Stuff that's gone on and is going on

Meet "Wolfie 2.0" and "Pixie" -- Talmage and Sydney read their hearts out during West Union's Iditaread program.  The more they read, the more tickets they got to enter in the Husky Dog drawing for each class.  They love those dogs.

"So they loaded up the truck and they moved to Beverly..."

Meanwhile, Miles is taking the ladies for a spin in a different set of wheels.

Suzuki Book One recital.  Thanks to Christian for hosting.



The classic Shadywood Park Easter Egg hunt.

We've been busily getting our house ready to put on the market.  Our builder provided a POD for us to use for a couple months while he's finishing up work on dad's basement.  The lift system to maneuver the POD is pretty cool.  We put stuff in there we don't plan to use for a year.  8x16 ft worth of junk.  Briton and I think we should just burn it.   The empty shelves and uncluttered house is a snap to clean.

The Pinewood Derby.

Weighing the cars.

The No Rules race.  Briton's adjusting the car he and Talmage designed.  It had an extended front bumper that reached across the lanes so it would catch any car that got ahead.    It was a great idea.  In theory.

Sydney and I go for the cake auction at the Pinewood Derby.  We won the turkey dinner -- made from cupcakes.  Check out the carrots and peas, the mashed potatoes, and the drumsticks.  I'm not sure what the Oreo cookie cupcake was supposed to be.

Spring Swimming

Friends

Holly's "This is my Fight Song" Concert

A couple weeks ago, we attended this concert in honor of Holly.  It was one of the most moving musical evenings I've ever witnessed: a testament to the power of love and the ability of the human spirit to surmount incredible difficulties.

Heidi asked Holly's friends to sing "What a Wonderful World" for one of the numbers.  You'll see that Holly dedicated the song to Clara (not Barker), a friend who has also been dealt a raw deal with serious health problems.   The photo in the background is of Clara and Holly in the hospital, but this time Holly was not the patient.

Sydney is on the front row, fourth from the right.  The group practiced two times prior to the concert.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0RyWU9yfcM8&feature=youtu.be


P.S.  Briton also played the ever-popular-with-the-8-and-under-crowd, "Orange Burrito."   If you want the video, we'll send it to you personally :).

P.P.S.  You can also follow Holly's and her family's journey with her cancer fight on their facebook page:  https://www.facebook.com/hollysteam

Super Tuesday

Clara is a democrat.

Sydney's Baptism Day

 This was an amazing experience for Sydney.   After she was baptized, she was absolutely beaming.  After waiting until it felt like we could talk without ruining the feeling,  I asked her what she was thinking and she said "I'm speechless."

Grandma and Grandpa Barker and Aunt Autumn also came into town for Syd's big day and made her feel very special.

Happy 8th Birthday, Sydney

Sydney celebrated her 8th birthday in style.  She had definite ideas about how she wanted it to go down.

1.  Miles and I ate lunch with her at school on the Friday before her birthday.

It's fun to see her with her friends and I always like spying on the other kids' lunches to see what other family's dole out.

2.  On Sunday, her birthday day, she had breakfast in bed.

2a.  Then she opened her family presents.

3.  On Thursday, she had her friend birthday party.  She wanted a "book theme."

It was really fun to put together (I can't believe I'm saying that).

The invitations were actual library check out cards from the olden days.

She wanted a donut birthday "cake" ("If You Give a Dog a Donut"???)  --- 

.... everyone else wanted the donuts, too. ....

Heavy heavy hangover ...

 The lunch spread: it ended up being thrown together -- but take note:  the sandwiches were supposed to look like books.

The kids played games related to "Books".  One was a spin off of that baby shower game where you have to eat baby food and guess what it is.  Only, this time they each had a spoon and passed a pouch of baby food around while a book on tape was playing.   When I stopped the tape, the person holding the baby food had to eat a bite.  That was fun to watch.  Some kids were grossed out and others faked loving the food.

The hit of hits, though, was a treasure hunt using books.  Sydney made library cards for each friend.  Working in pairs, they had to check out books from the library in between clues to find the location of the next clue.  Kids were busily scurrying all over the house for a long time while I sat in my quiet library waiting for children to check out books.  This was a low-stress birthday party!!!  They were practically entertaining themselves.  My favorite part was making a "ka-ching" sound when I scanned their library cards on the lego scanner.   If there was a backlog for checking out books, they had to wait in line.  Just like in a real life library.  They were eating it up.

Once each team had all their clues, they turned their clue cards over to find a word scramble.  That's right -- two games in one.  Each scramble revealed a title of one of Sydney's favorite books.  First team done got first pick on the prize.  You guessed it:  a book.

They went home with book bags they'd made (conveniently still very wet with paint) and other goodies -- like Bookworms! (Gummy worms -- thanks pinterest).

Anyway,  that was the secular party.  Coming up ... Sydney's Baptism which was the following Saturday.

Clara's Hair Salon

A picture paints a thousand words.

Above n' Beyond Meet