What's In a Name?

In Response to "Show Us Your Life" from Kelly's Korner Blog, I thought I was share the stories behind the names we chose.

Macey was almost an Avery! From the beginning of our pregnancy, we loved that name and had just about decided on it for sure..... until I mentioned "Macey". David loved it immediately and so did all of our family members. Her name means "Enduring". We debated over and over again on a middle name.... should we go with trendy or something with family ties. In the end, we chose Reenay for her middle name, which she shares with her mommy and nana!

Barrett was almost a Conner! We have loved this name for ages. Having taught school, it was very hard to decide on names because some horrible kid can ruin a good name! I had a precious boy in my class named Garrett and thought about tweaking it a bit to "Barrett". I wanted something masculine, and of course David always had to try out the name in his sports announcer voice..... "And Barrett Clayton, #12, for the touchdown!!!!" Barrett means strong as a bear and my paternal great-grandmother's maiden name was Reeder. Grandma Great, as we called her, was an amazing, Godly woman and I hope to instill her love of God to both of my children.

David and I both mention names we like quite often knowing that we would love nothing more that to have 1 or 2 or 10 more babies!!! HAHA.... ok, just one or two.... and several years down the road!

T-ball Spring Training

Decisions, decisions.... With such a vast number of followers on this blog, I suddenly feel like I have so much that I could write about. However, I finally decided on the high light of our day!

To start off, T-ball sign ups were several weeks ago, and when I heard about it I didn't race down to put Macey on the list. I must be turning into my mother, because I could hear myself saying, " You may choose one activity"! With that being said, she is already in gymnastics and I just confirmed swimming lessons yesterday, so I was thinking to myself that she really has already made her choices.... and besides that, I mean, I personally wouldn't consider myself a T-ball/softball hall-of-famer. So maybe I was just thinking that since I have very limited athletic ability she wouldn't even be interested.

Well, I was wrong. Who ever knew that peer pressure started in the church nursery when they are babies comparing passies? Ok, so maybe that is an exaggeration.... but she is barely 5 and has told me that she is going to be SOOO far behind if she can't play t-ball OR do ballet until next year! WOW! I'm sure you can guess where this is going..... Anyway, David and I make some calls but never get anything confirmed about her playing until today. And it was truly like we won the lottery! We were soooo excited! We went and got her little shorts, and cleats, and a bright pink bat and some t-balls...... and we were almost done and realized that we had a right handed glove..... and Macey is left handed. I suggested that since she really doesn't know how to catch at all, she could just learn to play right. That was quickly vetoed by the In-house athletic director AKA "Daddy". So after several stops, we FINALLY found a pink lefty glove for our girly girl!

As soon as we got out of the car, all four of us were getting the gear together for a little t-ball practice in the front yard.

Even though you can't see it, I am being coached by Macey.... she thinks she is a pro now... and decides to take my picture!

I had my camera ready while David was giving her her first catching lesson. After 2 failed attempts, she said, "I'm gonna catch this one. I really am!" And she did!!!! This is the actual picture of that very moment! Priceless!

And you-know-who couldn't miss out on the action! Barrett kept saying, "me, t-ball". As I think back on this afternoon, I am grinning from ear to ear! Thank you God for all of your blessings! Thank you for trusting me so much that you would give me these 2 precious lives to train up in your ways! Help me do the best I can! Spring Training, Day 1: Definite success!

Our family photo from Disney World, April 2010. David and I holding Barrett and Macey.

I have finally caved....

Ok, I am one of these people who find it very difficult and overwhelming to commit to scrapbooking. Even though my creative juices run wild, I think I am too much of a perfectionist and always want to change or redo the pages I have already finished. Well, keeping with that mentality, I have stayed far away from the world of blog for as long as I can! Until now, that is!

I have been keeping up with several blogs lately and apparently, I have been sucked into this hobby... or possibly "addiction"! I spent hours just trying to come up with a name for this sucker! Anyway, I want this blog to be used to cherish precious.... and I'm sure not-so-precious, times in the daily lives of our family. Since all of my scrapbook pages look a tad rough, I think this avenue might be a better way to preserve Macey and Barrett's childhood.

Overtime, I promise to customize this site with fun backgrounds, clever posts, and lots of pictures. Thanks for joining me on this journey to capture the Claytons!