Yo Ho Ho Ho Ho Ho

Santa Claus came through big-time for the Barker's. Look at what he somehow got in and out of his sleigh! Big Red left a note for the girls: Hey my good little Barker girls... to find your present, follow the ribbon curls.
He then left a trail of curly ribbon winding through the house and leading to a Piano. Whhooohheee. It was pretty exciting... especially after the night of many awakenings. Reese was up first at 3a.m. She kept repeating "Santa come?" Who knew a 2 year old would be so clued in! Then Holland and Greer were up an hour later (and stayed up for another hour before exhaustion set in). Thank heavens for naps.

My mom and dad brought all the grandkids pajamas back from their trip to China. Cute, eh?

Here they are opening some of the mother-lode from Grandma and Grandpa Barker. So much

for taking it easy this year.

Grammy and Grandpa Leavitt got all three girls new bedding. Reese moved up to a "big girl" bed. (Sorry, pictures to come).

And here's some of what Grandma and Grandpa Klingler spoiled the family with... we've played

the "bear hunt" game at least 17 times. Oh, and the Barbie cookbook Reese is holding is mine from my beginning years as a chef (thanks mom)!

Finally, the piece de resistance: Byron spent many a late night making the girls their own jewelry/treasure boxes. We call them treasure boxes-- 'cause if any of you have kids.. you know that everything and I mean everything is a treasure (receipts, the stickers that come on the newspaper, gum wrappers etc). Byron hand dove-tailed them and built an insert with compartments for their jewelry. We're hoping they'll last forever. They turned out beautiful. MacGyver strikes again!
I just couldn't resist-- you understand. Nope, this isn't cross dressing 101-- Byron won the first ever Princess game playoff. Next time you see him, remember it's "Your Highness". By the way, he did other more manly things during our snow days-- like taking the kids snowmobiling all over the property-- I just failed to take pictures of that.

Old MacBarker had a farm...

Since we've moved to Idaho we've had more company than you can imagine. Well, imagine my suprise when Byron and the girls brought home our latest guest-- a full grown Canadian Goose.

Let me introduce Isabella Goosey Goose Barker -- newly adopted into our little family.

Before I go on, I had nothing to do with Reese's outfit. Little miss fashionista came up with it on her own. Now back to the goose. The kids found her trying and failing to fly-- she'd been shot in the wing and side. She came to our place to recover and spent a stint in the garage. However, she wasn't the best of guests and I must admit I resorted to calling her Hissy Fit behind her back. So what did all that complainin' get her? An upgrade to the girl's play house.

Alas, we said our fond farewells and handed her over to more capable hands-- a Vet who works with a water fowl rescue agency. If she can't be rehabilitated back into the wild-- she'll go to live with a wingless goose on some lady's pond near Boise. Stay tuned...

Oh Christmas Tree...

We have a little family tradition here in Idaho - on the day after Thanksgiving, we head up in the mountains for a little snowmobiling, sledding and Christmas Tree gettin'. This year we had to wait a few weeks for the snow to come. But lookey here, we found a gorgeous tree (and we only got stuck once)!

After we found "the one" the girls went sledding. Reese giggled and screamed for joy on her maiden voyage. When we asked her if she was ready to go again-- we got a big Nope! Maybe next year.

More Company

Since it's Christmas time, the visits never stop. We all woke up early one morning to this little guy. He came with a note--- his name is Eli and he's been assigned to our house by Mr. S. Claus to keep an eye on the girls and report back. It's been great. Each time they start quarreling (what? the Barker girls argue???) we gently remind them that Eli's watching and voila... happy times!

It has backfired a bit though, to be honest. First off, Byron told the girls the real Eli is probably hanging out up in the attic, 'cause Elves like the cold. So we've already made way too many trips up the attic. And second, Holland woke us up in the middle of the night last night to tell us she is positive she heard Eli walking around. UG-- I'm tired and I'm almost tempted to tell Eli to find another house. Almost....

Ho... Ho... Ho...

Suprise, suprise. Guess who showed up at our back door? None other than the big guy himself. The girls shrieked, screamed, giggled and gawked. Reese wouldn't sit on his lap-- so Momma had to sit in on the pic. (By the way, now that he's safely gone... she won't stop talking about him)! And guess what she wants Santa to bring her? Candy! She is definitely her father's child. Holland wants some Hannah Montana doll that sings Rockin' around the Christmas Tree and Greer would like Barbie's Christmas Carol DVD. Being the ever thoughtful guy that Santa is... he brought the girls a kid's Christmas treat cookbook. We're already having fun with it!

My Cup Runneth Over

I went with my friends Joannah, Ali (their children) and our friend Inge who was visiting from Holland to hear Greg Mortenson speak at BSU. He's the author who wrote Three Cups of Tea, a book that's been on the best seller list for something like 97 weeks straight.

In short, his attempt to summit K-2 failed just short of the top. He nearly froze to death, was seperated from his team and wandered into a remote village in Northern Pakistan. While the villagers nursed him back to health, he fell in love with the people and found his calling. He left with a mission to come back and build the children a school-- a real school. The children were doing their lessons with sticks in the dirt.

That was something like 15 years ago. He has since built 70-something schools in Pakistan and Afghanistan-- and many of them girls schools (something unheard of in the past). (Read the book-- it will inspire you).

Anyway, it was a real treat to hear him speak. Two of my girls have spent the past month, along with their schoolmates raising money for Mortenson's Pennies for Peace program. I even helped out with drumming up a bit of media coverage. We're hoping to do this every year. It was a great experience for the kids and a little brain food for this mom.