Nice warm winter day

We have been enjoying some pretty warm 80 somethin' degree days here. Warm enough to pull out the pool and splash around. The girls had a blast!

Fun with Mimi

Some of our favorite days are the days when Mimi calls and says she has the day off! Last week was one of those days. We got to hang out at Sea World with Mimi. We watched the dolphins, manatees, and penguins. It was a gorgeous day!

Backtracking a little...

This Christmas Will and I agreed to stay in town this year. But we still needed to do something during his time off. So we decided to do a "staycation" downtown at the Marriott.

We learned that a staycation is a perfect vacation for our family! Will and Caylin stayed in the hotel the first night and Aiana, Anika, and I met up with them the next day. It was a gorgeous day! We rented a sailboat and sailed around the harbor for a couple hours after breakfast. Anika really was not happy about wearing a life jacket so our adventure didn't last too long. But it was perfect. We then (since we were so close to home) went home to put the girls down for a nap.

The next night I took Caylin, Aiana, and her friend to the hotel for a girls night. Mimi met us at Sea Port Village for dinner. Will and Anika met up with us again in the morning for breakfast. Then we enjoyed a parade downtown, then again, headed home for naps. Finally, Will and I headed back to the hotel ALONE while Mimi stayed home with the girls! We had dinner at Mr A's, what an awesome place! The food and view was fantastic!! It was SO great to sleep in the next day and enjoy a yummy breakfast KID FREE! Thank you SO much mom!! The girls were great for Mimi and she said she would do it again! YAY! Success all the way around! :)

A miss and a not miss

I am going to miss tight koala bear hugs, little heads nuzzling into my arms, and looking down to see a huge semi toothless smile looking up at me in pure admiration.

I am not going to miss a shirt smeared with boogies and food before I even leave the house for the day.

Update on my girls

With the rush of the school and work week, it was nice to have a 2 week Christmas break. I enjoyed having my family around for 2 weeks straight to soak in the growth of my family and how my girls are growing and changing (of course I was very happy today when I kissed Will and Aiana goodbye and dropped Caylin off at school).

Aiana is quickly turning into a teenager and I find myself caught between clinging onto her childhood yet loosening my grip to allow her to blossom into the young lady God is creating her to be. I get worried about the negative influences that she could potentially get caught up in, but then put my trust back in God knowing that ultimately He is in control here. It is such a bitter sweet stage. She is a gorgeous young lady...she's smart and funny, and she has a very compassionate heart. I feel like I'm at a crossroads with her and find myself looking over the past years thinking about all of the should have/could haves, but then I smile as I look ahead at all the she and I have accomplished together and who she is today. Sometimes I worry about whether or not she knows just how much I love her (I know that I didn't realize how deep my mother's love was until I became a mother). I don't want to get caught up in worry, I think that is just a part of being a mom. There is so much to enjoy, the joy definitely overpowers the worry. Anyway, this whole thought started today when Aiana told me she took down all her Disney Channel fan posters. :( She now wants to paint her room brown with orange polka dots, orange is her favorite color!

Caylin is very imaginative, stubborn, affectionate, and funny. She still doesnt sleep through the night. So Will and I decided to end that battle and put a little doggy bed in the corner of our room. Caylin goes to bed in her room but every morning I find her in her little corner. It has taken so much stress off all of us! And Caylin has been a lot happier. She continues to make us laugh with her funny stories, imaginary conversations, and expressions. The other day she and I were on our way to the store after she chose to come with me instead of stay home with daddy. Half way to the store I heard her grumbling in the back "dang it, oh man". I asked her what was the matter and she sighed "I forgot, I wanted to stay with daddy...God help us".

The other thing that makes me laugh is thinking of when she opened the game Uno for Christmas, Aiana said "oh Caylin, you got the game Uno!" Caylin stood up and raised the game in the air and yelled "Unos Dos!" So now every time she refers to Uno, she said "Let's play Unos Dos!"

Caylin also LOVES lip gloss...she wont eat if she just put some on. She also loves gum. She only gets gum on special occasions, but when she does she LOVES it! She also loves the color purple, this morning on the way to school there was a piece of purple trash in the car but she wanted it because it was her favorite color purple.

I also catch her trying to carry her sister Anika around the house, and trying to boss around her older sis Aiana.

Anika still loves her sleep, she sleeps from 6pm - 6:30pm and during the day she takes about a 2 hour nap...sometimes 2 naps. BUT that little stinker is a VERY picky eater!!!! She has one type of bread that she'll eat and she wont eat the organic purely o's but will eat cheerios! What the heck!!! On top of that she's allergic to dairy, eggs, and peanuts. She's doesn't really like the puree's anymore but doesn't like the texture of table food either. I have always been the mom who says "My kid will not be picky, they will eat when they are hungry!" Well, HA! My kid does not eat when she's hungry....she screams! So a lot of the time she ends up eating like a duck...bread! And the bread she likes is the Organic omega 3 bread from Costco. She does like broccoli, and asparagus, pears, and banana. I have to be tricky with all else (that is not a carb). I got her to eat a jar of veggies yesterday by sitting on the kitchen floor and first feeding a bite of food to her little Grover...then she took a bite.

Here is Anika after getting a milky kiss from Caylin, she immediately breaks out in hives!



She's still not quite walking but has been taking 2-3 steps when Will and I have her walk to us. She is a HUGE fan of climbing! She will climb anything and everything she can get her little leg on. We never had to child proof our house with Caylin, she never climbed or put anything in her mouth, but with Anika it is a whole other story.

Anika has a few words, her favorite is da da with a super high pitched scream (she is daddy's biggest fan by far!). She also says mama, mo for more and milk, be for bird, da for dog, and her newest word hot with a drawn out ha sound ending with t. She'll say hot when she sees fire or touches something warm. She is a cutie pie!!

Some things that I will miss and not miss:

Today I had the great idea to have lunch at Sea World after picking Caylin up from preschool. I will miss watching the girls marvel at the dolphins. Anika squealing at the birds flying close by and the anxiety on her face as the dolphins swim up to us. Caylin gazing at the dolphins playing in the water. I can only imagine what is going through her mind.

I will not miss...the wrinkle in the plan...after spending about a half hour with the dolphins, holding both girls up at the same time, Anika poops and needs to be changed. Caylin is not ready to move on. She is given two choices. To cooperate, or we go home. She chooses not to cooperate. Mom straps Anika in the stroller then chases Caylin, picks her up, she begins screaming and fighting to get away. I get her strapped in, she screaming louder and continues to try and escape...this is the scene all the way to the car. Mom manages to get the tantruming Caylin strapped in the car seat and waits about 5 minutes until she finally calms down. Fun times!!!

What a wonderful Christmas

I finally am having a moment of silence. Anika is asleep, Aiana is riding bikes, and Caylin is out with daddy. I love it! We had such a nice Christmas. A couple days ago it was raining out, so we had a cookie baking day. We made ginger bread men and candy cane cookies. The girls had fun mixing, rolling dough, and taste testing. It was a perfect day. Anika took a nice long nap, so along with baking cookies, I roasted a chicken and decided we would turn the day/night into a family night and birthday party for Jesus. All Caylin has been talking about is baby Jesus, so she was very excited. When daddy got home we had dinner then sat around the fire with our cookies and tea and read the Christmas story. After the story we sang a few songs. We are definitely calling this a new Barley tradition.

Christmas Eve was a little different for us. Normally we celebrate with my dad, but it didn't work out this year to be with him on Christmas Eve, but the night turned out perfect. Will was at church all day as he was part of the service, so the girls and I met up with him later in the evening. After we attended church we went over to our friends house. I was so excited to spend time with my girlfriend who is in town for Christmas. She is like a sister to me, whenever we are together we always laugh and reminisce about our childhood. I love that girl! and wish she lived closer!

When we got home the girls put out some cookies and milk for Santa, and carrots for the reindeer. They then opened one gift before bed. I love seeing their little faces so excited as I tuck them into bed. I'll never forget that excitement I used to feel going to bed Christmas Eve, now I get to see it in my own children.

Of couse we were up bright and early! Aiana always wakes up at about 4am on Christmas morning, but doesnt come out of her room until we are all up. We all got up around 6...it was still dark out. The girls were so cute running out to see their stockings with their little puffy morning faces. They were so patient as we opened gifts. We all take turns opening one thing at a time. Suprisingly Caylin took about 5 minutes to check out each gift before opening another. If it was clothing, she would run to her room to try it on. It was just a nice peaceful morning. I made breakfast while girls had fun with their new things. Then after breakfast there was a suprise at the front door! Santa had brought the Barley's a Wii! We spent the rest of the morning getting a good workout playing tennis, golf, and many other games.

My brother and his family came over later in the afternoon and we had a delicious crab dinner. Will's family Christmas dinner tradition growing up was crab and split pea soup. We had so much fun eating and enjoyed eachothers company.

We have been having tons of fun with the Wii. My mom, Will, and I ended up playing golf until 11pm. Last night Aiana, Will, and I played golf and tennis until 11pm again! I was a little unsure about bringing in "video games" into our house but actually I think it's going to promote a lot of family time. I like it better than just watching tv because we are all interacting together and it's great excersice! Last night we were able to spend the evening with my dad. All in all we had an awesome Christmas this year. It was a busy month, but not stressful, and most of all we feel full of Christ's love.

Random photos of cuteness

Christmas party fun

It was time again for my girlfriends annual Christmas party. She lives on Christmas Card Lane. We enjoy yummy food and drinks and a stroll around the neighborhood to admire all the lights and decorations. Aiana loves to sip hot chocolate and eat popcorn. Anika just sits back and stares at all the lights. Caylin likes to keep her eye out for baby Jesus. When she spots a nativity, she runs up and kisses baby Jesus. We enjoyed another party with our fabulous family friends on Sunday. The kids played duck duck goose, put together fun crafts, and participated in a gift exchange.