Eilidh Jane Barnard

Eilidh Jane Barnard entered the world on May 19, 2012 weighing 8lbs. 8oz and 21 inches long.  It was a fast delivery with a little bit of drama (we are all fine), and we are all SO excited to have her here.  I am WAY behind on posting to our family blog.  Please forgive me and I will try to catch up quickly. The boys are loving having Eilidh with us.  We had my parents with us Eilidh's first few weeks.  They were such a big help!!!  Here are a few pictures of Eilidh's birthday and coming home....a bit out of order :)

Dan and Caleb love to hold their new sister!

My mom and dad.  They were such a blessing!  AND can you believe they arrive just two hours after I came home from the hospital?!  God is good and his timing is perfect!

Eilidh in the hospital.

The boys seeing Eilidh for the first time.  I loved this!

He's so proud.

She's finally here!

Those first precious moments.

Eilidh Comes Home

Lately....

Well, we're in full swing ''preparing for baby'' mode around here. I just have about four weeks left until my due date, but here is a glimpse into a few things we've done around here the last few weeks. First, we just had a great visit with my cousin, Bart. He is working in Edinburgh this week, so he took a train to Inverness last Saturday. It was great to see him and we had a great visit!

The picture of the group of kiddos is Dan's pre-school class. It's not really that great of a pic, but it was taken at a music festival that they performed in. They won first prize for the song that they did as cowboys and I loved seeing Dan up there...it was so cute to see his class perform.

Dan now loves to have his face painted. He had been asking for me to do it alot and I finally caved in the other day. Both boys became tigers (the one face I can do with confidence :) They had a blast reading in their den and eating their snack just like a tiger would.

My last year....

...in my twenties!!! We celebrated my 29th birthday on Saturday and it was a fun and sweet day with my boys. First, we all got up and I was greeted with songs, balloons and pancakes made by Joe. We then took a bus to Inverness and had fun looking around and then having a fabulous lunch together. We got home mid-afternoon in time for a surprise visit by a friend with a Scottish fish pie. We quickly changed our dinner plans and all enjoyed the pie that night along with cake, presents, and more hugs from the boys :)

Silly boys...

The boys are full of surprises and laughs these days. Here are a few snippets of some things they've been up to lately. First of all, these boys love to help mommy cook and bake. We have fun in the kitchen alot and they love to make their own creations. The other night they wanted to be wrapped up like burritos. I couldn't resist the pic!

Joe's 30th!

Once again, I am behind but wanted to update you on a fun birthday party that we had for Joe's 30th. We decided to have a party in the church during the day on December 31st (Joe's birthday). We had a great turnout. I had alot of help from people in the church and they did an amazing job decorating the church, thinking up a program of events, and on and on. I was so thankful! They surprised me (and Joe of course) with American decor and even ended the party with fireworks outside. We started off the party with some toasts to Joe. Myself, James and Gordon were present to do that and then we showed 5 toasts from friends and family back home on the projector at the front of the church. These were surprises for Joe as well and I had so much fun getting them and showing them. I also had fun making the cake! Joe had been glued to every article and video he could find about Robert Griffin III and Baylor at this point in time. Soooooooooo, what better than a Baylor and football inspired cake?! It was fun to make and fun to share a bit about my husband with the church and community. To close down the party, we had some true Highland music from some friends who play the bagpipes and accordian. The music was great! All in all, a great day for the many who came and, most importantly, Joe.

Our Christmas!

We had a lovely Christmas and Christmas season this year. We all had lots of fun decorating the tree, making gingerbread houses, ornaments, cards and lots of Christmas cookies! One night we went with friends into Inverness to a local park. There, we saw reindeer and beautiful Christmas lights. Dan had fun with his freind Doug, and after a snowball fight on the walk back to the car we were all ready for a warm meal :)

Our Christmas Day this year was full of excitement as both of our boys are old enough now to look forward and anticipate it's coming. We had a great morning together here, then headed to church. I must say that I really enjoyed the fact that Christmas fell on a Sunday this year. After church, we came home and had our friend Violet for our Christmas lunch. It was my first time to cook a HUGE turkey with all the sides and we all enjoyed the holiday feast.

The feasting didn't stop on Christmas Day. Here in Scotland, the day after Christmas is a holiday too....Boxing Day. On Boxing Day, we went up the road to our friends, The Frasers, for a wonderful meal and day of fellowship. The Frasers are always so sweet to the boys and this year they had made a Quest for the boys through their house to find their Christmas presents. They wrote an amazing poem to send them from spot to spot. They ended in the Dragon's den where they had to feed it (Andrew) some chocolate so it would be nice enough to hand over their gifts. Caleb didn't know what to make of Andrew in a large costume, but Dan bravely gave him teh chocolate....so fun! All the adults had a good laugh too.

Well, I hope this update finds you all well. Happy New Year!