Monday, December 29, 2008

This picture...

says it all.

I'm FOUR, dammit... and NOTHING is going to get in the way of that.

Monday, December 22, 2008

Not much to report...

Nothing much is new in the Bartlett household. Still no baby. About five weeks to go, and I'm not so much nervous about giving birth again, but moreso about balancing two kids and keeping Nathan's life as normal as possible. With a husband who works a lot and works screwy hours to boot, I'm more anxious about the changes ahead, but know (more like PRAY) that it will just take some time to get details ironed out. If this baby is half as good as Natey was, I'll get it together.

Natey had a blast at his party and reminds me every day that he's FOUR now. The day after his actual birthday I woke him up for school and he immediately said, "Mom, I'm STILL FOUR." Just wanting to make sure we were still clear on that and nothing changed overnight. He's thrilled about Christmas and it's been so much fun this year, watching him get excited. Not to mention, we play the "We'll call SANTA!" card if necessary. Been using that since Halloween I think....

We went to see Santa in Noblesville over the weekend. As we were driving there I said, Natey, aren't you excited? We're going to see Santa! He said yes and was quiet for a minute, then said, "Mom... are we going all the way to the North Pole?"

More pics to come soon...

Thursday, December 4, 2008

Nathan turns FOUR!

Hard to believe our little guy will be FOUR next week...time absolutely slips away when you're raising kids. Here's the invite to his birthday party, taking a look back to 2004...

View this montage created at One True Media
Nathan's Fourth Birthday!

Help Feed Indy!

Remember my post about Lucious? Tim and a team of volunteers are carrying on Lucious' mission of serving and touching the poor on the northside of Indy. Right now the need is coats, sock, shoes - trying to make sure everyone is warm this winter. Check out: http://www.feedindy.net for more info, to volunteer your time or make donations, or to see what is needed.


View this montage created at One True Media
Lucious

Monday, November 10, 2008

School days...

School pictures!


Nathan fell at school three days prior to school picture day and roughed up his face. Of course he didn't skin a knee, which could be hidden, but scraped his cheek and eye. Throught the beauty of Photoshop, and my dear friend Skeeter, you'd never know! Here are his latest school pictures...

Tuesday, November 4, 2008

Do you recognize this gentleman?


Last seen at my house, begging for a piece of Halloween candy.

The Costlow Family

Best. Halloween Costume. EVER.



My brother Matt came up with this one - he's riding "The Racer" roller coaster. My sister-in-law said all night he had his arms up in the air like this... it says "The Racer" on the side and his shirt says "magic kingdom." Actually, I'm proud to say I'm related to him.

This time.

Monday, November 3, 2008

Halloween 2008!


The Boy was VERY excited about Halloweeen this year... he's had his costume for about a month and probably wore it once a week prior to Halloween. He had a parade at school and was one of three Spideys to appear! He got home and told us about it and goes, "I was Spider man and so were Millan and Leyton... but I didn't tell anyone I was the REAL Spiderman." Of course. The others were simply imposters.


Halloweens of Yesteryear...

Wednesday, October 29, 2008

Jacksonville's Soccer Star


HOW can she be EIGHT years old already?

Little Eli... getting so big!

Remember Eli Allen Brown? His picture is on my blog somewhere (I can't figure out how to link to an older post) of when he was first on the planet about five seconds and he was screaming his head off... almost three months old now. Such a sweet baby and has finally learned to smile for Skeeter!


This one is my favorite! He has a night job, driving a cab.


Skeeter and Eli, about 6-8 weeks?


Even down south in Atlanta, he cheers on his colts...


Eli with his game face on.


Tammy, Eli and Kevin

Can't wait to meet Eli in person! They are coming to Indy in December and I can't wait to see my friends and meet their newest family member!

Tuesday, October 14, 2008

Had to post before I forgot...

More from Natey's mouth:


-He was at Target with Kyle and found a train set he wanted. Kyle told him we couldn't buy it today. I came home from work and he was telling me about it. "Mom, Grandpa Steve is gonna buy it for me. I gotta call him."


-Today I wore knee-high "hose" and when I was putting them on, Natey asked what was wrong with my socks. I said, these are called "hose" and they are for girls. It's a different kind of sock. He stared down, studying them for a long time, and then goes, "Well what happened to your regular feet?"


-We had Catey's christening on Sunday (pictures to come!) and he had a piece of cake. Aunt Tammy asked if she could have his icing that he didn't want. He goes, "Of course you can!"


-Mimi got him some "boxers" just like Dad and he feels SO cool wearing them. Even told Aunt Jo, "These aren't undies. They are boxers." He was so exited and said, "I'm so glad Mimi got me these. I think she saw them and said, 'I'll just get these boxers for my dumplin.' "


-He was trying to sit on my lap (what little is left) and had a hard time, kept getting adjusted... then said, "I just don't FIT here anymore!"


-I was trying to get up off the floor from playing with him and he held out his hand and goes, "Here Momma, I'll help you..." So I thanked him for (trying to) help me and he said, "See, you got that big ol' baby in your tummy so you can't get up..."


-Also at Catey's Christening, Missy had her 7 week old baby, Ashton, there. I was holding him and said, look Natey, this is what it will be like when OUR baby gets here. Do you want to say hi to the baby? He looked at the baby for a second and goes, "No."


-He's starting to understand that a baby will be here soon and that things will change. Every now and then, he'll say, "Momma, when the baby gets here, will you hold me?" Yes, Buddy... today and every day from now on, I'll hold you until you don't let me hold you any more. I hope the adjustment is smooth for him.


On another note, went to the doctor on Friday and this baby is measuring ahead of schedule... almost THREE weeks ahead of schedule...the doctor said, "I think this baby is going to be bigger than Nathaniel." Looks like a long road ahead for me....




Wednesday, October 8, 2008

Update on my nieces

When I don't get this thing updated, I hear it from you people!!! A few have asked about my girls, my nieces (all five of them). Catey's pops set up a blog but never updated it again... so I don't have much to report except that she's a cutie and is getting christened next weekend. Natey loves to help with her and hold her and feed her and she's a pretty good sport about it!

The twins, Carly and Grace, just turned FIVE and had a party with "Alligator Aaron" who brought animals over to visit. They, of course, were full of their usual one liners. Aaron pulled out a creepy looking worm thing, and Grace goes, "Um... I'm not touching THAT guy."

(Carly has shorter hair than Grace now. Carly in pink, Grace in green)




They also have a small modeling gig they are working on. I think they are on the Toys R Us website. More info on that coming soon. I think Matt is just glad that they got a paying job.

Here are some pics of Sophie and Olivia. Sophie plays soccer and is EIGHT years old already...Liv is almost three and likes to wear her hair in "bades."Sophie looks about 15 to me. She's FOUR feet tall! That's only 12 inches shorter than I am!





Love how Liv is clutching Sophie's arm in this pic. She goes to school one morning a week and wants to be big like Sophie. Such a sweet picture.








Another job!

Kyle received an offer from Toys R Us! What's that you say? He's already working at UPS? Yes... he is... he's going to try to keep both for awhile. UPS has excellent benefits but you have to put your time in to get them, and it is part-time. Toys R Us is retail (retail hours, schedule...) and benefits start sooner. It goes without saying that Nathan is beyond excited that Dad will work "at the toy store."

When it rains, it pours. We prayed so long for patience and guidance, and now look... two jobs, both better than we hoped. Now, if we could just get Baby B here safe and sound, things might be turning around for the Bartletts.

Also, if you're not familiar with the Trainspotting blog, check it out to the left of this post...more, better pictures to be updated soon.

Future Bassmaster


Look who caught a fish! He was so excited! (Nathan was excited too....)
(Note: I did mean to dress Nathan in the same outfit as Grandpa. Pure coincidence.)

Tuesday, September 30, 2008

Fall is here! (2006)

Nathan and Kyle, 2008
Nathan and Kyle, 2006



Fall is here!

Even though it was nearly 80 degrees out and the fall weather hadn't really gotten here yet, we went to Stoney Creek and picked out a pumpkin for Natey. It was only $5 to get in! He thought it was fun and we went there two years ago and he was at the perfect age this time. I asked if he wanted to right the kiddie train or do the Haunted House, and all he wanted to do was the swings. Great... that's in our price range...





I have these same pictures of him in 2006 - will post in the next post! Hard to believe how much things have changed since then. And we were talking on the way home, this time next year, we'll be a family of FOUR!










Our pets, in Nathan's eyes

The assignment was to paint a picture of your pets. I believe this says it all...



Two black cats, obviously...

Wednesday, September 10, 2008

An update





Jeeze... get off my case.. okay, okay... you readers have requested an update. Sorry for the delay. Don't you know I'm working on growing a life right now?!

Kyle has a new job! Working for UPS. Thank God. Sounds like a good gig. The hours are rough but he's slowly getting adjusted to that, and it sounds like there are opportunities for him through UPS just around the corner if we can continue to be patient. We're getting good at that. So start sending packages via UPS. See what Brown can do for you...

Natey's latest one-liners:
-We were heading to Mimi and Papa's for dinner on Friday and Kyle was going to be at the Ball State game with his dad. Natey asked me if he would be with us at the game and I said no, Daddy had other things to do. From the backseat of the car, he said, matter-of-factly, "Well, he needs to stay home and get on that laundry." Yes, my dear son, he does.

-Yesterday we had to stop by Betsy and Steve's and as I was opening the door to the van, Nathan pointed at a small (microscopic) mark on the van. "MOM... did you hit something with the car? Because I see a mark RIGHT HERE." Sounds familiar from ANOTHER male in my house...(and the answer is no, I did not hit something. At least that I can recall.)

-We were tossing the football around out back while Kyle was trying to get to sleep (his new hours start at 3 a.m.!). Nathan crouched down in the "hike" position and asked me to do it also. I said, no way, I can't right now because I got this big ol' baby in my tummy. He goes, "Well, you DO need those black stripes under your eyes." If I can't crouch down, it's the LEAST I could do...

That's all I can think of for now. Here's a few pics... and hopefully soon I'll have more exciting news to talk about. :)

Here's the cat laying in our flower box. As if we built it just for her?

LOOK who can swim all by himself!!




Hard to believe Catey is five months old already! She looks JUST like her dad... sorry Heather...welcome to my world! :)


More soon from the Bartletts. Right now we're working on a name for this little one. Nathan has voted on Spider Man. Cute.

Wednesday, August 27, 2008

He's 3 going on 40...

A few words from The Boy:

-Every day when I pick him up from school, we talk about his day. I get a slip that tells me what they did, but I like him to tell me what his favorite part was and how his day went. I said, "What did you have for lunch today?" He goes, "I don't know, it's *ON* my sheet...."

-Last night we were watching Family Fued. The guy goes, "Name something you see on the back of a car." The Boy hollered, "TRUNK!"

-Yesterday we were driving home and he was telling me about school. He said, "Mom, Sidney flushed the potty TWO TIMES IN A ROW at school." I said, "oh no... that wasn't a good choice. I saw that she got a yellow stick." (different colored sticks are under their name throughout the day measuring how their behavoior is. Yellow is not so good.) He goes, "Yeah... I noticed that."

-I asked him what he wanted for dinner and he wanted eggs. I said, do you want one or two? He insisted on two and I said, last time I made you two and you didn't eat one. He goes, "I want two. Don't argue with me."

WHERE does he hear such things?!