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.

Halloween Fright!

Ghosts and goblins ne'er abound on local streets tonight,
For home they've gone, tummies full with yummies of delight!

Gruesome, scarey, wicked ones, moved spookily about,
In search of candy (more, more, MORE) that, without a doubt!

But where were Mother's little ghouls, spread both near and far?
She wonders what they all looked like; did they dress the part?

Darth and Lucy, re-appeared, or so the story's told,
Would so like to see costumes, of both the young and old.

So share your pictures, if you please, of Halloweeny fright;
Can't wait to see what's yet to come, it should be quite the sight!

Sharing Some Fall Colors

The first four pictures were taken on Buys Rd., about a week ago. The last one was taken on Giles. Anyone who has done Rte. 531 should recognize the green house in that picture. Hope you enjoy the lovely colors!

A Hancock Barnhart Pictoral Progress Report

Greetings, fellow Barnhart-bloggers. There have been numerous requests for a pictoral update on the progress being made here in the soon-to-be winter wonderland. So, here are a few favorites from my latest batch of photos (the past week or so). I'll include some text as well. Read on......and on, and on, and on....or so the story goes. At least, this one in particular. Here Ella sits through her first reading of "The 500 Hats of Bartholomew Cubbins" in its entirety. I'm quite certain it won't be her last, though it might be a while before she picks that one out again (it's a bit lengthy for a girl whose longest sentence is somewhere around 5 words).


Elisabeth turned 4 months old on Saturday (the day before Mom's big birthday). Here she shows off her smile and her bear (we photograph her monthly with this bear to record her growth).



To celebrate the autumn season, crazy hours at work, lots of progress on the garage (wait, Mike, I'll get to those photos soon!), and just life in general, we enjoyed a scrumptious Deep Dish Pizza. It made the menu since the recipe calls for it to be made in a cast iron pan. And because it looked amazingly yummy.



Here's what was left of the pizza after we'd stuffed ourselves.



As Steve watched the weather forecasts, we decided it was finally time to finish harvesting our produce from the garden. Ella and I picked tomatoes and peppers on Wednesday afternoon, and Thursday morning we awoke to a very hard frost. Excellent timing, if I do say so myself. Here's what we gathered. (we didn't pick the strawberries, though there were a few ripe ones still out there, and even more green yet! - a 3rd wave of berries from this season)



And last, but certainly not least, the much anticipated garage siding photos. Please note, it's beautifully sunny and the garage siding looks amazing. Great work, Steve! Feast your eyes on our newly sided garage.....Steve wonders how much longer we'll have nice enough weather for outdoor work and whether or not he'll get ALL of the siding onto the garage in that span of time. Just a few more boards to go! (we'll be putting on some paint come spring...it - the paint - will spend the winter waiting in our living room for it's final destination)

Well, that's all for now. Back to work...there's more progress to be made!

Fall Harvest of Dune Grass Knees, and Frig Magnets

The dry hot summer took a toll on the knee harvest at Lake Michigan. It's slim pickings, as you can see; the knees are few, and sparse.











On a happier note, the guys pose for a photo.












Beautiful Lake Michigan, in mid-October!








All those years of keeping my spices in alphabetical order!
Now they tell me!









Well Andy, looks like you're off the hook, ole vegetable lover (NOT!)

I am gifted

While it is true that I find myself to be incredibly intelligent, I actually meant that upon the occasion of my birthday, I received several gifts. See, gifted.

Anyway, I thought I'd let all the left hands know what the right hands were doing, so here is a little pictorial.



These aren't the exact flowers I received, but they are virtually identical to the bouquet that graced my office on my birthday. Thanks Lisa!



A perfect Janell-sized French Press (I meant portion size, not my actual dimensions)



What more could I ask for? Gourmet dark chocolate from the streets of Paris (imported by Ben), the breathy haunting voice of "A girl called Eddy" floating throughout the house (thoughtfully selected by David), all while I sip on my rich dark coffee, made in my new French Press (expertly chosen by the UP coffee aficionados).



As I'm sure you probably all, with the possible exceptions of Daniel and Rachel, recognize these from years past, I must explain that mom did not carry on the fine tradition of Daniel (and David?) and "give" me something I already owned. Rather, she gave me what I'm sure were several hours of tedious cleaning and repair in order to restore my dress-up favorites to their original glory.

I would like to christen this as the first "blank you" (a blog thank you), of which I hope to post many more. (See how I did that? It sounds like I'm so very thankful, but it actually just means I would have to receive many more gifts in the future to keep posting these. Pretty good eh?) Thank you all for your thoughtfulness.

*If your gift didn't appear somewhere in this post, please don't be embarrassed. Most likely, you are Dad, and I didn't give you a gift idea until several days after my birthday.

It's Birthday Time!

Tis birthday time for one who is dear,
I'll give you a clue, in proximity she's not near.

Oops! I slipped and told you the gender,
And as a young Mom, she's ever so tender.

I did it again! Can you figure out who?
She has Ella & Elisabeth; that makes two!

Now you know, and Sunday's the day,
And I've got an idea, oh, by the way!

She needs new tennis and/or hiking shoes,
And contributions toward those would help, tis true.

So Rachel we hope your birthday is sweet,
And that you can get what you want for your feet!

A Few Fresh Photos

Here's Lookin' at You, Kid.....

Just a few photos of the project progress here in Hancock. Projects, of course, including the garage (it's pretty much an un-ending project) and the girls, along with grandpa-time.


Elisabeth has to check things out...
a nice summery evening and relaxing on the lawn. Life just doesn't get a whole lot better than this.


Grandpa Mike gets some time with the girls. Ella loves her little sister, sometimes to the point of smothering. But Elisabeth just loves it!


Here Steve and Mike install some of our new trim on the garage. It's not completed, but it sure looks a LOT better than it did before!


Ella ready to throw rocks at Lake Superior. What a relaxing way to spend a Saturday afternoon.


Elisabeth at Lake Superior. Need any more be said?!


Ella enjoys the beautiful summer weather while Dad and Grandpa Mike continue working on the garage. She's keeping a close eye on them (or maybe the camera). The next thing to come out of her mouth (after this picture) undoubtedly was "See it!"rather emphatically, meaning she wanted to see the photo on the back of the camera. Another "cute" 2-year old thing to do.


And that's all for now. We're working on a new website for our photos (photosite has discontinued service, in case you haven't checked for a while), and will hopefully have that up within the month (but no promises!). We've lots to do 'round here getting ready for the snow to fly, so time is in short supply for "playing" on the computer.

Birthday Photo Booth Adventures

"Didn't someone really important just have a birthday? Who could it possibly be?"


"ME?!?!?!"


"You mean you already knew?! Does that mean there's birthday cake?"



"Start shoveling in that Ryke's cake!"