to go home that night and even tried to hide from us, because of all the fun she was having. It was a lovely- if a bit chaotic- time to see everyone and celebrate with one another. Now, on to the new year!