Three New Friends

Owen has been blessed with three new little friends. The first is Keller Soloman Greene born on November 2 in RI.

Here are Owen and Riley entertaining his new little brother, although he is already fast asleep. Oh, to be a newborn again. Or even to have a sleeping newborn again!



The second new little friend is Isabelle Sky Goodwin, born this past Tuesday in OR. I can't believe we aren't going to be there to visit her in the hospital, but I am sure we will have plans to get together soon. You can see more of her birth on the Goodwin's new blog.




The third little friend, also born on Tuesday, is Hagan Elizabeth Power born in NH. Here she is with her proud big sister Carey.





We can't wait to meet our new little friends and the new ones still on the way!!!!

Thanksgiving

Nana and Papa came to visit us in our new house as we hosted our first family Thanksgiving. It wasn't the same as getting all the Barretts together in South Bend, but we had fun starting our own family traditions. A couple of days before thanksgiving we went to IKEA to get a dining room table and some essentials that every new house needs from the great big blue building. Owen thought it was hilarious to chase Papa around the loading area as we waited for Nana and the new table.



Although not Swedish at all, Owen sure looks like he belongs at a Swedish IKEA with his blonde hair and blue eyes.

Thanksgiving day was a lot of fun. In true Barrington tradition, the boys went to the local high school football game while the women were at home cooking and setting the table. Owen and Riley had fun playing in the dirt of course.


The table set with the first course. I made squash soup in the half shell, which turned out surprisingly well.

Then Uncle Timmy, Sadye, Mimi, and Grandpa came in from the Boston airport. The boys made themselves comfortable watching football. Then we all sat down to eat, except for Owen who had played too hard in the morning and slept through dinner.

Once he woke up, we all had fun playing with Owen again.


The next day it was time for everyone to go home including Nana and Papa, who sat down for a goodbye picture because I realized that we were having so much fun while they were here that we never really took any pictures. Owen squirmed away so that he could sit on the stairs just like Nana. He copies whatever we do now, including helping out around the house, which I love.


Doesn't he look like such a big boy sitting there on the stairs?! We are going to miss everyone who came to visit. Thank you all for a wonderful time. We love and miss you!

Our New Home

After living on the east coast with Grandpa and Grandma Willard for the past three months, we have finally found our new home. Although these past months haven't always been easy, with four adults, three large dogs, a loud bird, and a baby in one house added to a commute of three hours every day, we couldn't be more grateful to Bruce and Angela. We have loved spending time with them, eating dinners together, and watching them enjoy their first grandchild. We love them very much and can't thank them enough.

Ok, so no family portrait in front of the house yet. It is raining today and because some of you are impatient I went out in the rain to snap a few shots of the front of the house from across the street.

So, here is the grand tour starting at the front door, making our way around the first floor and then to the second. Because we are in a flood zone we do not have a basement, but we do have an incredible back yard, which you will see after the interior.
When you walk in the door this is what you see. To the left of the staircase is the dining room.

Beyond the dining room is my extremely small office,

the downstairs bathroom with utility closet that has a door to close it off,

and our huge two car garage with plenty of room to have a work area and to store the jetski.

Then we head back through the dining room to the front door.

To the right of the staircase is the family room.

Then you walk through the family room to the back of the house, which is one big open space including the den with fireplace,

and the eat in kitchen, kitchen, and door to the porch and backyard.

Then you can either walk back through the family room or the dining room to go upstairs. The two doors that you see are big pantries. There is lots of storage space in the house because there is no basement.

On this tour we are walking through the dining room.

When you get to the top of the stairs, straight ahead is Owen's bathroom.

Then you can either go left to the master bedroom and hallway to the laundry room, or you can go right to the two other bedrooms. Let's start with the master bedroom. This is looking towards the front of the house.

Here is looking towards the back of the house. We have a walk-in closet, another closet full of shelves to the right that you can't see, and a master bathroom.

The master bathroom.

Since we are on this end of the house, we will go to the laundry room, which has another huge closet and a built in ironing board that comes out of the wall.

There are two other bedrooms. The first one is a little smaller and we are going to set that up as the nursery. Owen will have that room for now and then when we have another baby he will move to the guest room as his big boy room.

The nursery looking towards the hallway.

Looking into the guest room.

Now we are actually in the room.

That's the end of the tour of the house. We have a lot of work to do moving in and making it our own, but we are very excited to get started. Now for the back yard. Our house is on a 11,300 square foot lot, most of which is protected land. The protected land includes a tidle pond that has a stream leading to Hundred Acre Cove and eventually the ocean, so the water is brackish water. I am especially excited about our property and really want to embrace the fact that we are trying to protect the local wildlife.
Here is the actual back yard that is usable space, with the path leading to the pond. There is also space on both sides of the house where I plan to put a vegetable garden on one side and play area on the other. Maybe even a Kubb set for when the Goodwins come.


This is the pond looking to the right once you are at the end of the path. The water is deep enough to have kayaks.


This is to the left where the water starts heading its way out to the ocean.

So that's it! You are all welcome to come and visit whenever you are on the east coast!

We thank God, (and our patient realtor Sandra who we love), for blessing us with this amazing house, land, and new life.

Happy Halloween

Ok, so I know you are expecting pictures of our new house, but you have to give me a break. After a long weekend of moving during Hurricane Noelle, we did not get a chance to take a picture of our little family in front of the house. I promise to get them to you soon! In the meantime, here are some pics of our Halloween celebrations. Below is Owen standing next to the pumpkins that Grandpa and Grandma Willard grew in their garden. They were huge!

Halloween was a very big day for the Willard family because it was the day we closed on our new house. Unfortunately Owen was very sick and stayed with his grandparents resting all day, so we did not dress him up this year. However, he was going to be the scare crow from Wizard of Oz. But Mike and I went to a party hosted by one of his colleagues; he was the Wizard and I was Dorothy. We had a lot of fun! Jessie and Marlene love Halloween and really went all out. Here is a picture of their ice luge, made by one of their cousins.


This is Jessie drinking from his ice beer mug.


Mike and all the people he works with that were at the party.


The hostess and friend taking a shot on the ice luge.

Halloween will always be a special day for us now. And you will see the pics of the house in the next post! I PROMISE!