Bartamus Baracus Barr the Bear!

My friend DeeDee got the babies a GIANT bear for Christmas. We recently picked it up and it was an instant hit. They LOVE him!! He is really, REALLY big….like 3 or 4 of me all rolled into one cuddly, smiling bear. They wrestle with him, kiss him, sit against him, lay on him, bounce off of him, and hug him. It is so sweet and cute. Thank you DeeDee!

Is having a little consistency too much to ask!?!

We are a sharing family. Sharing is caring, or so I’m told. My sister Kristy ships all of Alexee and Braidens clothes to me for Shenzie and Heaten. When they’ve moved to the next size the boy clothes go back to Kristy for Carter and the girl clothes go to my other sister’s Ang and Stacey for Marlee and Haylee. So far it is working out great…we save a ton of moolah in clothes buying thats for sure.

Because Ang is raising a giant and we are raising midgets she is ready for clothes for her 6 MONTH OLD BABY that my 15 MONTH OLD TODDLER is still wearing. Marlee the giant is almost ready for the 9-12 month bin of girls clothes and Ang being even more anal than me wants to get it early so she can wash, rewash, and organize it all nice and pretty. I couldn’t find the bin of clothes anywhere. I searched the garage, the babies room, our room, the playroom….no 9-12 month bin of clothes anywhere to be found. Apparently for the last 15 months I have been wrong in how the clothing sizes go. See that Ang, I can admit when I’m wrong…it just so rarely happens you don’t hear it often….ahahaha. So anyway, back to the weird sizing of baby clothes. I was under the assumption that any clothing that said 3 months was for 3-6 and clothing that said 9 months was for 9-12. Noooooooo…that is not the case. Clothing that says 3 months is for UP TO 3 months, 9 months is 6-9 months. How stupid is that?!?!?!!? Then some clothes actually give you the range and say 0-3 months or 6-12 months or whatever. I like those clothes. So it seems that I’ve been putting all of the wrong sizes in the wrong bins. Oops. The only good thing is I found the 9-12 month clothes…the bin says 12 months and like any other sane person I assumed that was 12-18 month clothes. Silly, silly clothes. I’m not even going to get started on the sizing differences of Old Navy vs. Gymboree vs. The Childrens Place vs. Target.

Consistency people, it’s all about consistency!!!

The crazy Hat Wearer

Say Ahhhhh

Yay! My blog is up for Lesley Barr Photography. So far I only have the bunk photo shoot that I tried with Shenzie this weekend. She wasn’t in a cooperating mood to say the least.

http://lesleybarrphotography.com/blog/

the better!!

Frozen Yogurt Funny Face Edition

With the babies teething I was told that frozen yogurt helps soothe the gums. I was super excited when I found Horizon Organic Yogurt Tubes with no High Fructose Corn Syrup or Red Dye #anything. Bite after bite she would make these faces, but she kept on eating it so it must have been yummy.

50mm f1.4 @ f2.0 ISO 200

50mm f1.4 @ f2.0 ISO 200

My beautiful blue eyed son who is sick with a cold. =(

50mm f1.4 @ f2.2 ISO 200

50mm f1.4 @ f2.5 ISO 200

I swear, one day the babies were blobs and the next they were walking. How insanely crazy it is to see them walking around and entertaining themselves. How amazing and wonderful it is to see them walking around and did you hear me!?!?!? entertaining themselves. Along with the walking came much happier babies. Of course we still have our moments of meltdowns, fights, tantrums, and general crazy….but the independence of walking has improved the on the crazy.

For the past week or so they are interacting with one another more. Well, let me clarify….Shenzie is interacting with Heaten…he is letting her. She climbs on him, hugs him, mauls him, and he just laughs and laughs or screams for her to get off. He hasn’t yet figured out he can play with her too…but I’m sure he’ll figure it out soon.

Shenzie is also starting to say words. She knows bear, ball, bye bye, brrr, cold, dog, and a bunch of g and b words that mean something to her, I have yet to figure them out. She repeats a lot of words I say but I’m sure she doesn’t know what they mean yet. She is signing really good and asking for things on her own using sign. Heaten is still content to yell, babble, and scream. He loves to hear himself yell…it is quite hilarious and makes me laugh every time.

On the teeth front…Shenzie has 8 and Heaten has 2. I am praying that one day he’ll just wake up with teeth. I know this is not going to be the case considering how much drama it is for him to get a tooth. He has been trying to get his two top middle teeth for over 3 weeks now. There are lumps, swollen gums, and crazy baby…but no teeth. I’m going to have to start bribing the tooth fairy or maybe I’ll take Grandma Jan’s advice and slap some whiskey on his gums….if a little spills down his throat in the process, well then so be it. =) Shenzie is in the process of getting her first molars and boy, oh boy, it is NOT pretty. She was a maniac for an entire day having meltdown after meltdown. Silly me just thought she was tired until I felt the molar poking through while brushing her teeth that night. Oops. Poor little girl. I feel one that has poked through and two more lumps under the gums. Teething sucks!!!!

Shenzie is addicted to hats or anything else she can wear on her head. She LOVES to wear hats all day and will even sleep with them. If she’s not wearing a hat she is putting a blanket, piece of clothing, or whatever else she can find on her head.

Things that make me happy…..

New TV

Ace of Cakes ¤ January 24
Big Brother 9 ¤ February 12 at 9pm
Jericho the Return ¤ February 12 at 10pm

Holiday Events

Valentines Day ¤ February 14 all day event
Jeff’s (and Leah’s) Birthday ¤ February 23 all day event
Massage number 2 ¤ Date yet to be determined

Lovers Lane

Date night ¤ Date yet to be determined

After many months of hard work my new photography site is finished. A gigantic, huge, enourmous thank you to my wonderful husband for all of his hard work!!

Introducing Lesley Barr Photography

www.lesleybarrphotography.com

When Jeff was vegetarian it was really hard to come up with new ideas for dinners without using meat. These days I do not have that problem….and let me tell you…tonight this makes me happy because these critters are calling my name!!!

Smokey Flavored Barbecued Ribs in the Crock Pot

3 1/2 lbs pork loin back ribs
1/4 cup packed brown sugar
1/2 teas. pepper
3 tbsp liquid smoke
2 cloves garlic, finely chopped
1 tsp salt
1 medium onion, sliced
1/ cup cola
1 1/2 cups barbecue sauce

1. Spray inside of 5-6 quart slow cooker with cooking spray
2. Remove inner skin from ribs. Mix brown sugar, pepper, liquid smoke, garlic, and salt; rub mixture into ribs. Cut ribs into about 4-inch pieces. Layer ribs and onion in slow cooker. Pour cola over ribs.
3. Cover and cook on low heat setting 8 to 9 hours or until ribs are tender. Remove ribs from cooker. Drain liquid from cooker and discard. (watch for falling bones)
4. Pour bbq sauce into shallow bowl. Dip ribs into sauce. Place ribs in cooker. Pour any remaining sauce over ribs. Cover and cook on low heat setting 1 hour.

And you know me…I omit the onions since we both hate them. Still yummy!

Curly Hair Edition

Both photos taken with Canon 50mm f1.4 at f2.5 ISO 200

Since Jeff and I both have curly hair the babies were bound to end up with some curls. I’m sorry to say poor Shenzie got my coarse curls while Heaten got the nice, soft wavy curls.

And for your Bonus Foto Friday Photos…..

Shenzie looking cute as a button in the hat that Grandma Marge got her. She now wears it everywhere and even sleeps with it….

And Heaten looking as cute as can be while trying to escape from the tub!!!

All photos taken with Canon 50mm f1.4 at f5.0 ISO 200