Andrew's 2nd Birthday Party, Fresno, and Denmark

Last Sunday night, we celebrated Andrew's 2nd birthday with his two buddies, Noah and Josh. As you can see, we had a train theme and all the boys loved it. We got Andrew the train table you see in the background and Josh let us use his train set for the big night.

The boys played with the trains for pretty much the whole night.

Then, the boys took a break and the adults played.

We went to Fresno about a week ago to celebrate Christmas with my two sisters and their families. It was a ton of fun watching the kids play together and enjoy each other so much. Here is Nathan taking some pictures of Andrew. Surprisingly, his pictures turned out fairly good.

Andrew and Annalise are the closest in age and LOVE playing together. They are adorable to watch. Andrew still misses her a lot.

I just had my 10th high school reunion. Although I didn't go, it got me back in touch with several friends. Missy is on the left and Hanne (from Denmark) is on the right. We got to spend some time together in Huntington Beach last week catching up. It was so nice to see old friends. I haven't kept in touch with anyone from high school so it was nice to talk with someone who knew me back then.
I can't believe Andrew has played by himself long enough for me to do this post. Wow! Okay. Now he just got into the DVD's... gotta go.

Merry Christmas

http://www.elfyourself.com/?id=1169340377

A couple disclaimers about this link:
- I realize that they gave me (Gabe) a girl's elf body. haha.
- The far right is an ultrasound photo of a baby's face. but i was too lazy to scan an actual picture of our girl, so this one is just some random pic off the internet...

Revolutionizing the Barber Home

I'm sorry for any messed up organization to this post. I can't seem to get things right these days on Blogger.
Anyway, the pictures below will explain the title, but... do any of you see anything interesting above??? Oh, I don't know... Maybe the fact that Andrew is SMILING while he's walking through the sand on the beach!!! Whoo-hoo! Monday was a big day for us. If you didn't know, Andrew HATED the sand for about 8 months. He screamed when we went anywhere near the beach and didn't even want to walk on playgrounds with sand. Weird, huh? Anyway, something changed and Monday he was building sand castles!

Now for the explaination of the title... We are now night showerers! While this may not seem too extreme for some (ok, most) of you, this is big for this family. We love it! Here are some before and after shots of me one morning. There are only 6.5 minutes between the two pictures! Isn't that awesome?! I never thought I could shower at night because of my hair. Seriously, look at the "before" picture... Aghhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh! (left if you're blind and you can't tell.) What would you do with that in the morning? We decided to give night showering a shot while we were in Idyllwild and we haven't looked back! It's opened up a whole new world for us! Gabe gets to work earlier, Andrew doesn't tear apart the bathroom while we're both getting ready, Andrew and I can get out of the house at a decent hour now. Wow!

October Post

Here's a post of some random things from October along with a little bit of what's going on these days... Here's Andrew playing a game at the Harvest Festival at EV Free on Halloween.

Gabe with Elmo.

Andrew has been doing my exercises with me lately.

This was a few days before Halloween when Andrew was wearing his costume just for fun. Although Elmo did not actually make anything happen this time, he did pee for the first time in the potty last Wednesday morning... yet to be repeated, but it provided much needed inspiration for his parents who were beginning to lose patience. Andrew was pretty excited too.

We went to a park with crazy static electricity. I went down the slide and look at my hair! (I don't typically style it like this.)

Isn't this a funny picture?

Here's Andrew reading to Annie the scarecrow. He was "showing her" the pictures. He read to her for several minutes that night.

Sad news: For those of you who have been waiting for us to try Andrew on wheat again, wait no more... He barfed all over and hives covered his face and torso. Gabe and I decided we probably won't try anything new until just before kindergarden. Poor little guy. He's doing much better now, though. Gabe's and my stomachs are still pretty nasty though. (It was a LOT of barf.)

Left: This is something that happens fairly often in our house. Andrew loves to do these hand motions while NONNIE sings the song so he calls her several times a week.
Right: Andrew hugging Annie, who he named by the way. (Andrew had no idea I was recording this. It was so cute.)

Left: Andrew reading to Annie.
Right: Gabe and Andrew had a fun day at home a couple weeks ago. He goes SO crazy when Gabe gets him all wound up!

Idyllwild

We went away to Idyllwild last weekend with the Encarnacion family. We had a blast! See below for why...

Little Zack the happy moose.

Gabe somehow kept 3 boys under 2.5 years old entertained with what I'm pretty sure was a book of art.

Us old folk weren't the only ones who needed a break and some time to relax.

This was the painting that was on the wall in the basement billiards room. I think it was called, "Horseplay." What do you think of it???

We decided to widdle our own marshmallow skewers. Allie started getting pretty serious about it (as you can see here) so then it was made into a competition. Although I'm still not sure of the winner, my Gabe did say that holding his was a "massage for your hands". I don't think that any of us could beat that.Why this vacation was so awesome:
1. Andrew loves each member of the Encarnacion family so much, it's ridiculous.
2. Gabe and I think they're okay too.
3. The kids had a BLAST together.
4. Us adults were able to hang out WITHOUT kids during naptimes and after hours (bedtime). We never get to do that anymore!
5. We rented a HUGE house...
6. with bathrooms...
7. and a kitchen...
8. and a playground in the backyard.
9. We didn't need to go anywhere. (Unlike if we had gone to Paris, for example.)
10. There was a pool table downstairs... which I think that we all enjoyed except perhaps my Gabe... and I quote, "This 8-ball is ruining my life!"
11. It was less than 2 hours away.
12. We were only without electricity for 4 hours one night.
13. We could mix and match kids. There were 4 adults and 3 kids. Someone was always there to watch some of the kids.

I strongly advise ALL young families to try a vacation like this. It was inexpensive (especially since we still owe the Encarnacions money for the house) and a ton of fun and seriously relaxing even with kids around. Has anyone else done this? Where'd you go?

Happy Birthday to Gabey!!!

Today is Gabe's birthday and I haven't even seen him yet! He went away last night for a last minute solitude retreat in Idyllwild. That gave me all last night and this morning to think about what a wonderful husband I have... not just that he's a good husband, but that he's an awesome person. Even if he weren't my husband, I would think, "wow, that Gabe-guy is really cool. I should get to know him more... then maybe marry him..." okay. It's tough to look at him not thru wife's eyes, but I think you'd all agree. Gabe is awesome... and he's got a nice booty! (Shout out to our fantasy football competitors. They have to agree.)

Happy Birthday Gabe!!!

ps This picture is from 2000 (or 1999.)

Tweet! Tweet!

For those of you who are on the edge of your seats because you think that I'm about to tell about some facinating new birds in my neighborhood, please put your excitement on hold. This post is not that post.

That birdie is ME! I'm nesting! How cute is that?! I never really went through that classic "nesting" stage when I was pregnant with Andrew, but I totally am now.

Besides all of the normal end of the day/week clean up tonight, I've also:

* put new pegs in the kitchen shelves so that they're not all hanging on by 2 broken pegs

* fixed the wiring for our suround sound finally

* hung up a fall wreath I made a week or two ago

* baked 3 loaves of banana bread

* cleaned out the freezer

* cleaned out the baking shelf in the pantry

I'm sure I'm missing a few things, but that was basically my night thus far. I've been this way for the last couple of days. I've always had "conquering Rome" time where I run around the house like a crazy lady and get stuff done, but the funniest things are coming to my mind now... things I would usually ask Gabe to do (like changing light bulbs), and I feel the need to do them right away. It can't wait until he gets home. (I'm sure he doesn't mind too much.)

On another note, I have been hearing the most random noises outside tonight. It's been going on for about 30 minutes now and all of the sounds seem like they're traveling from somewhat of a distance. Can anyone connect these sounds for me???

1. A country music/Mariachi band (yes, you read it right.)

2. Girls screaming their heads off like they're on roller coasters. (Knott's Scary Farm???)

3. Fireworks (probably Disneyland... not too much in question here, but still weird to be going on at the same time.)

4. Sirens (!)

Explain to me what I'm listening to. (Think of this as a riddle... but it's not...)

Who Are They???

If you want to see some REALLY old skool pics of Gabe and I (I didn't even recognize myself in one of them), click here and check out my friend, Flo's, blog... Don't ask about the last shot. I honestly have no idea.

It's a... Girl!!!

On Thursday afternoon, giddy with excitement, Gabe and I went to the doctor's office for my ultrasound. That was exactly 5 months before the due date of our little daughter! We're so excited that Andrew will be a big brother to a sister. He's excited too. If you ask him if the baby is a boy or a girl, he says, "girl!"

The baby is healthy and getting more and more active... or at least I'm feeling her more often now. I have two favorite parts of pregnancy. One is feeling the baby move and the other is the pregnant belly! I love my pregnant belly!

On a different note, Andrew (pictured here at Ruby's on the pier for lunch out with his great grand parents), is a total 2-yr-old (even though he technically has a couple months left.) He is hilarious and does the funniest, cutest things... but every once in a while, we see bizzaro-Andrew who comes out from hiding and goes psycho. Our latest temper tantrum almost made me cry out of frustration. I always let him pick out his shoes before we leave to go somewhere. He handed me his flip-flops yesterday. Okie-dokie. No problem. Once I got them on, he looked and said, "no", and handed me socks and his Vans. All right. We've all done that before. Try on a pair and realize they just don't go. Fine. I switched the shoes for him. He then said, "no" and handed me the flip-flops again. I told him that I wouldn't switch them again. Anyway, after much weeping and gnashing of teeth, I came to the realization that he wanted to wear both pairs at the same time. WHAT?! Okay, even if I were going to give in (which I wouldn't), it would have been impossible for me to!!! What are you supposed to do with such a unreasonable, illogical little person?! (It turns out you let them scream and cry for about 10 minutes and hold back your own tears until they finally regain composure and are ready to leave with only the Vans on.)

We got to see our grandparents (actually Gabe's) this past Monday for the whole day. It was awesome! They were staying on Balboa Island so we played around there all day and got a couple Heart Championship games in as well!

Gram Barb was so excited about taking Andrew on the carosel on the peninsula. They were so cute together! Andrew loves his great grandparents!

Would You Care For a Spot of Tea?

This is probably the most random Andrew post I've ever done...

So... Our son has a British accent. As mentioned in the last post, Andrew is REALLY into Thomas. For those of you who don't know about this series, it's British. (So it's either not supposed to be funny or it's British "humor".) Anyway, the kids who sing the songs all have British accents. The main song starts off saying, "They're 2, they're 4 they're 6, they're 8." The only part he knows is to shout, "eight!", but he doesn't pronounce it, "ate." He says, "ite!" Next thing I know, he'll be asking, "Mother, might I have a crumpet with my afternoon milk?"

Below is a craft that Andrew and I did yesterday after collecting some leaves in the yard. I got the idea from my friend, Carolyn, and her daughter who did the same thing and put it on their blog. Click here to see their beauties. I'm not completely sure what Andrew and I did wrong...

This is Andrew's first boquet he's ever made to put in a vase. The weeds- I mean- flowers weren't quite long enough to stick up out of the top.
My husband and son, the gamers.

This is one of cousin Nathan's sweatshirts. It turned out to be WAY too small (which is why Andrew's face looks a little red) so this was the only time he got to wear it, but he LOVED it.
Andrew's first haircut!... This is not a typo. His hair was finally long enough to cut (about a week ago) after only 21 months of working on it. He actually didn't mind it at all and talks about it all the time now.
His first time meeting the real life animals.

One of his first piggy-back rides.
His eyes are turning green... at least sometimes. Other times they're still as blue as the sky.

Botus the Tank Engine

Andrew is inlove with trains right now, especially Thomas. As you can see below, he has some trouble saying it, though. (Note to Nonnie and Papa: does this sound familiar??? "Wassus")

On another note, here's our next kid! What do you think? Girl? Boy? Place your votes now! We're hoping to find out in a couple of weeks!

Things That Make Me Smile

Look closely. Do you see it? There's a leaf in there that is starting to change colors! Yesterday morning, I sat down for breakfast, looked out the window, and smiled. It's fall!!! I LOVE fall. That came as a shock to most of you when taking my quiz a while back so let me give you a few reasons why it's (by far) my favorite season.

1. Christmas is right around the corner!

2. Fall gives me a reason to decorate my house and I love doing that! I start as close to Oct. 1st as I can and the weekend after Thanksgiving, I switch everything out for Christmas.

3. Thanksgiving and Christmas give me warm fuzzies.

4. I love the smell of cinnamon, apples, nutmeg, etc.

5. The weather finally gives up and allows some clouds and cooler temps.

6. Trees and parks are beautiful!

7. School starts and I love to see and hear kids walking home from school, playing football in the streets, and moms calling kids in for dinner.

8. Baseball is FINALLY over! Bleh!

9. I can get away with singing more Christmas songs in my house. Sometimes they even get stuck in Gabe's head and I hear him humming a wonderful tune without me!

10. It seems like there should be an even 10... Aha! I love winter meals and I can finally start using the oven again and the stove more. (Soup, bread, baked chicken, and cookies!, etc)

I love when Andrew wears our things. This is one of Gabe's hats. I think Andrew actually looks really good in it and it matches what he's wearing.
I told Andrew to go put some shoes on so we could go outside. He did just as I asked and he knew just how funny he was. Look how hard he's laughing! He is getting sillier and sillier! I just love the age he's at so much!

He's a Mover and a Shaker!

I only caught the end of this on film, but Andrew was moving the tee-pee all over the house, I'm guessing trying to find the best home for it.

In case you're wondering...

1. I skipped out on blogging for a month due to busyness.

2. Pics have been few and far between because only one of our computers likes videos (so it can be hard to access the pics too) and that computer is now back at hp getting revived... hopefully!

3. I'm trying to do the new video upload on blogspot. I hope it works! (Then the computer won't actually know that I'm working with videos on it! Shhhhhh... It'll be our little secret.)

4. As of a few months ago, I stopped blogging every event that happened to or around the Barber home. It is sad, but it got to be too stressful for me to keep up with during busy times. Why stress over blogging???

New Driver, New Car

Andrew loves our new Kia Rondo. So do we! We've owned it for 2 weeks now and it's already been camping once!
This was after its first bath.

New Stuff...

Okay... so it's been a while...

Vegtables: LOVE them again!!! Yippee!!! During the first 12 weeks of my pregnancy, the thought of veggies made me want to puke, but I'm back to loving them. In fact, I just ate a salad for an afternoon snack. Usually I would talk myself out of all of the chopping for just ONE salad for ONE person, so this time I talked myself into it by saying I could make as much as I wanted and store it in the fridge to eat whenever! YUM!

Hedecocopitedada: Andrew is learning more and more words. It's so cute! I love listening to him! The best is when he tries to say words longer than 2 syllables... like "helicopter". He starts with the right sound, but then just keeps going with random syllables. It makes me laugh.

Gabe's working on his placenta: They say pregnant women are exhausted for the first 13 weeks becuz their bodies are building the placenta for the baby. (It's hard work!) Anyway, I think Gabe is pregnant. He's been as tired as I was during my 13 week building project. (Maybe he's just catching up on the sleep he lost due to my previous 13 weeks...)

Faux date night: Gabe has tonight off work. Yay! We're having dinner, "going" to a game, and all without needing a babysitter. (Bedtime kicks off our evening.)

This Was Fun...

A week and a half ago, my car was on, "Pimp My Ride". Did you see it? Actually, this makeover was thanks to a woman thinking her stale red light was green. Funny how colors make such a big difference sometimes, huh? Anyway, here are some of the exciting shots...
Thankfully, Andrew and I were both totally fine (and the little baby too!). I had some soreness in my back and neck, but not too bad all things considered. Andrew slept through the whole event. He woke up briefly during impact and then nodded right back off. (At first I thought he was knocked unconcious!) Gabe says that Andrew sleeping through something like that says a lot about my driving. Ha, ha.
I consider it a bad thing when there is a box of "extra" parts sitting in your front passenger seat.So the Camry was totalled. Here's what we're looking at now... it's not a minivan, it's not a SUV, it's not a crossover, it's a... a... well, it's a Kia Rondo. What do you think?