The Cricket Toy

For those awkward moments in life, our friend Jeff Anderson has come up with the idea of The Cricket Toy.  When you have one of those moments, just press the button and crickets will chirp!  Check it out!!!  www.thecrickettoy.com  Great Christmas gift!!!

MY BOYS!!!

Since I seem to not be able to get my act together to post more than once a week, why not keep the tradition!  Well I guess we are going on more than a week this time.  Anyway, today I thought I would pay tribute to the men in my life.  Jason (my incredible man), Jake (my brilliant first born), and Jonah (my precious baby).  This week was filled with fun times with daddy home all week.  This month's calendar makes me smile!!!  33Miles is only traveling on weekends so that means lots of "kung fu panda" is going on at our house this month!  This week it was all about playing outside, finally getting a little date night, going to the zoo, finding fall leaves to jump in (hubby is obsessed with the leaves this year), making crafts to send to the grandparents, and of course eating out!  We got nothing accomplished around the house (for example: moving my precious baby to his big boy bed) other than keeping it somewhat clean!  It was worth taking the week to spend tons of time with the family!  So having updated everyone on our week, here are some things that I love about my boys!

Jason - words cannot express what he means to me!  I love him deeply and appreciate the man that he is, and desires to be!  I have never met a more hard working and determined man than Jase.  He loves God and people passionately!  He is someone that will take the time to hear your story, and remember it!  He is the most amazing father that I have ever seen!  He will play with the boys from sun up to sun down, feed them, bathe them, make crafts with them, and just about everything else you can imagine.  He is able to be a mother and a father to them if needed!  It is amazing!  He is my partner and soul mate...I am blessed beyond belief that God chose him for me!

Jake - he is my first born, with all "first born" qualities.  He is a beautiful child with a sweet sensitive spirit like his dad's.  Everyone is drawn to him.  He is always concerned for others, and will give you a kiss at just the right moment!  He has taught me so much about being a lover of others!  He adores his brother!  Jake is creative, and very smart.  It is scary sometimes!  He is becoming more assertive as the years progress.  I love the fact that he wants to wear his super hero costumes everywhere.  It is his way of being outgoing!  He is a precious child!  I love, love, love Jake...he has a special place in my heart!

Jonah - he is my baby!  I adore him, and his feisty little spirit!  He is the sweetest child, but will tell you what he thinks in a heartbeat (I don't know where he gets that from)!  I call him "a lover and a fighter"!  Jonah gives the best hugs and kisses you could ever ask for!  He LOVES is mommy and daddy and his "jakey".  He would rather us all be together than apart.  Jonah is a very observant child that likes to study situations before jumping into them.  He grabbed my heart right away, and I still rock him for a few minutes before putting him in his bed.  It is the most special 5 minutes that I spend with him in the day!  I couldn't ask for a sweeter "mama's boy"!

So, those are MY BOYS!  I adore each one of them, and am so thankful that they are mine!

Buzz and Woody

It was a great day of fun at the Barton house yesterday.  We started off with what I called "a date with mommy".  Jake had a little party/play date with friends so I left Jonah at home with Jase, and Jake and I went by ourselves.  We don't ever get to do much alone so it was fun to have some time with him!  (By the way, Jake put his costume on at 9:00 am and didn't take it off until 9:00 pm!  EVERYONE saw that costume around Franklin and Spring Hill!)  After that we met Jason and Jonah for lunch, and headed home for naps.  I decided to head to the doctor while the boys were napping to try to resolve some things with my jaw.  For those of you who don't know, I haven't been able to open my mouth all the way since Monday but that is for another post!  So, after a shot in the backside and a whole bunch of meds I was on my way.  When I got home it was time for the fun to begin!  The costumes were on and the boys were loaded up in the wagon.  Yes, they had the VIP treatment!  At some houses they were just rolled right up to the candy!  They loved every minute of it, and we had a blast watching them!  Jonah surprised us the most!  He would squeal with excitement, and they both would say "trick or treat please", and "thank you"!  So sweet!  After trick or treating we walked down the the Guice's house for a party then headed to bed!  Jason had to fly out really early this morning to meet the 33Miles guys in Florida but we still managed to stay up late, eat popcorn and candy, and watch The Bodyguard on the Oxygen channel!  It was a great night!!!

Swimming in October?!?

Last week we were able to spend a little time at my parents house in Louisiana.  We had fun hanging out with family, meeting the new baby of the family (baby Henry), and catching up with old friends!  Jason is excited that our friends Brad and Jessica Forsyth and their two precious boys have moved back to Lake Charles.  They were friends of mine in high school, then Jason became friends with Brad in college when we were all at Louisiana Tech together.  He is pumped to finally have someone to hang out with when we are in town that actually knows him apart from me!  Wow, that sounded funny.  That's how I feel most of the time with him in the business that he is in! HA!  Anyway, we actually got to swim when we were home thanks to my parents heated pool!  The boys had a blast, and picked up right where we left off from summer swimming!  Daddy also had fun taking the boys to the Trinity Center (an inside play place at my parents church).  Jonah is finally big enough to crawl through everything so Jason was a big kid himself crawling right along with them!  It was a good trip, and a much needed break for our family!

Praise In The Park

Last Friday I packed up and we headed to the airport to pick up Jase then drove to Mississippi for a 33Miles show.  The show was Saturday night, and it was amazing!  They opened for Casting Crowns, and there were over 10,000 people packed into this small outdoor arena in the precious town of Lucedale, MS.  My parents, my sister and her 2 kids, and Jason's parents decided to come join in the fun!  Jake and Jonah were able to go up on stage during the last song.  Jake got to play his electric guitar ("just like uncle chris", he says), and Jonah had his little microphone with him.  The crowd went nuts when they came out so Jake was a little freaked out, but Jonah just walked right up to the front of the stage and soaked it all in!  They were precious! On Sunday, we headed to Louisiana to visit with family for a few days.  We are definitely enjoying some time with daddy too!  I am amazed at the favor of God!  He is blessing 33Miles and their ministry more than we ever could have imagined, and we are thankful to be given the opportunity to serve Him in this capacity!  Yes, it stinks that Jason is gone so much, and yes we miss him terribly when he is away, but it helps to go out on the road with him sometimes and see the the impact that they are making!  God is good, and we are BLESSED!!!

The Barton Clan!

While Jason has been gone this week, I decided to brave a trip to Chattanooga with the boys for a couple of days to see his brother's family.  They just moved to the Chattanooga area a few months ago from Missouri so you can imagine how excited we are to have family so close by!  We have waited a long time!!!  Mimi (jason's mom) was babysitting the kids for the week so I guess we only saw half of the family.  Anyway, we left after school on Thursday and came back on Friday evening so that we wouldn't miss Jake's soccer game on Saturday.  The boys had a blast playing with their cousins...Hayden (almost 8yrs), Britt (5yrs.), and Brock (2 yrs.), and I enjoyed having a little break.  The highlight of the trip, well what was suppose to be the highlight, was fishing in their pond.  The boys loved the fishing part, but were not so keen on Hoops (the dog).  For those of you who don't know us, Jake is TERRIFIED of animals!  It is the craziest thing that you have ever seen.  You would think that we threw him in to a bull pen when he was a baby or something.  This will explain the funny look on his face in the pic with the fishing pole in his hand.  He is trying to watch Hoops out of the corner of his teary eye!  You just want to laugh, cry, and scream all at the same time when he freaks out around animals!  I keep telling Jase that we are going to end up in a counselors office by the end of all of it! HA!  We did have a great trip though.  They absolutely LOVE their Mimi and their cousins so it was well worth "the experience"!  

The Ham Festival

Yes folks, there is such a thing called The Ham Festival!  It happens every October here in Spring Hill, TN.  I decided to brave it alone with the boys today after Jake's soccer game.  If you know me, you know that I am not always up for braving these types of things without Jason along for the ride.  The memory of last years Ham Festival alone is reason enough not to want to go!  Jonah was a little over one year, and when he was not fussing to get in or out of the stroller he was fussing at everyone who looked his way!  He was quite a frustrated child a year ago.  I don't know where he would get that from!?!  Anyway, today we needed a change of pace so "Ham Festival" it was!  We actually had a ton of fun!  The boys loved riding the little train, jumping in the bounce house, playing games, and of course getting candy!  Jake especially enjoyed batting some (Jase just taught him how not too long ago), and I have to brag a little and say that he hit every single ball!  Maybe soccer is not the sport for him, but that is for another post!  Jonah loved feeding the puppet cow.  They both thought it was hilarious, and talked about it the rest of the day.  All in all it was a fun time with the kiddos even though daddy was not there.  We miss him a lot though.  We are heading into day 5 without him tomorrow so we are definitely looking forward to his return!  So, if you ever happen to be in the area the first weekend in October The Ham Festival may be for you!