we love dogs

We took a Sunday stroll and came across a little family that had a very fluffy dog. Gwen got really excited when she saw the puppy and so James took her over to have a look. She was a little shy at first, but after a minute she was loving petting the dog. Later she was walking around and she went up to the dog all by herself, but she waited for me to come over before she reached out to pet it. I have to say that seeing other dogs at the parks and not having to take care of them is the best way to go.

dinner at the park

After being stuck in the house all day, we decided to have dinner at a park by our house. So Gwen loving everything that there is to do with the outdoors showed us just how much she loves to be outside. She tried out the teeter-totter.( Not quite like they were when I was a kid)
She rode on a space shuttle with dad (and Megan)
We tried out the slides...



But the best part of all were the swings! She was cracking up, and the best part is that we were able to see the real smile...teeth and all.


Now that is what I call a great evening at the park. Gwen only made one attempt to eat the rocks, and dad put a stop to that immediately. Good call James. If anyone ever wants to have a good time at the park Gwen is the park party animal, and she is not afraid to show it.

so long piggy tails

Well after I reviewed the last pictures I noticed that it was time to find a new do for Gwen. The pig tails are a bit too long and they look a bit scruffy, So I decided that I would attempt the single French braid, I know that it looks a bit crooked, but mind you she is one and looking around all the time. I don't know how my mom used to do it, but somehow she was able to make us sit still and the braids were always tight...real tight. I do have to say for the first go around I am pretty pleased. We will have to see what else Gwen will allow me to try in the next little while.

amusement at the park

Do you want to talk about a fun little park? Well for this weeks play group Holly Sharp found the cutest little kid park that was so perfect for the whole family. I didn't get pictures of all the rides but here are a few things that they did have. Airplanes. This is Megan Frost and Kennedy Sharp flying in the black one.
They had pony rides, I was a little too scared to put Gwen on this one, but Sara Rham's boys rode them.
There was a merry-go-round and the horses bopped up and down just like in Mary Poppins.
There were the boats, Gwen's favorite, she rode with Megan and they waved and laughed all the way around. Megan had to steer, because Gwen was not really into that, but she liked the sound of the little boat engines.


Then we rode in the Jeeps. Gwen and Jackson Sharp buddied up for this one. Jackson did all the steering and Gwen talked his ear off.
Here are Megan Frost and Kennedy Sharp in the fore ground and Gwen and Jackson Sharp in the background. Trailing closely behind Sam and Nick Rham.



Now you can't get kids together without having a train ride, so here it is. Kim Frost is demonstrating the proper way to take a train ride with your child.

I made Gwen take one more little picture by the train, but she seems to be into the smerks these days and not so inclined to show us her teeth. Oh well we will take what we can get. It was one fun adventure. And the best part is that she was so worn out afterwards she took a three hour nap. I couldn't ask for more. Long live Kiddie-Acres.

by the power of Greyskull...

Here it is!! The power cord to the laptop. It arrived this morning at 10:00 am and I almost gave the delivery man a hug, that is how excited I was to have the power back. Thank you apple for overnighting it to us, you have just proved to me your loyalty to the customer. I have to say that I never knew how dependent I was upon the computer...it truly is my link to the outside world. I am an addict! I look up so many things all day long. I never thought that I would care so much about a computer that has all my own settings and bookmarks and passwords, but I sure do. So world we are back, and it feel pretty dang good.

Unbelieveable...

Sadly this is just a little post to inform everyone that I am not going to be posting for a few days. Our computer power cord has a short. And with a one year old that likes to chew on things and somehow contains endless amounts of slobber I have no idea why the power cord has a short. So we are anxiously awaiting a new one in the mail. I will have to make up for the lost time with some really fun things, even if I have to make them up. Just kidding. But we will be back in business soon, so don't give up on the Barlow's. We will always be back for more.

The celebration of Kim!

I caught her a little by surprise. ( Sorry Kim.) But just so you know your teeth are dazzling.



Eat, drink, and be merry for tomorrow we celebrate some more. That is Kim's theory. I have to say that it is a rather good one too. If you can't guess what this post is about I will tell you. Kim S. Frost is celebrating her birthday all month long, and to show her that we care a few of us got together to sing her praises, and we really did sing. We had dessert at the melting pot, and the staff was nice enough to entertain us and give us some free drinks, now who can beat that? We were also really lucky that they were Italian sodas. So we talked and dipped our little hearts out. I have recently been introduced to a new way of celebrating someones birthday and so now Kim I would like you to inform everyone around you that they owe you three reasons why they love you. But they are not limited to three. Kim you are fantastic and we are so glad to be a part of your life. Thanks for all that you do. And we hope that your birthmonth is great.

and bonnets of blue...

Now I know that you are all wondering why I would just post some random pictures of Gwen in a field...well everywhere you live the cities and states have little quirks that are made into traditions, and here the Blue Bonnet (being the state flower) is only in season for just over a month. So it is made into a really big deal for kids or families to take their picture in the fields or even on the side of the road, or wherever there is a little patch. So I tagged along with Kim and Megan, and the Adams family to take a look at what the big deal was...I was amazed to see families and parents and kids all over the place with professional photographers with their lighting kits and everything out in the middle of these fields. Naturally I joined right in like I had been planning this all year, and here are a few of the pictures that turned out. Now mind you I am NOT a photographer. But there were little moments when Gwen made it really easy to pretend like I was. And in the last pic she is showing us all how to be more like a Blue Bonnet. So now I feel as though I have done my part to show a little Texas tradition in our family. Yee Haw!!

crazy tired

Yesterday Gwen and I got together with Summer and Brooklyn and it was such a nice day that we were all out on the patio. The girls thought that it was so neat to be outside, another one of Gwen's favorite things, and so they basically wore themselves out. When we got home I thought that I would try to lay Gwen down for a little nap, but I didn't really know if that would really happen. I put her in the crib and walked out to put my things away, not two minutes later I walked back in to see this. She was zonked out and snoring! One foot in the air and all other limbs flailed out, with the blanket over her face. What a crack up. So I got the camera and after taking these pics I put her leg down, and she didn't budge for another hour. It is this kind of a reaction to playing outside that makes me really excited for the Spring and Summer, Just think how great naps will be after we go to the pool.

telephone

Well if you have recently had a prank call from the Barlow home it is not because we really do that. It is because Gwen loves to talk on the phone...and I mean the real phone. So she randomly pushes buttons and sometimes ends up calling actual people, like Kim Frost, then she hears someone on the other line and discards the phone. So I want to take a little second and tell everyone that we are not prank callers, but we do have a daughter that loves the phone, and she is only one, so what does that mean for the future? We will just have to see. So the latest and greatest trick is that we will put our hand up to our ear and say hello Gwen, and she will put her hand up to her ear, sometimes both ears, and say hello, and a whole bunch of jibber jabber too. What a fun little trick.

Easter number one

This is just a little time out for some bunny ear eating, and to hang out next to dad. To reflect on the moments of the day.
This is how Gwen hunts for eggs, she goes straight for the pile that Austin has already found, and helps herself. Don't worry she also found some of the hidden ones.
Here Gwen shows all her treasures to her da-da. He helped her eat all the ones with peanut butter cups in them. What a good dad.
I don't know if you can see it so well here, but earlier in the day Gwen had a little accident. She was walking around outside and tripped. She face planted right on the cement and scratched up her little nose, and lips. I have to say it was a pretty sad little moment. But she was playing around again in just a little while.

This was earlier in the day after her nap, (hence the crazy hair) She had just found, and opened her Easter basket. She got a new dress, and some bath time fun letters and numbers, and naturally she loved the eggs.
Here are the baskets that we hid. Since our church is in the wee hours of the morning we did the basket search after we got home and had naps. Ahhh, naps what a great idea. We had a really exciting Easter even though it was very cold here. But the weather can't keep us down. We hope that everyone else had a great holiday as well.

playing dress up

Well who doesn't love a good game of dress up? I know that Megan does, and she has passed that on to Gwen. So here they are all dressed up and having a good ol' time.
Megan is sporting the dazzling jewel collection. And Gwen is showing the tu-tu, and slipper collection. She is also showing off the party blower, typically used at birthdays, but in this case it is being used as a clever accessory, or maybe a wand? We sure do love to dress up.