Barnes Bunch

Tuesday, October 30, 2012

Fall Fun Activities

I guess I should update as there has been a lot going on as usual and a lot more to come in the next few days. So here are some pumpkin activities that have happened over the last few weeks.

For the past few years we have been entering a pumpkin into a local pumpkin festival for judging. We entered in Natalie's name last year and she won 2nd place I think it was, maybe it was 3rd? Well, this year was Kaitlyn's turn. So Joe helped her create a pumpkin man.

Jack the Pumpkin Man

A small pumpkin for CJ and Alyssa to enter

The pumpkins all lit

Some more of the pumpkins


Jack won the Bristol Press Award!

However, the mayor wanted to pick Kaitlyn's pumpkin for the mayor award, but the Bristol Press beat him to it. Kaitlyn did get to shake the hand of the mayor though and talked to him for a few.

See that award

That was some pretty amazing carving on that pumpkin

Kaitlyn with her award winning pumpkin, so proud!


CJ and Alyssa's pumpkin sitting on the stands

These were more of the award winning pumpkins...

And then before we left I tried to get a picture of all of the kids together. But some were cold and some just wanted to run around so I got this...

And then this, minus one who got away. It's a cute picture though...

So that same weekend we decided to keep the pumpkin fun going and we went ahead and did our pumpkin picking at a local farm like we try to do every year. We missed it last year due to snow. I'm glad we decided to do it this day instead of waiting like we originally planned.

Natalie and Alyssa

Milking the cow

CJ milking the cow

Natalie showing Alyssa how to milk the cow

Daisy the pig

Happy Birthday Daisy

On the horse

Natalie and Kaitlyn riding the bull

CJ's turn on the horse

Can you all look here please?

That's about as good as I could get

Time for the hayride

I like this picture of the 4 of them

Beautiful view

Watching other people board the hayride

sitting with daddy

Such a handsome boy

Pretty girls

Me and CJ, he cracks me up.

Hmmm, do they love each other or want to kill each other?

I guess it's love

Natalie holding onto CJ as the hayride starts

Enjoying the hayride

Playing on the firetruck

Heading to a fire

Alyssa wanted to ride the bikes

She's getting so big

4 little Engineers

Playing in the train

CJ riding the tricycle

Alyssa riding the tricycle

Give that back!

So pretty

On the hunt for the perfect pumpkin

2 little pumpkins


2 more pumpkins

And that was our pumpkin weekend. Be sure to watch out for the pictures of CJ's birthday party.

Friday, October 12, 2012

I'm Slacking Again

I just can't seem to keep up here. So let me try to give you a quick update of things happening with The Barnes Bunch.

Natalie
Natalie is in the 8th grade now. It has been a bumpy start to the year with her being placed in the wrong classes. I'm still working on getting that all straightened out, hopefully within the coming weeks. But for the most part she's doing well aside from being bored in these unchallenging classes.

Kaitlyn
Kaitlyn started 5th grade this year and so far it has been relatively smooth. She is taking on a lot of responsibility in the school helping out with a lot of the younger grades. She has applied and just interviewed for the school's safety patrol. We don't know yet if she got it, but even if not she'll still continue to help out with getting the younger kids to their class. Which of course includes CJ.

Here teacher has been out for a few weeks and that has been tough on her. She's not crazy about her substitute and I was really hoping to get to talk to him more about what to do for Kaitlyn and middle school next year at conferences, but he won't be there. So I'll have to wait until he comes back to talk to him.

CJ
CJ is in Kindergarten and it has been a tough transition for him. He is one of the youngest in his class though so it's understandable. He was not completing work at school and having to do a lot of extra work at home, but now he's coming home with less incomplete work. His teacher has been great and super receptive about things. We have already discussed CJ a few times and what we can do to help him at home and in school. She has someone who comes into the class and she lets her work one on one with CJ and she has been sending home lots of great resources which we have been working on here at home. Still, teaching him to write the letters of the alphabet has been hard, but in just a few weeks I have been seeing a lot of growth in him already so I think he's settling in and getting used to his 3rd new school in 3 years.

Alyssa
Alyssa is 20 months old now. We went to her 18 month check up a couple of weeks ago. She's still a peanut weighing in at 19 pounds 11 ounces. So close to being 20 pounds. The doctor is a little concerned and wants us back for a weight check. She looked at her and said she doesn't look frail though. So I think she's just going to be a peanut of a thing. But she gets all the good fattening stuff added to her food in the meantime to try to fatten her up. Seriously, this kid is a bottomless pit I don't know how she's not gaining more.

Developmentally she's not doing too bad. There's still really no words from her. And the words she does say usually leave out consonant sounds. She is still getting speech therapy. That's going okay. I think she'll just start talking one day. She completely understands everything that is said to her and she is starting to identify her body parts.

The Barnes Bunch As A Whole
So now here's what we have been up to as a family. There has been apple picking, fairs, and The Big E. Here are some pictures from those adventures.