Our backyard

One of my favorite things about where we live is that there is a cow pasture behind our house. There are no neighborhoods in sight from the back, and we can almost feel like we are living in the country... with Starbucks 1 minute away! Talk about the best of both worlds!

We'll be sitting outside and all of the trees and bushes behind our fence will shake violently and the sound of 50 cows mooing will fill the air! I also love hearing the coyotes at night, and we are woken up nearly every morning to the sound of our owl hooting. Yes, we claim the owl. We have no pets besides the birds in our yard! ;)

One of my favorite things in the winter are the winter sunsets. They are easier to see in our backyard with the leaves off the trees, and the clouds are much wispier. I was reading with Mary Beth yesterday and looked out the window and was blown away by the beautiful sunset. I talk to the kids a lot about the beautiful sunsets that God "paints" in the sky for us. What a beautiful painting last night! I had to take a few pictures.

Upwards Basketball

This is our fourth season to coach/play Upwards basketball. We are so happy that our church is involved with Upwards basketball. In many ways, it is my favorite sport the kids play because of the encouraging, supportive, Christ oriented, and laid back nature of it. Plus, most of my friends' kids play as well, so there is lots of parent socializing in the bleachers! Bryon started coaching Upwards when Matthew was in 1st grade, and he is coaching 3 teams this year!

I took pictures of the games on Saturday, but all my Upwards picture end up looking horrible. Oh well!

Matthew plays basketball like he plays every sport. He is very intense and I always hope that whoever he is guarding is equally intense! Last week, he scored 18 points. His goal this week was 20, and after he made his goal, he continued to pass the ball to the children on our team that were the smallest and least likely to score. He has really worked on his lay up this year, and is always so much fun to watch in action!

I caught one of his lay ups in action!


Thomas's favorite part of basketball is defense. He loves to block shots and steal balls. In fact, he spends a great deal of time on the floor of the gym wrestling the ball away from an opposing player! Here he is guarding his good buddy, Rhett.

I got ribbed for asking Thomas to smile immediately before throwing the ball in! Such is the life of the mamarazzi!
Thomas and Rhett wrestling for the ball! I find this amusing considering his laid back approach to life!



So, this is where we will be each Saturday from now until March. I'm looking forward to a fun season!

January

OK, you are just going to have to take my word on it that our Christmas break was great. I had big ideas about making a long blog about the holidays, but never did, and now it feels like a million miles away in the past. But, we had a wonderful break, great family time, busy holiday schedule, then a nice, quiet week in between Christmas and New Years. I posted pictures a few entries ago, and that is as good as it's going to get! ;)

So other than the holiday rush, here is what we have been up to. We have watched a lot of movies, Baylor basketball, and football. Here are pictures of my kids watching tv. Yes, fun and exciting things to blog about! My brother and SIL got the kids a lot of old school movies for Christmas, and we have enjoyed them.

Over the holiday, I read 2 really great books! I always appreciate a book that I can't put down, and when I do put down, I can't wait to pick it back up again. The Lost Hours and Firefly Lane were great. I am planning to chose one to do for book club and can't decide between the two.

I finished both books up by New Year's Eve. Speaking of that, does anyone else feel like it is crazy that we have started a new decade? That the 80s were 3 decades ago? We let the kids stay up until midnight that night. I remember holding our 6 week old, Matthew, at the stroke of midnight in the new millennium 10 years ago, and what a huge difference one decade made. Now, I am thinking that Matthew will be a sophomore in college at the turn of the next decade! How quickly life is passing by!

I absolutely love January! I love starting fresh. I love my house after it has been decorated to the hilt with Fall/Halloween/Thanksgiving/Christmas decorations. Everything looks a little stark, but I appreciate that. I like the feeling of starting over. Reevaluating our lives and making changes. I tend to crave making big meals for the family and sit down for dinner more in January. After so many parties and events in December, it is nice to stay home. It's just too cold to go out at night! I also love that our activities slow down so much this time of year. School activities are at a minimum, and we are only involved with Upwards basketball through our church. I also enjoy the cold weather, and I haven't been disappointed this year! 8 degrees yesterday! It hasn't been in the single digits in Waco since 1989. It has been an unusually cold winter.

Here is Mary Beth starting up ballet again after a month off. She asked me what I was going to make her for breakfast tonight, and I realized for the first time, that she is no longer calling it "break tist". She is also stopped asking to put on her "nightdown". So many of her sweet baby expressions are fading away. She has grown up so much this year, I can hardly believe it. I will ask her questions, and she enjoys spelling out her answers. She reads everything in sight. Where did my baby go?

While watching our movies, basketball, and football, I still like to keep busy. Here is my latest project. Of course it isn't finished yet, but I am excited about how it is turning out. I have graduated into putting texture in a scarf, and I have learned to do cables. So much fun!
That's about all going on around our house right now. We are enjoying a slow paced start to the year!

New hobby

I plan to write about our holiday season soon, but I wanted to share with you a project that I completed that I am proud of.

Knitting has been a hobby of at least 5 generations of women in my family. My great great grandmother, Elizabeth Ann, who I am named after, and who moved to America from England, taught my great grandmother, who taught my grandmother (whose husband called her Madame DeFarge, the knitter in A Tale of Two Cities), who taught my mother (and aunts), who taught me. Mom taught me when I was in 6th grade, but I just recently took it up again. My grandmother knitted my Christmas stocking before she passed away when I was a baby, and my aunts have taken over the responsibility of knitting Christmas stockings for all the newest members of our family.

I just completed my first scarf. I loved making the scarf, and am on to my next project! What a great hobby and a neat family tradition!

Wonderful Christmas!

Mid December Photo Blog

Well, two crazy weeks of living have come to a close! I took pictures of most of our events, but didn't bring my camera to our piano recital or Christmas parties. Here is a picture blog of a few of our recent activities.

Ballet Viewing Class: Last week, the parents were allowed in to watch a ballet class. Here is Mary Beth with her best bud, Whitney. I feel like I have as many pics of Whitney as I do my own children! The girls love to say that they have been best friends since they wore diapers and will be best friends until they die. Very morbid but sweet! I love watching these two together!

Matthew's Ornament: Our PTA takes pictures of every child and puts them in ornaments for the parents. These are my favorite things on our tree! I watched Matthew's 4th grade class last week while his teacher took a much needed 2 hour break, and took pics of his entire class. Here is Matthew's 4th grade picture:
Thomas's Class Party: Several room moms took a morning last week to make these cute reindeer shirts. The antlers are hands, and the face is a foot. The second graders switch rooms for their Christmas party, and I read Mr. Willoughby's Christmas tree 6 times that day!
Jack's 1st birthday party. I love being an aunt!
Thomas's 8th birthday. You just have to know this funny kid. One of my PTA responsibilities is to PAW birthday kids. That morning, after the signs were delivered, I asked Thomas to get the paper. He walked outside, got the paper, and came in.....never noticing these huge birthday signs in the yard! He gets so focused on a task that he doesn't let extraneous information in! He was very excited once I pointed them out!
Hanging out with sweet cousin, James.
Mary Beth's kindergarten party. I can't believe that half of kindergarten is over! What a great year so far!

Another of my huge PTA responsibilities this year was to organize the parent chaperones to the Gaylord Texan ICE exhibit/Rainforest Cafe' tour. It was a ton of fun!

Church family night. We painted a nativity scene, played games, watched a movie, and ate cookies. Thomas was thrilled to be painting a "presepio". I had no idea what he was talking about until he explained that the Italians have a Presepio, or nativity scene, in every town. He learned a lot in the 2nd grade Christmas Around The World!
We had a gorgeous 30 minute blizzard recently. I was the goofball taking pictures with my iPhone at stop lights! ;)
Mary Beth's kindergarten ornament picture.

Back to Jack's 1st birthday party.
Celebrating Thomas and Dad's birthday. This was also the SEC championship day. We were all THRILLED! Mainly to be celebrating the birthdays. Is that what I am supposed to say? ;)
Happy B-day/SEC championship!

Mary Beth doing her school work. I can't believe how much she has grown up these past few months!

Does anyone besides me hear the Hallelujah Chorus in surround sound?

1 year and 34,485 stitches later, I have completed Mary Beth's needlepoint name! I hope she cherishes it always and has it at the top of her list of what to run out of a burning building with.

There were many times during this year that I wished I had named my daughter, Jo.

Complicate kisses

This is a funny slice of the Barnhill family life that I feel like needs to be documented for posterity.

There was once a day when kisses occurred in our house with little fanfare. It was a simple time in our lives.

Then, about a year ago, Thomas decided that he wanted to have more kisses from me than Bryon did, so after Bryon and I would kiss, Thomas would squeal, "Erase!" This was very cute.

Then, over time, it was "Erase! Final!" then

"Erase! Final, Infinity and beyond!"

then, eventually...

"Erase!" and in order to keep the kiss, you had to say, "Final! Infinity beyond, no changes, and forever does it NOW!" before someone says, "Erase!" Thomas likes to give me a kiss when no one is looking and whisper the Final Infinity before Bryon or his older brother scream "Erase!"

Sometimes, he say it really fast, sometimes he sings it to the church hymn of "Yonder over the rolling river where the shining mansions rise".

Now, Mary Beth thought this was very sad that Bryon didn't get to keep any kisses from me, so she started screaming, "Lock!" after Bryon kissed me which would immediately negate the "Erase!" without having to do the Final Infinity. Matthew likes to join in on this to annoy Thomas.

So now, every time Bryon kisses me, we have three eager children ready to scream "Erase!" and "Lock!" after the kiss is over!

Never a dull moment!

A friendly Thanksgiving

We had our usual fun trip to Conroe for Thanksgiving this year. We had enjoyed hanging out with Bryon's family, and it is always nice that my in laws invite my parents to come along. The day after Thanksgiving, it is a tradition that my parents and I go to Old Town Spring for some fun holiday shopping. This year, we were so excited that my dear friend from Tuscaloosa, Karen, joined us! Her sister lives nearby, and Karen and her boys were spending Thanksgiving with her family. We enjoyed a yummy lunch, good conversation, and lots of holiday shopping together! What a fun day!

We spent the weekend getting our house decorated, and only have one project left to do. I love having the house decorated! We had a wonderful weekend together, then it was off to school and work yesterday. I was sad saying goodbye to the family, but so excited about my day yesterday!

I met Emily and Jere' when I was a teenager. Jere' and I played piano and sang in choir together in middle school, and we met Emily after she moved to Abilene at the beginning of high school. I absolutely adored these two, and I was devastated to leave them when we moved to Waco my junior year. Sadly, before the wonders of the internet, I lost touch with my two friends. I did find them 5 or 6 years ago, and have enjoyed spending time with the two of them on several occasions in Amarillo, Denver, and Ft. Worth. However, yesterday was the first day since I was 17 that I was with the two of them together. We had a wonderful day, and spent lots of time laughing and picking up where we left off. I hope we can get together more often! Love these two! I was so happy that my friend, Kristen, happened to be passing by to take our picture. Thanks, Kristen!

My 16th Birthday. We had just moved to Waco, and Emily and Jere' came from Abilene to meet us at Hard Rock Cafe' in Dallas.

I was trying too hard not to laugh in this picture. Emily always brought out my giggles!

Our weekend

We had a wonderful weekend last weekend! Of course, I took no pictures, but I will remember this weekend for a long time!

First, Matthew had one of his best buds spend the night on Friday night for his birthday. We were in party preparation mode the week that everything happened with Matthew, and the party was placed on the back burner. He was just as happy having his good friend watch The Blind Side with him and play Madden 10 until the wee hours!

Meanwhile, Thomas had an event at his school for all the Venture kids in 2nd grade in the district. It was all about taking care of dogs. Now, my sweet, hyperallergenic, sensitive skinned Thomas wants a dog. I'm hoping this feeling passes!

Saturday morning, we jumped in the car and headed to Fredericksburg, about 3 hours away. The town was decorated to the hilt for Christmas, and we enjoyed doing lots of shopping and eating German food. Thomas has now fallen in love with the sausage on a stick! It was such a fun and relaxing day. Just what we all needed!

Late afternoon, we headed to Austin for the evening. After we checked into our room, we had a great steak dinner near our hotel. We have decided that UT game nights are the best nights to be in Austin. We had the whole town to ourselves! ;) Finally, Mary Beth, Thomas and I went back to our hotel for the evening. Meanwhile, Bryon and Matthew went to see Train in concert. Train is Bryon's favorite band, and the kids love listening to their music in his car. Part of Matthew's birthday present from us was to see them in concert. It was standing room only, and somehow, the boys managed to be front row/center! Pat Monahan, their lead singer, apparently enjoyed watching Matthew sing along to the music, because he gave Matthew his guitar pic and the set list that he had printed out for the evening! What a fun night for my boys!

Sunday, we did a little more shopping in the Arboretum, then headed home. The trip definitely got me excited about Christmas. I always love a shot in the arm that helps prepare me for the marathon that is decorating our house! It was great spending time with my little family most of all. I feel so blessed to have such a fun family!

Kindergarten Thanksgiving Feast

Every year, the kindergartners at our school have a Thanksgiving feast. They dress up like pilgrims or indians. This is my first experience with a pilgrim! What a cute event! After a while, the pilgrim hat started to bother Mary Beth, so she was a pouty pilgrim for a minute or two! ;) We are ready for Thanksgiving!