Archive for category: The Barnlings

There is something odd going on here. Miss Hannah proclaimed this week that she would LOVE a puppy. Every day she begs for one. She even said she wouldn’t mind scooping poop. She’s trying harder to show us how responsible she is.

Historically my kids have all been scared of dogs until they got to know Kota. Aunt Julie brought Kota over for the kids to take care of. We get to be his doggie-daycare during the summer. Here, Hannah is showing us that she isn’t scared of Kota.

She has been searching KSL Classifeds for puppies. At first we looked for Siberian huskies. I think this type of dog needs too much running for our life style. But we need an outside dog.

A gal in our ward needs to sell her yellow lab puppy that they just got. She is allergic, unfortunately. Last night I took 4 kids over to see him. They loved Gus. He licked Truman’s face and he giggled. Hannah loved him and said, “If dad could just see him, he would fall in love.” If we had a lab, we would need a smaller lab. I don’t do big dogs. He was really cute – I admit. Kind of like this dog with the red collar.
These other puppies were ones that Hannah liked on KSL.

The weirdest part of all is that I think a dog is a good idea. A few years ago I declared that we would never, never, never have a dog. I really don’t love dogs. They scare me.

And then we had Truman. I think this boy needs a dog. I think a dog would be good for Abraham too. And the others would have fun with a dog but probably wouldn’t bond as much. But desperate times call for desperate measures… and if a dog would be a good constant friend for these boys, I’d do it.

Can you even believe I’d consider a puppy? I have 5 kiddos that I can’t even keep up with. sigh… But we would need a little puppy to get used to dogs.

Jimmy isn’t as keen on the idea of a dog as I am. We would love a bigger yard… and a bigger garage for the dog to live in. I guess we’ll see what happens.

I’m just glad something we teach in the home is getting through to someone. Mr. Max actually has an incredible memory. He can remember things from years ago, even though he is so little. He’s a bright spot in our family.

Phew… we survived another Jazz Read-a-thon. We printed a calendar for recording minutes read. We went to the library and gathered favorite series. And the kids read up a storm. Abe’s class read the most minutes in the 3rd Grade. Hannah’s class read the most minutes of all the 4th grade classes. Both kids did excellent.

I was so proud of Abe for reading so much. He’s not the biggest fan of reading, but he worked so hard. He got 1st in his class one week. He was thrilled!

Hannah loves to read and I think could read all day if we let her. She got to have Pizza with the Principal (a dream come true!) for getting top in her grade one week.

During the Jazz Read-a-thon Assembly… where the Jazz Player comes to read to them (and slam dunk it!), Hannah had the [opportunity?] to put a pie in the principals face? Here’s the footage KSL caught.

I’m not sure what joy comes of throwing a pie in the Principals’ face… but the school teachers must have talked it up to the kiddos.

I’m grateful for the blessing to have so many good books available for us to read.

Zuzu’s hair is getting quite long these days. It is half-way down her back when wet. When dry it boiiiiings back up to it’s cute style. We think that she has hobbit hair. Can you see that she could be Sam & Rosie Gamgee’s child with her curls? p.s. she does not have large hairy feet!

These are some photos of Liza’s life lately. She’s 18-months old this week. Wish her well in nursery! She’s had ups and downs the past month with being sick off and on. But she keeps strolling along. She has gotten a little feisty as is to be expected from having older brothers. She hits and spits when she’s upset. We remind her to be soft and she mellows out. She doesn’t say many intelligible words. She babbles all the time. She did learn to say ‘key’ for blankie. She says ma-ma and da-da. Sometimes she’ll holler out one of the kid’s names when we’re calling them downstairs. She does better eating dinner when Abe tells her to take a bite together on 1-2-3… yum! She likes being like the other kids. Liza is great! The end.