Wednesday, July 1, 2015

Random phone pics

A while ago, when the girls were still in school, Basil and I were playing hide and seek. I was in Basil's room counting. I heard her footsteps run across the kitchen floor, then all went quiet. When I walked into my room, this is what I saw.

We've had a little bunny run around our yard for a while. We saw it last year a few times (if it's the same one), and this time, we snagged a photo.

Claire got her hair trimmed. This was the length before. I didn't even take an after photo. But it goes to about her lower ribs now. Still as beautiful as ever.

One day, Pip got all sneaky and cleaned our room for us. It was really sweet. Later that night, I noticed this little underwear stashed on Rhett's bookshelf.

We went to Summer's walk-a-thon and cheered her on. Claire was sitting like this so I got a picture.

One day, the girls came running into the house telling me they found a baby bird in the corner of our garden box. We watched it for a while. The girls were very concerned, but I wouldn't let them try to feed it or give it water. We weren't sure what to do about it. We saw the mother bird come occasionally to feed it and check on it. The next day, it was gone. Rhett looked it up and found out that it was a baby robin. He learned that the babies go off on their own for about a week and the mother watches over them. They learn how to fly and hunt and protect themselves while their mother keeps an eye on them. Then they are ready to go out into the world on their own. When Rhett told me about it, we both got a little teary-eyed at the symbolism. Haha. 

Before baby June was born, the girls begged and begged for a pet. We talked about it a lot--how it was a lot of work and we needed to have our baby first, then we could re-evaluate our position for pet-keeping. Then we had the idea that we could pet sit. So Summer came up with this list of all the animals we could pet sit over the summer.
New pet ideas babysitting dogs, parrots, birds, hamsters, guinea pigs, sheep dog, black dog, macaw, blue bird, hedge hog, lizard, snakes, turtle, monkey, fish, alligator, rabbit.


This was when we got the soil for our garden beds. They delivered and dumped it right on our driveway. The girls thought it was awesome! They played in it all day, while Rhett shoveled and wheelbarrowed it to the back. I wasn't much help because I was so pregnant. And poor Rhett--this was like a few days after he broke two ribs, so shoveling was painful for him--and probably not great for his ribs. But we had to get it in the beds.

That night, since Rhett had worked so hard, I booked the Coeur d'Alene cruise and dinner for us. It was a nice relaxing evening and fun get-away for us.


Claire doing a look and find book.

Pyper riding on her tricycle.

The girls love rolling golf balls down the driveway "hill." But it's scary that the balls roll out into the road. So I had the idea to block the balls at the end--and then I thought, maybe we could do a maze type course. So we got our leftover cedar wood from the garden beds and made these.

This was Summer's design.

All of the the girls minus Pippy.

Thursday, June 25, 2015

June Adelaide and a car-ful . . .




Our first car ride as a family of SEVEN!

This is what I woke up to this morning. :)

Tuesday, June 23, 2015

Notes

A few things I want to remember . . .

The night baby June was born, when Rhett was helping Summer back to bed, she asked him, "Dad, when she came out, did you recognize her? Did she look like me?" I thought that was so sweet.

Before we had decided on a name, Claire called her "Baby Sucie." (Not Suzie, Sucie. Not sure where she got it!)

Pyper likes to call her "Little One" even though we have a name now. She used the term before we had a name, and even uses it now. "Hi Little One. Don't cry Little One."

And one more note:

We've decided on a middle name.


June Adelaide Barney


Monday, June 22, 2015

New Baby #5!

The newest addition to the Barney family:

June (middle name yet to be decided) Barney--baby girl #5!
She came early Sunday morning. (Which made Sunday a big celebration because of Father's Day, the first lost tooth of the Barney kids, and of course, the new baby.)

I'll write her birth story later, but for now, we'll just share pictures. (Of the baby, not the lost tooth. I'll post a picture of a toothless smile soon.)

This picture is about ten minutes after she was born. She got her thumb in her mouth and started sucking away.

Love this picture.


After June was born, I got in the bathtub with her. The only bathtub we have is in the girls' bathroom. Well, Summer woke up to use the toilet, came walking in and smiled at me to say hello. Then she looked in the bathtub at the swimming baby (doing a back float in my hands) and her eyes grew so wide! It was so fun to see her reaction. She was so excited! She went running out to tell Rhett and my mom when I called her back to go to the bathroom first. It was so funny. So after June got out of the tub, Summer got to hold her for her first time. It was too exciting for Summer and she actually didn't go back to sleep for about 2-3 more hours. Poor thing. I thought she'd be exhausted on Sunday, but she made it through the day very pleasantly. (Thanks to the lost tooth!)


Here's Pyper's reaction to waking up and having a new little sister.

And Basil's:

 I didn't get Claire's first reaction. But she just kept saying, "She's so adorable! She's so cute!" Here she is--holding her after church.

While everyone was getting a chance to hold June, Summer turned to Rhett with her loose tooth and asked him to pull it out. He twisted it just a little and out it came! Boy was everyone so excited! The girls thought it was the coolest thing ever. I was still a little grossed out, but it was fun to see all their enjoyment from it.

My mom took all the girls to church so Rhett and I could rest. We tied pink ribbons in their hair so everyone would know it was a girl. It was a fun way for the girls to share the news. When they walked in to Sacrament meeting, Pyper with her hands in the air said, "We are having a celebration! It's Father's Day, Summer lost her tooth, and we have a new baby! We are having a celebration!"

This is her hair after we washed it. Love the curl!



Tuesday, June 16, 2015

Big News!

Nooooo, we haven't had our baby yet.
But
Yesssss! Summer has a loose tooth! This morning when she climbed into bed with me and Rhett, Rhett looked at her tooth, wiggled it, and said, "You have a loose tooth!" She was so surprised. She hadn't even noticed it! But boy were we all excited. She has gone all through first grade watching her friends lose teeth, and she has waited so patiently for her turn. She skipped around the house this morning singing, "Who wants to wiggle my tooth?" And of course, everyone did (except me because it totally grosses me out). It's been a very exciting day.

On another note, I am still pregnant--which I am okay with. Although I'm due today/tomorrow, I feel great! I think this is the best I've ever felt this late in my pregnancy. I took a few pictures just to document what I look like with this baby. Of course the angles were difficult--it was either this one below that makes my legs look giant (maybe they really are that big???? haha), or it was another one showing an awful double chin that I don't think I really have, but then again, maybe I do???
 (Like my shirt? Rhett brought it back for me on one of his business trips.)

And here's a side view:
(I just washed the shirt, so it's a little tight. Or maybe that's just because of my giant belly.)

I did have Summer take some pictures, but they were all blurry. We might try another photo shoot in a few days if the baby hasn't come yet.

The girls are split on who wants what. Two want a boy; two want a girl. I'm not sure who wants which, but I think tonight we'll write down everyone's guesses and make a game of it.

The girls all finished their last week of school last week. Summer is now done with first grade. Claire is done with preschool. And Pyper is done at Head Start. Next year, Summer will go on to second grade, Claire will do kindergarten at CCS, and Pip will stay home with me and get to be the oldest child during the day. It will be a very different dynamic! But it will be good to have the time with her. I'm looking forward to it.

Rhett is doing so well at Lee & Hayes. It's hard for me not to boast about him on here--I think he gets a little uncomfortable when I share all the accomplishments he's made and doing, so I try not to share too much. But he is constantly getting compliments at work about what's he's doing and who he is. I'm proud of him for all he does.

Plus, I love that he built our raised garden beds. 

This is a picture right after we got the soil in (yes, he shoveled all that dirt with two broken ribs from playing soccer), but now, we have flourishing tomatoes, broccoli, peppers, cucumbers, and strawberries, as well some carrots, onions, beets, and peas just poking their heads out.

And this is just a funny little story--one day, Summer came home from school and told me she was supposed to meet Kayson (a school friend) that night at midnight at the school. She told me it was a top secret why they were meeting--but she also told me what the secret was. Something about catching ghosts at the school. He sent this note with her:
"Were darck clos."

I thought it was hilarious.

Saturday, May 30, 2015

Memorial Day Weekend

Ever since we went to Lewiston/Clarkston, I've been itching to go out again and explore our area. I'm realizing I love our short little day trips where we don't have to unpack suitcases of dirty clothes or clean the car out because we've lived in it for a week on our travels. These little day trips have been so fun for us. So on Friday, Rhett got work off a little early, and we headed out again. This time, we went to the Cataldo Mission in Idaho. Just an hour away from us. It is one of the oldest buildings in Idaho. We walked around the land for a bit--saw this hummingbird that hovered over us for about three minutes, and explored other beautiful scenery.


This is the old wheat grinder. 



 (As we were walking, Basil pulled out her play phone and made a phone call. This kid cracks me up.)

Summer found some moss and was very excited.

This was the old church bell.

A pretty view from the hill.

This is the church that was built to help bridge the gap between the white settlers and the Native Americans living in the area. Both peoples would gather and talk about God and religion.




Entering the church.



Claire feeling better after confession.

Pyper saying, "Guess what Claire just told me!!!"





This blue house was right next to the church. It was the office where they would host guests, meet, eat, etc.

Claire running to catch up with the other girls.

Another view from the top of the hill.

We drove with the windows rolled down for a bit on the way home. I love her face in this picture!