The Reality Has Set In

Bryan has been living with us for about 3 1/2 months now. He has adjusted really well. He has stopped his whining for the most part, he is becoming more outgoing, and seems to be happier in general. He now asks to help around the house, smiles a lot and is a lot of fun to hang out with.

But this weekend we went down to see his mom and ever since we got back he gets sad every night and says that he wants to go back and live with her. I think that the reality has set in. This isn't a temporary thing and we do have a lot more rules than Mommy did. It breaks my heart when he gets out of bed at night and says that he is sad. The only thing that I can tell him is that I don't know when he will go back and live with his mommy. I keep telling him that we want him to live with his mom too as soon as it is a good time. He keeps asking me if it will be in a couple of days or weeks. I guess he wants me to commit to a time so that he can plan on it.

Please keep him in your prayers. I know that this is a very hard and confusing time for him.

Segway

Since I have not yet learned how to put links in my blog, here is the website for the coolest new thing...Segways

www.glidingrevolution.com

They are two-wheeled gliders that sense your balance and run on batteries. You simply lean forward to go forward and backwards to backwards. I had seen people riding them at Disney World and I was amazed by them.
Karen and Scott and Jonathan and I had a double date riding these and it was a blast. Karen and I haven't really gotten to go on a real double date yet, so it was some much needed quality time.

After we rode for all of 5 minutes, we all decided that we wanted one. But since they are 5K, that is probably not going to happen. Plus, you need to have someone to ride with so it would actually end up costing 10K. So it is a pipe dream, but still a dream. Keep Austin weird!

The Farm

We went to the farm last weekend and it was a little boy's heaven. Bryan had so much fun that he didn't want to leave. We went fishing, driving through the woods, hiking through the woods, got to see a dead rattler and see a baby foal (horse). Here is a picture of Bryan driving the riding lawn mower with Jonathan. Jonathan's grandpa has a picture of him and Jonathan when he was about that age too.

It was good to see his grandparents. We are worried about his Mimi. She was diagnosed with alzheimers about 5 years ago and its signs have been very minimal until recently. Mimi has started to see people in the field and in the house. She even accused Papo of walking with another lady outside. It is very sad to know what she is going through. She seemed fine while we were there, but she has good days and bad days.

Woohooo!

Did I spell that correctly? About 2 weeks ago Jonathan decided to stop by John Deer and see if they had any jobs in the diesel field. One of Jonathan's uncles works for John Deer and he has told us what a great company it is. 2 managers took Jonathan out to lunch to discuss the possibilities. They said that they did need a diesel mechanic, but that they needed him to go to school before he could start working for them. Jonathan told them about the diesel program at TSTC and they were very interested and said they might even be able to help him out with the schooling if he could specialize in bigger diesel equipment.

They exchanged information and the manager said he would get back with Jonathan. So he went back today and they said that they would be able to help him with school, but they aren't sure how much yet. Jonathan asked if there were any jobs that he could do now until he started school in the fall. He said that there was a spot that he was planning on filling this week moving tractors around. So he starts tomorrow!!!! No more pizza and normal hours. I am so thankful.

Our fifth nephew!

Our fifth nephew was born on Friday, March 24th at 11:30 PM. He was 19 inches long and 8 and 1/2 pounds. The coolest part was that he was born on his Mom's birthday!! The nurses couldn't believe it. His name is Christopher Farris Barefield and he is precious. Here are some picture from the hospital.

Mom, Dad and baby!


Bryan and baby


Me and baby!

This is the father's first baby and he is so cute with him. He is a proud father. Debi was doing great and was up and moving around the room when we got there. Bless her heart, she had to have him naturally because he came too quickly, but luckily he was out with only three pushes. Go Debi!

In case you didn't notice, there isn't a picture of Jonathan holding the baby. He said that he's not good with them, but I think that he thinks he might like him if holds him! Oh no, then he might even want one of his own.

Boys Will Be Boys

Since Bryan has come to live with us. Jonathan has had a great excuse to do all of those boy things that he might feel too old to do. Here are some pictures of them playing together:


Here they are racing remote control cars


Here they are racing computer cars


Here they are drawing the ultimate racing cars

What's This?

So tonight Bryan comes out of my room and brings me this box and says, "What's this?" I guess I shouldn't leave this stuff laying on the bed anymore.

I have been tagged.

Sorry it has taken me so long to reply to Chris's tag. Thanks Chris, I feel loved.

4 jobs I've had in my life:
1. Elementary music teacher
2. Elementary band teacher
3. Children's Choir director at a Presbyterian church (don't worry, I went forward)
4. JCPenney associate in the children's department

Notice a theme?

4 movies I could watch over and over
1. Return to Me
2. While You Were Sleeping
3. The Italian Job
4. Stepmom

4 TV shows I love to watch
1. CSI
2. Gray's Anatomy
3. House
4. Nanny 911

4 Places where I have lived:
1. Temple
2. Edmond, OK
3. Austin
4. ?

4 Places I've been on vacation:
1. Destin, FL
2. Connecticut
3. Disney World
4. Galveston

4 Places I'd rather be:
1. On a cruise
2. On any vacation

4 of my favorite foods:
1. Pizza (surprising huh?)
2. Peanut butter and banana shakes
3. Pancakes/waffles
4. grilled chicken

Great Weekend

My mom and Debi came up for the weekend to visit Bryan and we had a good visit! Friday night, I got in late from a convention in San Antonio and we got to visit a little. Then on Saturday we all slept late and had a lazy day. We had waffles for breakfast, sat around and talked, rented a couple movies and did some grocery shopping. Then Saturday night Jonathan and I got to go on a date. Taking care of a child makes us really appreciate our time together.

We went to see Firewall. It had Harrison Ford in it and I don't know the names of the other actors and actresses. It was pretty good, with lots of action. We were a little dissapointed by its abrupt ending. Jonathan said that they probably ran out of money and decided to end the story. I think that they hit the 2 hour mark and had to stop.

Sunday it was icy and church was canceled, so we slept late again and spent the morning talking. Then Debi took Bryan to McDonalds for some Mommy/son time and they really enjoyed themselves. When it was time for Debi and Mom to leave, Bryan got a little upset and said that he didn't want her to go. I hugged on him and we talked about why he was living here and how much his mom loved him. Then he was cheered up when we decided to "dogpile" some pillows in the living room.

Then we ate dinner and did some homework. I have been teaching him how to clean his own bathroom and he really takes pride in the fact that he does it. Thank goodness for bleach wipes! Then I told him that I had to go and clean my bathroom and he said, "Can I help?!" I said that I would love for him to help. That was a surprise. He helped me clean the whole house. We scrubbed the stains in the carpet, vacuumed, cleaned my bedroom, and he loved his job of emptying all of the little trash cans into the big one. He was excited every time we found another one that needed to be emptied. What a great weekend.

Thoughts From a Little Man

Well Bryan has been with us for about 4 days now. He has survived going to a brand new school, settling into a new room and living with two people who have never lived with kids. Tonight I was in the other room and I heard Bryan exclaim, "Oh Emmy, you're having a bad hair day." Followed by some exclamations about cute kitties. I assumed he was looking at my screne saver on my computer. I came back in the room and he said, "Hey Becca, why don't you have more pictures of me?" I said well I do have a picture of you as my background on my computer. He said, "Yeah, but you have lots of pictures of Nat J and Emmy and not lots of pictures of me." I said, "Okay let's take some." His favorite was this one. He got out all of his favorite stuffed animals and put them on his bed one at a time so that they would be in just the right place. Then we loaded it on my computer and he said that he wanted it to be my background, "Can you do that?" I said, "Sure" and put it as the background. He then said that Nat J and Emmy will probably want their picture back on there, but that he liked it this way.


Here is one of him and his mom. In case you couldn't tell he loves his new bed, thanks Pam!

Just For a Little While

We have been blessed with a guest in our home. Our seven year old nephew is going to stay with us for a little while. We are excited about him coming. We have started our preparations: new room decor that does not have pink flowers, new bathroom toiletries that won't burn the eyes, an evening schedule that might be more for us than him, but most of all prayer that this will be the best place for him even if it is just for a little while.

A Hamburger

As most of you know, I have not had a hamburger in about 10 years. I usually never crave them, but one time a couple of months ago I did have 2 bites of Jonathan's whataburger. I don't know what came over me, I just wanted some really badly. Then I recently discovered ground turkey meat. I have made things like lasagna and tater tot casserole and tonight I made myself a hamburger, or should I say a turkey burger. While I know that it is not exactly the original, it was good. Don't worry, I did make Jonathan a regular burger, I don't make him eat turkey all the time. And it is definitely healthy, it hardly shrank, which resulted in a big burger. Oops.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY

Happy birthday to Karen
Happy birthday to Karen
Happy birthday dear Karen
Happy birthday to you!

Karen turned 28 yesterday!!!!

2006

So it is another year. The biggest change for me when a new year starts is writing the checks with the correct year or noticing dates printed with 06. This was an unusual New Years for us. For the 1st time in our 5 years of marriage, Jonathan was off work, but he was still hard at work. We took one our friends from church with us and we headed down to Austin. First stop was my mom's house where a music teacher and an airplane mechanic became electricians and plumbers. My mom got a garbage disposal for Christmas about 3 years ago and she always talks about how it would be nice to have it in. Jonathan said that he wouldn't mind putting it in, but he was unsure about the electrical side of things since it would involve wiring with the dishwasher. But somehow, armed with his friend Tim (the music teacher), he had a new confidence in his abilities.

Mom decided to go ahead and get a new sink because hers was really old and she might as well get it all done. So they set off on their project and there seemed to be many obstacles along the way, but after learning how to wire the dishwasher, install a switch, sauter a new pipe to the old one (which was leaking) and make a sink fit in a hole that was too big for it, the sink and garbage disposal are working!

Then the next day they headed over to Jonathan's dad's house to put a floor in their attic. That of course had its own obstacles, Tim made a nice skylight in Chris's closet and Chris didn't even know that he always wanted a skylight in his closet. They got about half of it done and will probably go back another weekend to finish the job.

Tomorrow is back to the grind at work, but I am going to enjoy my day off today! I might lay around and think of some resolutions that I should make, or I might just resolve to take naps all day, we'll see what my inspiration is. But I wish a happy and blessed year to all of my friends and family!

The Ancient Fertility Monkeys

About 3 years ago at our cousin's wedding (Kori and Steve), a gift was given by our other cousin (Jama). The gift was the most beautiful ancient fertility monkeys. As Kori opened this beautiful gift, she read the note that went along with them. It said that these fertility monkeys were being sold by a missionary at ACU to help him raise funds for his mission work in Africa. They were pagan idols that would aide in fertility process. As Kori opened these monkeys, she was speechless because they were so "beautiful."

Well Kori wanted to share the wealth of these fertility monkeys so she gave them to her sister for her birthday. Well Becki (Kori's sister) didn't want to keep them for herself either so she brought them to our family white elephant exchange. And Shara (who helped Jama pick them out) ended up with this beautiful gift. Again, the monkeys traveled afar to share their fertility power as they ended up on the other side of the Tome family at the white elephant exchange, and guess who opened them? Jama!

Update: The monkeys were actually bought at Big Lots for around $10 and so far no missionary has used Pagan idols to raise funds. There have been no babies created and the moral of the story is, if you give someone a very ugly gift, be careful because they might give it back to you!

5 YEARS

Sunday was our 5 year anniversary. It is hard to believe that it has already been five years. We went down to Austin and got a room at the same hotel that we stayed in when we got married. The room looked very similar to the original, but we couldn't remember the original room number. We got to the hotel about 4 from being with the fam and then got ready and went out to dinner. We went to Pappasidos and it was very, very good. It was a special occasion so we even ordered dessert. We forgot to take our wedding video with us (we usually watch it every year), plus it is on an ancient VCR tape and I didn't see a player there. We will have to get Scott to transfer it over to DVD for us. We are very thankful for our 5 years together and we are looking forward to many more to come.

The Man Room

Jonathan has not felt settled in our new house. I know that part of it still just hasn't set in that we get to live here, but he is also a little frustrated because he has not been able to use his "man room." For those of you who don't know, a man has two primary places in the house-the living room and the garage. Our garage has kind of served as our junk room these past two months and we finally got to clean it up a little this weekend. We of course still have a lot to do, but it is looking better.

Jonathan finally got to set up his tool cabinet. And it is very organized. I asked him if he was planning on keeping it this way and he said "Of course!" So I told him that I probably shouldn't use it that much. I did get a key from him and he thought that was a little unfair, but what if I need a hammer or something?

Christmas Tree dilemma

Since we stayed home this year, we actually got our Christmas decorations up over the Thanksgiving break. It was fun, I think that this is the first time that Jonathan has been home to help me (I usually do it while he is at work). We discovered that we have lots of little Christmas knick nacks (I don't know how to spell that word) that we put on our mantle and in our living room.

We bought a Christmas tree two years ago. It is about 6 feet tall and it looked perfect in our little apartment that we had. Well now it looks very small in our living room here. I guess that is a good problem to have and I think that it will just have to be small for a while. I let Jonathan put the lights on the tree because he is a perfectionist about that kind of stuff and I knew that if I put them on there, he would just redo them anyway. We do need a tree skirt now, so that is on my list for next year!

I have started singing Christmas songs with my kids at school and that really gets me in the spirit! One of my favorite little songs that I sing is called Jacky Jack Frost. The lyrics are

Little Jacky Jack Frost bites my nose,
Little Jacky Jack Frost stings my toes,
Little Jacky Jack Frost climbs the trees,
Little Jacky Jack Frost paints the leaves.

I try to always explain the lyrics to my kids when we sing songs, but that one is a doozy. Try explaining to Pk and 1st graders who have only every lived in Texas what frost and icicles are.

Oh on a good note. You know there is always a debate about Christmas celebration at school? Well I can sing Christmas songs because they are printed in our textbooks and the books were approved by the state. Isn't that awesome?

Thanksgiving

We had a great Thanksgiving. Ruth Ann and Chris and their fam came and spent the night on Wednesday. We had fun as Ruth Ann gave a pedicure to my mom, we watched a movie, and we all went to Wal-Mart in our slippers. Its always fun to have people come and stay with you. It was really fun to have a house too, there were places for everyone to sleep!

Then on Thursday we all got up, ate breakfast and started the cooking process. We had cooked a couple of things the night before, but we hadn't started until about 9:00, so we didn't get a whole lot done. Mom had come up to help cook. Since Thanksgiving was at my house, I felt like I needed to cook the turkey and stuff, but I needed my Mom's help. So she was in charge and Ruth Ann and I were her assistants.

We had a 22 pound turkey! Here is a picture.


In total we had 17 people at our house and we had a lot of fun. Quentin got to come up and I haven't seen him in a couple of months, so we enjoyed seeing him. My Aunt and Uncle came up too! Here is a picture of them.


I got to play my flute with my nieces, Kimmie plays the violin, Brittney and Marjorie play the flute too. We had fun making music together. The little ones got a little board watching footballl and watching us cook, so we put a movie on for them. Here is an adorable picture of them.


Overall, we had a great time and I am so thankful for my family. Karen and Scott, we missed you, but we know that you had a lot of fun!

Scott

Scott let us ride in his car, it was cool. Now I understand why Jonathan always wants a sports car. When we took off from a stop, my head was actually knocked back. Scott gave us the feel of a real sports car experience. We had a blast with Karen and Scott, here is a good picture of them (I even made Scott smile).