The 2013 Holiday Season

This November and December have been full of memories! We were busy these two months! In November, the girls finished their fall sports - Kate: Soccer, and Emma: Horseback Riding. Molly enjoyed her mommy and me Gymnastics class also and LOVES the Balance Beam! We traveled to Sunset Beach, North Carolina to be with Gramma and Grampa Bee for Thanksgiving! We had a nice visit - even though, 3 out of the 5 of us got stuck with the Stomach Bug :( But still, it's always nice to be surrounded by family during the  holidays! December just flew by this year! We took visits to see Santa - Molly didn't  cry - Hooray! The big girls, Gram, and  I went and saw the New York City Rockett show - and we all loved it! They couldn't take their eyes off that stage! We ventured around our area enjoying the many Christmas lights and festivities, as this holiday is the girls favorite, and ours too :) Christmas was celebrate for what seemed like a week or so  with our closest friends and family. It was  special to have everyone here together! We welcomed a new family member also! Sullivan " Sully" Barratt was brought to the girls from the North Pole from Santa. They were so very excited with their special gift and he really is a sweet puppy. He is 10 weeks old, A Shichon Mix (Teddy Bear Bread), and we are alll in love with him! We know that 2014 is going to be a wonderful year! The girls are going to try cheer leading and lacrosse in the spring, and Molly will continue gymnastics and try some swimming lesson to prepare for the summer months too! We wish you all a very happy new year! And remember, our door is always open - COME VISIT!
Love,
Mike, Amy, Emma, Kate, and Molly
Sullivan too!

September and October 2013

It is hard to believe that yesterday was Halloween and now we are moving towards the Holiday Season again...time just really has been flying by! The kids had a GREAT night last night! Emma was a tiger .... of coarse she was an animal! Kate was a Spanish Princess from the Nutcracker, and sweet Molly Moo was Minnie Mouse - she loves her Mickey Mouse Clubhouse! They ran around the neighborhood collecting candy until they couldn't hold their buckets up anymore! Needless to say, getting up for school this morning was not so fun! This fall we've been really busy doing many fun things! Emma is continuing horseback and really enjoys it! Kate has scored a couple of goals during her soccer season this year - and has really loved being part of a team sport! Tomorrow is her last game of the season! Molly loves her little gym class, and her favorite while she is there is hanging from the bars :) She is NOT a fan of the trampoline that leads right to a foam pit....this surprises me since both of her sisters had no fear of "the pit" from an early age! We have done some traveling this fall too. Mike and I celebrated our 10 year anniversary this fall in San Francisco! What a fun city and a fabulous time we had! We biked the Golden Gate Bridge together, toured Sonoma County Wine Country with Kathryn and Mark, and of coarse finished our trip with an Ohio State Football game against CAL! SO FUN! It really was a special trip - and one we won't forget! We also did our annual Cabin Trip up to the Georgia Mountains with the Duche side of the Family. This marks our  7th year in a row going there. We loved it! The weather was perfect, the cousins enjoyed playing, and we enjoyed eating and watching a lot of college football! We've also taken fun day trips to the pumpkin patch, farm, and Boo at the Zoo! We are still having wonderful weather here down south. Today was 72 degrees out! Let's hope this doesn't mean a really cold winter! We hope you all are doing well! Our door is always open for visitors!
We love you all!
Mike, Amy, and the girls

July and August 2013

Well, summer is officially over in the Barratt House! The girls are back to school, tutoring has started back up again full force, and college football is here! YAY!
We had a wonderful end to the summer! July was full of celebrations! Mike and I celebrated 10 years of marriage by getting away to Asheville for the first time, and LOVED it! We also celebrated Emma's 7th birthday - it's hard to believe how fast time has flown by!
Kate started Kindergarten the beginning of August and is loving it! She has Emma's old teacher from Kindergarten so that helped too - and we love her! Emma got a great 2nd grade teacher too - so we are off to a great start! Molly misses her older sisters very much when they are away. We enjoy story time at the library every week, along with Gymnastics with some of her buddies! She's enjoying that class - and seems to love the little balance beam the most!
Both big girls also learned to ride their bikes this summer - they are so proud of themselves and so are we! (included video below!)
We are ready for some fall weather, dry weather (so much rain this summer!), and college football!
We hope everyone is having a great end of summer....
and Happy Fall Ya'll!!! (this is what happens when you live down south!)

GO BUCKS!
GO IRISH!

Love,
Mike, Amy, and the girls

Happy May and June 2013

Hi to our family and friends and HAPPY SUMMER! We hope everyone is enjoying the warm weather and relaxing this summer! We've been a very busy crew but enjoying everyday!
The girls finished up school at the end of May! Emma will be in 2nd grade in the fall, and Kate Graduated Pre K - and is off to Kindergarten! She is soooo excited to be at the same school as Emma next year! It's hard to believe how fast time is flying! Emma finished up horseback riding this May, and was awarded her first blue ribbon as well. She is  so excited! Kate enjoyed her first season of Soccer and loved getting that shiny trophy at the end of the season! Go Shooting Stars!! Molly has just enjoyed chasing her sisters around, especially now that she's officially walking (at 16 months!) She took a few steps here and there, but once we arrived for our annual family Hilton Head Trip....she has hundreds of yards of empty beach, with no one telling her where to go, or to stop so she just took off! She's so proud of herself! She's also  proving to be quite a little ham - showing off for anyone who laughs at her :) She's  a little independent thing as well, which I know will be interesting as she gets older!!! YIKES!

We've been on some great trips this  summer so far .... two trips to Sunset Beach to see Gramma and Grampa have been a lot of fun. And this year, Emma and Kate got to stay a week by themselves - which they enjoyed every minute! Molly sure did miss her sisters that week...as did we! We surprised the girls when they got back from that trip with their new GROWN UP  BEDROOMS. Their  looks of surprise were priceless! It was worth all the late nights getting it ready! We also went to Hilton Head...this is one of our favorite places in the world, and this year surely didn't disappoint. Beautiful weather, family, and friends were there - and the cousins had a blast together! Can't  wait to go back next year!

We are enjoying all sorts of summer fun - swimming, playdates, and watching daddy play Lacrosse has been so much fun as well! He is like a kid again out there - we love to cheer him on! Mike is also preparing to run the Peachtree Road Race - a 10K in downtown Atlanta on the 4th of July. This will be the 2nd time he's run it and he's really excited to beat his last time!

I continue to tutor and run book clubs - I enjoy working with the kids very much and enjoy my time with my own kids as well! We hope you enjoy the rest of your summer - hard to believe that 2013 is half way over! Time flies!
Happy Canada Day and Happy 4th  to our friends and family!
We love you!
Mike, Amy, Emma, Kate, and Molly

March/April 2013

This year, I've done a blog update every other month....reason being....time is flying by and I can't keep up! The three girls keep me busy but also bring me so much joy! Loving every second of this time in their lives!
March was a fun month for us! Emma started horseback riding! I really have never seen her GLOW as much as I did that first time she led her horse "Black Jack" into the ring to ride him! She is loving every lesson! She learns how to groom each horse at the farm, and then spends time riding one. She is now trotting - which makes me nervous every time, but SHE ... SHE does it with ease! Kate started soccer in March also. My once very shy child, who I never thought would even attempt a group sport - is loving the game! She gets in there (enjoys playing defense the most), and loves being part of a TEAM! GO SHOOTING STARS! Mike also started a sport......he joined a league called Old Man's Lacrosse! He is also beaming ear to ear at the chance to get to play his favorite sport again! We can't wait to cheer him on when the games start Mid May!
I am continuing to stay busy with tutoring. I enjoy it very much! One of my favorite groups, is my book club with the 1st/2nd graders. We are reading books I used to read as a child - and I'm really enjoying it! I also love spending time with Miss Molly during the day - she changes every second and I'm blessed to be able to be home with her. I can't lie....I'll even sneak in a mid morning nap holding my 'not so little baby' once and a while....Pure Bliss! She's on the verge of standing on her own, which can only mean that walking is just around the corner! She has mastered the Bear Crawl....which Mike and I laugh at because we struggle with it weekly at our Boot Camp sessions! She's in love with her sisters and is forming her own little personality which we enjoy so much! April was a busy month too - besides all the sports going on, we traveled to Sunset Beach for Easter with Gramma and Grampa Bee - Jason and his girlfriend Colby too. We had a GREAT time! We of coarse watched a lot of NCAA basketball in April - and Mike and Kate even got the chance to meet Brad Stevens from Butler downtown at Bracket Town! We also enjoyed having our dear friends James and Kim here with their sweet baby Hope for a visit in April! We stayed up too late each night reminiscing - but it was worth it! We miss them so much!
Our doors are always open so we always WELCOME lots of visitors!
Lots of love to you all and your families!

Amy, Mike, and the Girls
Enjoy the photos and the fun videos from these past months!

January and February 2013

Hi everyone! Time has flown so quickly this year - it's been two months since I've posted!!! We've been busy here in Atlanta, having a lot of fun as we always do! The most important things that happened these past months are the Kate turned the big 5 and  MOLLY TURNED ONE! She is our Valentine's Baby...so we had a special day for her with family - she loved her cake too (not a surprise!!!). It's really hard to believe she's one now....makes me sad but also so happy to see her growing! She's crawling all over the place, chases after her sisters, and is trying to 'test the rules'....we love her to pieces though! The girls continue to work hard in school, and they started gymnastics! They love tumbling all over the place every Saturday - Kate loves the beam and hanging from the bars. Emma loves doing cartwheels, and jumping into the pit! Emma is going to start horseback riding next week - which she is VERY excited about. Kate starts spring soccer next week too - so we can't wait to see what she can do out there! We've had some fun adventures also - we took the BIG girls to Snow Mountain as one of Kate's birthday presents in January. It was a fun way to play in the snow - since we haven't seen any this year....tubing, snowball fights, and building snow forts was a lot of fun! They also enjoyed their annual trip to the circus with Gram and Papa! This year's theme was DRAGONS - they said it was the best one yet! Think Molly will get to join in all this fun next year! Tutoring is going AWESOME for me, as I love to continue to teach the kids - and have time with my girls as well. I try and volunteer at least once a week in their classrooms, and enjoy watching them and working with them and their friends! I LOVVVE my time with Molly also - just taking her on walks, playing with her other little baby friends in playgroup, snuggling her on rainy days! I'm so thankful to get to stay home this year! Mike is doing great at work as well! He won a Key Contributor award for 2012 - we are VERY proud of him!!!! He continues to be the girl's biggest fan - and gets them going every night with funny stories and games! We hope all is well with all of you! Come visit anytime!
Enjoy the videos and photos!
Love,
The Barratt Fam

Happy 2013!

Happy New Year to all of our family and friends! What a great holiday season we had! We enjoyed seeing Santa, going to the Pink Pig in Atlanta (Molly loved her first visit!), and loved every second of Christmas! We spent it with family and friends - and Santa treated the girls right! It really is magical watching the girls experience Christmas - and just enjoy it through their eyes! SO SPECIAL! We loved having everyone visit us, and ended the year celebrating with GREAT friends .... the girls made it to midnight too which was fun! (minus Molly of coarse!)

It definitely  has been a year of reflection. A year that has made Mike and I both realize how important family and friends are. It has been a year of blessings - adding sweet Molly to our family, and everything that has happened this year has made us realize we need to STOP, SLOW DOWN, and ENJOY every second! Time goes too fast and you have to cherish every day as it was the only one you had!

I'm thankful for my beautiful family, friends, and the opportunities that have been given to me this year with tutoring, and spending more time with the girls at home and in their classrooms. I'm thankful for a hard working husband and a fun loving husband and daddy to my girls!

Know you are always welcome here in Georgia!
Much Love and Many Blessings to you all for 2013!

Love,
The Barratt Fam

oh, and GOOOOOOO IRISH!!! (Mike is so excited for Monday's game!!!!)