Your face....

Today you turn two.

If I close my eyes and think of you, this is the face I see.

A face of beauty, wonder, and a face full of laughter.

Your sweet face makes mine so happy.

Happy Birthday Darling... I love you.

Daddy's Girl

Crusty.

Matted.

Swollen.

Pink.

Conjunctivitis is never a fun way to wake up~ just ask Eden.

Thankfully an easy fix. A trip to the doctor, a little antibiotic, good as news.

Except as we entered the office, Eden immediately starting screaming. I've never seen Eden terrified of the doctor. But she wouldn't let them have a look at her. She just kept making a mad dash for the door.

But all this screaming proved to be somewhat sweet, at least for Dan.

The entire time she just continued to wail,

"Daddy. Daddy. Daddy. Daddy."

She just reached out her little arms and wanted her daddy.

I love that she loves him and knows he will always be there to protect her.

I also love the fact we got a sucker on the way out.

Sugar makes everything better.

High

The Wii is a huge hit at the house.

If you ask Eli, the Wii may be the greatest invention of the twenty first century and the

Star Wars Lego Wii game may be the greatest invention of all time.

Beaux enjoys the Wii too. Well.... her interpretation of the Wii.

Each and every time she asks to play, it is stated in this vernacular:

"Mom, can we do the weed?"

Not mom can we play the weed. Not mom can we use the weed.

No she says, "Mom, can we do the weed."

Do you think she ever goes to church and says,

"I want to thank God we got to do the weed today."

Knowing her, yes she does.

Ice, Ice.... Baby

We've been iced in.

But we had to get out.

So we braved the elements, bundled up, and headed outside.

Wind chill......negative one.

No problem for my boys.

But, it was a little too frigid for my girls.

After layers of sweatshirts, socks, jackets, and, mittens-

Beaux lasted all of about 4 minutes.

As for Eden.....she really is her momma's daughter.

She was dressed and ready to the brave the elements until.... we opened the door.

She never took one step outside.

The second the cold air hit her face, she winced, whimpered,

and refused to budge.

By the looks of this.... you can see it was a great snow day.

That is for everyone except the lady who has to clean this mess up.

One flew over the cuckoo's nest.....

Dear Eli, Beaux and Eden,

When you remember the last months of 2010,

please know your mother did not go crazy.

I was not temporarily snatched by the hands of insanity.

Your father did not lock me away in a room with padded walls.

I did not go crazy, but I did something very close....I moved.

December 15th 2010, I drove away from our

little red brick house with tears in my eyes.

I was leaving our first home. Each square foot of that house held beautiful memories.

But as I drove away, my sentimentally was not my only reason for tears. I was also crying because I had no place to go. Yes, we had moved out of our home, but had not yet purchased another. Over a thee week period lived...

One night in a hotel

Two nights with Lin and Wayne

Two nights with Georgia and Jason

One night at the Gaylord

One nights with Lin and Wayne

Two nights with Georgia and Jason

One night with Lin and Wayne

Five nights with Mom and Dad

One nights with Lin and Wayne

Six nights in extended day

And the cherry on top of this sundae... it was Christmas.

It is now January 30th 2011 and I am finally feeling as if sanity is in my grasp. I still have boxes to unpack and toothbrushes to find, but all in all, we are starting to feel settled. October, November, and December, are a little bit of a blur. But even in the midst of complete chaos- wonderful things happened. Birthdays, family trips, nights at home, fall leaves, Christmas cookies- things that must be remembered. Thankfully a picture is worth a thousand words. So I'm going to let these photos do the talking for the past few months.

PS~ I erased the picture of me being checked into the insane asylum...

Here we go.....

Daddy got you out of bed on this fall night to show you the giant web and spider.

(I stood far away- someone had to take the picture:)

Eli's super sixth Star Wars Party~ We do love a theme!

Princess Leia in her gold bikini, something only Georgia could get away with. Then we have master Yoda and Hans Solo. I'm glad Yoda stood in between Hans and Leia- awkward.

The Jedi Order.

We will turn you to the dark side.

Obi Won and Leia. Mom, your creativity never ceases to amaze me.

This is a really cute Aniken Skywalker~ and the Wookie is pretty cute too.

And a beautiful Leia and Shemi.

(Aniken's mother for those not cool enough to be apart of the Star Wars world.)

"This party wasn't too lame. I mean she did make me wear that Yoda costume,

but at least we got hot dogs, marshmallows, and cake."

The whole cast.

I love you Luke Skywalker.

The Whitesboro Peanut Festival. A weekend spent here helps me

understand why people love small towns.

I think the t-shirt says it all, "I went nuts at the Whitesboro Peanut Festival."

A beautiful night and a beautiful girl.

This is how a man rides the carousel.

I think she likes it.

But you be the judge.

What festival would be complete without face painting.

And the line we waited in ~ a 45 minute line.

Totally worth it.

It was a great day.

And then there was a little vacation.

The entire Goodman clan climbed aboard a carnival cruise to celebrate

my Grandparents 80th birthdays. What a way to celebrate.

Do you think the people lounging around the pool got a refreshing splash?

Who doesn't want to ride a huge waterslide while sailing on an enormous cruise ship.

The kids rode this water slide no less than 62 times- a piece.

I saw...

I had to.....

Conquer.

Did you get that mom?

Crazy Cousins.

We had such a great time with Chloe.

This girl knows how to have a good time.

A great man with his great, great grandson.

This one is very special.

And we can't forget baby Nora. Only a few months old,

and already a world traveler.

What I love about this photo is that it is in no way staged.

This is what happens to a four year old little girl after a little beach and sun.

She literally fell asleep in 24 seconds.

This was the trip of a lifetime. Even if our grandparents were lost in

Mexico for a brief time.

For future trips, Pa~ If the waitress on the ship says you may disembark. That doesn't mean you have to disembark. Next time wait for your family so we don't have to come rescue Granny in a foreign country.

And just in case in the future we are looking at these and the question comes up,

"Where's Eden?"

The answer is ~ Eden was at home with a very brave

aunt Georgia, Granny, and Daddy.

I broke my heart to leave her behind, but......

She would have cramped our style. Eli, Beaux, and I had some serious playing in the sand to do. We just wouldn't have looked as cool changing dirty diapers on the beach.

Float like a butterfly...

Sting like a bee.

Boxing matches....

Just a normal Tuesday night at the Barnes house.

My champion.

One slide, thousands of leaves, a really great day.

"Brother, you taught me everything I know."

"Playing outside can be hard work."

The end.

Christmas cookies......

The employees must watch their hands before returning

to work really doesn't apply around here.

Santa.... I'll save one for you.

Merry Christmas.

A little glimpse of Christmas morning. Thank you Georgia for visiting your in-laws a few days before Christmas. We really appreciate you letting us have your home and tree!

The dad's job at Christmas - reading directions....

And assembling gifts.

My Star Wars boy.

Sisters playing dollhouse together. I love it.

Georgia, it's not a Barbie Salon, but they do like it.

"I probably shouldn't be touching this... but I'm just so cute I can get

away with almost anything."

"Grandpa, are you sure you know how to put this thing together?

I could always help if you need a hand."

"I never doubted you for a minute."

Diane's Winter Wonderland.

This is a good lookin' family.

John got so excited watching the kids open all their gifts he just passed out.

All the anticipation took it right out of him.

Don't you love when your Nana gives you great, big, gigantic

presents to take back to your house?

It was a little cold, but what is Christmas without walking through the lights at Rhema?

My favorite part of this picture is Georgia's face. I don't know about you, but it doesn't really look like she's feeling the Christmas spirit. But then again, what kind of spirit is John feeling in this picture?

These 81 snapshots sum up the last three months of 2010.

I'm excited about the hundred of new snapshots that will fill 2010

But I don't want any snapshots of moving.