Spring Break 2010 - Let the fun begin!

Spring Break officially started on Friday and the Barker family kicked off the week of fun and festivities with a trip to the Riverbanks Zoo in Columbia. I love this zoo - great animals, clean, lots of activities for big kids and little kids. Here are some of my favorites:

Feeding the giraffes~

They have very scruffy faces and they back away from your hand unless you have lettuce in it. When they eat out of your hand it is very gentle. There is a sweet new baby that was born during the big snow storm in February that is cute, cute, cute. I love him. All babies are cute right, even ones that are 5ft 7in when born. Notice below the baby can't peek over the rail yet.

But mama has no problem eating from above...

Riding in this tiny train~

I think I feel like a giant squeezed in to this caboose, but the kids see it as something HUGE. They love riding again and again. Conor and Jude especially enjoyed this "big kid" ride.

Horseback riding~

Seriously, this is the answer to every kids daydream. Who didn't want to ride horses growing up? Just to experience this alone is priceless....

The botanical gardens~

Brett and I appreciate this more than the kids (they were ready to get back to the animal part) but the zoo does an awesome job maintaing these botanical gardens. And the in season, in bloom tulips blew me away. Tulips are still my favorite flower.

I can't wait to see what excitement the rest of the week brings....

Happy Spring Break!

When PaPa Comes To Town....

All rules are out the window. Like no chocolate ice cream before bed...... Because he always brings ice cream and cones, and I can't say no..... because that would make me the bad guy....

Conor enjoying her ice cream....

Chapel lost her shirt after dripping ice cream....

Eli, beyond all expectations, managed to stayed the less messy of the kiddos!

And finally, Jude, sat very still in his rocker and quietly enjoyed his treat....

Community Service

I am so proud of these kids. Under dad's direction they formed an assembly line to make sandwiches to feed the Habitat for Humanity student volunteers.

Originally, Eli was on cheese but he found it too tempting. He would fold it, break it, and occasionally take a nibble of a slice. So he was put on bread.

Chapel did well on cheese - resisting the urge to eat !

And so we took all 40 sandwiches, drinks, nutri-grain bars and chips to feed the University of Kentucky student volunteers who devoted their Spring Break to building a Habitat of Humanity House on Johns Island.

And on Johns Island, this entire community is devoted to building Habitat homes.

And each new home owner puts in their own sweat equity to help another family own their own home.

In the wise words of my husband - making sandwiches is the easy part. Building homes is the hard part....

And the volunteers were so gracious and sweet. They all signed a card which read:

Thank you for providing lunch for us today! We appreciate your willingness to make and come bring us food. Because of you, we have the strength to continue our mission today.

University of Kentucky

Baptist Campus Ministries

Amen. Community Service makes us all feel good and realize what it is all about!

Mon, Wed, Fri Mornings

I like a schedule. I function best when I know that I can organize my week. For Christmas, Brett gave me a membership to the MUSC Wellness Center and since then, my Monday, Wednesday, and Friday mornings have gone as follows:

6;00 - wake up

6:30 - wake up Chapel and Eli and babies and get dressed

7:00 - 7:30 - breakfast

7:30- leave Folly Beach

8:00- Chapel and Eli arrive at school downtown

8:15- Me and babies arrive at MUSC Wellness Center

8:30 - 9:15 - Mom works out

9:15 - 9:45 - Mom takes a shower and gets dressed

So where are Conor and Jude you may ask while mom is on the treadmill watching the TODAY show? They are at the gym's nursery. And they LOVE it. I feel confident that Ms. Barbara and Ms. Ruthie take great care of them while I slave away, burning the calories. When Chapel was little I joined Gold's gym but I was always called out because she would cry after 10 minutes. But with the twins, it is different. They have each other and they enjoy the time playing with the other kids. I have yet to be called out once - keep your fingers crossed!

Sleep Like A Baby

Once upon a time, my sweet little twin babies slept like this:

Every night I would put them in their crib together and they would snuggle and sleep the whole night thru. Last night, I went in to check on them and this what I stumbled across - Conor Johanna Barker, who has been fully capable of climbing out of the crib for some time, had climbed out and decided to sleep on the bed beside the crib....

She was curled up ever so sweetly.... with no blanket in sight.

So, I covered her up and Brett put pillows all around the bed...just in case....

And there she slept.

Tonight, I put her in the crib again but she promptly crawled out and climbed on the bed. I need to come to terms with the fact that she has decided to sleep on her on.... Without her brother... Sniff, sniff...

And here is Jude, content in his crib, without his sissy... Sleeping as peacefully as you can imagine. Now if I can just convince him to move over to the bed with his sister, I could have a cute snuggly set once again!

Every Night....

The babies go to bed first. Chapel gets tired and decides to lie down in her bed alone. And then my big man, Eli, who is still wide, wide awake climbs in bed with his sissy and sits up looking at books. He is never tired first... I chalk it up to the fact he naps at school for 1.5 hours while Chapel gets no nap and the babies, well, they are babies so they just go to bed early. And as usual my last man standing is Eli Edison Barker.

Fonduely Yours

Aunt Mimi's extended visit allowed her to stay with us for a big day - her 32nd birthday! We decided to celebrate her birthday with a delicious fondue treat. Babies in bed, the adults and two older kids enjoyed dipping pretzels, potatoes, apples, bread, broccoli and turkey sausage in the wonderfully cheesy mixture. Thanks to Brett, as always, for creating an awesome dinner for the party. The evening was a low-key birthday celebration but it was so nice to have Meredith here, in the country, and our friends Robert and Damien joining us. Having my sister with us for 3 weeks was such a treat. Meredith is the kind of sister that just helps me pick up the pieces and keeps me moving forward. Anything I ask she is willing to help me do, and she never asks for anything in return. She is very unselfish that way - whereas I have always demanded everything go exactly the way I want or else I come undone. I admire her ability to be such a good friend and listener. And I also admire how observant she is of just her everyday surroundings. My head is so far in the clouds I sometimes forget to just look around and see things for what they really are. So here we are, on M's bday, after a long and tiring week, just enjoying some good food, good conversation, and good company.

Brett explaining to Eli that since his food fell of his fork in the pot he has to kiss the person to his right - Chapel.

Peaceful Waters

What is it about being in the water that makes everyone a little happier? Even though they have had their differences over the past couple of weeks, they seem to always agree on one thing: bath time is fun time. No pulling hair, no biting, no snatching toys from each other. The calming waters must do the trick. Conor and Jude have pushed little Reese around a good bit during her stay but taking a bath has been one activity they could all agree on.

O-yes-ters!

This weekend was the annual Exchange Club oyster roast on Bowen's Island. I love going to Bowen's Island - it has no paved roads, a couple of family houses and then this little old shack where they roast the oysters. It is rustic, but fun for the kids and with great views for the adults. You can really see a different perspective of the island we call home from there. The weather was PERFECT and Brett had the forethought to bring along the kids fishing poles, which kept them entertained. (For the record, we only caught Eli's sweater and an old oyster shell). We were also lucky to get to see PaPa Ed and have Meredith and Reese with us.

Here is uncle RaRa enjoying a hot dog!

Reese also enjoys a snack....

Beautiful Bowen's Island....

Beautiful day, beautiful kids....

Sistas....