trip to Virginia

We had a blast visiting Uncle Dan and Aunt Amy in Virginia. It was the kids first time to go to their house and the ABsolutely loved it! We saw "Up", and visited the National Zoo, National Aquarium (in Baltimore), and Mount Vernon (home of George Washington). We also spent lots of time hanging out at their house - playing Wii Lego Star Wars, getting addicted to Fieldrunner (on Dan's iTouch), cutting out paper dolls, playing with their sweet dog Dixie, and eating! In true Barrett fashion, the guys even managed to squeeze in a home improvement project, likely setting a record for shortest home improvement project ever! They fixed a gutter drainage problem in the backyard and didn't even have to go back to Home Depot or run into any problems - amazing! :) Aunt Amy and Uncle Dan even had a birthday celebration for Daniel's 6th birthday. We had a blast and can't wait to go back again!!

Daniel's Birthday Jam

We had some of Daniel's friends join him at Chuck E Cheese's for a Star Wars birthday celebration. One of the highlights was the video screen, where the kids could dance and be projected up onto about 4 or 5 video screens. Thankfully, my dance with the birthday boy was not captured on video! Here's Blair, Annie, and Anna with some serious moves. Watch closely for a special appearance by the infamous Hurricane Sammy!



We are blessed with wonderful family and friends to celebrate Daniel's 6th birthday. Thanks to everyone who came to show their love and support for Daniel. Dave and I are grateful to have your love and support while we do our best to train our children in the way of the Lord.

Hope you enjoy a few more pics from the day (click on the picture below)

Chuck E Cheese Birthday

Daniel's Kindergarten graduation

We had a wonderful year at Veritas Academy! I'm so thankful for the abundant blessings from this year!! We have all learned so much from this experience. Daniel is a great reader and loves math. The journal assignments that were so painful at first became easier throughout the year - he did the last entry almost all by himself. It was a joy to watch the lightbulbs come on as we walked through the assignments together.

Veritas Kinder teachers have a tradition of giving each "graduating" student a character rock based on her observations over the year. Daniel's teacher Mrs. Keels also gave out a Bible verse to go with it. If you know Daniel, you know that Mrs. Keels hit the nail on the head!!


Click on the picture to view a few more shots from that morning:

Daniel's Kindergarten Graduation

Happy 6th Birthday Daniel!

It's finally official - my baby boy is 6! We've spent a lot of time celebrating this momentous occasion this week - starting with his Veritas class celebration on Thursday. His choice for special snack time was flavored marshmallows (in convenient single-serve packaging). Next was his almost Star Wars party with some friends and family on Friday at Chuck E. Cheese. Saturday was play day - LOTS of time learning the moves on Wii's Lego Star Wars games. Sunday is the official birthday, with a donut stop before church, a goodie bag with 6 Kit Kats to eat whenever he wanted, a trip to Yogurt Planet (YUM! It's in the Triangle - you must try it!), a small gift in anticipation of Disney Pixar's new movie "Up", and a quest to find him a wallet, complete with zipper pouch for coins. His favorite things from today also include playing Wii Lego Star Wars with Dave and jumping on the trampoline with friends Will and Jackson. I'd say we celebrated well!

Austin Stone Family Reunion!

This is going to be an awesome day! One of my wonderful friends Sarah is going to be baptized that day!! Can't wait!!



Join the Austin Stone on Saturday, May 16, for our church-wide Family Reunion + Baptism at First EV Free Church. Family Reunion + Baptism is a chance for us to gather as an entire church family and celebrate what God’s been doing in individuals and communities in our city. It’s also a great time to bring friends and family who don’t yet have a relationship with Jesus to experience the life-changing worship that is baptism at the Austin Stone. If there’s one thing we know how to celebrate, it’s baptism!

The festivities will get started at 11am, with lunch at noon, baptisms at 2pm, and games and live music throughout the day. This is a great time to catch up with some old friends, meet some new friends and hear about what God is doing as we pursue being a church for the city.



In classic family reunion-style, we’ll have great BBQ from Iron Works to enjoy! Courrier (http://www.myspace.com/courriermusic) will provide some great lunchtime music.

You can go to http://www.austinstone.org/familyreunion to buy lunch tickets. There are great deals for families!

We’ll have a host of games and other fun activities for kids and adults alike. Here’s some of the stuff we’ll have out there:

• Inflatables and Bounce Houses


• Playground


• Kiddie Pool


• Sport fields for running and playing


• Sand Volleyball


• Rockwall climbing


• Basketball

Family Reunion + Baptism will be at First Evangelical Free Church (EV Free) at 4220 Monterey Oaks Blvd., in Southwest Austin near the Mopac/290 interchange.

Texas Day

Anna and Ellie's preschool had a Texas Day last week. I helped out with the sand art craft - and had a blast seeing all the kids come through. Here's Ellie with Bethany and Kenlie, digging for treasure.






















Cowgirl Anna poses for the camera






















Neighborhood friends Ella and Anna (aka the other Anna) came by my sand table that day, too!






















Isn't she SO cute?!

Aquarena Springs

In April, Daniel's Kindergarten Class went on a field trip to Aquarena Springs in San Marcos. It was my first trip - but several moms were revisiting Aquarena. Apparently, this place used to be the place to go, back in the 1980s before Sea World and fancy places like that. They had a diving pig, an underwater mermaid show, and crazy-dangerous cable/tram cars you could ride over the springs and attractions. While all of those things are gone, it was still a wonderful day and worth the drive and admission! We saw plenty of turtles, water bugs, and tilapia, who guarding the eggs in their nests. We went on the glass bottom boat ride, which (to my surprize) was actually pretty cool. They did a few other activities - like looking at the water through a "microscope" to see small bugs - and then we broke for lunch. Our guide, Topher, was great and everyone seemed to have a great time. We brought cousin Ellie and friends Shanna, Brooklyn, Jackson, and Will with us - our big ol' car was packed full!!