H-A-L-L-O-W-E-E-N

Dressing up is always fun. At work every Halloween we love to dress up and laugh at one another. This year Nat and I were Thing 1 and Thing 2 from The Cat in the Hat book! This was by far the easiest costume ever to put together. Good idea Natalie!

This year Taydem is going to be a Lady Bug. The costume is adorable! But today for school I dressed her up in her costume from last year, a wittle Kitty! The Lady Bug costume has wings and a tutu and I didn't want her to mess or tear either of these up. So she will wear it tomorrow and on Sunday for our church carnival! 

Have a safe Halloween!!

Never Grow Up

I have been listening to Taylor Swift's new album this morning and I love it, of course! The girl can write some songs. She's not the best singer in the world, but writing music is her thing. She puts so much emotion and feelings in every song and doesn't mind telling the world about her life through her music. Love it. So as I was listening I came across the song, "Never Grow Up."

//Your little hand's wrapped around my finger/ and it's so quiet in the world tonight/ your little eyelids flutter cause you're dreaming/ so I tuck you in, turn on your favorite night light/ to you everything's funny/ you got nothing to regre/I'd give all I have, honey/if you could stay like that/

Oh darling, don't you ever grow up/ don't you ever grow up/ just stay this little/ oh darling, don't you ever grow up/ don't you ever grow up/ it could stay this simple/ I won't nobody hurt you/ won't let no one break your heart/ and no one will desert you/ just try to never grow up/ never grow up

/You're in the car on the way to the movies/ and you're morified your mom's dropping you off/ at 14, there's just so much you can't do/ and you can't wait to move out someday and call your own shots/ but don't make her drop you off around the block/ remember that she's getting older too/ and don't lose the way that you dance around in your pj's getting ready for school/

Oh darling, don't you ever grow up/ don't you ever grow up/ just stay this little/ oh darling, don't you ever grow up/ don't you ever grow up/ it could stay this simple/ no one's ever burned you/ nothing ever's left you scarred/ and even though you want to/ please try to never grow up/

Take pictures in your mind of your childhood room/memorize what it sounded like when your dad gets home/remember the footsteps. remember the words said/and all your little brother's favorite songs/ i just realized everything i have is someday gonna be gone/ so here i am in my new apartment/ in a big city, they jsut dropped me off/ it's so much colder that I thought it would be/ so I tuck myself in and turn my light on/

Wish I'd never grown up/ I wish I'd never grown up/oh I don't wanna grow up/ wish I'd never grown up/I could still be little/ oh I don't wanna grow up/ Wish I'd never grown up/ it could still be simple/

oh darling dont you ever grow up

This song reminds me just how fast time passes by. I can remember so many things from my childhood: people that have come and gone in my life, my first kiss, my first love, friends, vacations, still at home with my parents and siblings, playing with my cousins, my heart breaking, TESTS to study for, sports, mean girls, my salvation, talking on the phone late at night, NO cell phones, etc. I could go on and on, but life was just so simple then. I wish Tay could stay 3 forever! I don't want her heart to break, I don't want her to run into mean girls, I don't want her to have to leave my house one day. I know it's life....I just keep praying to let us all take one day at a time. Bless us and keep us safe

Catching up

Leven's volleyball team finished district play last night against Kilgore. They ended up 2nd in district and will start playoffs next week!



Typical Leven in the background!

Our church choir has been practicing up a storm this past month. We are recording a Christmas album starting tonight! I'm pretty excited about the album....not so excited about the whole recording process. We start tonight at 6 and will go until 10!! We will do the same thing tomorrow night. We will have 10 songs on the album and will have it ready before Christmas is here. Chrissy and I both tried out for solos for 2 of the songs and we both got them. So that is also exciting! We record our solos tomorrow during the day.



Trever starts basketball practice TODAY! I know he's excited about it since he didn't play football this year. He's getting so big! He's really starting to get stronger in the arms and legs. Just really turning into a man...crazy stuff! He turns 16 in less than 2 weeks.

Taydem is just precious. She is so full of energy and is into everything. It's like she turned into a little girl over night. No part of "baby" is left in her. (sniff sniff) She is VERY independent. She wants to do everything by herself and will throw a fit if I don't let her do it. She's also pouting a lot more here lately (I wonder where she gets this from, ha!) She's very easy to discipline bc her feelings get hurt so easy. We can just raise our voice and she runs to her room. She is a night owl and would stay up until midnight every night if we let her. She usually hits the bed around 10:30! We are just always on the go and are never home at 8. Usually around 4:00 in the morning she sneaks to our room and climbs in bed with us. Most of the time we don't even know she's there until we wake up in the morning. She loves to snuggle up to her daddy...and don't let him fool you, he loves it too. Leven is such a cuddle bunny! I always wake up first and I usually wake up to those two wrapped around each other...too sweet!

Taydem isn't the only one growing up too fast. My niece is almost walking now and is too too cute!! Aidan is 7 and Ashby is 4! Truitt is 5 and is getting the chance to sing the National Anthem this Friday, Saturday, and Sunday at Tall Pines Festival in Henderson. A huge event being put on for God and our country! Check out the website http://ppmhasit.org/?page_id=252. Tucker is 2 and is still the prettiest boy ever. Here are a few pics of my nephews.

Tucker

Truitt

Ashby



Aidan



More PICS from my BIRTHDAY!

Keep 'em coming!

Can you believe how well they are playing? I can. Last night's game was so awesome! The Yankees can't get enough pitchers. Let's do it one more time today.....history in the making!

Hamilton on FIRE!!!

Leven's girls also won last night! This gives Leven 30 wins for the FIRST TIME EVER in a season! They are now 30-10!

Surprise weekend

Let's keep it up Rangers!

Saturday was such a wonderful day! Leven and I had planned on driving over to Shreveport to eat some seafood at Ralph and Cacoo's. So we headed over around 5, tore up some food, watched the end of the Ranger's game, and then headed over to The El Dorado. He said we were only going to play the slot machines for a little while bc we needed to get back to the kiddos. As we were walking in he said he wanted to step inside the club there and catch some of the Braves/Phillies game. It was only like 7:30 so that sounded good to me. As we were walking in I heard something like, "Let's all help celebrate Devin's 30th birthday!" huh? I looked over at Leven and he was cracking up. Then I looked further in the club and saw a group of crazy people yelling and screaming! That group was a surprise for ME! I still can't believe he pulled it off. Thanks to ALL who came: Danin and Eric, Darin and Chrissy, Samantha and Tommy (drove in from Houston!), Lacey, Cherry and Kyle (pregnant and still came along!) Whitney and Pat, Patrick (came from Mexia), Brandi, John, Natalie, Lucas (came from Dallas) and of course Leven! I had the best time. We danced and danced and danced! Leven said his hips hurt the next day! The only thing I missed was my CAMERA! My other little surprise was that we were staying the night! Wow! Trever's mom stayed the night at our house. She hasn't seen Trever in awhile since he's been playing baseball so Leven told her to just stay the night. So it was win/win for everyone! I'm still surprised about the whole thing! I just love parties!!!



Chrissy took this pic with her phone!

 Leven's girls are sitting in second place right now in district. They have two away games this week and next week they finish up district.

My new Willow House WEBSITE!!

http://devinbarker.willowhouse.com/

Now you can order Willow House products directly off my NEW WEBSITE!!! Add this to your favorites and START shopping!

Some you WIN, some you LOSE!

Ranger's ADVANCE!! Nuff said!

The Lady Pirates lost last night to the Hallsville Lady Cats! So that puts us now with 2 losses and the Lady Cats have 1 loss. We have moved to second place in the district. There's still more games to play and still so much can happen.



Wonderful Birthday

My day turning 30 was perfect!

My wonderful sister and brother-in-law took care of Taydem for us all weekend! Friday night after the volleyball game (we lost in 3 games...worst game of the year!) Danin took Taydem home with her. They had a huge company picnic Saturday morning and thought her staying the night would be the best idea! I wasn't complaining one bit. So Leven and I slept in Saturday morning laying in bed by OURSELVES! Usually on a Saturday morning Tay makes her way to our bedroom around 7:30. Leven went and got breakfast while I packed and got ready to head to Dallas. We left Longview around 11:00 and made our way down I-20. Once we got to Dallas we did some shopping at the Galleria (well, I did some shopping!) My parents gave me some money for my birthday and I was convinced that I was only going to spend THAT money. I can bargain shop! I bought 4 pairs of shoes, 2 shirts and a pair of jeans.....are you ready for this?...ALL FOR UNDER $150! Whoa! I was pumped! After the mall we headed to check into our hotel. We sat in the bar area and watched the Rangers play until it was time to get dressed. Leven found a really nice steak house for us to eat that night (Chamberlain's Steak and Chop House). It was so fab! I can still taste my steak in my mouth. I swear it almost melted when it hit my tongue! Wonderful. I was so proud of him. We NEVER eat at fancy restaurants: 1-We are never without kids and 2-Well...it ain't cheap! I just loved spending all day with him. We laughed the whole time! After dinner we went to dance and played some pool! And then again...Sunday morning we slept in with just us two! Loved every minute of it! Thank you again Leven for a wonderful birthday.

Sunday afternoon we had a family get together at my parents house! My dad's first cousin from Tennessee was down and we all wanted to welcome them. My mom had the house decorated so cute with all her Fall stuff and we had plenty of good tasting food! This is why I love being close to home!

Fall Ballin'

Trever is playing fall baseball this year and Saturday he had 2 games against White Oak. So Tay and I joined Leven for a long afternoon at the ball park! The weather was so beautiful! Taydem is usually the entertainment wherever we go and the baseball field was no different. She does NOT meet a stranger and will sit down and talk to anyone. I wonder who she gets this from?? Its funny bc she will just start talking and they will immediatly look at me to see what she's saying! Who knows. She's getting better with the talking but still is not there yet. Boy, does she try though! The minute we get in the car she doesn't stop talking until we get out of the car!



Thank goodness there was a park close by!

Leven is undefeated after the first round of district (7-0) . The second round starts tomorrow against Marshall.