The past 6 moths with the Barton's...

Unfortunately this is a 6 month recap of our lives...apparently time got past me yet again. How do people do this daily. LOL After Eli goes to bed, I am ready for bed.

Lots of events have happened in our lives over the past 6 months. I will do my best to cover them all in this post.

APRIL

Right around this time we had the joy of finding out we are expecting number 2. Elijah is now a BIG brother to a little sister. Her name will be Evangeline Marie, "Eva". Her expected due date is December 2nd. Bryan seems to think she will be a Thanksgiving baby...we will see soon enough. We have 3 months to go.

Also during April our sister in law, Karah, graduated college and she and Michael have moved back here to Atlanta from Alabama. We are glad to have them back...we are now praying for Karah to find a job in graphic design. She is super talented by the way...you can also check out her craftiness on her Etsy website; http://www.etsy.com

MAY

This month we traveled to North Carolina to see my cousin Bonnie graduate from college. She has a business management degree and has opened her own dance studio. It is called Ms. Bonnie's School of Dance. We are so proud of her. Pictures of her studio to come...

JUNE

On the 26th of June we had the privilege and honor to be a part AJ and Lindsey's wedding. If you remember in previous posts, AJ lived with us for several months up until his wedding. They are a very dear couple to us. Bryan was in the wedding along with Elijah, the ring bearer. He did such a sweet job...the wedding was beautiful and a lot of fun. We love you guys and are so excited for the new Mr. and Mrs. AJ Brantley. You can follow their blog atwww.beingbrantley. blogspot.com

JULY

Happy 2nd birthday do our little man. Time sure does fly! We had a small birthday for him at the house with family since we were leaving the next day for our mission trip. We also took him to the Atlanta Aquarium for his birthday. He LOVED it. He loves looking at "rah-rah's" aka Sharks, and other fish. Needless to say his jaw was dropped the entire time.

Along with turning 2 comes the talking...his new phrase is "oh gosh" and it is said with such a dramatic tone. It really is funny. He has been talking tons and it has been a lot of fun. Elijah is also my little cleaner...I am hoping this will last till he is in college. I have found him cleaning my toilets at least once a week. And when I walk in on him and ask what he is doing, he says; "cleaning mommy".

We are also constantly on guard since he now knows how to open doors...he felt the need to go into the garage the other day then on the same day, lock himself in our bathroom. And the screwdriver was in the closet in the bathroom; that's where everyone keeps their screwdrivers, right?! LOL He was locked in there for 20 minutes. He did not care, he was just playing away....

He is definitely ALL BOY....I was washing dishes and came into the living room to find him sitting in his chair that he had put on top of the couch. I guess he wanted a better view of the tv. WOW, he is the daredevil around here. NO FEAR!!

After Elijah's birthday Bryan and I left for a mission trip to Slovakia. It was a great trip and a bitter sweet. For those of you who did not know, I lived there for a couple years and it was great to go back and see old friends and family. The trip was 2 weeks long. I was not sure how I would do without Elijah or how he would do. He went between my parents and Bryan's for the two weeks and LOVED every minute of it. Spoiled, played, laughed and traveled. He was a trooper. Through my prayers the Lord sustained me as well and I was not the worried mom I thought I would be. We stayed busy and that was great for me. As far as being pregnant on the trip, I did great and did not have any problems. The idea of camp was that we would teach conversational English to the students and at night they got to hear the Gospel, some for the first time. Thank you to all of you who supported us both financially and prayerfully. I know our students came back changed...God did great works and it was a blessing to be a part of it.

AUGUST

And here we are up to date...this month is going by quickly as well. School has started back so Caralyn is joining us again after a short break this summer. Elijah loves it and asks for her each morning. It has been great for them to play and grow up together.

We went to my brother's house at the beginning of the month to celebrate he and Caralyn's birthday. Caralyn turned two this month as well, so now there are 2 two year olds...so fun and busy at the same time. We are preparing for baby Eva to come. We are transitioning Elijah to a "big boy" role. So with that comes, the toddler bed, which he can't stop jumping on. He is so excited about it and we are also moving him to the bigger of the two rooms. He has not quite figured out what is going on and keeps telling me that "it's AJ's room, mommy"...so we will see what happens when it comes time to move him. But we are in the process of painting the two kids rooms which has been fun. Elijah is excited about the big boy room because he will have tractors and trucks. Which he is really into right now. Pictures to come once we finish the rooms. Thankfully we never painted the bedrooms when we moved in so we are starting from scratch.

Riding a boat for the first time....and we just returned this weekend from Lake Hartwell. We went up for the weekend with my dad and step-mom along with my brother, sister and their kids and my grandmother. It was a fun weekend for everyone to play and get together. Elijah rode on a boat for the first time and really enjoyed it. He did get in the lake for about 5 minutes but that was all he could handle. Oh well, maybe next time.

Well now that you have been updated on the last 6 months, hopefully I can be more diligent...how do ya'll do this??? I need tips on keeping up with my blog.