Minnesota Barlows

It's Fall Y'all!

We've been having lots of fun this fall! Here are some of the things we've been up to...

We went to the Ohio State vs. Minnesota football game!

Brooks and Bennett performed a skit at school. It was the story of Moses. Bennett was Moses and Brooks was Aaron. They were excellent!

We've had a lot of sports and activities. Brooks played flag football. His team took 2nd place overall!

Quinn had been taking swimming lessons!

Kylie ran cross country. She was great! In 5th grade, they run a mile race. Her PR was a 7:12. Their team took 1st place overall at the state meet!

Kylie and Quinn wearing matching overalls!

We went to a Twins game with the Camps!

We tagged along with Jon to an orthopedics conference in Florida. It was great fun, even in spite of the week long quarantine the kids had to do before going back to school!

I love those Florida sunrises!

Annual pumpkin patch adventure!

Pumpkin carving!

Jon got creative with the power tools.

Halloween! We went as the Avengers. Bode - Ironman, Quinn - Black Widow, Brooks - Ronin, Kylie - Captain Marvel, Me - Wanda (aka Scarlet Witch), Jon - Vision.

We had a huge crew for trick-or-treating!

Kylie, Brooks and Quinn started school on August 30th. We're back for our third year at RCLS. We've been so happy and grateful for this sweet, little school during some crazy times. I can't believe how quickly these kiddos are growing up!

Kylie - 5th grade

Brooks - 3rd grade

Quinn - PreK

LOVE THEM!

Welcome Home, Abe Barlow!

On August 29th, we welcomed our sweet puppy, Abe, into our home! He was born on the 3rd of July and his litter was the "firecracker litter." They all had patriotic names (he was Stripes), and we decided to stick with the patriotic theme. He is obviously named after one of our finest presidents, Abraham Lincoln. His registered name is Afortunado Honest Abe! He's sweet and naughty and very cute! He's a Portuguese Water Dog, all black, with cool webbed feet. He doesn't shed (!) and he'll be about 50 pounds when he's full grown, or about the size of a lab. He's energetic and mouthy, but a really sweet guy who loves to be around his people! We're so glad he's ours!

7 weeks

9 weeks

11 weeks

15 weeks

Quinn's 4th Birthday!

Happy 4th Birthday, Quinn Hope Barlow!

Quinnie turned FOUR on August 9th, 2021. We had a wonderful time celebrating her with friends and family. She wanted a flower party and a flower party she had! We had flower decorations, a flower craft and played Olympic games (in honor of the postponed 2020 Olympics).

Quinn is still our funny, sassy, slightly dramatic little girl. And she totally runs the show. She has a lot to say and never runs out of questions to ask. Some of them are quite philosophical, like, "How do you wonder?" and, "Is a sneeze a type of cough or a cough a type of sneeze?" :) She's very curious and has a big imagination. She makes up elaborate games and stories and cute little songs. She's a special girl!

At 4 years old, Quinn is still an excellent sleeper. We have almost no issues with her in the night, but she does sometimes wake Kylie up really early to ask her what time it is. Kylie doesn't love that, but she gets her right back to bed (and that's what makes Kylie so special!). She sleeps from about 7/7:30pm - 7:00am. She is starting to drop her nap, but she still takes one a few days a week for about an hour. She does quiet time everyday that she is home, and sometimes makes the call to put herself down for a nap too! :) She is still the best eater of all 4 of our kids. She tries everything and likes most things. Her favorite foods are PB and J sandwiches, milk, water, bananas, peppers, carrots, hummus, clif bars, grapes, pizza, taquitos, spaghetti, and juice. At her 4 year old well child appointment, Quinn weighed 42.7 pounds (91st percentile), and was 43 inches tall (97th percentile) - another tall Barlow girl! She is wearing mostly 5T clothes and size 10 shoes.

She has continued to grow and change a lot over the last year. The biggest areas of growth I've noticed are socially and emotionally. She LOVES playing with her friends, talking to her friends and about her friends, pretending she is playing with her friends, and so on. Emotionally, she is having fewer and fewer tantrums, but she has become overly dramatic...like a teenager. For example, she was so nervous about getting shots that she cried for the 15 minutes leading up to it, screamed "NO!" and tried to dive out of my arms. After the shots, she was totally fine. She also tries to pout and can cry on cue when she wants to get her way. I'm hoping she outgrows those things quickly. Quinnie is doing PreK this year, and she is loving it! She goes to school three days per week for the whole day, from 8:30am-3:00pm. We are in the process of trying to decide whether to send her to kindergarten next year as a 5 year old or the following year as a 6 year old. We'll likely have to make the decision this winter sometime. She is learning a lot at school. She knows almost all of her letters and their sounds, as well as her numbers. She can count up to thirty, but usually misses one or two of the teen numbers. She is really showing an interest in learning how to read and do some addition. She loves drawing, painting, and cutting. I love her little drawings and writings. She is also currently doing swimming and gymnastics and she seems to love them both. She is in level 2 swim and making fast progress, and beginner preschool gymnastics. She can run fast, gallop, and jump. She can do a forward roll and basic cartwheel. It's so fun to watch her grow up!

We love our sweet Quinn more than words can express!

Bode's Baptism

Bode was baptized on August 22nd, 2021 at Bethel Lutheran Church in Hudson, WI! He was baptized alongside his cousin Freya Barlow. It was a sweet, little ceremony, and almost all of our families were able to attend. Afterward, we had a celebratory brunch at the Barlow's. It was a great day!

Bode with his Godparents, Tony and Ingrid.

King Family.

Barlow Family.

Vacation 2021 - Yellowstone and Glacier National Parks

We took an amazing, week long vacation to Yellowstone and Glacier National Parks in July! We flew into Bozeman, MT and spent about 3 days at Yellowstone and 3 days at Glacier. Both parks are beautiful in their own ways, but I totally fell in love with Glacier. We can't wait to go back again in a few years and spend more time there.