Barnhart Picture Day

On the first Sunday of November in 2009, Kaitlin and Eric brought the family out to Larry and MaryAnn's farm for some family photos. Jen went out to the field with them and got the shooting underway. The kids and I stayed near the house, playing a bit. Then I got the bright idea to put them in the trailer behind the lawn tractor and take them for a ride. We stayed in the backyard for a while. When that started getting old, we went out to the field where they were shooting the photos. Our arrival not only disrupted the session, but also was enough to pique the horses interest and draw them over. That was sort of the end of it for Maylee, and pretty much the end of it for everyone. But it made for some cute photos with kids and horses.

Random Kid Photos

Hiking the Mickinick

We took, what may be, the last hike of the year today. We made it a little more than a mile up the trail and Ani walked almost the whole way. We had the backpack for her to ride in, but she liked being on the ground.

The trees were gorgeous. The air was fresh. The weather was comfortable. We wanted to get at least one more outdoor activity in before the snow flies, and it was a blast.

THIS IS IT

In the blink of an eye it's gone.
Why not...
Squeeze it. Don't let go so quick.
Hold on and feel it. Really feel it.
Adore it.
Love it so hard it makes your heart drip with hurt
ooze adoration
gratification.
Get dirty and get to know it.
In the blink of an eye it's gone.
Play.
I'm a baby, you're a baby
2,4,6
It doesn't matter just play.
Absorb it.
Don't fret.
Enjoy.
Tune in and run with it.
Skip with it, laugh hard.
Love it like a crazy lady.
Don't hurt a heart to help a house.
It's a greedy beast.
See the sweetness.
Breathe it in.
Hold it, hold it.

Jen Jeffres Landis

Scooter Fun

For several months, Jen hung out with Mary Ellen and Betty Black on Thursdays at her folks' house, while they went to Coeur d'Alene. I went over after work to stay with the ladies so she could go to her yoga class.

One of our favorite pastimes is to ride two little scooters around the perimeter of the living room. This became a possibility once I lost enough weight to be below the maximum limit for the scooters. Whether we were riding casually, racing, or bumping each other, Ani and I had so much fun. And Miles was on my back in the backpack all along.

Bad Pictures, Great Memories

In our family, we try to be very intentional about not allowing easy entertainment to get in the way of good family fun and relationship. We definitely do better sometimes than others.

February 15th was a night when we did this well. I don't remember how we all ended up hanging out on the bed together (though it's becoming something of a post-bathtime tradition) but we all ended up there playing together and hanging out. Miles was laughing like crazy, which never quite translates on video, but it was a great evening.

Dinner With the Daughertys

We went over to Jen's sister's house on Wednesday for dinner. We took veggie burgers that Jen made, and they really enjoyed them. It was a blast hanging out together. The kids played really well together. At one point, we didn't see Ani and Logan. Jen went to investigate, and they were sword fighting on the porch. Ani had a wooden stick and Logan had a bb gun. Apparently we have different perspectives on the sae handling of firearms with kids in the house.

They showed us a very cool documentary about Richard Proenneke. He retired at 50, built a log cabin by hand in the Alaskan wilderness, and lived there or the next 30+ years. It was an amazing story.

We really had fun hanging out with the Daughertys. We all agreed we wanted to try to do it more often. Hopefully that'll work out.