September Comes to a Close…and October Begins!

It's always a little bittersweet when September comes to a close! It is such a fun month full of celebrating my first baby and new beginnings, so that makes it extra special, but then again, October brings all that I love about fall and gets us closer to the holidays that I love! :) 
Anyway, here is how we closed out the best September ever and began our October!! :)
The day after we got back from San Antonio, Papa came to visit for a day! 

 …and I'm pretty sure his back hurt before he left!

 …but the girls had fun!

 We took Papa to one of our favorite parks!

 He and sister enjoyed walking the trail!

 Sister even cuddled with him!

 …and then Papa got to experience dancing to "Beat Beat!" Our girls love "The Fresh Beat Band," and it's so fun to watch them dance to it (or dance with them)! ;)

Before Papa left, he took us to dinner for Mama and Avaree's birthday!

This next picture is crazy! I can't even believe the difference in Brandon from the left to the right! The left was taken in late June, and the right was taken in mid-September! He's lost so much weight, and way more important than that, he isn't drinking 4-5 Dr. Peppers and at least one energy drink every day! I want him to be here for a LONG time, so I am so very thankful that Plexus has helped him get off of those unhealthy habits! Isn't he so handsome??! Mono helped him lose a little weight too, but honestly, that only kept him in bed and not eating for a week. He's amazing! (If you want more information on Plexus (all natural vitamins, extracts, and minerals), then let us know! :) 

http://brandonbarton.myplexusproducts.com

(Shameless plug, I know!)

 …and these are my happy girls one afternoon after Avaree's yellow day at school! 

 Sometimes I look at them, and I think my heart may swell so much that it explodes!

 This infamous day was just like any other day. I knew that there was bad weather coming, but I wanted to treat the girls after we picked Ave up from school, so we went straight to the park! The girls enjoyed playing together, and the weather was not supposed to get bad until around 4pm! 

 Mrs. Holly, Kendall and Wesley met us there, and the girls had even more fun! (See the blue skies?) Then, as we were playing, Holly and I noticed the skies getting darker, so we loaded the kids up and headed home. It was around 3:30! We called B on our way home, and he asked us to bring him some shorts from football practice that evening. So we drove the three minutes home, grabbed his shorts, and ran them up to the church. It's about 3:40 at this point! We handed him his stuff, and I explained that I didn't think they would be having practice today, when all of a sudden, the storm began. The wind picked up (like tornado or hurricane type winds), and we immediately left to get home! 

 We made it home, but our electricity was already out (yes, in three minutes), so the garage door wouldn't open! It was already hailing, and tree branches and limbs were falling everywhere, so I made the executive decision to grab the girls and make a run for our front door. Our sidewalk was already flooded (seriously, it had only been THREE minutes since it started), and the weather was SCARY! So, we were drenched when we got inside, and I stripped the girls down, and we all got under a blanket on the couch. I couldn't get a signal on my phone, and the tv was obviously down, so we prayed for safety and listened to the loud booms. It never sounded like a freight train, so we didn't get in the closet, but we did stay away from the windows!

We finally got a hold of our Daddy, and he came home to check on us! Long story short, we ended up being without electricity for 3.5 days! I was so very unprepared. We didn't even have a working flashlight in our house!

It was so very hot and dark in our house that we ended up staying two nights at Camp Neely! (Thank you, Holly, AJ, Kendall and Wesley), and sister slept with B and me! Kendall slept in a cot in her Mommy and Daddy's room, and Ave slept in Kendall's room--so sweet! The girls had a blast, but we were ready to get our lights back! I never realized how much we depended on them before! I had also JUST been on my big monthly grocery shopping trip, so I was very concerned with all my food! B took some of it to the church, but I still didn't want to lose any of it! God is good though, and we were able to recover most of it!

 Sister loves to sleep in beds! 

 That Saturday, Daddy coached two games, Mommy had three photo sessions, and we even came home for naps at our house. It was craziness, but we made it! :)

 It was also our first real "cool" day! Thank you, Lord! :) 

 That afternoon, I got to take pictures of one of my favorite families in the world!!! Berkeley even asked me to take another picture of her as we were walking out! :) Isn't she precious?? I had already put my big camera up, so I took this with my phone! :)

 Our lights came back on early Sunday morning!!! 

The girls and I used our passes to go to the Fort Worth Museum of Nature and Science to let the girls run and play with friends the next day! We had made some new friends at church the day before, and they came too!

 We LOVE this museum! Meet construction worker, Avaree!

 …and her new friend Kaelyn!

 They love to play in the medical area! Avaree always wants to be the doctor and make Felicity be the nurse! ha! :) 

 They also love to "shop" in the grocery store!

 The checkout area even beeps when you scan the items! ;)

We came home for lunch and naps, and then, later that afternoon, I dropped Felicity off with Brandon at work, and Avaree and I went to Grapevine for Mommy's check up with Dr. Neal! Avaree had everyone laughing, and she enjoyed her time with just Mommy! She even got to measure me, hold the microphone on my belly to hear baby brother's heartbeat, and get all of her measurements taken! They are so good with her there! :)

Daddy didn't get home till about ten on Monday night, so the next morning, before he left, he had to play football drills and tickle fight with them! :) They love their Daddy time! He's been teaching F to say, "hut hut!"

 Then, little sister started running fever and vomiting, and she didn't stop for four long days. It was so sad. At least, this time, she drank pedialyte from the beginning (and without me having to force it), so she never got dehydrated!

 The first couple of days, she would just sleep on me all day and only wake to vomit. She was miserable, and it was so very sad!

 Finally, on Saturday, she woke up without fever and no vomiting! YAY! It was also her half birthday!!! (More on that later!) So, we put our aprons on, and we made a pumpkin spice cake! 

 The girls were SO happy to help! Avaree LOVED using the electric mixer!

 We sang to her about 100 times that day, and then while I was putting Felicity to bed, Avaree and Daddy spent some time working through Avaree's Kinder Skills book! They worked on telling time this particular night! Daddy had only been home one night last week, so everyone was craving some Daddy time!

 Can you tell she was feeling better? I had kept them apart for four days, so they were so happy to play together again! :)

 LOVE this one!

My sweet girls!

 Yesterday, we had another crazy storm, and it woke this sweet girl up at 4am! So, I enjoyed my quiet cuddle time with her until she finally fell back asleep around 6:30! ;) Look at that sweet face!!!

So thankful for every minute of the last couple of months! I can't believe that in 15 weeks or less we will have another family member! Craziness! 

Well…someone just woke up! Happy fall, y'all! :)