Breaking News from Hancock

This just in: Elisabeth rolled over! All by herself!

For the very first time in her short life, Elisabeth has turned herself from her back to her belly - and then was able to get back again! She's been practicing up all day, now, and has quite good form. Here's a snapshot taken just moments after the exciting event. See how proud she is of her new-found ability - quite the smile!
So as not to show favoritism, I'm including a new photo of Ella.
This photo was taken last Tuesday (right before Thanksgiving) - it was pretty warm out and we went to play at a neighborhood park in Houghton with some friends. Ella had a blast. Glad we hit the park last week since we got hit with snow this week. We've currently got a few inches on the ground and a pretty decent pile down near the driveway. We'll get some photos of that soon.

The Sousaphonist

Happy Birthday Greetings!

Happy Birthday, Mr. Mike Barnhart! This post was supposed to be ready and waiting for you this (Wednesday) morning, but we just finished getting the technical aspect resolved, so here are the Hancock Barnhart Happy Birthday Greetings (HBHBG). By the way...the card is literally in the mail. Hope your birthday is a good one!

The Spirit of Gifting

UPDATE: Daniel would also like to add to his Christmas list Simcity 4 by Aspyr, it can be found on Mac.com and it comes in a deluxe package, and also he would like a digital watch. He likes casio.







As much as I hate using the internet(I try to avoid chatting online with friends, sending emails, and using myspace as little as possible) I have valiantly ventured online to The Barnhart Hub to post my Christmas list, and provide helpful ideas for Christmas gift giving reconstruction(CGGR).



To start us out, I suggest we sack the whole "get gifts for your brothers and sisters" idea. I'll admit, in the past it has at times been fun and merry, but we all know what were going to get since we were forced to tell the person since nobody makes Christmas lists(I am stepping up to break this tradition) and also I think Christmas day would be both surprising and much more "exciting" if we all bought what we wanted for Christmas, and then put them under the Christmas tree in identical boxes. This way you have a 1/8 chance of getting what you want for Christmas, rather that getting exactly what you want for Christmas(more "exciting" eh?). I for one, would rather get a James Bond 1995 Goldeneye McDonald's action figure rather than getting $100 for clothes. I mean, which will you truly remember when you're 50?


At any rate, now that you all know how Christmas gift giving should work, I'll tell you possible ideas for me to buy myself for Christmas, just any of you want to buy them and donate them to me to give to myself, although you have a 1/8 chance of getting the gift yourself(theres that "excitement" again) as described in the above paragraph.



The List


Ipod Earphones
Itunes gift card
Macbook laptop(for you big money makers with so little to spend it on)
Wii
Guitar Hero 3
Star Wars Battlefront for Wii
Job
100 Dollars for clothes
Car
James Bond 1995 Goldeneye McDonald's action figure



Well, I can't think of much more. Send me an email with an attatched PDF of your reciept when you've bought my donated gift, and I'll send in your tax deductable request to the IRA.

TURKEY?!?!?!?!!!!

A new birdie for Andy

I found a new birdie for Andy, I think his name is Happy.

The Girl's night out

Twilla gets ready for a big night out


Nikki says I hate wearing the same dress Twilla wore


Twilla checks Nikki's "hem"

Random Thoughts from the Snow Princess

Well, this is a non-Ella and Elisabeth photo blog entry. Just a few things to post for others to view.

The biggest news is....the garage is sided (minus the very top board on the eave sides, as those need to get cut to the proper width, and it is a 2-person job). Here's a photo of the very last side "in progress". Great work, Steve!!!!! (It was finished on a relatively beautiful day, too)On the same day that the garage siding was completed by Steve, my dad installed 2 new windows in our basement. It's a huge improvement, even though we don't venture into "the dungeon" all that often. Thanks, Dad!For those of you who haven't been to visit us within the past month or so, we've also gotten new entrance steps and a small deck by the entryway door (the door we use all of the time). My dad spent a weekend up here to put them in, under Steve's supervision. We really appreciate a new entrance. And Steve extended our gravel path all the way up to the steps, too. So it's like a facelift for the whole area.And last, but not least, a non-house photo. Thanks, Janell & Andy, for the new coffee mugs! Here's their christening round of cappuccinos...made with our Trader Joe's espresso beans. We're really enjoying them!

Cowgirls Just Want to Have Fun!

This year we enjoyed a relatively calm All Hallows' Eve here in Hancock. And very spur of the momently, we decided that Ella would get to go "trick-or-treating" with her good buddy Cameron, mostly because Cameron's grandma and grandpa Cischke asked if she'd be stopping by their place. And since there was not much notice (the call came at 4 pm, and treats were being handed out from 5-8 pm), we had to come up with a costume with whatever was on hand. Grandpa Mike to the rescue! After spotting Ella's new horse sitting in it's "stall" next to the toy box, I was taken back to memories of myself as a youngster dressing up as a farmer girl. And since Ella had a clean pair of bib overalls and hair long enough for pig tails, and I could contribute a red bandana, we had the makings for quite the costume. We didn't have appropriate footwear (read: no cowboy boots), but the galoshes stood in - saying that they're muck boots and suitable for mucking out the horse's stall. Ella looked quite adorable, if I do say so myself. And here's some photographic proof of her adorableness. By the way, Elisabeth dressed up in Ella's old ladybug costume, but we didn't get any pictures of that as she spent most of her time resting in her car seat.I thought that perhaps I'd also include a photo of Ella and Elisabeth lounging on Elisabeth's pink blanket the other morning, mostly just because they're so cute together.We were blessed with our first blanketing of the fluffy white stuff this morning. Here are Ella and Cameron "romping" in the snow. (Cameron was very determined that Ella play in the snow with him this afternoon, and even though she didn't have boots on, she was willing to run around the house and play in the white stuff)

In this box, are my help-mates, Thing One and Thing Two

Thing 1 and Thing 2. Thing 2 and Thing 1. They can find anything anything anything under the sun.

I think the resemblance is remarkable. Especially Thing 2. :) You should see how clean our house is now too. It's amazing what a pair of red long johns can motivate one to do.