Nine Is Pretty Fine

For Greer's 9th birthday, we had planned an "end of the year" bash in the pool.

But on the last day of school, it was windy, rainy and a balmy 64 degrees.

A bit nippy, eh?

So we postponed the soiree' until yesterday when it was nearly 80.

The kids went swimming, had dinner, 

 cake

 and of course lots of presents.

Happy Birthday sweet girl!

Making Memories on Memorial Day

We headed up to the cemetery this morning to clean off my nephew's grave and place a bouquet of flowers.

We took along Jaimey (our neighbor).

Isaac was my brother Marc's little baby who only lived a day.

The cemetery was beautiful-- flowers and flags were everywhere.

We love this simple, little family tradition.

Hopefully, the children will continue it with their families in the future.

That is, of course, if they remember it.

Reese doesn't remember coming here last year.



Mass Murder, Death and Destruction

Bring on the black!  We are all in a state of mourning here at Barker Park.

A few days ago, we noticed many of the bees from our hive on the outside of the hive

and tiny bits of what looked like chewed up wax all over the ground.

In the picture below, you can see the wax and those dark spots are all dead bees.

We called on our bee expert -- Grandpa Bodily who said he had read and heard about this phenomenon

but had never seen it in person.

It seems a rogue bee had gotten into the hive, stolen some honey and then triumphantly

gone out and gotten the rest of his hive to come raid ours.

Grandpa Bodily said the two hives will fight to the death.

Sure enough... our hive was decimated.

Here's a closeup-- see the fuzzy, yellow bees-- those were our good guys.

The bee in black is one of the bad guys.

 Here's a picture of one of the queen pods-- she would typically be protected inside that little cone-- but alas,

she was M.I.A.

 Byron opened up the hive and it was cleaned out.

Literally.

Grandpa Bodily said the raiding bees can strip a hive clean of honey and bees in two hours flat.

Both of our hives got hit.

It is so sad to drive by our hives and see nothing-- no little bees buzzing around.

Now I kinda know how farmers must feel after losing a crop.

It sucks.

And that, ladies and gentlemen, ends your lesson for the day on nature.

Tune in again, hopefully, we'll have a more positive lesson in the future.



It's over.

I swear, May-- the end of the school year rivals the Christmas holidays when it comes to packed calendars!

Here's a whirlwind tour of our last few school events.

First, Greer had two items in the school Science Fair-- including her Valentine's box that was a simple machine.

(Thank heaven for Grandpa Bodily who is a retired engineer).

 Holland's science project on bees and how they keep their hives warm in the winter and cool in the summer

earned her 100 out of 100 points.

 However, my personal favorite was the science project done by the kid on poop.

No kidding.  The student tracked how long it took corn to be eliminated from the body.

And yes, it was a boy who did the project.

 Truly, the best part of the Science Fair was watching Kean with his fan club.

Both Reese and Greer put on programs for the parents... at the same time on the same day.

Thankfully, my mom covered one while I covered the other.

 Check out what Reesey made for me. 

Holland's grade made monsters out of paper mache'.

Now that it's home, her bat-looking creature takes up half of her room-- it's huge.

 The 5th graders also put on a concert and did a little swing dancing number.

Holland is in the front row in the hot pink dress.

The boy who was her dance partner pulled her to perform in the very back corner-- so it was

impossible to get a picture-- too bad.

We had a good laugh though, the boy who asked her to be his partner is named Colin Barker.

Colin Barker and Holland Barker-- tee hee.

 Not to be outdone, Greer tried out for the school talent show

and made it!

She sang a solo in front of the entire school and many, many parents.

She is so brave and has the sweetest voice.  Not so sure where she got that from...

 And finally, here's Reese Magoo on Kindergarten Graduation Day with her teacher, Mrs. Karr.

 She was given the award for "Kindness to the Core" for her class.

It still hasn't sunken in that school is out and they'll be moving up to the next grade next fall.

Yikes.



Our Get-Away

A couple weeks ago, we went camping along the Idaho - Oregon border

to a beautiful place called Hell's Canyon.

 We went with our favorite camping buddies... the Moomey's.  As you can see,

Kean LOVES Mark.  We also went with Mark's girlfriend, Rachel and her family.

They were wonderful-- but somehow, I didn't end up with any pictures of them!

 While Kean napped, Elly, Mark and Byron took the two older girls hiking up the other side of the canyon.

 Pretty sweet views, eh?

 Our camping site was just a short jog from the Snake River... where

Kean explored every rock he could get his hands on (and ate his fair share of dirt)...

And Mark chauffeured the girls around in the Kayak.

First Reesey...

 then GiGi...

 and of course, Holland.

 Kean was the only one who didn't get out on the water.

But that didn't stop him from spending his fair share of time on the boat.

 Finally, here's just a darn cute pic of Keanut.

While you were sleeping...

You get one guess as to where we are.

 My goal for the year (perhaps too lofty of one) was to get through it without a trip and stay in the hospital.

Now, depending on how you score this, will determine whether I made the goal.

We had a very, very early morning trip to the emergency room

'cause the little peanut wasn't breathing right.

Turns out he's got fluid in his lungs again.

Pneumonia... again.

 The good news  the very good news is the doc gave ME the choice of admitting him in the hospital

or sending him home on meds and breathing treatments.

Guess I came across as somewhat competent... since they let me take him home.

P.S.  He's doing much better.  I think home works wonders.

Snoozers

Look what I (and half my congregation) found in the foyer of our church...

Go Figure...

Just so you know...
I thought I'd give you the report on Kean's hearing tests. 
Last week he had another ABR  (sedated hearing tests).
Here's the good news: 
His hearing improved in his left ear to the point he no longer needs his hearing aid.
YIPEEEE!
Now here's the bad news.
His hearing in his right ear has worsened.
Don't ask me how we have such a split.
But I'm hoping only having to fight him on one hearing aid will allow me to win more often.
In case you've not seen him in person-- he can pull one hearing aid out before you even get the other one in.  He is scary fast.
P.S.  He had his eye testing earlier this week and his Nystagmus (shakiness) has settled down nicely and he does NOT need glasses. 
Whew!

We've adopted! Two little sisters...

Clearly we don't have enough excitement  chaos in our lives.

So we decided to add to our little brood.

Relax.

We're not that crazy.

The two little sisters are these little girls...

 Please welcome Midnight Angora Barker-- Mimi for short

 And the little grey girl is Thumper Lilac Barker.



Our Monet Moment

Over Spring Break we did something I hope I don't live to regret.

We moved Kean in with Reese and gave Greer her own room.

Greer's new room is painted a deep Bordeaux red so we had to do some major redecorating to

take it from a vintage cowboy look to a young girls room.

Since we couldn't find any art that was just right, we decided to make our own.

And what fun that was!

 Greer sketched herself on a piece of paper and I then tried to replicate it on three small canvases.

We painted it together.

It's supposed to be Greer.

 Byron's the real artist in the family.

He took this old dresser-- and I mean old.

It was my best friend Stacy's dad's and probably his dad's or grandfather's before him.

It had a bazillion coats of hideous paint and these old locks on the front that when Byron

popped them out-- they were patented from the 1880's.

 It turned out beeyootiful and is perfect for Reese and Kean to share.

Move Over Batman....

Introducing Staticman