Reeths-Puffer Wins!

Rah! Rah! Sis-boom-bah, let’s get the ball and hike!
3-6-9 (actually 11), all in a line, ready to run and strike.

Twas just the night for football, for all sportsnatic fools,
No place to park and stands were full, last night, at Fruitport High School.

Who’s that #61, out there on the field?
Why, it’s Dani…oh I mean Barney Boy, who has the ball to yield.

First game of the season, and back and forth they went,
But in the end, 15 to 9, to Reeths-Puffer the victory was lent.

And so we say, “Congratulations!” to Daniel, the youngest “bro,
Sweet victory on your 1st Varsity game; that’s the way to go!

Tomato Report #1

What do they say about new homeowners and their gardens? Something tiresome I'm sure.

Maybe this picture doesn't appeal to anyone who didn't just move into a house two months ago, but I'm pretty proud of this tomato (one of about a dozen growing currently). I got a late start on a garden this year, and I'm not sure whether or not these tomatoes will ripen before frost comes, but it's good to see them trying. I'll be sure to keep you all up-to-date with the tomato reports.

A Storm To Make Mom Proud

About a week or so ago, we had a really heavy storm. I was sitting in my apartment that evening, reading, when I realized that I had been hearing sirens blaring in the distance for five or ten minutes. I stepped outside my door and saw some of my neighbors on their deck. They explained that these were air-raid sirens going off because a tornado had been spotted. Luckily, the tornado didn't get anywhere close to us, but as we sat outside, the wind picked up and the sky grew dark in a matter of minutes. Then it started pouring harder than I've seen since, well, a tornado went through Muskegon last summer. The rain is a little difficult to see in the video, but you can definitely catch just how much lightning we got.

A New Star at Navistar!

Rah! Rah! Sis-boom-bah!
Janell got a brand new job!

Caterpillar was too slow,
As caterpillars are want to go.

Navistar nearly lost out,
But then they did a round about;

And to their senses soon they came,
And wanted Janell, just the same.

"Refreshing" is what they thought of her,
And, of course, Mom couldn't agree more!

Best wishes, Janell, so happy for you!
They'll be so glad to have you on board, tis true!

An August Article About Activities

Just a note to let you know that the Hancock Barnharts have been "enjoying" a rather busy summer. I've posted some photos to my picasa albums (http://picasaweb.google.com/rachel.barnhart/) in order to keep you all visually up-to-speed on the happenings of our lives.
If you'd like to see photos of the 4th of July Barnhart/McCann gathering (Lisa), we've got some there. If you're interested in seeing how honey bees live and work, check it out. If you want to see some beautiful local (Hancock) hiking trails, we've got that covered. If you want to take a quick trip to the zoo, but don't want to actually leave the comfort of your own home, visit our albums. And if you just want to see photos of two adorable toddlers (that's right...we have 2 "upwardly" mobile children in our home as of 2 weeks ago!), there's plenty of those to go around.

(I apologize for being so delinquent in getting these posted, but I figure that it's better to actually post some at this point than to continue procrastinating on it.)

Enjoy.

Happy Monday, Everyone

Monday is a shirt that's just a few sizes too large.

Happy Birthday, Mom!

Yes, she changed our diapers
and woke us up for school.
In return, we played outside,
until the night grew cool.

She helped us write our state reports
and made us play our scales.
And in the case of arguments,
meted justice without fail.

So join me on this special day,
and wish her all the best.
It's happy birthday, Sandy.
You really are the greatest.

La Maison de la Porte Jaune

Well, I'm embarking on my fourth week in the new house. And since I've bored regaled so many of you with all the minutiae glories of this money-pit I thought I'd post some new photos to give you an idea what I've been working on.

First, I decided to put a new (used) front door, and I made it yellow, in honor of Lisa.


















I was about to clean my kitchen floor the other night, but I decided it would be far easier (and more fun) to simply tear it out. As it turned out, there were about four layers of flooring on top of a pretty nice maple floor.
























And one of the joys of home ownership is cleaning up the things that fall in your yard. Sometimes that's your neighbor's dog's "gifts." Other times it's the top of the silver maple that came down in the windstorm. UnfortunatelyLuckily, nothing was damaged (except for some of the fence). Here are a few pics I took before the clean-up.

I feel like quite the nagger, but...

I seem to recall writing a similar post to this one a few weeks ago. I'm just curious if anyone has good pictures to share from this past weekend. In leu of the correct pictures, I will now endeavor to recreate the weekend using similar pictures.



The cookout to feed five-thousand, or at least Daniel, Karl, and Andy


Aurora has quite the fireworks show





A romp through the sprinkler for the kiddies


The perfect end to a busy day

Dear Ella and Elisabeth,

Uncle Andy found these really great giraffe chairs, but they are a little too small for us to sit in. Do you know anyone who might be able to fit in these chairs?

Thank you everyone!

Thanks to everyone's generous contributions, I am now the proud owner of a beautiful Yamaha guitar. This picture isn't quite as heroic and dramatic as the one dad drew for me in my birthday card, but it will have to do.

more picutures II

Pictures of us working on garage, Ella was supervising from the hammock.

More Pictures

Here are some pictures of the mighty builders and the Tower of Babel, just before the confusion of languages. Or maybe this was the garage, just before lunch, I'm not sure, it has been a couple of weeks.

Re: Garage

Barnhart Birthday Girl (we have two!)

Soon there'll be a birthday girl, whose name I shall withhold;
I'll write a little riddle and you guess who and how old.

She didn't use to smile a lot, when she was very young,
A pouty lip would often protrude well beyond her tongue.

And then would come a backward kick to ward off woud-be teasing;
Ah.....you know of whom I speak, but now she's much more pleasing.

In fact she wants to help mankind, Music Therapy to them bring;
And one of the ways to do so would by by gui'tar string.

So as you solve this riddle, and guess just who she be,
You also may be wanting a birthday ide-e (altered for rhyming purposes!)

She wants to buy a gui'tar and play with lots of soul,
And grateful she would be for contributions toward her goal!

Garage?

I don't know about anyone else, but I'm a little curious as to what the garage looks like right now. Does anyone have pictures of the almost finished product? Or could someone maybe post a pictorial story of the making of the greatest garage on Giles Rd?

Another Birthday Boy!

Today we have a birthday boy and David is his name,
The one who never would play by the rules of different games.

Bored he was with conventional, that describes this mister;
And so he took to creating anew, involving little sister.

Such a good sport was she, willing to play with big brother,
Unlike one who played precisely by rules; yes, that would be Mother!

Eventually he challenged himself with another kind of trick,
And taught himself to program computer in GW Basic.

Who would have thought that little ole David would end up (for now) like this,
Programming computer for Alcoa Howmet, with an IR degree, no less!

Hard telling where he’ll go from here, but challenge will be a part,
For our birthday boy likes challenge, that’s been evident from the start!

So, Happy Birthday David, unique and special are you;
Fear not to be unconventional, and “to thine own self be true!”

April Kayak Adventure

April...the month of sun, then snow (and school "snow days"), then sun again, and then some more snow, and then a bit of sun. The month that can't decide whether to be winter or spring, impetuously changing from day to day. Today it decided to be quite spring-like (as opposed to last Friday when we had blizzard warnings and the big kids had a snow-day from school). The temperatures ranged into the 50s, the sun shone brightly in a beautiful, blue sky dotted with clouds, the snow melted with a steady stream of dripping, and the ice continued to break up on the local bodies of water, namely the Portage and the Pilgrim River. Which brings me to the reason for this post.

Our kayak had it's first venture into the water today for the 2008 kayak season. Crazy though it may seem, we were able to kayak while there is still snow on the ground, and even ice on most of the Portage. Steve and I put our tandem kayak in on the Pilgrim River, right near Steve's new office, and paddled downstream out into the Portage, and then back upstream, spending a solid 40 minutes on the water. We were blessed with the opportunity to enjoy a beautiful spring day sans kids, thanks to our good friends Kit & Julie, who had them over to play with Cameron & Olivia (they got to splash in puddles and go for a walk). And since we get to get out and "play" today, we though we'd show you how beautiful it is here in Hancock/Houghton!

Here we are pre-kayaking. The kayak is ready to be off-loaded from the Subaru and put in to the Pilgrim River. I'm wearing my life-vest already so that I don't have another thing to carry down the hillside while helping to haul the kayak down.
And here we are, having completed our kayak journey along the Pilgrim River. The kayak is waiting for a lift back to Hancok via the Subaru, and Steve and I are ready for a late dinner. It was a beautiful day! Hoping to have many more like it!

Easter Darlings

Greetings, fellow Barnharts, from the land of Easter snow. We pray that you each enjoyed a blessed Resurrection Day celebrating the resurrection of our Saviour! In honor of the festivities, the girls got new or "new/old" dresses to wear to church. And they looked absolutely darling. So we're posting a photo for you to see them too. Please note, Ella's special doll "Jenny" got a new dress, too, and so got to go to church with us this morning.Here are a couple of "random" photos of the girls. Ella and Elisabeth both like to help with laundry, and to watch the clothes go 'round in the washing machine. Here they are "helping" out mom.
Ella is a great big sister, and she likes to play with Elisabeth. She's helping Elisabeth "drive" the car around the living room, and doing a great job of it! We start them young.

Noisy Pets

As I was working at my kitchen table today, I kept hearing tiny little smacking noises coming from the direction of the hamster cages. A little surprising, since they're usually asleep all day. Not quite. Chief must have decided to get up for a little midnight snack (err...midnight for him). He dug up one of the almonds he's been hording and sleepily sat there chowing down. He really is lazy - didn't even bother to get up from the little nest that he's made into his bed.