November Days

Hi everyone! Hope you all had a GREAT Thanksgiving! We enjoyed our first of many trips to Sunset Beach, North Carolina to be with Mike's family....his parents have recently moved there. It's so beautiful there - and it was nice to be on the beach on Thanksgiving Day! The girls loved it!

It's hard to believe that November came and went so quickly. We kept busy with many activities. The girls started Tap/Ballet class and love it! Mike continues to work hard at ATT and I'm just growing by the second! Entered the third trimester and feeling great! We are all getting very excited for baby girl to arrive this coming February! We are starting to get all of our baby gear in order and decorate her room.

We are staying put this Holiday Season, and can't wait to spend it with family and friends that are here and visiting from out of town! Our Elf on the Shelf, Charlie...has made his appearance and the girls love waking up each morning to find him! Their behavior is stellar with Charlie around too! Wish he could stay the entire year! HAHA!

Kate has already had a visit from Santa at school and actually sat on his lap! This is a FIRST and she feels VERY proud of her decision to enjoy Santa this year! Emma stays busy at school too and is reading and writing like a champ! We are so proud of our girls!

We always welcome visitors and think of you all often!

Happy Holidays!

Lots of Love,

The Barratt Family

Mike, Amy, Emma, Kate, and baby girl :)

Happy Halloween

Hope you all had fun Trick Or Treating last night...minus the virus that has HIT our house big time in the last few weeks...we had a good time (even though Emma has been under the weather). We had Kate as Raggedy Ann and Emma as Bat Girl!

October was a fun filled month - we had Emma's first parent teacher conference. She did AWESOME and we are super proud of her! She loves her class and her teacher! Kate continues to learn new things and is trying hard to keep up with her big sister so she is always doing something new in her class at school.

We enjoyed our annual cabin trip to Helen, Ga for Oktoberfest with the Duche clan. We missed Aunt Kathryn, Uncle Mark, and the boys....but hope to see them over the holidays! We also enjoyed our yearly trip to the pumpkin patch. Daddy got super creative this year while carving pumpkins with the girls....he made a Kitty for Emma and Dora for Kate!

I continue to enjoy teaching Pre K and feeling good with baby girl number 3. She is sitting breech in my belly right now, and weighing about 1lb and 3oz! But everything is going GREAT! Mike started his new job with ATT and is loving it. He's working hard as usual and is getting used to having some more flexible working hours. He was the BEST stay at home dad this week while Emma was sick! What a lucky girl!

The fall weather has finally hit Georgia and we look forward to November! We continue to cheer on our sports teams...even our poor Indianapolis Colts.

We hope you all are well! Enjoy the videos and pictures! We love you!

Amy, Mike, and the girls

September 2011 has come and gone!

Hi everyone! It's amazing that September has come and gone....time really flies! We all are enjoying fall and happy it's finally starting to FEEL like fall around here! The girls LOVE school, I'm enjoying my new set of Pre K Kiddos,a nd we are SO very proud of Mike as he got a promotion at work this month! Our most exciting news is that we are expecting baby girl number three February 23rd. The girls are very excited and so are we. Hard to believe we will have three princesses in this house! Pray for us during the teenage years! We also are so happy to have a new nephew!!! Owen Gregory was born this month and we can't wait to get our hands on him!

We also are enjoying football Saturdays, trips to the apple orchard, and loved having Uncle Jay visit this month! We are busy planning costumes for Halloween!

We hope fall treats you well! We love you all!

Mike, Amy, Emma, and Kate

August 2011

August has just flown by! It was a special month as Emma started Kindergarten this month. She absoultly loves her new school and teachers..... we just can't believe how big she has gotten! Where did the last 5 years go? Kate also has a new teacher and is enjoying every second of it! I still really love being at Akers with Kate, and Emma rides the school bus to us which is nice as well! Mike is still very busy with his job, but enjoying it!

This month we enjoyed the lake with great friends ... who knew the girls were such dare devils! They loved jet skiing with daddy, tubing, and jumping off the dock into the lake! We got our last days at the pool in and now are geared up for enjoying some cooler weather, going to the park...and of coarse watching some college football! GO BUCKS GO IRISH!

We love and miss you all!

Enjoy the pics and videos!

Amy, Mike, and the girls

Where did July go?

What a fun July it has been! We have been busy and it's hard to believe that summer is coming to an end. We had an amazing July 4th, we visited the new aqarium dolphin exhibit (the girls fell in love with those dolphins!) Mike and I took the girls on one last beach trip, and we ended the month celebrating our beautiful Emma's 5th birthday! How is she five? Time flies when you are having fun!!! We are now getting ready for her to start Kindergarten, Kate will enter a Pre - pre K program, and I will continue loving my job teaching Pre K. Mike is working hard at ATT and we LOVE having him home more after completing his MBA! Gramma and Grampa Bee are moving to North Carolina! For us, this is sooo exciting to have them 6 hours away.....and near the beach! We all love the beach!! We hope you all enjoy the last few weeks of summer! Know our home is your home, and we'd love for you all to visit anytime!
Lots of Love,
The Barratt Fam

June 2011

We had a fabulous month of June! The girls enjoyed putting on their ballet recital, and we loved watching! Hard to believe how fast they are growing up! They really enjoy dancing, and I'm sure they will continue to do it as their favorite hobby! We also tried trout fishing this month...not my finest moment...and Kate agreed, disgusting and not the best way to spend a morning....Emma and Daddy however, loved it! And we now have four trout frozen in our freezer....anyone want to come eat them with Mike? Lord knows I WON'T!!! Mike also celebrated his 34th birthday! He reminded the girls that Mommy is 8 months older than him....they thought that was pretty funny! We have great friends that we celebrated with and then of coarse had to have cake and ice cream with the girls! Happy Birthday to Mikey!!!

The highlight of our month was Hilton Head. This has become our family vacation spot in the summer. This year was extra special because we had a large crew come with us: Gram and Papa, Gramma and Grampa Bee, Uncle Sean, Aunt Susie and Cousin Owen, and Uncle Ryan...there were 11 of us total and we had a blast!!! We also enjoyed having our closest friends there a half mile down the beach...just a cooincedence we were there at the same time, but there wasn't a day that went by that we didn't see them! I was super sad to leave and am trying really hard to convince Mike we need to stay for TWO weeks next summer!!! Anyone want to join us? We'd love all of our friends and family to see how fun and special Hilton Head Island is!!! Come on! The more the merrier!!!

We hope you are enjoying your summer vacations! Enjoy the pics and videos from this month! Emma went to Vacation Bible School and loved it! She just enjoys singing and dancing so much! The other video is of the girls and Cousin Owen "hammin" it up to the camera!

xoxo

The Barratt Fam

May 2011

Happy Summer! May flew by with all that we had going on .... Mike graduated which is so exciting! We are very proud of all of his hard work! We also enjoyed the zoo, strawberry picking, and a fun trip to Pennsylvania to enjoy the whole Barratt Family! The girls enjoyed playing with their cousin Owen! We also are very excited about Emma graduating from Pre K. She was so cute and we enjoyed her celebration (video below). We can't beleive she will be going to Kindergarten in the fall! Where did time go? We are looking forward to summer and can't wait to enjoy the girls' ballet recital, going to Hilton Head, swim lessons, and lots of play dates with friends!

We hope you all are enjoying the sun and enjoy all of your summer activities as well!

Lots of Love,
The Barratt Family

April 2011

This month just flew by! We had such a fun time in Tampa for Spring Break. Since we have been back, we started swim lessons to gear us up for summer (see videos below). We've also enjoyed time at the parks, with friends, at school, and at the zoo! We seem to always be doing something....we are on the go! I had the perfect Mother's Day! We went strawberry picking, enjoyed family, and I even took a nap with my two favorite girls! I truly am a blessed mama. Motherhood is the best job in the world! I love every second!

The most exciting part of this month was that MIKE FINISHED HIS MBA! He's worked really hard and finished! We are super excited to have him back full time but also so proud of all of his accomplishments!

Emma is getting more and more excited about going off to Kindergarten - and Kate is a little sad and realizing she won't have her big sissy at school with her next year. The girls truly are the best of friends and use their imaginations all day,every day. Right now their favorite thing to do together is pretend to be animals - tiger and mouse....with full ears and tail also!

We hope you all are having a wonderful Spring and also gearing up for summer!

Lots of Love,

Amy, Mike, Emma and Kate

March 2011

We've had a busy March and finally feel that Spring is here! We are ready for warm weather! This month the girls were busy with Ballet and Gymnastics...they love it - especially ballet class. The children also enjoyed Dr. Suess and St. Patrick's Day celebrations! Emma also lost her first tooth this month! It was early, but it was ready to come out. She is so proud of that tiny hole in her mouth :) The phases we are in right now include: Kate ALWAYS wearing a ballet outfit and Emma ALWAYS wearing cat ears and cat tail. The girls are best friends and enjoy each other so much!

We are also proud of Mike....he has been so busy and worked so very hard on completing his MBA program. He is almost through. Graduation is just around the corner!

We hope Spring is treating you all well!

Lots of Love,

Mike, Amy and the girls

February 2011

This was a great month...and it went by fast! We were busy with both girls doing ballet and gymnastics once a week and LOVING it! The spring weather has been wonderful in Atlanta so we've been spending a lot of time outside. Emma is getting really good at riding her bike! Kate riding the scooter behind...trying to keep up as always (check out the video!).

They also love to dance and Wii Just Dance is their favorite ....Katy Perry's Firework is what they love to sing to the most!

Emma had a very special Valentine's Sweetheart Dance in her Pre K class. She got to dress up really fancy, and eat off fancy china that day! She loved every second! Kate enjoys every second of her class...the Trailblazers! She is learning so much and keeps us on our toes for sure!

Daddy took us all to the circus for a special date night which also was a lot of fun! It was nice to spend a fun filled night with him since he is working SO hard on finishing up his MBA! 2 more months to go!!!! We are so proud of him!

Hoping that Spring is just around the corner - this year is already flying by!

Hope you and your famlies are doing well!

Love,

Amy, Mike, and the girls

January 2011 - SNOW SNOW AND MORE SNOW

Happy New Year to everyone! Well, we've had quite a month.....we started the month with Mike and I going to the Sugar Bowl to cheer on the Bucks! What a game! We had the BEST time on Burbon Street - doing our Ohio State Cheers with all of the rest of the BEST DAMN FANS IN THE LAND!

We came back to enjoy Kate turning THREE! Hard to believe our little baby is three now....she had a magical birthday including a beautiful CASTLE cake and a FUN BUS Party with all of her friends! This bus actually pulled up to our house and the kids had a class inside this gymnastics filled bus for an hour! It was a great time!

Well, then came the snow....and the ice....and the city of Atlanta was closed.....it was the craziest thing. We all got about six inches - a record here in quite some time. We were homebound all week long...which ended up being so much fun! Mike was even trapped and couldn't go to work. We made snowmen,snow angels, and the girls' favorite.....sledding....which was funny because we used our pool inner tubes as sleds...and they worked GREAT!!! (see the videos) ...all and all it was nice to be forced NOT to do anything relax, hang in our pajamas, and enjoy family time! We did this for a FULL WEEK!

The end of January we spent outside in 70 degree weather....so we'll see what February brings us! We hope you all are staying warm and enjoying winter!

Lots of Love,

Mike, Amy, Emma, and Kate