The Barnards

Our Christmas!

2012-01-13T06:33:00.001-08:00

We had a lovely Christmas and Christmas season this year. We all had lots of fun decorating the tree, making gingerbread houses, ornaments, cards and lots of Christmas cookies! One night we went with friends into Inverness to a local park. There, we saw reindeer and beautiful Christmas lights. Dan had fun with his freind Doug, and after a snowball fight on the walk back to the car we were all ready for a warm meal :)

Our Christmas Day this year was full of excitement as both of our boys are old enough now to look forward and anticipate it's coming. We had a great morning together here, then headed to church. I must say that I really enjoyed the fact that Christmas fell on a Sunday this year. After church, we came home and had our friend Violet for our Christmas lunch. It was my first time to cook a HUGE turkey with all the sides and we all enjoyed the holiday feast.

The feasting didn't stop on Christmas Day. Here in Scotland, the day after Christmas is a holiday too....Boxing Day. On Boxing Day, we went up the road to our friends, The Frasers, for a wonderful meal and day of fellowship. The Frasers are always so sweet to the boys and this year they had made a Quest for the boys through their house to find their Christmas presents. They wrote an amazing poem to send them from spot to spot. They ended in the Dragon's den where they had to feed it (Andrew) some chocolate so it would be nice enough to hand over their gifts. Caleb didn't know what to make of Andrew in a large costume, but Dan bravely gave him teh chocolate....so fun! All the adults had a good laugh too.

Well, I hope this update finds you all well. Happy New Year!

Our First Winter Snow

2011-12-15T06:49:00.000-08:00

Dan has been asking, ''When will it snow??'', since summer :) He has been waiting and waiting and last week it paid off. He was SO excited the ground covered in white. The three boys (Joe included) jumped outside and made a fabulous snowman. They then sledded on the hill across from our house and came home for some warm soup! Great morning here in Kiltarlity.

Back in October....

2011-12-15T06:09:00.000-08:00

We had some friends over and carved pumpkins! Neil and Rachel were students in Dingwall when Joe studied there at the age of 18. They are now married with two children and missionaries. They are back in Dingwall for the year and it was great to have them speak to our church as well as over for lunch! All the kids (dads)had a great time carving their pumpkins, and they turned out great :)

Oh, for Halloween this year we had a knight and a cowboy. Fun!

I also found some cute pics of the dynamic duo. Enjoy :)

Birthday Boys!

2011-12-15T05:52:00.000-08:00

Well, we now have a 4 year old and 2 year old in our house! Caleb celebrated his birthday first on October 27th, then Dan followed on November 8th. We had fun family parties. I asked each boy what they wanted on their cakes. Caleb, to my surprise, asked for ''Thomas!'' Dan went back and forth but finally settled on a plane. We had lots of fun eating the boys' favorite foods for dinner, then it seemed Mommy and Daddy were more interested in actually eating the cakes this year (we didn't mind :) On Dan's birthday, good friends took the boys to a place called PlayZone where they climbed all around and had a ball. My greatest memory from that day was seeing Dan help Caleb climb all the up to slide down a long slide. There were platforms all the way up that Caleb couldn't quite reach, so Dan would climb up first then turn around to hoist Caleb up too....made my heart melt. We love you boys! You bring so much joy to our lives!

Around the House...

2011-12-07T00:22:00.001-08:00

We also had lots of fun with Joe (Grandpa) and Marsha around here!!! Grandpa and Marsha were great partners for all kinds of fun for the boys. Lots of reading, running around and exploring to be had. Thanks to Grandpa and Marsha for excellent knight armor that (not exaggeration) has been worn every single day since their visit! We also had a golf set appear and Caleb surprised us all by becoming quite the little golfer...Grandpa was proud!

We love you! Come see us again soon.

Joe and Marsha

2011-12-06T22:26:00.000-08:00

A huge apology for being so behind with my posts.

A couple of months ago now we were delighted to welcome Joe (Joe's dad) and Marsha to wee Kiltarlity, Scotland. It was amazing to have them here and we had a great visit. Here are some pictures of our time out and about. Most of our days were spent visiting various places around the area. Below you will see (in order) Inverness, Dornoch, Glenlivet, and Elgin.

It was fun to see some new places ourselves as well. We traveled in a great van that carried all of us (thank you Joe for driving!). We made it up to Dornoch. It was fun to see the famous golf course. Man, the wind was crazy!! We also ventured out onto the beach there as well....for a brief windy moment. Haha.

I must say, I think the highlight of the trip for the men was Glenlivet (''Livet Land!''). Not only was it some of the most stunning scenery we saw, but of course the Glenlivet Distillery could not be missed. Joe, Marsha, and Joe took a tour while I had a relaxing lunch with the boys, and we all went home happy.

On the way home we stopped in Elgin. We found an amazing old cathedral and spent some time exploring the grounds.

Now, I must confess that I missed out on a day or two of travels due to frist trimester fun :) BUT, the crew made it out around Kiltarlity to explore the area. Joe and Marsha also took a day to drive out towards Skye....amazing views!

I'll post more pictures of our time around the house. We miss you Joe and Marsha!

Thankful!

2011-11-23T23:29:00.001-08:00

Hello there! It's been far too long since I have blogged. I have many pictures that I need to post, but I thought I would write a short Thanksgiving post.

This Thanksgiving our family of four is in St. Andrews. We are here staying at a friend's home while they are in the States visiting family for the holidays. It's a great opportunity for Joe to have some quality research time at the library here and for us to have bit of a holiday! We won't be having a huge Thanksgiving meal this year, but I must confess that I'm really excited about cooking for the four of us. We'll have the basics...stuffing, sweet potato casserole, veggies, etc. However, this year's dessert will not be pie, but fudge donuts from the local bakery that we love :)

Also, this announcement is a bit overdue but one of the main things our family is thankful for this year is a new baby on the way! Yes, for those who don't know we are expecting baby #3 around May 21st. I am about 15 weeks along and oh so glad to be out of the sickness that comes along with the first trimester. It was rough this time around and I doubted whether or not it would go away, but here we are feeling much better! The boys are very excited and often talk about helping mommy take care of ''her'' (they are convinced it is a girl...Mommy's not so sure).

SO, this year we will be thanking the Lord for the many blessings he provides. As a family of FIVE, we will come before him with Thanksgiving. I hope you all have a very blessed Thanksgiving this year.

Grandmommy cont'd...

2011-10-13T11:18:00.000-07:00

Well, it seems as though my mom took more pictures of the boys and myself than me taking them of her, but I promise she was here! :) Here are some more pictures of our outings during her stay. Mom also captured me cooking through my kitchen window. We had a day of looking at donkeys and hiking through the forest. These are both coming outings for the boys. They love the huge tree in the woods. It usually becomes a pirate ship or a dragon to slay. Gotta love the imagination.

Grandmommy was here!!!

2011-10-10T10:13:00.000-07:00

I'm a bit late in putting up pictures, but my mom was here at the end of August/early September. We had a great time and her visit was full of picking blackberries, visits around Kiltarlity, a Loch Ness Cruise and much more! I really feel like she got a good look into our everyday life here. She played outside with the boys alot, met our neighbors, read books in the morning and before bed. The boys loved it and so did I! I have a few more pictures after this, but here is enough to give you an idea of what we did.

Rainy days...

2011-08-24T06:35:00.000-07:00

Well, it's the inevitable here in Scotland. Even it you get lots of sunny days, a rainy one is on the horizon. One rainy day the boys and I were inspired by our animal book. Dan became a zebra, Caleb was a lion (but sleeping at this point), and of course Mommy had to join in the fun so I became a parrot (despite what else I may look like...parrot was what I was going for :)

Fun...

2011-08-24T06:27:00.000-07:00

One of the many tasks of living in Scotland is making sure that you have enough wood (''sticks'' as they say here) for the winter. The boys have had alot of fun helping Daddy ''shift'' the wood to the shed. Here are some pictures of Caleb running around behind our house one fine work day. Also, we've had the please this summer of seeing Gordon almost weekly. He and Joe meet in Dingwall to work at HTC for the day then the two come here for dinner. The boys absolutely love it when Gordon arrives. They also love it when Gordon reads them books....thanks Gordon!

Cookie Bouquets

2011-08-24T06:22:00.000-07:00

Some of you may remember that I use to love to make cookie bouquets. Well, it has taken me a while to find all of the supplies needed to make them here, but I've finally done it! Some friends just had a baby and this is the bouquet made for their sweet Amy. It's fun to pick up baking and decorating them again. It's also fun because people here have never seen or heard of them before :)

Sunny days....

2011-08-24T06:09:00.000-07:00

We've been blessed with some wonderful weather this summer and a few weeks ago it was too good to pass up the opportunity to do something fun. Soooooo....we took a bus to Clachnaharry (on the edge of Inverness closest to us). We walked down the pier and then had a great picnic along the water. We ended our outing by playing in the local Kiltarlity school yard. All in all, a perfect day.

Interview with Cabe

2011-07-22T04:39:00.000-07:00

All in a Day's Pickin'

2011-07-20T12:11:00.000-07:00

We LOVE summers here in Scotland, and one of the reasons is the amazing fruit! What you see in this pictures was all picked today by our very own hands :) We got the raspberries from a friend's garden this morning, the cherries at the trees in front of the Post Office at lunchtime, and the blueberries in the woods by our house after dinner. We haven't been here in July to get to enjoy cherries and blueberries before and they're fabulous! Once again we seem to be the crazy Americans who care to pick them, but we can't help it! We plan to keep picking!

Recently....

2011-07-20T12:03:00.000-07:00

Well, I must say that I now know what ''hayfever'' really is; however, there are huge perks to living amongst the hay as well.

Last week, the hay in the fields around our house was cut and baled. The boys ran outside when the saw the baler coming and found a special perch to watch the show. I thought it was precious and beautiful!

Covington and Goodbyes

2011-07-09T07:43:00.000-07:00

Our last week in the US was spent in Covington. It was a week packed with cuzzies and fun! We again went swimming almost every day, ate fabulous food, spent a day in New Orleans, and soaked up time with family. We are so thankful for our time in the States. It was hard to say goodbye, but we're excited about what the Lord is doing here in Kiltarlity. We would appreciate prayer for the church here....come visit! :) We promise a true Highland experience!

Texas - Round 2

2011-07-07T13:19:00.000-07:00

After the family reunion in Tulsa, we went back through Texas but did things a bit differently this time. Joe went with his dad with the boys to Horseshoe Bay for some ''man time'' while I stayed in Tulsa with a dear friend, Holly, and her family. Before the boys left on their adventure, Dan and Caleb were so excited to play with Margot and Stella for the first time (in a long time). It was a sweet time to see them together, especially Dan and Margot who were born just days apart when we lived in Waco. After two days in Waco, I headed to Horseshoe Bay to meet up with the boys. They had a blast! The boys loved time with Grandpa Joe!

Tulsa - Skiatook Family Reunion 2011!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

2011-07-07T12:46:00.000-07:00

From Dallas, we headed to Tulsa for a big Barthel Sisters (plus!) family reunion! This includes all my aunts, uncles, and several cousins on my mom's side. My parents just finished a fabulous house on Lake Skiatook, so it naturally became the base for the reunion. We had as many as 30 people at the house each night for dinner. Our family reunions happen every other year at one of the five sister's homes. Each night the sisters take turns cooking a meal to go along with a theme. This year we had a Scottish night, Oklahoma Land Run, Oktoberfest, Easter, and Birthday night. It was absolutely wonderful to see so much family and to get to introduce our boys to some of them for the first time! The boys loved the activity, loved the lake, the boat, the food, and sweet cousins. It was such a precious time. These pictures are fun memories of all we did.

Dallas!

2011-07-07T12:30:00.000-07:00

After Covington, we went for a quick visit to Dallas. We stayed with Gigi (Great-Grandma) and had lots of fun in her pool. We also had fun at Grandpa's swingset the next day. It was a short stop, but we were soon to be back!

Louisiana - Take 1

2011-07-06T13:27:00.000-07:00

Well, we just got back from a month-long trip to the States. It was fabulous! We covered alot of ground, so I have LOTS of pictures but will try to limit myself on what I post. I think I'll separate my posts according to where we were. Basically, here was the order of our travel: Covington-Dallas-Tulsa-Dallas/Horseshoe Bay-Covington. We saw tons of family and feel so blessed to have been able to make the trip.

Here are some pictures from our first week in Covington. We had so much fun with the kids at the pool, aquarium, and simply running around. Crawfish were tasted for the first time by our boys....it took some convincing but finally they enjoyed them :) Lucy, Jeromy, and Cecily were big hits with our boys. Whenever Caleb hears or sees a baby he is still saying, ''Ceci'' very matter of factly.

I'll be back with more pictures from our second week in Covington later.

Kirk Club

2011-04-23T00:54:00.000-07:00

Yesterday we had our very first ''Kirk Club'' at our church. It is a program for children ages 0-5 on Friday afternoons. We had Bible songs, stories, a craft and a special Easter Egg Hunt to top it all off. Our first one went very well and I'm very encouraged with the turnout. We had 13 children (this includes a couple of small babies) and it was great to have some women that I've been getting to know over the past year inside our new church!

We started Kirk Club with some Bible songs. A woman from our church with two little ones taught us the songs and did a great job!

Joe told the Easter story to the children using pictures to help them understand.

Hunting!!!

All of the children were so proud and cute about their findings and the Easter baskets that they made!

Caleb after finishing off a mini chocolate Easter egg. He was so messy and so excited about it (doesn't show here) that I couldn't resist a pic.

Lately....

2011-04-15T06:06:00.000-07:00

Here's a glimpse into what we've been up to lately.

First, I couldn't resist this picture of Caleb in his little sweater vest. He was such the little man this Sunday. Yes, that is LOTS of drool on the front of him, but he's teething and oh so cute anyway, right? :)

Next, we made breastplates and crowns one day and then went on a quest outside in the woods near our house. Dan was SOOOOO excited and proud of his and wore it all day long. Caleb was a bit less enthusiastic, but came along for the adventure anyway.

Temps are going up here in Kiltarlity....please let them stay?!!! We had a day warm enough to let the boys play in water in the front yard. I just filled up the sled and let them do as they wished. They loved it!

A Scottish Wedding!

2011-04-08T22:55:00.000-07:00

We were so excited that Joe had the opportunity to officiate his first wedding last weekend. A friend, Maria, met a man from Switzerland and this led to a fun, intimate Scottish wedding. It was held at a lodge on the Ness River, and I had so much fun getting to go! The location was absolutely beautiful. The ceremony was held inside the main lodge with a view out to the river. Gorgeous! It was actually a very non-traditional Scottish wedding. Maria wore a blue dress (they usually wear whit here too), welly boots, and her cake was red with white dots and kissing frogs on top :) We were able to leave the boys with good friends in Kiltarlity, so the day was a fun treat for us. Joe did a great job with the ceremony, then it was fun to see all the Swiss in their kilts (they had fun with this too) and meet Maria's friends and family.

Jessica's Visit: Part Two

2011-03-28T08:59:00.000-07:00

Jessica took a train from Aberdeen to Inverness on Saturday morning, so I likewise took a bus from Kiltarlity to Inverness to pick her up! We quickly decided to grab a cup of coffee and then make our way to see none other than....the Lock Ness Monster! :) It was great. We took a bus from Inverness to Urquhart Castle (try pronouncing that one!) which is right on Lock Ness. The scenery on the drive was fantastic. We didn't stay long, but long enough to get a good view of famous ''Nessie's'' home. We then made our way back to Inverness for a fun Scottish lunch. We got a quick look at Inverness castle after lunch before we headed to our home in Kiltarlity. The boys met us on our walk to the house and were so excited to see Jessica. The rest of our day is picked up in my other post. The pictures that you see below include the scenery on the way to Lock Ness, Urquhart Castle, and Inverness city landscape. Thanks again, Jessica!

Jessica came to visit!!!!

2011-03-27T10:13:00.001-07:00

I was SO excited when I heard that my cousin, Jessica, was going to be working in Aberdeen for a few weeks (just 2.5 hours from us!) She came to visit this weekend and I loved every minute of it! Below are some pictures from our time here in Kiltarlty. I also have some pictures of our time in Inverness when she arrived, but I thought I'd put those in a separate post...stay tuned :) We took lots of long walks through the village, saw LOTS of sheep, and even got to take Jessica with us to church this morning. It was great to be able to introduce her to all of the people that we are sharing our lives with here. The pictures below include our house, our church, and lots of scenery on our walks throughout the village. We even had a gorgeous double rainbow yesterday! I hated to see her go, but we just said goodbye about an hour ago. Thanks so much for coming Jessica...the boys are already asking about you!

Dan's New Trick

2011-03-24T12:22:00.000-07:00

Our New Builder

2011-03-21T04:36:00.000-07:00

Dallas

2011-02-16T11:14:00.000-08:00

We just returned from a trip to the States. The boys and I spent two weeks in Tulsa (Mom please send pictures for me to post!) and then we met up with Joe in Dallas for two more weeks. Joe's sister, Adrienne, was there as well with her precious kiddos. Here is a fun group of pictures of the kids at Gigi's (great grandma Jane) and grandpa Joe's houses. It was a blessing to be together.

(P.S. I still can't figure out how to put captions after each picture...so sad! One day...)

Oklahoma!!!

2011-01-19T05:25:00.000-08:00

This video captures Dan's enthusiasm for Oklahoma and his little brother :) Grandmommy was in the right spot at the right time!

Fun Videos over the Holidays

2011-01-02T06:26:00.000-08:00

Christmas Morning 2010

2010-12-28T07:17:00.000-08:00

We had a great Christmas this year. Here are some pictures from our morning. Later in the day, we went to a church family's home for a FABULOUS meal! The boys had fun openning, we had the traditional Coutant Christmas breakfast, and Mommy loved putting the boys' new matching robes and clothes on them :)

Caleb is walking!

2010-12-28T07:04:00.000-08:00

Just before Christmas, Caleb decided to start walking. It was so perfect to us that he took his first steps with a book in hand. He LOVES books and I think it was his desire for Mommy to read the book that made him forget what he was doing and start walking :) He's still very unsteady on his feet, but oh so fun to watch. We also caught his other favorite...animals and the noises they make. I love this!

Family Pic

2010-12-11T06:04:00.000-08:00

We just had some friends over for Saturday morning breakfast and they took a rare picture of all four of us :)

Snowy days in Kiltarlity

2010-12-11T05:49:00.000-08:00

We barely made it back to Kiltarlity in time for Sunday morning's service, but we're here and loving the snow from our home base. Here are a few photos of our snowy day activities. First, the boys LOVED ''sledging'' on the drive up to our house. I thought they were precious on it all together. The boys also took to playing ''train'' in a box and laundry basic. Caleb was the caboose and Dan made sure that they had all the supplies needed for the journey.

Finally, the biggest hit recently was making a gingerbread house. Dan is SO proud of it! After we finished he asked Joe multiple times, ''Daddy, you want to come look at my gingerbread house with me?'' I'm not sure if the enthusiasm is for the artistic accomplishment or for the hope of eating it later :) We had alot of fun over two days making the gingerbread itself, then constructing and decorating. I definitely recommend this project for those with 3 year olds (and older!).

Snow in St. Andrews

2010-12-11T05:40:00.000-08:00

Well, we all went to St. Andrews for two weeks at the end of November for Joe to get some work done. We never thought that we'd see our first snow of the winter while there! It snowed ALOT! When I look at this picture of Dan and Caleb in the stroller all I can do is laugh! It was so cold that we put Joe's wool sweater over Dan's coat and many other layers. Ha! I laughed the whole walk to town and laugh more when I saw people grin at the sight of him :)

We also celebrated Thanksgiving while there with some American friends. The moms are missing in this picture, but here is our Thanksgiving crew.

C-Time

2010-12-09T07:20:00.000-08:00

All Puzzled with Dan

2010-12-03T06:39:00.000-08:00

Brothers

2010-11-13T06:45:00.000-08:00

Dan and Caleb (now) spend alot of time building with blocks. Dan makes all kinds of houses, towers, and more. Caleb just started placing all of the blocks into this little house and is so proud of himself when he does. It may not look like much, but it's always so amazing to me to see children who couldn't do something yesterday, start plowing away at that very thing the next. Always changing! This video is a good example of Dan and Caleb's time together these days. We're obviously working with Dan on sharing and not always snatching things from Caleb's little hands. Likeise, Caleb loves to tear apart traintracks and buildings that Dan has meticulously put together. Awwww....brotherhood :) Enjoy.

Guitar Boy

2010-11-12T05:56:00.000-08:00

Speaking of loves....Dan also LOVES instruments. I mentioned this to a friend and she rushed this into the car the other day saying that we should borrow it for a bit. Well, Dan is THRILLED with it. Mommy and Daddy thought it was cute the first time he played it, and now we have a ''You may play it without touching THAT button rule'' :)

Caleb's new love...

2010-11-12T05:33:00.000-08:00

Our boys are certainly little men....they love activity and sports and this starts early. Here is a little video of Caleb chasing a ball around our living room. Please excuse the mess in the room and take a peek in to my afternoons.

THREE!

2010-11-09T05:16:00.001-08:00

Dan turned three yesterday! We enjoyed celebrating yesterday as well as Saturday. On Saturday, we had a wee party for our big guy! We ended up having alot of friends from church. The youth from the church came and made it extra special for Dan. They were so sweet to him. We had chili and Mickey Mouse chocolate cake (we've been talking about it for weeks!). It was a packed house, and Dan loved every minute of it. Happy Birthday sweet boy!

Birthday morning Mickey Mouse pancakes!

Dr. Dan

I had so much fun making this cake!

''Happy Birthday to You!''

Blowing still involves a bit of spitting for Dan, so after the first try Mommy helped out a bit :)

Yummy!

Caleb's little friend...

Happy Birthday to YOU!

2010-10-28T08:41:00.000-07:00

Caleb is ONE!

2010-10-28T08:18:00.001-07:00

Yesterday we celebrated Caleb's first birthday. It's so hard to believe that a year has gone by so fast. I think I posted these pictures in the order that they were taken. So, we started our little guy's day with some birthday milk (he's a bottle boy now). He then showed off his walking skills (with Daddy's help) and danced to one of our favorite songs with Dan. We then had birthday muffins and presents. He enjoyed his first muffin and had fun with the presents (especially the wrapping paper :) Dan was so excited too! We had a great day and many visitors throughout. We love our Caleb. Happy Birthday sweet boy!

Sunday afternoon walk

2010-10-19T11:35:00.000-07:00

We know a woman who owns ponies. We had a great walk to go feed them on Sunday. The boys LOVED it!!!!!

Caleb-boo (a favorite nickname at our house)

2010-10-19T11:30:00.000-07:00

Cutie pie!

He's ready to go outside and mommy needed a spot to put him down while I got big brother ready.

Someone gave us a big bag of apples from their apple tree. Caleb found the bag and was so delighted to have his pick of many, many apples. He sneakily took bites out of lots of choice apples. It was so cute that I didn't have the heart to take them away :)

Danny Boy

2010-10-19T11:24:00.000-07:00

Our big boy

Here is Dan with two of his friends at a park. I couldn't resist the picture of a redhead, brunette, and our little blondie.

Amazing rainbow! This was taken from our driveway.

Caleb's Book

2010-10-17T11:04:00.000-07:00

It's hard to believe it, but our little Caleb will be one year old at the end of this month. Joe and I have also been amazed at how much Caleb has developed in the last few weeks. All of a sudden he seems to understand more, communicate more and enjoy more. Right now, his absolute favorite thing is his ''baby book''. It is a little book about babies and it ends with a little mirror so that he can see himself. If you ask him to go find his baby book, he gets really excited and tries to search for it. If you then read it to him, he repeatedly puts it in your face and says, ''Moe...Moe...'' asking for it to be read more :) It really is precious. This video captures his love for the book and his excitement about big brother Dan.

Growing Boys

2010-09-23T01:55:00.000-07:00

The boys are growing and changing so much these days! Caleb is cruising along furniture now and Dan is verbalizing so much more. Here are some fun pictures of my sweeties.

Wood!

2010-09-23T01:49:00.000-07:00

Joe has been working so hard on our wood supply here lately. I'm honestly so proud and thankful. These stacks of wood signify warmth and coziness to us during the cold winters here in Scotland. Dan has been such a good little helper. Daddy will split the logs with the axe and Dan (sometimes) helps stack them up.

Rainy Saturday Mornin'

2010-09-11T06:24:00.000-07:00

Today was very rainy and Joe was away, so I pulled out a mattress and let the boys jump/bounce to their hearts content. It was a huge success (for Dan at leat...Caleb wasn't too sure). I loved watching Dan jump for about 30 minutes straight!

Note: Caleb has teeth! He is also pulling up to standing...he's so proud!

Bramble!

2010-09-11T05:38:00.000-07:00

It's bramble season here (otherwise known as blackberry season to us :) We LOVE this time of year and all of the fruit that it brings. What's so exciting about the bramble is that they grow wildly and there are tons of them all over the village. Dan and I went bramble picking the other morning and found the most delicious patch! We came home full and delighted with our spoils. Here is Dan as he was seen picking away in the fielf...cowboy hat, boots and all. Look closely and you can detect the bits of purple all over his face :)

Hangin' with Dad

2010-09-11T05:34:00.000-07:00

Walk around Kiltarlity

2010-09-11T05:21:00.000-07:00

Joe took Dan on a walk around Kiltarlity. These are some views on the way to our church (under renovation) and the village hall (where we currently meet for church). Before coming home, Dan says ''hi'' to some cows :)

Shooting the Breeze with D-Man the Giant Slayer

2010-09-03T08:59:00.000-07:00

Buddies (my captions don't match up...working on it)

2010-08-24T06:06:00.000-07:00

Our two little guys are truly becoming buddies. Now that Caleb is crawling, it is more and more common for us to find them playing together. Caleb loves to laugh at Dan and Dan loves to well, ahem, tackle Caleb :) Usually Caleb doesn't mind and it really is a joy to see them becoming friends. Here are some of their adventures together:

Gone Fishin'

We turned our box into a boat and made fish and fishing poles. It was so fun to sit outside and splash around with the boys :)

Look at me!

Dan's not exactly sure that he's thilled with his fishing pole.

On Sunday afternoon, we took a walk down to the village park. Dan was delighted with his ''big surprise'' to accompany our walk...Mickey Mouse ice cream treats! We've been saving these for a sunny day. We don't know how many more we'll have so we all enjoyed the Sunday treat :)

Swing buddies

New tricks :)

Some cute close-ups...

Caleb is crawling....

2010-08-16T10:07:00.000-07:00

Au Revoir Paris!

2010-07-30T05:40:00.000-07:00

On our last evening in Paris with Gramere, we headed to Les Marais district. We had a great time exploring. We found some fun parks and beauty all over!

Tunnel boy....

On our way through Les Marais we found this! Dan actually rode this exact ride last year and he loved it again.

Our evening ended at a park where the boys played with sand!

Gramere with sweet Caleb.

On one of her many adventures, Margot found one of the best French onion soups that Paris has to offer. On one of our last days, we decided to all go back with her to taste for ourselves....it was amazing! I had never had the kind of soup with cheese on top and bread inside. I loved it! What made it even better was the quaint, quiet location of our restaurant. It sat on a hill in Montmarte and was one of our most memorable evenings together.

Our restaurant

The view...

Very happy with a fabulous evening.

Baby meets baguette :)

We've had a wonderful time in Paris. We said goodbye to Gramere this morning and we leave tomorrow bright and early. We're headed to see some good friends for a few days and then we're back in Kitarlity.

Gramere fun!

2010-07-28T05:50:00.000-07:00

Peek-a-boo Gramere! She makes the best tents!

Gramere and Dan in Montmarte...the area is beautiful!

Family

2010-07-28T05:33:00.000-07:00

Here are some pictures of my family's visit to Paris that I didn't get the opportunity to post.

All the kiddos with Grandpa and Grandmommy.

Happy Birthday, Grandpa! The day that my family left was my dad's birthday.

Granda taught Katy and Dan to build sand castles. They were really impressed and inspired! (Yes, that is yellow underwear that my son is wearing...NOT a proper speedo...probably just as bad, but hey, we're in Europe!)

Rainy day...so cute!

Rough housing with Uncle Joe!

Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhh...

Fun at a Parisian park

Katy and a french friend at the park :)

2010-07-28T04:02:00.000-07:00

Yesterday we spent the afternoon running around the Louvre gardens. Here is Caleb at his perch in the gardens.

Water break.

Here comes Daddy and the boys.

If you look hard you can see Joe and Dan running around chasing a big green balloon. Both had so much fun.

Our attempt at a picture by the Eiffel Tower at night. We had a fun dinner date that ended with wine at this site at a park under the Eiffel Tower...what a memory!

Big boy!

Carrot boy!

We're still here with Gramere!!!

2010-07-27T09:42:00.000-07:00

Welcome to Paris Gramere!!!! I'm sorry that it's taken me a while to blog the last week+. Soon after my family's departure, Joe's mom (Gramere) arrived and we're having a fabulous time with her!

Here we are in Montmarte...a beautiful area of Paris on the edge of the city. It is so different from other areas with its hills, small streets, houses, and of course Sacre Couer (cathedral).

Dan loves instruments. We found this violin player and Dan received a special serenade.

Aunt Eugenie, this is just for you! We found this store in Montmarte and couldn't resist.

One must chase the pigeons in Paris :)

On one of our many adventures. This was taken in the gardens of the Palace Royale.

A FABULOUS dinner of French cheese, wine, and more! We've had alot of fun experimenting with the cuisine here.

More happenings....

2010-07-18T04:18:00.000-07:00

I took Katy and Dan to the toddler pool and sandbox in Luxembourg Gardens while others toured the city a bit more. They had a blast!

Caleb at the pool

We all took a boat tour though Paris. It was fun to see so much from a different angle/view.

Katy on the boat.

How we cross the streets of Paris :)

Our last dinner with my family. We went to a cafe right down the street from us. Dinner out with 4 kiddos can be quite a circus at times, but the people at this cafe were great and we enjoyed one last night out together.

Arc de Triomphe

2010-07-11T04:49:00.000-07:00

We made it to the Arc de Triomphe yesterday. This is it! Our whole crew together for a family picture. We had a fun picnic at the bottom of the arc and then walked the Champs Elysees. Fun day.

Jason and Joe consulting the map.

Playtime around the bottom of the arc.

After our adventur at the Arc de Triomphe, our boys were wiped out. Dan has never ever fallen asleep like this before. He hardly ever falls asleep while we are out and about, so this was surprising to say the least and so sweet. Here we are with our sleeping boys.

Our little family....aren't our boys getting big?!

Disneyland!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

2010-07-09T04:56:00.000-07:00

Yesterday we took the older kids to Disneyland Paris and had a blast.

Fantasyland

Katy and Dan were so cute and excited to take a look around.

Jason, Laura and Katy in their teacup.

Flying Dumbos....awesome!

Ben an Jerry's was absolutely perfect! The ice cream break was needed and appeciated by all.

Katy was taking a break in true style.

This was just too cute. A short parade with fun music passed us and I caught Joe and Dan waving to Goofy.

And this is what happens when 2.5 year olds are WORN OUT after a full morning at Disneyland.

On the train home. Dan's last wish before leaving was a ''bear sucker''. I think it lasted a full hour :)

Out and About

2010-07-07T05:38:00.000-07:00

While Joe is at French class, we've been getting out and around Paris a bit. Here are some of our stops thus far.

We had an amazing picnic at the bottom of the Eiffel Tower.

Eiffel Tower

My brother's precious family.

Notre Dame

This is how Caleb gets his naps while we're out and about...I'm surprised he'll still do this but so glad!

Paris!

2010-07-06T01:26:00.000-07:00

We've made it to Paris again this summer, but this time with a different twist: FAMILY!!! My family is here for two weeks and then Joe's mom comes for two weeks. We're all living in a Parisian apartment together and it's fabulous! I don't have too many pictures of our outings yet, but the cousins are having blast together and it's just such a blessing to be together. Here's a little glimpse into our first few days here.

Family picnic at Place de Vosges.

Our first family dinner at our apartment.

Lots of special family time....the cousins together are SO cute!

Caleb's Baptism

2010-06-27T11:59:00.000-07:00

Our sweet Caleb was baptized today. We had a special service at 3pm and a minister from Inverness came to Kiltarlity for the occasion. It was such a blessing. We had prayed that many of our friends from outside our church would come...and they did! This was such a special day for Caleb and our family and it was so nice to share it with so many.

Here we are all are with the minister who baptized Caleb.

Dan and his friend, Honor, sat here for ages with their treats after the service.

Here are a few pics of those who came. We all had lots of ''eats'' and tea afterwards. The service was actually held in the village hall since our church is currently under renovation.

Scottish Wildlife :)

2010-06-22T06:53:00.000-07:00

Today we went to the Black Isle Wildlife Park with our Tuesday morning toddler group buddies. We saw lots of fun animals and the boys had a great time (as did Mommy!)

Here is Dan feeding the goats. This was definitely his favorite activity of the morning. He loved letting them nibble it out of his hands.

Feeding the ducks!

More duck food please!

This is how Caleb spent our time at the park. He really is such a happy little guy. The only peep I heard from him was when he saw Dan eating something, so I gave him some toast. He loooooooooooooved it!

Saturday...

2010-06-18T23:54:00.000-07:00

This morning our family enjoyed...

Pancakes with homemade raspberry jam (thanks Joanie!!!)

''Boat'' rides, fishing, and trumpet playing...

Rolling around (new trick!)

Pajamas and glasses.....

Doesn't get much better than this!

Sitting Up!

2010-06-16T22:36:00.000-07:00

Our little guy has been sitting up for a little over a month now. This is one of my favorite stages of babyhood. It's so fun to watch him sit and take in his surroundings in a new way. Here are some pictures of his new talent :)

Dan Unplugged

2010-05-29T23:39:00.000-07:00

Lately....

2010-05-17T06:27:00.000-07:00

Potty Training: This is just too cute (and funny) not to document. It's too cold to run around outside here without a diaper and pants on, so we're taking Aunt Addie's advice and using Daddy's socks to keep Dan warm. It works like a charm! We're in full potty training mode this week. Hopefully we'll have a ''No Diaper Dan'' in the near future :)

Dan's new favorite activity...

Riding his tractor..he can pedal now, watch out!

Joe and Dan saw this amazing rainbow while outside riding Dan's tractor.

A couple Mother's Day photos.

Fun with Caleb

2010-05-12T08:30:00.000-07:00

Sweet Caleb...

2010-05-07T23:47:00.000-07:00

Picnics and Beaches

2010-05-07T23:37:00.000-07:00

Yesterday we took a small trip to the Black Isle. Our main destination was Rosemarkie, a small village right on the water with a beach! We had a wonderful time, a nice drive around the Isle, and fun family time together.

Our first stop was to have a picnic at a spot that overlooked the water. Although it is May, it was still prety chilly. Sunny, but chilly!

Mommy and Caleb at our picnic spot. It was WINDY!!!

Daddy and Dan on Rosemarkie beach.

Dan stomping in the waves on the beach. He was so brave and fun to watch!

A bundled Caleb on the beach.

As many Scottish excursions do, we ended our journey with some hot chips!

Lambing Season!

2010-05-03T08:51:00.000-07:00

Well, I never thought I'd live somewhere that marked the calendar with the arrival of hundreds of baby lambs. Several members of our church have sheep and are very busy right now with the long hours required during lambing season. On the phone the other day with my dad I told him that it was lambing season very nonchalantly. He laughed hard and said, ''Oh yes, of course! Lambing season, how could I forget???'' Haha. I guess I'm becoming very use to living in the country :)

We took a trip up to Joanie's to look at all the lambs. Some are so tiny!

These are our friends David, Joy and their baby Ellie who came to visit us from St. Andrews last weekend. I wish I had a better pictures of all three of them! Joy loves lambs so it was fun to take her to see them.

Trying to pick one up??? OH my!

Here is Joanie with her grandson, Ryan, and Dan.

This Morning's Lesson...

2010-05-03T08:41:00.000-07:00

Dan is developing a love for letters. It has become a morning ritual for Joe and Dan to complete the alphabet puzzle immediately following breakfast. This morning Caleb became part of the action as Dan held up letters and ''taught'' him what they were. I couldn't resist some pictures.

Easter Egg Hunt!

2010-04-11T07:08:00.000-07:00

Here is my delayed post of our first Easter egg hunt with Dan. As I mentioned, we had a friend and her mother over to hunt with us. Here they are hunting away. It was fun to get to rejoice over each and every egg :) From what Joe tells me, this stage won't last long and the scurried frenzy of hunting the precious eggs will commence soon enough. This video is a bit long, but hope you enjoy seeing their enthusiasm as well as a glimpse into our home.

Cute as cute can be!

2010-04-09T07:28:00.000-07:00

Rainy Day...

2010-04-09T07:16:00.000-07:00

Rainy days sometimes keep us inside here, but sometimes they are the perfect opportunity for some puddle jumping! Here is a look at my adventure with Dan just the other day.

Off he goes.

He's ready for some more puddles!

Rules of puddle jumping: 1) Run as fast as you can 2) Jump as high as you can 3) Stomp as hard as you can...optimal splash!

Splash!

Then, we saw a digger! Of course a little boy MUST stop and watch a digger for as long as it is working. Any time it stopped, Dan said, ''He might turn it back on!'' in hopeful anticipation.

All in all, pure delight!

Our Easter

2010-04-09T07:03:00.001-07:00

Our family had a wonderful Easter this year. On the Saturday before Easter we had some friends over for an Easter egg hunt. Dan and I died the eggs ahead of time (of course) and had a great time doing it. It was a bit of an experiment since you can only get brown eggs here. I wasn't convinced that brown plus Easter colors would result in pretty eggs, but viola! It did! They were much deeper colors than your typical Easter pastels, but I thought they looked great and Dan was very proud of them. On Saturday morning we made fresh cinnamon rolls and prepared for our guests. Here are the boys in excited anticipation!

On Easter Sunday we had a wonderful church service in the morning, a lazy afternoon, and then dear friends over for an Easter meal. Our meal this year was....drumroll....mutton! Yes, I never thought that I'd actually be preparing mutton in my lifetime, but a couple in our church gave us a nice leg of mutton some time ago. We had been saving it for a special occasion. I used an overnigt marinade an honestly, it was fantastic!!! We all loved it! Bring on the mutton! :)

Whin Park

2010-04-05T10:35:00.000-07:00

Today, we spent the day in Inverness. Our day began in this wonderful park, Whin Park. Dan had a fabulous time and so did we! We played and played and then had a picnic lunch.

Weeeeee!

Yes, this slide is as big as it looks...it's HUGE!!! Dan goes up and down all by himself and is so proud. We are too :)

Feeding the ducks.

Chasing the ducks!

Admiring the boats...

Caleb's first swing!

This is what Caleb did most of our time at the park :)

Some good ol' rock throwin'!

2010-03-27T06:50:00.000-07:00

This video is a bit old, but still captures how Caleb and Dan interact fairly accurately. They really do love each other. Caleb lights up when he sees Dan and vice versa. Dan often asks to hold Caleb, so this is what we do.

5 Months Old

2010-03-27T06:47:00.001-07:00

Here's our little one all by himself. It won't be long before he can sit up all on his own. He's so proud to be sitting in his new seat :)

Brothers

2010-03-27T06:39:00.000-07:00

Aren't they cute together???! I decided to try out our little seat (supposed to be used in bathtubs) for Caleb the other day. It's not quite a bumbo, but it does the trick :)

Outside

2010-03-22T12:23:00.000-07:00

Outside with D-Man!

2010-03-22T12:11:00.000-07:00

4 Months Old!!!

2010-03-03T06:12:00.000-08:00

ime is flying. Here is my precious 4 months old. He actually just figured out how to roll over on his own today. What fun! Here are some of his faces in the process.

baking for mama

2010-03-02T22:42:00.000-08:00

Kiss

2010-03-02T03:05:00.000-08:00

Dan is enjoying Caleb more and more. He gives lots of hugs and kisses. He has started using Caleb as a puppet at times. It's really cute to see him say, 'Caleb hit ball' and then swing Caleb's arm for him to hit the ball. There's plenty of brotherly rowdiness, but this video captures the sweeter side of things :)

Adventures in Snow!

2010-03-02T02:59:00.000-08:00

We had another big snow this week, and our good friend Joani got even more. She lives up the mountain where things are a bit chillier. She knows how much Dan loves snow, so she came and picked us up on Sunday afternoon (we're snowed in due to the ice on our 'driveway'). Caleb and Joe had a playdate, and Dan and I had adventures with Joanie. The pictures below capture some of the huge mounds of snow that compiled once the roads were cleared. Dan had fun climbing them. Joanie even had frend drive by us in his tractor and he was kind enough to give Dan a ride!

Morning Chat

2010-02-12T05:55:00.000-08:00

This video is an example of how my conversations with Dan go these days. He is talking more and more and we love it! On this particular day, we were getting ready to go to a toddlers' playgroup. May I just say that I love the fact that Dan has Scottish toddler friends named Hamish and Angus! :)

New Friends

2010-02-12T05:51:00.000-08:00

This morning we had some friends over. In all, we had 3 babies and 3 toddlers running (or sitting) around. We had a great time amidst the chaos! Here are some picures of Dan's new friend, Charlie. Dan LOVES to hug. Charlie wasn't too sure about it but was alright with it in the end :)

Tummy Time

2010-02-12T05:45:00.000-08:00

Caleb is getting better and better at pushing up while on his tummy. You'll see the happiness documented in these photos, but keep in mind that these smiles last, oh, a few minutes :) Then, it's tears asking to be turned back over.

Normal evening events....

2010-02-02T09:10:00.000-08:00

This video captures what might be seen if one peeked in our windows right before dinner. Dan is energized by an afternoon snooze and ready to go!

Our New 'Car'

2010-01-28T08:14:00.000-08:00

Well, since we didn't own a car last year in St. Andrews we affectionately referred to our stroller as our 'car'. It was our main mode of transportation....always. We have since then bought a car and no longer live in St. Andrews; however, a stroller acquisition is still so exciting! This time it fits TWO! The boys and I went on our first walk this morning. Dan loved it!

Here we are in our new ride.

If you look closely you can see us walking down our drive away from the house.

Talkin' Away!

2010-01-28T07:42:00.000-08:00

This video captures how talkative our little Caleb has become. He gets so excited and just babbles away. He's also started to be able to grap toys. He doesn't succeed very often yet, but when he does....excitment and more squeals!

Brotherly Love...

2010-01-20T05:39:00.000-08:00

This is my new favorite picture of our sweet Caleb.

Reading time at the Barnard house. I thought this site was too cute!

Holding hands before naptime.

They matched, so I had to take a couple of pics :)

Gramere is here!

2010-01-06T10:34:00.000-08:00

We are all having such fun with Gramere here...especially the boys!!!! We will miss her so.

Our little Caleb is getting big! I love this new sweater from Gramere.