Tuesday, January 24, 2012

"Party like a 13 year old..."



Our little boy is officially a teenager!

From this...




 To this!

Dylan's birthday celebration was a sad but wonderful day. You ask why was it sad? Well, we have watched him grow from a little boy to a loving, caring, bright young man which is an eye-opening experience for any parent to see their child reach a new chapter in their life. 





Teenage-hood can be an awkward transitional period for teenagers. So encourage, support and love them with open lines of communication. 

As for you the mommy, your teens can be unbearable at times. They make you cry, they make you laugh, they make you feel like a failure, they make millions of emotions out of you.

Yet through it all, you still love your teen even though at times it is very complicated.

No matter what, acknowledge your heartfelt emotions through this period because it is brief and then in a blink of an eye they are moving on to another chapter in their lives. You can only pray that the love and energy you invest in your child sends them off into this big, crazy world to become a caring, loving and bright young individual...



Okay enough of the sappy stuff an on to some pictures of the birthday celebration!

Happy 13th Birthday, Dylan!



Russ and Dylan



Dylan's Great-Grandma's - Nan and Mary



Dylan's other Great-Grandma Mary (to the left)



My sister-in-law, Shannon; Niece, Savannah Grace and brother, Ronnie







Salena and Shannon



My cousin, Mary and her daughter, MaKayla Alyson



Aunt Renee



Chuck and James




Ruthie, Frank and Sam (missing sweet Sophie in this picture)










Um, Ronnie I think Payton's horse is a tad to small for you -- wouldn't you say?





Cameron, Jalen, Dylan and Alex -- silly boys!








One happy teenage boy!



 Cookie cake time!







The beautiful Sophie patiently waiting on a slice of cookie cake.



Sam



 After the birthday celebration we took the boys to Latitude 30 to play games and be boys...



 Dylan, Cameron, Jalen and even Russ and Chuck trying to see who could score the highest in the Boxer game.



Boys will be boys!






Russ and Steph playing air hockey


And yes, that is me focused on a serious game of Deal or No Deal! 



 Dylan's 1st birthday celebration and 12 years later he has grown into a wonderful young man. I am so incredibly proud to call him my son!




Hope you enjoy our little family blog. When you visit the blog, please feel free to leave a comment for us below. We love to hear from our family and friends! 


Until next time...

Saturday, January 21, 2012

"From a little boy to a young man..."

On January 21st our son steps into the world of a teenager and the next chapter of his life. Before his birthday celebration I want to share a few pictures of our bright and fun-loving son.

Happy 13th Birthday, Dylan Russell Barr!



 1999




 2000-2001



2002 




2003



2004



2005



2006



2007



2008




2008



2009



2009




2010



2010



2011




2011



2011









While we try to teach our children all about life,
Our children teach us what life is all about.
~Angela Schwindt

Tuesday, January 17, 2012

"The toothless one..."

Yesterday our sweet girl lost yet another tooth. This makes her 3rd tooth. Needless to say the tooth fairy has been quite busy in our household lately. 



 Every moment should be cherished with your little ones because in just a blink of an eye they are walking around with a toothless grin awaiting "big kid" teeth and turning into a teenager...




Other than a dimple in a cute little chin,
What's more adorable than a toothless grin?
~Azu "Betty" Espezia



Next: Pictures coming up of Dylan's 13th birthday party this weekend...

Friday, January 13, 2012

"Say cheese..."



With Chemistry finals, Christmas shopping and Christmas, Salena and Grandpa in the hospital in December, packing for our week long trip to Pennsylvania, plus taking care of my Grandma I totally forgot to post our recent family pictures we had taken by Lilipop Photography down at the beach. But before I share a fun story behind our wonderful family picture day here are a few great pictures before the blunders began....
















Before walking down to the beach at 9am on a chilly Saturday morning in November we stopped at Starbucks to grab some coffee. With me wearing a cream colored shirt I knew that I had to be EXTRA careful not to spill my coffee because I am infamous for spilling stuff on myself when wearing anything remotely close to white. After a few shots Dylan asks if he could try my delicious Peppermint Mocha latte so to make him happy since he had to wake up early I allowed him a sip. Well to my dismay he spilled it all over his white shirt. Go figure! This always prepared mama, was not prepared for this so we had to improvise...








Thank heavens Chuck had on this green shirt under his sweater. It's a bit big but are soon-to-be 13 year old (in 7 days) is now in Men's clothing and a 9.5 in Men's shoes so we said what the heck! Now on with the rest of our family photo shoot.








Now at this point I decided to spill my coffee all down my nice cream shirt. But with the help of my handy husband he photo-shopped it out since our photographer forgot to photoshop it before giving us our photos. That's okay because we will chalk that up to her prego brain since Jazmyn is 4 months pregnant. Ha!






I absolutely adore this picture!



 Look at how BIG our sweet boy is -- almost taller than mama!



This picture is priceless...
So it goes to show even if my hopes of a picture perfect family photo shoot - no pun intend, an it was full of coffee blunders -- I love my perfect-imperfect family photos. 




There is a kind of beauty in imperfection. ~ Conrad Hall