Kean Astaire

For ages, Kean has been doing this break dance move and heaven only knows
how many times I've

tried to capture it on video-- and failed.

Until tonight.

The girls were putting on a dance recital and Kean wanted

nothing to do with watching.

He had to be in the middle of the floor doing his thing.

Enjoy!

A Lesson In Giving

Okay, so this is why I get so darn stressed every Christmas season-- but it is fully worth every ounce of added tension.

My friends and I, each year, "adopt" Refugee families.

This year, we scaled down and only took on 20 families-- but still a huge undertaking.

Just getting the boxes, bikes and goodies (and our own families) loaded into cars takes a miracle.

 Channel 2 showed up to give some air time to these families in need-- the forgotten segment of society.

 This little boy from Iraq got just what he wanted-- thanks to the generosity of one of my friends.  Her family

and all of her in-laws adopted this little family and gave them more than they even asked for.

 This is my core group of friends - we've been doing this for about 8 years.

We call ourselves the "ELFs"-- the Eternal League of Friends and we recruit

our other friends and relatives to help us help others.

 Perfect example:  here's my friend, April and her four children who

adopted this little family from Burhma.  We all got involved in this

project first, for the need of those we help and secondly, to teach our

children that Christmas is really about giving and not getting.

 So here are my children giving.....

 We had part of this family from Nepal/Bhutan-- the boy in the plaid shirt is Chandra.

He is 17.  And that is his little sister, Mengala who is 14.  Chandra spoke excellent English

and we all were quite charmed by them.

Many years in the past, we've had families who did not speak more than a few

words of English.  Yet, somehow, we had no problem communicating or

understanding when it came time to say goodbye and they said thank you!

Our children love, love, love this tradition.

A Memorable Gift

Grandpa and Grandma Bodily (our favorite neighbors in the world) treated us for

Christmas to an evening at the Botanical Garden's "Garden Aglow".

Ignore Holland's pouty face.  She was on one that night.

Thankfully, it didn't last too long.

 Sure wish our pictures could do justice to the millions of lights

and the all-around-awesomeness.

 One of our highlights was actually getting to meet one of Santa's finest:

Blitzen.  Her antlers were covered with velvet.

Pretty cool stuff for everyone... even mom.

I know, I know, I bring this on myself!

Oh, we have been way too busy at the Barker house.

I don't know if Christmas makes this the craziest time of year

or if Christmas just comes at a crazy time... but I'm ready for this

week to be over (I know, ba humbug).

We have been running every night

and while it's been great, frankly, I'm tired.

This pic is from a few nights ago.

We went on a trolley ride through the

streets of Boise to look at all the holiday lights.

And some of 'em were dazzling!

Cha Cha Cha

A couple of years ago, Grandpa Bodily gifted us

this dancing, singing Santa Claus.

Honestly, I'm not sure whether to thank him or

send him hate mail.

The girls push the button non-stop...

so we hear Oh ya better watch out,

Ya better not cry...

Ya better not pout...

I'm telling you why...

over and over and over again.

I seriously hear him (Santa) singing in my sleep.

Anyway, Kean LOVES him.

I think.

 He sits and watches,

then starts to sway (like he's dancing along).

And then he throws him.

But don't worry Santa,

Kean does that with everything.

It is just a phase, right?

Sampson -- No More...

Ohhh, you should have seen the pile of hair on the floor.

His long locks are finally gone.

And he looks so very grown up.

No, I didn't cut it this time.

It looks too good, doesn't it.

My friend, Jan traded me out haircutting lessons

for blackberries.

Good trade, eh?

Here We Go...

The parade of holiday parties has begun.

Last weekend, we went to one of our "must attends"...

the annual NICU (Neo-Natal Intensive Care Unit) Christmas Party.

Usually, we see Kean's doctors, nurses etc. there...

but this year, they had a whole slew of therapy dogs.

They were quite the hit.

As was, the big guy and his little lady.

I do believe this is one of the few pictures we have

where one of our kids isn't screaming bloody murder while

sitting on Santa's lap. 

 One of the main reasons we went was to hook up with this little cutie and her mum.

Emily "lived" next door to Kean in NICU.

Let's just say Emily's mom and Kean's mom bonded through the trauma.

If we have our way, these two kiddos will be fast friends forever.

 It just might take a few years to get them there.

Kean was much more enamored with the Christmas ornaments than with

Emily in her cute little snowflake dress.

We will try again next year!

Love Survives

About two months ago, I went to North Carolina for

a reunion of sorts--- it has been nearly

20 years since our news helicopter crashed at the TV station

I was working for...

3 of my co-workers (and dear friends) were killed.

One of our four guys survived.

The actual anniversary is on December 7th.

We scheduled our get-together around television ratings and of course,

the craziness of the holidays.

The anniversary will be next Wednesday.

But today, one of the columnists in the

News and Observer published this well-written piece: 

http://www.newsobserver.com/2011/12/03/1686571/remembering-a-great-team.html

One of the blessings to come out of this tragedy

is that I now have a group of exceptional friends

and we will forever be bonded together.

You Know You're Getting Old When....

I went out with my girlfriends last night.

We had a lovely evening downtown-- lots of shopping, lots of eating and a boatful of laughter.

We ended up the Bittercreek Ale House... packed at a table surrounded by

a majority of people that looked 15 years younger.

Anyway, towards the end of our meal, a band started setting up behind us.

It was already overly loud in the place... so we all kind of cringed... thinking we'd never be able

to hear each other now.

I had a major flashback to when I was in my very early twenties.

Somehow I had convinced my bosses at my first TV station (KVBC in Vegas)

to let me do a week's worth of special reports on "Jazz Legends Who Live in Las Vegas"...

We spotlighted Joe Williams (the singer for the Count Basie's Orchestra who we followed to the Playboy Jazz Festival to get video of him performing),

Marlena Shaw (the Grammy award winning singer who sang at my wedding)

and several others-- including this guy-- Carl Fontana.

He's one of the best trombonists in history.

Shortly after we shot interviews and video with Carl, a well-known, modern-day

saxophonist and trombonist was coming to Vegas for a concert-- a guy by the

name of Richard Elliot.

Carl had heard of him- but never seen him... so I invited my 60 something year old friend

to go out with me and my 20 something year old friends to the concert.

Of course, Richard Elliot knew who Mr. Fontana was and paid tribute to him at the beginning of the concert.

But what I remember most... was Carl rolling up pieces of his cocktail napkin and stuffing them

in his ears to help block out the loud music.

He loved it-- but thought it was too loud.

Now flash back to last night... in downtown Boise with my girlfriends.

As the band prepared to play, I, for a moment,

actually sized up the cocktail napkins on our table.

You know we had to work off that turkey so the day after, we traipsed up to the mountains

for a little frolicking in the snow.

 That's Greer driving the four runner... pulling several of my cousins' kids.

 Reesey shadowed my two nieces around. 

She calls them her "snuggle buddies".

 The "keeper"shot of the day is this one.

That's my 93... yup, you read that right... 93 year old grandmother with my

mom and cousin on a four wheeler.

I wanna be just like her when I grow up!

 And finally, here's my cutie pie husband racing around with Reese.

I sat by the fire most of the afternoon holding a sleeping Kean.

But I had a blast watching my children have a blast.



Clean Up on aisle one!

Note to self: 

Only feed the boy chocolate chip pancakes when it is bath time.

Not when it is errand time!

P.S.  Happy Thanksgiving from our favorite little Pilgrim.

Elasticboy

Ewwww.

This is how I find the little guy sleeping sometimes.

It looks more than uncomfortable.

But clearly, it's not bothering him (just me).

 Yes, that's his toe right up next to his mouth.

 Most of the time, I'll "unfold" him.

P.S.  The wet spots on his sheets are not from a neglected diaper.

He has learned a new trick of shaking his water bottle to get his bed nice and wet.

Horseplay

Who ever knew there existed intrigue, gut wrenching competition, showmanship

and pageantry... all among the pre teen set?

We spent our Saturday evening (3 HOURS) at a model horse show.

Holland and Greer spent hours cleaning, polishing and dusting off their toy horses.

They hauled them down to Uncle Doug's horse store (Flynn's) for the big competition.

That's my niece, Morgan in the green shirt.  She gave Reese a ribbon for being the best helper.

They then had to place the horses from the right category (Arabian, Appaloosa, Draft etc)

on the table for judging.

One of Holland's horses made it to the final round.  Both girls won lots of fun

ribbons... but neither took home the top three prizes (new Breyer Model horses).

Ah, there's always next year.

All In The Family

I'd thought you'd like to overhear a snippet of our conversation tonight:

Reese:  "Mom, when I grow up and get married, I'm still going to live with you forever in our house."

Me:  "Sounds good.  And I'm sure whoever you marry will be thrilled."

Such Hams

We had a neighbor up for dinner tonight.

Do you know what that means?

Fresh meat.

No, I'm not talking about what I served for dinner.

I'm talking about our company...

Our girls had a "fresh" audience

and boy did they take advantage.

 We were treated to-- not one, but two puppet shows.

 If I do say so myself... it was quite the smashing performance.

 We clapped, we cheered, we wept.

We gave them the two thumbs up.

So maybe that's a bit of an exaggeration.

But we did clap and cheer.

Keanut Gump In Training

These things are doing the trick.

 It's not a fluke.  Kean has pulled himself up to standing a couple of times.

And yesterday, he pulled himself up ... and then toppled into the bathtub.

He didn't particularly like that little trick much.

 We had such a relaxing weekend.

A couple of my mom's sisters (who happen to be some of my favorite people in the world)

were in town visiting.

That's my Aunt Beverly (she's married to my mom's brother, LeeRen) sitting next to Holland.

My Auntie RoEen is next to GiGi.

 Here's Reese muscling in on Aunt Ilona and Uncle LeeRen.

 This is my Aunt Daleen sitting next to my so-young-at-heart Grandma.

My kids call her "Grandma the Great"...

and yes she is!

 And finally, Kean entertained all with his "Elastic Man" impersonations.

Boo (hoo)!

Ah the chaos of Halloween night.

You moms know certainly know what I'm referring to!

It also happened to be our neighbor, Jaimey's (Greer's buddy) birthday.

Her dad asked if he could bring over cake and ice cream and have us help her celebrate.



 To add to the craziness, Jaimey forgot her Halloween costume over at her

mother's house (quite a hike away)

So we quickly threw together another witch (she wanted to be like Greer).

They looked pretty darn cute.

 We were late getting off...

but visited my parents, the Bodily's and the Angus'...

of course, they were spoiled rotten.

 We headed over to a nearby neighborhood...

where Greer's teacher from church stages a massive haunted house each year.

We ran into this crazy woman-- our good friend Sally with her Chucky baby.

Byron's always joking he's going to turn me in for two 20 year olds...

I think I'll remind him of this picture... this is about the caliber

of "lookers" he should be able to get!

 We found the haunted house the kids were so excited to visit.

We had to wait in line about 30 minutes

(which is a real commitment for the kiddos-- you know, less candy).

The minute we got inside, well, I should say, the first scary character that

said boo... launched Greer into tears.  Reese wasn't too far behind.

They couldn't get it over with fast enough.

The rest of us, thought it was great though.

 We ended the night with a visit to our dear old neighbor, Nancy.

The old isn't referring to her age, by any means.

We just have a long standing tradition of visiting her and taking a picture just

like this one... with the kids all dressed up.

We've done it every year we've lived here.. except for last year.

She lost her house in the 2010 fire and no longer lives next door.

So it was a particular "treat" to get back on track with our tradition.