The Daniel Memorial Post

I don't think this post requires any additional explanation...

Thank you, Daniel, for being you. And also for letting us take these awesome pictures.

Birthday Castle

According to the youngest generation of Barnharts in the family, all things princess-y, knight-like or horse-y are fabulous and consume much thought.  And so, thanks to Grandpa Mike, Grandma Sandy, and Aunt Janell & Uncle Andy, they have become the recipients of a fabulous castle, with appropriate accoutrements, in honor of all of their birthdays this year!  It arrived before any of their birthdays, and was immediately set-up and has been a non-stop play spot since then.  Here's a photo of it's initial home on our kitchen table (it has since moved to a table in the living room so that we can eat at our kitchen table). 

Thanks to all of you who helped procure such wonderful fun!  Please note: it is usually used by all 3 of the "big kids" at the same time, playing very creatively. It has a dungeon, a "breakable" wall, an elevator in the tower, moving doors, a "crashing down" gate thing (which has a technical name, but I don't know what it is), and some rocks that fall down from the space above the door onto the bad guys.  Lots of excitement.

Thank you for my present!

My birthday books showed up today. Thank you to everyone who contributed! I really like them!

Three Little Monkeys

Three little monkeys jumping on the bed.

One fell off and broke his arm.

Mama called the doctor and the doctor said,

"Jumping on the bed will bring you harm!"

Happy Mother's Day

Here's a 2006 vintage photo to wish our Mom a wonderful Mother's day.  The family has sure grown since then (Ella says uncle Daniel looks "funny").  Maybe someone wants to take a stab at photo-shopping in Amber, Karl, and the grandkids.

Happy Mother's Day, Mom.  We love you!

As an added treat Ella would like to show Grandma her secret island, Fairy Island. 

And a recital piece on the piano:

The Face All Babies Love?

Seems that Hazel caught a glimpse of the face all babies love, but didn't agree!

The Bad Boys

I'm back from South Africa, and it seems that Barnhart Central went on hiatus while I was away. Or maybe everyone was just too busy adding their comments to my blog posts over at Bonavox. Can't blame you for that, I guess.

I've posted a lot of trip pictures on my blog, but I wanted to share one special picture with all of you. It seems as if David had a prescient vision of Cape Town in his younger days, as you can see below. Everywhere we went, we saw trucks filled with Bad Boys, though I was unable to confirm whether they were in fact drinking and if large rocks were strategically placed before their vehicles. Fortunately for all the Bad Boys I saw, none seemed to come to a tragic end during my time of witness.

A blog is born

Most of you know that I'm heading to South Africa for a couple weeks, visiting Matt and Leah and my friends Loren and Kelly (who are visiting at the same time). If you didn't know before, well, now you do.

All of this imminent travel has me thinking that I'd like to keep track of my travels and share that with as many of you as are interested (or as many of you who are having trouble sleeping at night). As frequently as possible, I'll be showing photos and stories at my new blog, Bonavox. I hope you enjoy following along.

Adios!

A New Home for Grandma's Deer!

Wouldn't Grandma be pleased to see her deer at Dad's! They look quite natural, don't they? Thank you, David and Amber, for giving Grandma's gentle critters a new home, since she went on to her Heavenly home.

Intrepid Explorations

There comes a time in a man's life when he needs to see for himself the brutal nature of the wilderness, smell the alpine scent of conifers climbing the sides of mountains, test the mettle of his survival skills against the bitter cold of an arctic landscape. And that time is today. By the time you read this, I will be trekking down the frozen runway of the Minnehaha Creek, a rugged, untested wilderness that runs through the heart of South Minneapolis (about 30 blocks from my house).

Along with about a dozen other explorers, I'll be hiking east on this frozen wasteland as we try to maintain our provisions and ignore the ridicule and taunts of joggers and bicyclists (running and biking along the paths that border the creek). With fortune on our side, we will journey the five miles to our overnight destination, where a base camp will be established so that we might endure the bitter, dark hours of the night (also, this location is where Di Noko's Arctic Outfitters has confirmed they can deliver victuals for our sustenance).

So as you nestle into your warm beds tonight, send warm thoughts my way. Chances are I'll be trying to warm myself by the sled dogs, though I'm not sure they'll take too kindly to me. Please pray that I'll make it safely to morning. Because we have brunch reservations at a breakfast cafe nearby, and they're really mean if you show up late.

Birthday Skates for the UPer!

In the land up above, lives a fella we love,
Where the cold, snow, and ice do abound.

When the ice is like slate, one can put on their skates,
And commence to go ‘round and around.

But this fella, you see, has a problem, oh me!
For he hath not the skates, yet, to don.

And the kiddos, oh dear, on the ice can’t go near,
For there’s no one to help them skate on!

So what say, this Monday, for his birthday, this Friday,
That we help put this fella in skates?

Then Daddy and all, (who doubtless may fall:)
On the ice can then frolic and play!

A cuter toothbrusher

While Twila and Nikki are pretty cute pretending to be people, I happen to think this little person's obsession with tooth brushing is even cuter. She really loves having her teeth brushed. And brushing your teeth. 

If she ever sees one of us brushing our teeth, she just stands and watches with a funny little half smile on her face, and then after a few moments demands to brush your teeth for you. Which doesn't actually clean your teeth, but it keeps her on your lap for a while. 

Doggie Dentals

Twila has been complaining to Nikki about her bad breath, apparently, because I walked downstairs this evening to find Nikki sitting next to her dog bed, brushing her teeth.

She was careful to get back behind some of the hard-to-reach spots.

I believe the dark evenings have thrown off their internal clocks and Nikki thought that it must be time to get ready to go down and get in their cage.

The Mystery Room

With all my free time these days, I'm doing a little excavating in the house and turning up some interesting wallpaper. As Mom might say, "You get three guesses which room this is, and the first two don't count."

Finally got a haircut...

Well guys, I decided to get a haircut. Here are the before and after pictures:

I'm pretty happy with it...in fact I actually really like it. It's a good haircut.

Winter Wonderland (finally!)

After all the snow we've had the past couple days, I thought it very fitting to post some pretty snow pictures. It's supposed to warm up to the 40's again by the end of the week, so I'm glad I was able to take some pictures before the snow disappears again! These were all taken just outside of our apartment. Does anyone else have some good snow pictures?

I AM RELINQUISHING CONTROL

The title makes this post pretty self-explanatory.

However, we have a bit of an issue with changing back the blog URL. It appears that my Administrator privileges have been revoked (no doubt by David) and therefore I don't have the ability to change back the blog URL.

But there is good news. Anyone who does have Admin privileges can simply go to their Blogger Dashboard and then after clicking on Settings on the Left Menu Bar, have the ability to change the URL back to BarnhartCentral.blogspot.com.

So there you go.

I AM TAKING OVER

Be prepared to be impressed

I'm giving you all notice in case you need to work on your superlatives before you walk into the newly painted kitchen at 1208 W. Giles Rd.
Wow! Awesome! Beautiful! or Stunning! might be OK for most paint jobs, but for this one you may need to turn it up a notch or two. Some may need to learn new words of awe and amazement in foreign languages in case the English ones are not strong enough. Or you may have to create your own English words by connecting appropriate words together such as "Wowcoloreriffic!" or "Amazawondertastic!" I'm sure college educated students and especially English majors will be up to the challenge.
I didn't post a picture so the full force of the new paint job will hit you all at once when you enter the door.

Peter Practicing Pillar Production

In case you've had trouble with your towers lately (maybe you're a little rusty on your refuge rearing), I'd like to offer this challenge in advance.

Peter and the girls have been delving deep into design with Duplos to see who can make the finest fortress and the highest high rise. So be prepared to build big over the holidays if you want to keep your status as the coolest ________ (uncle/aunt, grandpa/grandma, nephew/niece, guy/girl off the street, etc.).


Don't worry if you forget to travel with your tinker toys - they'll work with whatever is at hand. Smartphones stack to make spires; minty fudge makes great monoliths. So grab what's handy and start building.