My Experiment

Next week I'm planning to become vegetarian for at least one month. I'm committing to one month, but am hoping to adopt it as a new lifestyle. But if I go through major hamburger withdrawls, then I might reconsider. :) I am mostly doing it to be more healthy, since vegetarians are, in general, much healthier than meat-eaters. I have been doing some research the last couple of weeks, and the whole animal cruelty issue is also more important to me now that I know more about it. I won't go into detail for those who don't know, but you should look into it if you're interested. It's funny too, but since I've been planning to make the switch, I am finding certain meat to be not-so-yummy anymore, like pot roast and pork chops. I still ate them, but it was kind of weird, like it just didn't taste quite as good or something. Christopher is okay with this vegetarianism thing too, thankfully. But since he's not committing to a one-month experiment, he's free to eat meat if he goes out to eat with friends or something. Just not for dinner at our house. ;) I'm not going as far to become vegan (they don't eat meat, dairy, or other animal products, even honey!) because I love cheese too much. And honey! But I'm thinking of switching the fam to soy milk instead of cow milk. Have you tried soy milk? It's actually really good. A bit different tasting than cow milk, but still good. My kids like it too! So I'll try to keep you guys updated on how my experiment goes and if I find any other new yummy recipes to try. Anyone want to do the experiment with me? This weekend we're cooking our last hamburgers and I admit I'm a bit sad about that cause they're so yum. But I told Christopher I'll just have to develop a faux-burger recipe that tastes just as good. (or close!)

Easter

Here are our Easter pics. I actually remembered to take these pics before we went to church! And we were late, of course.

Chloe's dress actually belongs to her cousin Gwendolyn. We got a big bag of hand-me-downs from Gwen and this was in there. I figured I might as well save money on buying a new dress when this one was so cute!


Sage's dress was new from Children's PLace. I love this dress and she looked so beautiful!


This is a newer shirt for Jax, but I didn't necessarily buy it for Easter. He actually came out of his room wearing a t-shirt, and I made him go change into something a bit nicer. He could care less though...


Group shot!


A pic of me and the honey.

Go to a museum for free!

The first weekend of every month Bank of America cardholders can get into participating museums for FREE! That's this weekend people! The local participating museums are the Dallas Museum of Art, the Dallas Museum of Nature and Science, and the Fort Worth Museum of Science and History. I've been in the museum-attending mood lately, and I really think we might go at some point this weekend. Even if only for a couple of hours, it's free, right? Just wanted to let y'all know! The website with more info is here.

Bartos Updates!

Hi everyone! Sorry I've been such a lame-o blogger. I'm not the best about taking lots of pictures of things, and I've also been really busy! Here are some family updates for you all:
Jackson: Jackson is still in 2nd grade and is doing well. This is the first year that I've noticed his lack of organizational skills and we've had to work extra hard on that. And he's super forgetful! He's gotten his folder signed at school 4 or so times this year which is unheard of for him, but usually it's because he forgets what he's SUPPOSED to be doing. We're trying to psyche him up for football next fall, but he's still really scared of the ball hitting him in the face. I told him that's what his hand were there for but to no avail. He's growing like crazy and i'm sure will be taller than me before i know it! I can't believe he'll be 8 soon. Halfway to driving age, that's all I can think of. Eeek!

Sage: Sage is doing super well in kindergarten. She's reading above average and her writing is very good as well. She's very quiet and shy in class though, so her teacher is working on that. She's loud and normal around her friends though. She started ice skating lessons this year (see next post) and is doing really well. We'll keep it up as long as she wants to keep going.

Chloe: Chloe is Chloe. Loud, into everything, mischevious, curious...but she can be a real sweetie when she wants to be. She's talking more and more, but not as good as Jackson did at this age. But she'll catch up I'm sure. I still haven't potty trained her. Every time I start I give up! I'm such a wimp and don't feel like doing it. Lame, I know! I'm trying to talk my mom into doing it for me but she won't. Bummer. And it stinks b/c now that the weather's warmer and she's wearing dresses she keep taking her diaper off all the time! So I guess I'm just gonna have to do it soon. Any potty training schools out there?!?!?!

Chris: Chris started a new job a month or so ago at Dickie's BBQ headquarters in Dallas. His previous job was in Arlington, so he was totally spoiled on the commute time. Now he's back to going to downtown Dallas in all that traffic and it takes him an hour to get to work. So we're thinking about moving in summer of 2010. Assuming he keeps his job at Dickie's, we're looking at communities a bit closer to Dallas that also have new homes and good schools. Yesterday we took a drive to Forney, which is off Hwy 80 east of Dallas. It's only 15-20 min. to Dallas from Forney and they are like McKinney was 10-15 years ago. Lots of building and lots of home for the money. So that's a possibility. We don't have a lot of options though! So for the next year or so we're just going to be getting our house ready to sell.

Me: I have still been doing my art business, though I've been busy with other things lately. I decided after lots of prayer that I want to get my teacher certification. I'm ready to join the workforce again after 7 years as a stay-at-home mom. So i'll be starting the classes and all that hopefully next month. I'm hoping to have a job by next school year in Arlington somewhere. I want to teach elementary school age kids, preferably the younger ones, 1st -4th. We were imagining what it would be like to have 2 incomes again. It's been a long time! But I know my life will change drastically from what I've known, since I'll have to do all the housekeeping stuff on nights and weekends. But I think we'll be okay. And we only have 2 more years until Chloe starts kindergarten, so that's not so horrible.

So there you go! That's what's been going on with us in a nutshell.

My little Ice Skater!

One of Sage's big Christmas gifts last Christmas was ice-skating lessons. We'd been ice skating twice, both on Christmas Eve. Sage seemed to do pretty good considering she'd hardly ever done it. So she started ice skating lessons in January at the beginning level- Tot1 for ages 3-5. After two weeks in that class they moved her up 3 more classes to the Pre-Alpha level for ages 6-14. We were really surprised that she had progressed that fast! The rest of the 8 weeks of lessons she was in Pre-Alpha and passed that test and was already working on skills for the next class. So we started our next 8-week session last week and she moved up to the Alpha class. In this class she will work on forward stroking, forward crossovers, and snowplow stops. She's pretty shy and reserved (big surprise being my child) and she's with 3 new girls and a new teacher, so she's pretty quiet at this point. But we're so happy that she is doing well and enjoying it! She often comes home and practices her moves on her roller skates. My mom bought her a proper ice skating outfit for her birthday too, so i'm sure that will motivate her to try even harder!

My sweet Sage

A sweet and heart-touching thing happened with Sage after I picked the kids up at school today. We were running a bit late b/c little Chloe was totally meandering all the way walking to school and took forever. When I get Sage she tells me that she's looking for a certain little girl in her class. All the other kids in her class were gone by then, and I tell her we can go look for her outside. So we go outside and thankfully the little girl is there. Sage goes up to her and gives her a little silver magic wand that she had gotten out of the prize bucket today. Apparently the other little girl was really upset b/c she didn't get to get anything out of the prize bucket. Sage gave her her prize. A few minutes later the little girl came up and gave Sage a hug. How sweet and thoughtful is my Sage? My heart just swells up with love for that girl. Makes up for all the times I was so mad at her!

Christopher and I have really noticed that she has such a giving spirit developing lately. Over the holidays she made a cute little picture for her cousin Emma. Unfortunately Emma didn't like it and made Sage cry (don't get me started!), but I love that when she makes something she almost always plans to give it to someone. And also during the holidays she was busy as a bee wrapping up things to put under the Christmas tree for all of us. Even if they were used toys and bits of fabric, she was so super sweet to do that. Gotta love my girl and the beautiful heart God is cultivating inside her! Thanks for reading...i wanted to document it so i won't forget.

Ice Skating Christmas Eve

Mimi and Poppy (Chris' dad and step-mom) planned a really fun-filled day for us Christmas Eve. We went ice skating at the Parks mall in the morning, then they took the kids on the carousel twice and bought us lunch at the food court. Then later that evening we got together again to eat dinner, open gifts, play games and look at Christmas lights. It was lots of fun!
This was the first year that Sage skated by herself almost the whole time. We were so proud! I'm not sure if it's because she loves to skate at home, but she is doing great! We got her some ice-skating classes that start next week to see if that's something she would enjoy sports-wise.

Little Chloe even got in on the action this year. I was surprised that she skated pretty good for a 2 yr old. Maybe she'll be a future ice-skater extraordinaire like her big sis?

This is what poor Jax did most of the time. Oh, he did skate briefly, but he is still really terrible at ice skating. I tried skating with him and when he fell down he pulled me down with him and I almost couldn't get up! He kind of freaks out and just doesn't really like it. We'll have to think of something else for him to do next year. O'ma and O'pa were there to sit with him too, so he wasn't alone.

Movie Night!

After a weekend full of parties and family, we decided that a movie night was in order. Our sweet little niece, Gwendolyn, came over to watch Kung Fu Panda with the kids. We hadn't seen the movie before, and loved it! The kids have watched it at least 3 or 4 more times since then, too. Yeah for movie nights!

Ignore the super-dirty TV screen in the picture above. It's what happens when you have your TV at the right height for your 2 yr old to touch.

A little parental whining...

I have just had one of the worst afternoons of my parenting life. (but I have a short memory so there were probably other moments just as awful) Sage had a little Christmas singing thing at school this afternoon at 2:30. I wake Chloe up and off we go. I get there a few mintues beforehand, and there are no seats available. So we go to the back of the cafeteria and stand. Chloe, on the other hand, does not like being held these days. She arches her back and struggles to get out of my grip. I relent for the sake of her not crying, and let her down. The lunchroom tables are all pushed to the back of the cafeteria. She loves to climb on anything, and immediately starts climbing up the seats of the table. I get her down and she cries. Then she does it again. I get her down again and she cries again. Now the show is starting and I'm trying hard to watch Sage. I decide to let her sit on one of the seats of the folded up table. She thinks it's fun and keeps trying to climb all over it. Mistake. By song #2, I was going crazy trying to keep Chloe off the dang tables. If I held her she would cry and everyone would glare at me. The only way to stay and keep her quiet is to let her climb. But I don't want her to get hurt on the tables. So we go outside. And I miss the rest of Sage's performance. The whole thing only lasted 15 minutes. We now have 30 more minutes to kill before the kids get out of school. So we go back in the cafeteria b/c now it's okay to be loud. Now she thinks it's fun to walk through the V's created by the folded tables. And climb on the seats. I wrangled with her for 30 minutes not relenting on letting her climb on the seats anymore. Lots of people stare. She cries loudly and often. Finally the kids get out and we walk home. Except Chloe won't stay with us so I carry her like a sack of potatoes all the way home, with her crying the whole way. My arms were killing me by the end, but I told her my arms were stronger than her will. I survived, barely intact. I felt like I just wanted to cry! She's been doing this anytime we go shopping too. She loves to climb out of the shopping cart and run around. She doesn't stay with me and could care less where I was. So today at the grocery store I made her stay in that cart and had to endure the crying.

So do you guys have any advice? Jax and Sage didn't do this nearly as bad I dont think. I'm about to pull my hair out I'm so frustrated. I feel like I'm being held hostage to her tantrums. I thought of going to the store to practice the right way to act with her, but I have no idea how to get her to do what she supposed to. I don't mind her walking in the store if she stayed with me. So how should I go about doing that? I've tried a leash (haha) and she of course hated it. Anyways, I don't think I'll be able to go to any more school productions with that girl til she's older. Thanks for letting me whine a little! I feel better. :)

Thanksgiving

I know i'm a tad late posting this, but here are our pics from Thanksgiving. We actually had our first Thanksgiving at our house this year with Christopher's parents and grandparents. I was really nervous about cooking a turkey so I asked my MIL to do it, and thankfully she did. I did most everything else. And I made my best dressing yet! (I've been working on it for 3-4 years now) Just like my grandma's. Then on Friday we went to my parent's house in East Texas. We had yet another Thanksgiving with them, then Saturday some of my aunts, uncles, and cousins came out for the day. Every year my dad does a hayride if the weather cooperates, and so we did that. It was cold, but nice. The trees were not as pretty as years past, but still nice to look at. We came home on Sunday and put up Christmas decorations. I am sick of anything related to Thanksgiving right now and quickly got rid of all leftovers. Thankfully in our family we don't do traditional Christmas dinners- we've opted instead to do a Mexican feast instead. I can't wait!

On another note, we found out in mid-November that Christopher won't have a job on Jan. 1st. So he's been looking, but nothing yet. We aren't worried at this point either. (I might have to fight the worry by the end of December though) And I have to say that having a lean Christmas is really quite enjoyable. I'm making many of the gifts for the kids and my mom and MIL, so that saves lots of money. It's just so much less stressful than usual. Anyways, if you guys could pray that the Lord would provide just the right job and that we would continue to trust that He knows the right timing. THanks!

Village Creek

Today we had some great family time and went to the Village Creek Historic Park in Arlington. It's historic b/c it was the largest settlement of indians in Texas during the Indian days, whenever that was. There was also a big battle between Indians and Texas settlers around there at some point too. We'd never been before but had driven past it many times. We were so happy to find that it's just like River Legacy Park, but much much closer for us. A nice paved trail to walk through nature and observe animals and the Trinity River and all that. So nice, especially with the leaves changing! We even saw 2 armadillos, which i've never seen alive during the day I don't think. They are really morbidly interesting, but icky at the same time. It wasn't all fun and games though, as Chloe had a leaky diaper halfway through, and I couldn't remember if or when I changed her last (maybe that morning???)- that's so indicative of the third child...poor thing. Sage had to go to the bathroom too, and there was lots of whining about there not being a playground. But we managed! And overall it was fun! Then we came home and cooked up some burgers on the grill.

Halloween

Yay! A blog post! It's a miracle, I know. But I had to post some Halloween pics of my babies as usual. Jackson was Obi Wan Kanobi from his current obsession- Star Wars. Sage was a princess in the morning at school and then decided to be a ballerina to go trick or treating. Chloe was a dog. It was a crazy day Friday b/c I decided to have a garage sale this weekend and I was so tired by the time the evening rolled around from all that haggling. It's amazing how some people will haggle some small thing that you have marked for 50 cents. It was a good garage sale by our standards and we made some good Christmas money! For Halloweeen night we went to our carnival at church with my niece Gwen and sis-in-law Crystal. I'm not really a big fan of carnivals because I always feel slightly claustrophobic with the crowds, but this was the best I've been to. Nice and spread out. Then we went trick or treating in our neighborhood. My mother-in-law also joined the fun at both places and it was nice having help keeping watch on all the kids. Chloe was the best trooper of all of the kids trick or treating- she loved it. This was her first year to go, and she really got into it, refusing to let anyone help her carry her increasingly heavy bucket! Jax, Sage and Gwen were all whining and complaining about being tired towards the end, but not Chloe. So funnY! I know she can't wait to do it again next year. But now I'm glad Halloween is over b/c it's my least favorite holiday, and now on to the good stuff! Can't wait for Thanksgiving!

Is it time?

Chloe has learned how to take off her diaper. Bad news! If she's just wearing a dress or something without shorts or pants, she inevitably will take her diaper off because she can. I did get her a little potty seat that you put on top of the regualar toilet. She has gone peepee right after baths but that's it so far. I haven't really tried to potty train her at all yet. I seriously thought she would be 5 by the time I had her trained b/c she's so independent. I remember I tried to potty train Sage not long after she turned 2, and it was a disaster. She was so not ready. Both Jax and Sage were nearly 3 when they got trained. But since Chloe has peepeed on the potty maybe I should just try? I'm an all-or-nothing kind of potty trainer though. No pull ups or any of that if possible. That would be so weird to have all my kids out of diapers! Really awesome now that I think about it. Maybe I'll go for it in a few weeks. What do y'all think?

Jackson's Baptism

Jackson got baptized today, on my birthday! How cool is that?!?! He's been a Christian since he was 4.5, and we've discussed getting baptized, but have never had the opportunity. He was nervous I think, but wanted to do it. Christopher had a hard time with it, just wanting to make sure he was ready and really was a Christian. The children's minister interviewed him and I together the other day to make sure he was ready, and he remembers the exact time when he became a Christian, so she said he seemed ready. I'm happy he wanted to do it though, and make his faith public. Now that he can read well, he's been spending time with God more, which is great. So hopefully we'll start seeing more and more fruit!

My Birthday!

My birthday was today, but Christopher and I went out on a date to celebrate last night. We went to one of my absolute favorite restaurants, Blue Mesa in Fort Worth. We forgot how cheap 2 people can eat! Our current eating-out bills are much higher with the 3 kids! Mmmm...the food was good though. Then we walked around a bit but most of the stores around it are too ritzy for our taste. So we decided to go back to Arlington to the Highlands shopping center. It was a much more lively place too. I made the mistake of wearing heels, which I seldom wear, and we did a LOT of walking. My feet were killing me! I had to take them off at the end cause I couldn't take it anymore. I don't know how some women can wear them all day. Then we were both in the mood to go home and do art together, so we went to Jo-Ann Fabrics to get a few things for our art, and headed home early! How lame! But now that we're "adults" I guess we're supposed to be boring...at least that's how you envision it as a teenager!

I have been teaching Sunday school to 4th grade girls this year so far, and on at least 2 occasions with different girls they thought I was 19 or 20. Today, one girl asked me how I could be 20 and be in college and have 3 kids at the same time. HA! I told her i was 31 and she couldn't believe it. She said I was only 1 year younger than her mom! I'm honestly tired of looking so young, but everyone tells me someday I'll love it. I'm planning to get some new glasses soon and start wearing those, so maybe that will make me look at least like i'm in my late-twenties! ;)