Toothless.....

Last night was a big night at our house for the tooth fairy. Ella had a REALLY loose tooth......Jensen had a tooth that was not very loose, but he was determined to pull it out.

It took a lot of convincing, but after a few tears and some bribery, Ella finally let me get my fingers in there and pull her tooth. In fact, I think that this was the first tooth that I have ever pulled for one of my children. It's hard to believe, but after 5 kids, she only wanted me to do it!

It is always a shock when the first tooth comes out, but when they are on the top it is a REALLY big shock!! We are now leaving the years of darling, cute, little girl and entering the years of awkward, crooked and big.

Smiles all around!! When Jensen pulled his tooth, that really was not very loose, it fell into the bathroom sink and with some blood J.D. screamed "Oh no, he pulled the wrong tooth!!" That was enough to send Ella over the edge....she was absolutely horrified that that could possible happen and it took some time to get her to realize that we were just joking with her. Bless her heart.

Boys will be boys.....

Boys will be boys.....this is the thing that I have learned being the mom of Jiles. He is a super cute boy, a super good boy, but along with comes alot of curiosity and mischievousness.

Our day started out with him helping himself to the bathtub with Ella.....why bother taking jammies off?? Does it really matter that much anyway.

It also amazes me how much 'boy' stuff comes in their DNA - take for instance the tool box with real working drill that the little guy got for Christmas. No one needed to show him how it worked, he immediately picked it up, pushed the button and began to drill the plastic little screw into place. Crazy.

Last night while folding laundry in the hallway, Jiles turned the corner with one of Jensen's air-soft guns, a big black rifle. He points it right at me with a 'pow, pow' noise - honestly.....really.....this boy is a true boy!!

Girls and Sweethearts.....

Morgan and Brenna came to me earlier in the week wanting to go to a high school dance together. Brenna is not 16 yet, however, I thought if my daughters want to hang out together and be friends who am I to stand in their way. This may be their only opportunity to be in the same group since Sweethearts is girls choice. Last weekend, they got together with 3 of Brenna's other friends and asked cute little Sophomore boys to the dance. It is still a while away, but better to get your first choice than to wait to long and miss out.....

Brenna asked her 'boyfriend' (again, she is not 16, yikes), his name is Andrew and they are friends of our family. He is a great kid and I am so good with them hanging out together. Morgan asked one of his friends, a Sophomore, going with a beautiful Senior girl - I am sure she made his day when she asked him. I am not sure what his parents thought of it, but they are in the same seminary class, so hopefully they are not too freaked out!! :)

Both Morgan and Brenna got their answers earlier this week, Morgan got shot with a 'yes' arrow shot by Cade Trudo who was dressed up as Cupid. She said this was far and away the best way she has ever been answered to a dance, so dang funny and very brave!! Brenna got a gigantic bear cake that she needed to dig through to find the answer, needless to say, she still has not found. Hopefully she is not being overly confident in believing he has said yes.
I am excited for them to plan and go on this fun date together.....they truly are each others best friends!

January, 2011.....week one

Our year started out with Jiles pulling one of the stocking holders down from the fireplace and having it crack him square in the middle of the forehead. This required a trip to Kids Care and by the end of the night he had 7 stitches....2 underneath the skin and 5 on the outside. He surprises me each day with how well behaved he can be. When the doctor and nurse were not in the room, he was busy tearing things apart, but the minute they would come in to look at him he layed there quiet and still. He got his shot to numb him up and did not even flinch.....then while they were stitching him up he almost didn't even have to be held down. He would try to tilt his head back, out of curiosity, to see what the doctor was doing, but otherwise held completely still.
The stitches came out 5 days later, and he does have a scar, but most likely his hair will cover it up. Crazy little fella.
Let's face it, there is not alot to look forward to during the month of January. It's cold, dark, and there is an overall feeling of 'letdown'. We get the occasional surprise when we open our back shutters of finding deer in our backyard looking for something to eat. It is a little bit of a surprise and something that puts a smile on our faces during this time of the year. The deer have showed up every year since we have lived in this house, and the sight of them never gets old.

Tumbling class for Brenna....she is busy working hard and learning to tumble better so that when cheer tryouts roll around again in April she will be ready to rock!! She has her heart set on making the Varsity squad next year. I am keeping my fingers crossed for her. Cheering has been something that fits her personality to a tee. She has made some great friends and is enjoying every minute of it.

Jensen plays basketball with some of the guys from his football team, and this has been a welcome blessing to an otherwise long and boring winter. He practices once or twice a week with two games each week.
On occasion we are lucky enough to have Grandma and Grandpa come to his games.....Julie and Bradley with Aliza and Tate also add to his cheering section!!

CHEESEY!!

Jiles is the kid that none of us can keep our hands off of. We all love smooching and squeezing on him as much as possible!! Sometimes he likes and welcomes it, sometimes he does not. Either way, we keep on doing it!

I rode the bus with the cheer squad as the chaperon to one of their away games the other night. The cheer coach just met us at the game, so they needed a mom helper. I had never been to one of the basketball games, so it was fun to go and watch them cheer. Morgan came with us, it was a fun night out!!

Brenna and Lindsay in between cheers.....

Time goes by....sometimes it seems so hard to keep up on what is going on in our lives. I continue to try to stay caught up.

And there goes 2010.....

What would New Years be around the Barnes home without our traditional 'Taco Night'?? This is one of the things that my kids so look forward to each and every year. I was trying to count back, and I believe that this is year 5, maybe 6 that we have had all of our family and friends over for TACOS!!

It all started because J.D. was travelling so much to Mexico for work and he grew to love the people there as well as the way they can make a taco. It is no secret, but at our house we all love to eat - and we all especially love to eat Mexican food.... (that is all of us but Drew).

'Taco Night' was born out of a need and a want to spend the holiday with our family....lots of time with our kids has always been one of the things that J.D. and I treasure the most in our life. New Years is one of those holidays that really had never meant much to either of us, in fact, it was hard to even stay up to see the clock strike 12:00. We now host a fiesta of sorts for anyone and everyone to stop by, say hi, eat a taco (and some sort of treat, of course) and either stay for a while or leave. It is one of J.D.'s favorite nights, he loves to serve those that he loves.

The kids love getting involved in the preparation of the food and the decorating of the house....you can always find Jensen in the kitchen with his dad. He loves to help with whatever he can.....

Waiting for guests to arrive.....one of the questions this year from Ella was "What if no one comes??" I thought to myself.....yikes, we will be eating tacos for a month. J.D. likes to plan on serving somewhere between 200 and 300 each year. I think it is a crazy idea, but really, the more I thought about it this year the more I am convinced that this will be one of our families traditions that will last -

I am in constant amazement at watching Drew grow. He is becoming a young man. He is kind. He is quiet. He is respectful. He is loving. He is prayerful. He is happy. He is the one that does not like to eat the tacos..... :)

The Hackwell women.....this is our first picture all season of the 6 of us. I love my mom and my sisters. They are all amazing women, and thanks to them I know that I will always have 5 best friends that I can count on!!

Our friends the Griffins.....we can always count on them to come and support our wild and crazy ideas. I love my friend Jenn. She is one of my longest and bestest friends - we go back over 20 years now, high school friends, and our daughters have been friends for their whole lives.

Brenna, Ashlyn, Megan and Morgan

After the food wrapped up, somewhere around 9:00 - the majority of friends had left and we just had my family over. The way we spent the rest of the night was playing 'Just Dance' on the Wii. What a fun thing to watch all of the kids and all of the adults getting involved. I loved having an activity that we could all enjoy and do together. Some were better than others, but it didn't matter, because we all had a great time.

Ella, Robbie, Aliza and Leah doing their thing......

Trent, Andrew, Mike and Corey getting in on the action. I love how none of them are doing the same thing.....that's what I meant by, 'some were better than others' - this group, not so good. I say that with love though :)

Me, Morgan, Megan and Ashlyn....I think this may be my new work-out for the winter. Loads of fun followed by loads of sweat!! Good, good times.

McKenna Griffin, Jensen (in his skinny jeans), Jake and Drew. Drew is my most reserved of my children, so to be able to pull him out of his quiet bubble to play this game is a dream - and by the way, he rocks at it!!

Ella, Aliza, Leah and Brittyn - all the little girl cousins.

Finally, after a long night of playing it was time to ring in the New Year. Silly string and poppers on the front porch with lots of screaming was how we celebrated. It was so cold outside!! I believe it was somewhere around 4 or 5 degrees.....much to chilly to stay out for long.

It is a fun thing to have our home filled with all the people that we love and care about. Celebrating a year that has passed and looking forward with anticipation to all of our new adventures in the future. Heres to 2011.....I hope it is a good one!