What Has Spencer Done....

to our little girl????

(In case you need the lyrics to actually understand what my 3-year-old is saying....)

Living on the road my friend. Was gonna keep you free and clean

Now you wear your skin like iron. Your breath's as hard as kerosene

You weren't your mama's only boy. But her favorite one it seems.

She began to cry when you said goodbye. And sank into your dreams.

Pancho was a bandit boy. His horse was fast as polished steel

Wore his gun outside his pants. For all the honest world to feel.

Pancho met his match you know.On the deserts down in Mexico.

Nobody heard his dying words. That's the way it goes...gibberish

Ella Ann has been singing Willie Nelson's "Poncho and Lefty" since she could make sentences but this is the first time she would ever sing it for us so we could get it on film. Spencer has sang this song to Ella Ann since birth, oh and "Wish You Were Here" by Pink Floyd. I never knew he did this until Ella Ann was about 2 years old and I heard her singing something about kerosene. I pretty much stopped dead in my tracks and asked her what in the world she was singing about and she told me in a very matter-of-fact tone, "Poncho and Lefty." Oh sure, okay. WHAT? So I asked Spencer what it was (I had never heard it) and he told me he sings Willie Nelson songs to her along with some Pink Floyd at night. Ummm, yeah, so I sing "Jesus Loves Me," "God of Wonders," "Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star" you know, normal kiddie songs. Well when I finally got to hear Ella Ann sing this song in it's entirety I about lost it I was laughing so hard! Can you picture sweet little 2-year-old Ella Ann singing about a horse as fast as polished steel????? Well now that she is 3 we got it on film! The day before yesterday Rane was playing in his exersaucer and I overheard Ella Ann singing it to him. I guess he'll be next! :) Well all I can say about it is at least our kids will be well rounded in their music preferences!

On a side note: Yes, Ella Ann does wear clothes occasionally. If we are at home, though, she is always in her favorite costume of the week which happens to be her (my) leotard....well we are going on a good 4 weeks of that at the moment. I told her she couldn't wear her ballet tights or shoes because we have to save them for when she takes ballet at her school starting this fall. Earlier last week I was on the phone and Ella Ann comes sashaying into my bedroom wearing the leotard, pink wool winter tights and her tutu to ask me, "Does this look beautiful Mommy?" What a nut! She wears those wool tights every day and "drifts" around our house. She refused to take it off when I needed to run a quick errand so I let her wear it (the whole shebang). I look back at her in my rear view and she has sweat rolling down her face! I warned her she would be really hot in the car but you know there is no talking any sense into a 3-year-old so she suffered. I asked her if she was hot and she said yes but by golly those tights never left her legs!

The Girls

I am keeping Mara Katie today and I am very sad to say that this is the last time I will have her for a while since the Barker's are moving to Rome next Tuesday. Sigh. So sad. I cannot think about it or talk about it or else I will cry. On a more positive note, though, they are only about 1.5 hours up I75 so I can easily see Jana and they are not moving across the country...I have to keep reminding myself of this or else I will get upset. I have shed many tears over their departure and I know when it really happens I will really break down but for now I just put it in the back of my mind. I have been friends with Jana (I consider her my sister now) since we were pregnant with the girls. We have laughed, cried, shared stories, raised our girls, had family dinners, went out to eat together, went to parks together, playgrounds, walks and had many, many, many play dates. She and her family have been such a blessing to us as I have said many times on my blog but I mean it from the bottom of my heart.

If you want to know the details of why they are headed out of Atlanta then go to Barker Happenings and get the full story. We are thrilled that Kane is done with grad school because it has been a very long road for them but they will be missed like crazy by our family. Ella Ann will have a hard time because she doesn't understand why we won't be able to see Mara Kate as often as we do now but I know she will adjust with time and will enjoy the Jensen/Barker family new normal on down the road. Mara Kate and Ella Ann are sisters for all we are concerned because they have honestly been with each other since birth....11 days apart. They talk like they are sisters, fight like sisters (rarely), love like sisters, etc. When Mara Kate is here with Jana she will ask me to take her potty instead of Jana, I expect her to use her manners (which she does) and will correct Mara Kate when I have her (Jana expects the same behavior from Ella Ann at her house) and Mara Kate will follow me around just like Ella Ann does (I have no clue as to why this is fun for her either). It has been a blessing for Jana and I to watch them grow and play together. Now that they are 3 1/2 they hold normal conversations, play VERY well together, laugh together and get along so well. It is amazing to watch and I enjoy keeping Mara Kate whenever I can because she is such a sweet, loving girl and Ella Ann adores her. We plan to see the Barkers often once they move. I can easily pack up the kids and head north for the day and vice versa. Jana and I also plan to let the girls have sleepovers. We can meet halfway and exchange kids and the girls can have an entire day and night together. They will LOVE it! As Jana keeps reminding me, this isn't goodbye, it's just an "I'll see you later."

Anyway, I am keeping Mara Kate today while Kane defends his thesis at Georgia Tech. Jana went to watch. The girls came over yesterday and I helped Jana prepare all of the foods that she had to have ready for the panel that is questioning him and the audience...yes it is ridiculous that they have to do that! So when Jana dropped off Mara Kate today she picked up all of her food...worked out perfectly. So to entertain the girls while Rane slept, I made an obstacle course for them with all our yogurt cups (we have a bazillion now and counting). They loved it! They eventually got the shopping cart and stroller and pushed their babies through it about 50 times. Evidently my bed is a boat these days so Ella Ann's entire fleet of stuffed animals must ride as well. I walked into my room a minute ago and they were playing school on the "boat" and discussing the very troubling questions of a 3 year old....what they want to be when they grow up....Mara Kate was saying she wanted to be a race car. Ummm...okay.

When I saw Mara Kate's shoes in the same row as all of Ella Ann's I realized how much Mara Kate considers herself a part of our family and our daily life. I have all of Ella Ann's shoes lined up at the top of her steps. Mara Kate came over, took off her shoes and put them in the middle of Ella Ann's. Hers are the white sandals. I thought this picture pretty much summed up their relationship. :)

The yogurt cup maze.....

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through my bedroom....

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and back out to the living room.


On their "boat" playing school.

On a side note: Ella Ann was running errands with me yesterday and she was talking to me about Rane being from heaven, him being in my belly, etc. (I'm waiting on the the "how" he got into this world question but thankfully it hasn't popped into her head yet.) I can always tell when the wheels are turning because her question will be followed by a very long pause which leads to an inevitable "Why?" question again. After her pause she asks, "Well, did God throw me down from heaven to our old house?" Oh my goodness I started laughing so hard I nearly peed in my pants! This, of course, made her laugh very hard so we are riding in the car hysterically laughing at one another. It is moments like this that make me love my life and family even more than I already do. That girl, she cracks me up and it always, always brightens my day!

I Must Brag

I can't help it, I have to brag on Ella Ann. Since she is 3 1/2, I thought it was high time for her to start making her own bed each morning. I showed her how to do it one time last week and she has been making it ever since. "It is so fun Mommy!" This is what she tells me....yeay! Today I went downstairs and found her bed perfectly made! She did such a good job! I do not have her pull her quilt up because I know she will mess up the ballerina skirts on it so I'm "preserving" that bedspread until I know she won't rip them...who knows when that will be! Anyway, the kicker for me was that she even lined up the monograms on her pillows! She is a little me for sure! ha!

Check out her animals that are all lined up too!

Girls Weekend

I spent this past weekend in Lexington with my 4 girlfriends/sorority sisters from college........without the kids! After many, many change of plans, I decided it would be best if I rode with Spencer and the kids to Tennessee (he was staying at Mandy's house and his parents were going to be there as well) when Spencer got off of work on Friday and then I would take the car on to Lexington. We left at 3 p.m. and I pulled into Laura's driveway close to midnight. I was beat. We got stuck in Atlanta traffic, had to stop and eat dinner and I eventually had to stop and get gas so it was a loooong trek for me. I made it though, and it was worth every minute on the road. Laura is 8 months pregnant with a little boy so we just wanted to have one last get together before baby Ben arrived. Emily and Andrea rode together from Louisville and Katie drove in from northern Kentucky around 1 p.m. on Saturday. I had a good time with Laura talking baby and running baby gear errands before the other girls arrived. Once everyone was accounted for, we went to lunch and then did a little shopping. We did a lot of catching up at Laura's and always some good reminiscing of "the good ole' days" in college. We went to dinner (per my request) at Atomic Cafe, a Caribbean restaurant that I loved and went to often when I lived in Lexington. I got my usual and we sat there for a while over drinks and listening to the live music. We headed to Drake's to meet up with some of Laura's friends after that and then hit the bed shortly after. I had to get on the road early on Sunday morning because I had to swing by Mandy's and pick up my family and then head home. I left at 8:30 a.m. and got home at 5:30 p.m. (I ate lunch with the Jensens' which took about an hour so other than that I was in the car....ugggghhh).


I had so much fun with my girls and I was glad I made the trip up to see them because who knows when I'll see them again. Thanks again, friends, for the fun weekend!

Mommy-to-be opening our gifts.



Andrea and Emily. Andrea "refused" to have her picture taken!

Andrea and I.

Emily, Katie, Laura, Me and Andrea.

Dinner at Atomic Cafe.

The "Waller Girls" as we are affectionately known as because we lived on Waller Avenue our senior year.

Silly Rane

I have this crazy little boy who thinks eating is play time............

This is why he eats in his diaper only and I should invest in goggles and a shield!

What a Steal!

I must shout it from the roof tops....."I bought a $150 area rug at Lowe's this weekend for $20!!!" Yes siree I most certainly did! I saw the rug first and really liked it then realized the tag said clearance so that made me love it even more. I asked the Lowe's man if they had one in stock and he said the only one they had was the one I was admiring on display so they could give it to me for $80. However, the "display people" can only take down the rugs so I had to wait for him to call me on Saturday to tell me I could come and get it after it was taken down. So he called me yesterday and said it was ready for pick up. About 5 minutes later he calls me back and says that he spoke with his manager and they could sell it to me for $20! I started laughing and asked if he was serious and if there was anything wrong with it. He kinda laughed and said no but since it already needed to be marked down even further AND it was a display rug that they could sell it to me for really cheap. AWESOMEEEEEEEE! I immediately went to Lowe's and got it! Great service too, may I add, so props to Lowe's! I was SO excited and called Spencer in the midst of my giddyness and told him how much I bought the rug for and he started laughing as well! We had planned to spend close to $300 or more on a rug and ended up spending $20! I can never find a good bargain so this is why I am bragging! I can't believe I did it myself!!! It's not as big as we would have liked it to be but it meets the need and is pretty to boot so I am tickled pink!

This morning I went to wake up Rane (yeah, I know...awesome) and I had to take a picture of him. He's so precious....

Ever since we moved in last week, Ella Ann thinks it's super fun to throw down blankets on the floor (before the rug), surround the blankets with ALL the pillows off the couch, chair and Rane's room and pretend her and Rane are on either a train or an airplane that's headed to the beach. Rane has all his toys and Ella Ann lines up the guinea pig, dog, panda and unicorn and they are off in Ella Ann's imaginary world for a good hour. It's great! Here's their airplane:

Rane loves, loves, loves this ball..........

It is his favorite thing to play with. I had forgotten about it and then found it in his room last week so I gave it to him. He works so hard trying to pick that thing up and when he does it's like a dog with a toy in it's mouth. He smashes that big ball on his face and tries to get it all in his mouth.

Ella Ann.....

I sat outside in the backyard with Ella Ann this evening while she played with her water gun (thanks Janelle...she loves that thing!). Ella Ann was walking up the steps and I heard her say, "You're welcome, Jesus." I looked at her kinda funny and asked her why she was saying "you're welcome" to Jesus. Her response, "Oh, well he was thanking me for watering all his plants with my water gun so that the pretty flowers on them will grow." Precious.

We're Back

Finally a post! Busy, busy, busy is all I have to say. I worked my tail off last week with the movers on moving day and then unpacking, cleaning like you wouldn't believe, and decorating. I was able to go to Kentucky to my parent's house on Friday and relax knowing I had taken care of pretty much everything, except for a trip to IKEA to get some more stuff for the house. We still need to get a new couch and rug for our TV room, but that's about it. The people that lived here before us had a golden retriever that was an outside dog except for a night...then he got to sleep in the master bedroom. Gotta love that one. I hate dogs...did you know that? I hate the smell of dogs so I scrubbed and scrubbed and scrubbed our walls and floors some more until I couldn't smell anymore dog. Yuck. Thankfully when I walked in my door yesterday I no longer smelled the pooch. Yeay!

The kids had a blast, I mean a blast, at my parent's house and at their Nana and Papa's last week. For the first two hours of our ride home yesterday all I heard from Ella Ann was, "Mommy, I don't want to go home!" Of course she was SO excited to see her Daddy and her new bedroom but she was sure going to miss those ever-entertaining grandparents! Spencer and I thoroughly enjoyed our time alone here in Atlanta last week as well. Even though we were super busy with the house, we made a point to go out every night for dinner. It was SO nice to not have to deal with an early bedtime, naps, baby food, bottles, whining and complaining, etc! Wow, it was sure easy enough to slip back into the pre-baby lifestyle! I missed them both like crazy and would go in Rane's closet just to smell his clothes each day but I enjoyed my time with Spencer without any interruptions.

I drove up to my parent's house on Friday. Everyone was waiting in the driveway and I hadn't even got one foot out of the car before Ella Ann jumped on top of me...it was so sweet! Rane gave me a huge smile and started kicking like crazy as well. Rane also decided it would be fun to start babbling and sitting up unassisted while I was gone. I am never allowed to miss another milestone in his life...bad mommy! :) He thought it would be nice to sleep in for the grandparents as well while he was there. What happened to 5:30 a.m.? Oh he saved that for me when I got there. He is sleeping in now in the a.m., except for that first night I was there. Whew. Anyway, on Friday afternoon we headed over to Sara's parent's house to visit with her and Lucy, and of course Sara's mom, Sandy. The two babies were so cute together! They sat by each other and would just stare at each other's faces and start to grab at clothing and eyeballs!

On Saturday Mom and I drove to Evansville with the kids to do a little shopping. Ella Ann got to ride the carousel at the mall so that was a thrill for her. She also went to the Build-A-Bear store and built, oh no not a bear of course, but a big, gaudy pink unicorn that has embroidered shooting stars all over it. It's just beautiful. Oh well, she's absolutely in love with it so that's all that matters. She got to stuff it with love, kisses, hugs, etc., put in a beating heart and giggles, give it a bath and pick out clothes and pj's for the thing. Guess what she picked out for the unicorn to wear? A Cinderella costume of course! She received a backpack to carry Ella (that's what she named it) around in and that was the icing on the cake. She has slept with Ella every night and it goes everywhere with us.

Sunday and Monday we laid low at my parent's house and played with the kids. I tried to get some good shots of Rane outside since he is now 6 months old and I have zero pictures of him and all the pictures in our home are pretty much an ode to Ella Ann. I am going to try and take some more this week because my battery was dying. We also went digging around in my parent's storage room and found all my old dance costumes from when I used to take ballet, tap, jazz and gymnastics. Several of the costumes fit Ella Ann so she had a ball playing dress up. We had to bring 4 of them home, along with one of my old leotards....it has my name on it but she absolutely HAD to have it. She wore it for a full 24 hours at one point. Thankfully it is dirty at the moment! My grandmother gave me the leotard and she passed away when I was 4 years old so it is a very special leotard and so sweet when we see Ella Ann running around in it. I loved it nearly as much as her back in the day.

Well I headed home early Tuesday morning and made good time. We stopped at Taco Bell on the way home and Rane got to sit in a high chair at a restaurant for the very first time! He loved it! Life is getting ready to get easier...I can almost taste it! :) The kids were SO happy to see Spencer! As soon as Rane saw Spencer he smiled really big and reached out his little hand to touch his Daddy's face! Awwww! Ella Ann was pumped to show him all her new loot as well. She loved, loved her new bedroom and I had no problems with bedtime or nap time today. Wahoo!

So I took 53 pictures while I was away, none of the new place so those will be up shortly. I have a few below for my parent's to see but click HERE to view all of them.

Lucy and Rane.


Rane loves his grandpa....just like Ella Ann!

Playing in the pool on their deck one evening.


Each night before bed the kids would be on top of Grandpa for a good hour. Ella Ann would grab some books and park it there forever!


This is it...the unicorn! :)


Look at Rane! He's such a cutie!


That Mimi, she's so mean!

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Ella Ann in one of my costumes.

I know, I know....but Mom and I just couldn't help it! Hey, the poor boy hangs out with girls all day long, what do you expect? A feather headband isn't THAT bad! :)

Rane loved the tutu's. He would try with all his might to grab them and shove a corner in his mouth but Ella Ann wouldn't have it!