Janell Storms Into Town, Demands Party

The posts of all the parties for Janell proved to be just too much. On Thursday night, Janell left Andy, rented a car and took off for Muskegon to damand a party. She pretty much got what she demanded, Ryke's cake and all. Then she got in my car and went back to Aurora with the rest of the cake and her presents. I don't know if I will ever see that car again. If anyone doubts it, there are digital pictures of the whole affair and they can be posted if necessary.

Daniel "leads busy life". Unable to carry laundry up to his room.

Having sat beside the stairway door for well nigh a week, Daniel's laundry-basket, filled with all his carefully washed, dried and folded clothes (compliments of various family members, for his convenience), provides indisputable evidence that Daniel leads a burdensomely busy life. Explains Daniel, when asked why he was unable to find time during the entire prior week to carry his prepared basket of laundry up to his room: "I lead a busy life, Dad!"



Older brother, David, later remarked to the effect that if Daniel spent less time in front of the television losing at Mario Kart and more time carrying his laundry upstairs, he'd have much more laundry carried upstairs.

When confronted with further questions, Daniel was unavailable for comment and resisted photographers.

A sophisticated evening at the ballet

In the luxurious lobby of the Amway Grand Hotel



After having eaten chocolate brownie pandowdy (with layer of cream cheese, cinnamon pastry dough, and raspberry compote) chocolate crumb cake, and chocolate creme brulee















Lisa and Janell taking a "serious" picture


I also took several really nice pictures of the ballet (Swan Lake), but the next thing I knew one of the ushers came rushing down the aisle, snatched my camera, and stole the memory card! I guess when they say you aren't supposed to take any pictures they actually mean it...fortunately I had an extra memory card with me to take the rest of these pictures!

A Profusion of Celebrations

David's graduation was celebrated in style Saturday afternoon by a visit to The Daily Grind, where a plate of fudgy, caramel brownies were quickly consumed by Ella (who appears deceptively calm in this "before brownies massacre" shot). The presence of David was requested at the party thrown in his honor, but he declined, saying that he would rather polish the brass on the Titanic than spend a moment reliving his past four years at Wheaties College.



And later in the evening (after the suger buzz from the brownies had worn off) Rachel's birthday was celebrated with the baking of the traditional cherry chip cake, frosted by a very untraditional cherry buttercream meringue frosting (which contains not one, but FOUR sticks of butter).

Happy Birthday, Rachel!

Fletcher gets the date wrong

Fletcher has been barking the news of Rachel's birthday to all the dogs in Hancock, well, as we all know, dogs relay messages from dog to dog and it has quickly made it's way to Muskegon. However, he muat have a bark impediement, becasue instead of clearly barking out Friday as the day, he must have barked out some earlier date. As evidenced by the picture, we have dogs roaming all over Muskegon with party hats on looking for the party. Cats are really having a hayday with this little snafu. Oh well, we know he meant well. Thanks Fletcher.

Dad unable to conceal his enthusiasm during another round of Candyland

"So Dad, a tree and a grass had a race..."

Janell throws back a few of the ol' thumb

Janell's had a hard day and it shows. She needs something to take the edge off:

Ahh! That's much better!

Photographic evidence shows that the Hancock Barnharts have completed a very long journey

Hello all.

We've (or should I say - I've) completed our postings for our trip to our photosite...so you may all peruse them at your leisure, if you so desire. I couldn't come up with catchy captions for each and every photo of the mountains, but I did try to label some of the more distinct and interesting pictures (and what I could remember without actually looking at any information while working on the project at midnight...much later than I would usually allow).

Hope you guys enjoy "vacationing" along with us!

Little Fatty

All in a Flurry - Updated

A day later...
Though we didn't get quite the snow they predicted, it did get very wintery with much blowing and blustering. I took this picture outside my office Wednesday morning, while it actually looked nice. We have more snow now (probably a 1 foot bank of slush on our road), but it's too nasty to post.

There's much anticipation in the North tonight as the whole countryside awaits in the suspenseful calm before the storm. Children are dreaming of the first snowday, adults are realizing that they never fixed the snowblower or got a new yooper scoop, and freshman Tech students are preparing to bunker down for the really long part of the schoolyear that they didn't know existed. I'll try to post a picture after the alleged precipitation... if I can get out of my driveway.

The Western Journey Completed

That's right, all. We've gone west and come back. And visited many interesting sites along the way. We're a bit overwhelmed by the extremely large quantity of photos we've taken, and so getting them all posted is going to be a bit of a long and slow ordeal. However, I have begun this process, and am pleased to announce that approximately half of our trip is posted in photos on our website (not half of our photos...just half of the journey). Here's a photo to try to pull you in....

Minneapolis Pulls Out the Stops for Janell's Birthday Celebration

Janell's birthday was celebrated in style Friday night when Steve, Rachel, and Ella decided to travel to Minneapolis in order to raise a glass (of coffee) for Janell's twenty-fifth. And no birthday is complete without a slice (or four) of Muddy Paws cheesecake. After all, the birthday girl needs at least one piece.

For those who would like to point out that Janell isn't present in the posted photograph of the celebration, we need to mention that she was invited and declined the invitation. At least that's the message we got from her personal assistant, Wendy, who was still a little bitter about having been chewed out for putting Splenda in her boss's coffee. Which is a legitimate mistake, Janell. Cut her some slack.

Happy Birthday, Janell!

Reprinted from the National Inquirer

It was reported that a green haired alien emerged from the Barnhart bathroom at 1208 W. Giles Rd. Muskegon, MI this morning. Our reporter contacted the homeowner who confirmed the sighting and denied any knowledge of or association with the alien. This statement was made by the homeowner- "I am not responsible for creatures that crawl out of the ground, or fall from the sky and enter my house" "I dropped it off at Reeths-Puffer Middle School, and that is the last I have seen of it".

Final Fling in Muskegon for Janell

Called the "Jumpin Janell Jamboree", the final fling of a weekend of celebration ended today in Muskegon. Event organizers said it was a sell out crowd, according to Michael
Partio, chairperson, "we had half of West Michigan at this event". However, still no presents have been located. Cleanup is expected to take days, so who knows what might be found under tables or accidently thrown away in the trash. "We will be looking for anything that remotely looks like a present" said Partio, "I'm sure at least one person remembered why they were here". "Oh well, if not, we will just throw a bigger party next year".

Many Parties Thrown in Muskegon for Janell's Birthday

Many parties were held in Muskegon for Janell's birthday as seen by just a sampling of pictures taken. Unfortunately Janell couldn't be there because she wasn't invited. No one brought any gifts, but if some arrive, we will open them and immediately send anything we don't want on to the Birthday girl.

The Real Gift List

That was just a joke before. Please do not fool yourself into thinking that I would be content with a mere grammatical correction! I want money, precious jewels, fine fruits and cheeses!

But since I don't think I'll get any of those things, here is my toned down birthday gift list. Some of these are actually pretty boring, but if you don't have much time/energy/creativity, those are the ones for you.

• Any Johnny Cash CD, but preferably older rather than newer. (I don't have any, so feel free to pick your favorite)
• white ankle socks
  
• Alice Peacock CD "Who I Am"
  
• A new blow dryer (this one could be difficult, as I'm not really sure which one I want...)
• A gift card to Kohl's (in any denomination) : )

Ok, that is about all I can come up with. However, I will still accept, and even welcome, original gifts, so please do not supress your inner gift-genie. (I don't even know what that is)

Alright, ALRIGHT!!

You've all pushed me far enough. I've finally come up with my gift list, and I expect to receive everything on it. It's actually quite simple, and each of you can give me the same gift if you truly care about what I want.

I would like for all of my friends and family to stop saying the words "like" and "ummm." Instead of "I was like...", I want to hear "I felt..." or "I said...". And if try to look up "ummm" in the dictionary, you won't find it, because it's not even a real word! It makes you sound less intelligent, even though I know you are all very intelligent people.

Thankyou.


And no further references to hair dye would be appreciated as well. If you must know the full story, visit our blog later this afternoon. I plan to have worked up the courage to post the whole painful thing by then.

Check out Andy's Gift list for Janell's Birthday

Hi everybody, I have tried my hardest to get a birthday idea from Janell, but she refuses to cooperate, so the only alternative I have is to pick a gift for her from Andy's gift list, at least that way, someone will get something they want. Otherwise I could just close my eyes and walk through the mall and purchase the first item I run into, then gift wrap it for Janell, but what if I veer into a store full of say, paper clips or toilet paper, you know "Clips Are Us" or "Flush Us", you get the picture. I am sure Andy would rather have a neat gift off his gift list instead of Janell getting a case of paper clips or monogrammed toilet paper. I suggest the rest of you do the same unless Janell immediately and without dalay does an about face and supplies birthday ideas before it is too late.

The Kayaking Adventures Begin

The Hancock Barnharts are now the proud owners of a tandem kayak (thanks to Dad/Paul who has also taken up kayaking). We took our first excursion a couple of weeks ago, and Ella and Fletcher got to come along for the ride. Ella wasn't all that thrilled, and Fletcher jumped out while we were in the middle of the lake, so we had a fussy kid and a stinky wet-dog smelling dog to ride home with. Anyways, here we are, ready to head out on our first adventure. If any of you guys come up to visit us during the summer months, we'll take you out for an afternoon (or morning, or evening) on the lake.

Ella turns 1!

Yes, it has happened. Ella has had her first birthday - and the accompanying cake and ice cream and party hats and candles and noisemakers and punch-balloons and everything.

Ella got to share her birthday party with her Grandpa Gerard (his 60th was on Monday - so we did a bit of a surprise for him) and thoroughly enjoyed eating part of Grandpa's birthday cake, too. Two birthday cakes are definitely better than one! And when one of those cakes has 60 flaming candles on it, watch out! (The Gerard tradition does NOT include licking the frosting off of the candles, so Grandpa didn't have to lick 60 candles worth of frosting before eating his cake)

So...there was MUCH cake (very tasty - and leftovers for us to enjoy!) and frivolity. And presents. Which Ella enjoyed - looking at the packages, mostly (one very large Elmo bag, in particular). Fletcher had to help her open them up when we returned home (the party was at church, because we couldn't fit 25 people in our house at the same time and maintain any level of sanity or comfort), and she was more fascinated watching Fletcher shred the paper than she was interested in opening them up herself. That will change, however, probably by her next birthday.

Here is the "standard" Barnhart birthday photo - licking the frosting off of the candle. However, Ella decided to bite the candle rather than lick it, so now the candle has teeth marks in it, and she didn't get all that much frosting. She'll learn.