Bozeman Barnes Family

Cute silly kiddos

2011-01-08T09:42:00.000-08:00

I have a new computer at my desk and thus the ability to manage my pictures easily and Blog!! yayI

The transformation

2010-03-12T14:11:00.000-08:00

This was probably the fastest RV makeover ever. We started last Friday and were finished yesterday. In this picture you can see that I recovered the kid's mattresses on their bunks with crushed green velvet. I also painted the cabinet fronts with chalkboard paint --a feature the kids are already loving!

In the kitchen we painted bright yellow to make the space more sunny. You can also catch a glimpse of the backwall that is also painted yellow. My paint kept running down the walls...it was very annoying.

This is the main interior. I recovered the seats in a vintage floral upholstery fabric that we got in Billings. $5 a yard!! You can see the very best improvement is the laminate hardwood flooring that Dan painstakingly installed. You can not see the carpeting in the front that he also installed.

Mechanically we think she is sound. Dan put in new shocks so we don't feel like we're sailing down the road. We are hitting the road today...in fact right now...I better go....we'll update you later on how she rides!

2010-03-12T13:18:00.000-08:00

Ever since we got married Dan and I have dreamed about buying an old RV and renovating the inside. It started with my college friends, Kevin and Sara, who bought an old camper van and fixed it up. They drove that thing all the way across Canada and back! Now it's our turn!

Our dream has expanded to include our two beautiful children, who think this thing is the Taj Mahal even before we pulled out the orange shag carpet! Dan bought this beauty in Boise while he was on a business trip. He drove it home with no mechanical issues...just had to stop at every gas station along the way!

Oh yah! Don't you miss the days when orange was the predominant color? This baby is vintage 1978 (almost as old as we are...ha!ha!)

Picasso

2010-02-16T13:18:00.000-08:00

Lily has discovered her inner Picasso. She has been painting some very beautiful paintings for us and having lots of fun. She often has the paints out and her apron on before I'm even out of bed.

She had lots of fun painting Valentine's cards using a potato stamp shaped like a heart. She would stamp a heart for a family and give it a name..."this one is Amelia...this one is Sara..."

Valentine's Chair Backers

2010-02-14T14:33:00.000-08:00

For Valentine's I made the kids these cute chair backers inspired by the Pottery Barn Kids chairbackers. I got the design for these at www.nofussfabulous.com/?p=3050. They were very inexpensive to make and involved no sewing. The kids can put all their valentine's cards in them and some treats too. I made Lily's very fancy with pink and red and zebra print.

Noah's was a little bit tougher with black and red ribbon and cow print.

Lily was happy to get candy, chocolates and a book for "Valentime's day". For here this is the pinnacle of all special days...lots of hearts, glitter, pink and fancy shiny ribbon. What could be better?

Hell on Wheels

2010-01-22T13:40:00.000-08:00

Noah and Lily both got bikes from their Grandma and Grandpa 'O' for Christmas....Noah is drawn to anything with wheels and steering capacity. He is in love with his bike and, we are certain, he will be a bmx-er by summer. This was his first day outside with the bike...he was already trying to stand up on the seat while holding the handlebars...x-games here I come!

His Mimi and Boppa got him this very tight Hummer for Christmas....it is the next frontier. He knows already how to drive it, but is unable to steer...this is a little bit concerning. He managed to surf it right into the snow.

We Think He Might be Genius...

2010-01-13T20:42:00.000-08:00

Noah discovered a new passion over the Christmas season...stacking blocks. We watched him stack blocks for up to an hour at a time. Now the kid can't speak a clear understandable word, but he can stack blocks.....and trucks.

This one was 12 blocks high...yah that's right...12. Note the tough looking bangle on his stacking arm. If you're going to do something right it ought to be done with an artistic flair. Also note the stack of trucks to the right of his tower.

Birthday Party for Jesus

2010-01-13T20:30:00.000-08:00

We're still celebrating Christmas around here! I just wanted to put up some pictures from the Birthday Party for Jesus that our dear friend Carol hosted for us! She went all out designing these adorable gingerbread manger scenes...complete with baby Jesus, Mary and Joseph and a few camels to boot! The kids had a blast decorating the mangers (and mostly eating the skittles!). A wonderful way to teach them the real reason for our Christmas celebrations....thanks Carol!

It's Been a Long December....

2010-01-07T17:56:00.000-08:00

December has come and gone! I can't believe it's been so long since I posted anything on the blog. We had so many reasons to put things up! I am sure you will never read my blog again! Anyway...where to begin? We kicked off the Christmas season with the annual tree hunt up Bridger Canyon. It was fun to take the kids this year. We tugged them around in sleds and looked for the perfect tree. When they got too tired (about 15 minutes later...) we headed back to the truck where I fed the kids snacks and Dan hunted down the most beautiful 14+ foot tree we have ever had! As you can see it dwarfed the truck...they always look smaller before you load them into the truck!

We stuffed that tree in through one of our doors and it literally took up the whole living room! So....we decided to invite our small group over to decorate it...many hands make light work. You can see that the ladder next to the tree only reached about half way up. Thank goodness we had James' height to reach high up to the top of the tree.
After our tree was up we headed off to Boise for a week to celebrate with family there.

After the tree was up and the house somewhat decorated, we headed to Boise to celebrate with Dan's family. I loaded up the kids and took them there myself! It was amazing how well they behaved and we made the fastest time to Boise ever! We had a fun visit with the cousins and Dan's folks. The kids just love to be with their cousins! The highlight of the trip was our Christmas dinner party where the kids got to open their gifts. Lily recieved four new princess dresses and was changed in and out of each one within 4 minutes! So cute to see her reaction to the beautiful new dresses!
Upon arriving home it was time for our annual cookie exchange. This event is growing in popularity and the cookies presented this year were the best ever! Our table was beautiful! What a wonderful time of fellowship with an awesome group of women!

First Day of the Season

2009-11-28T13:09:00.000-08:00

Bridger Bowl opened this weekend and we were anxious to get out and see the kids skiing! We woke up to a beautiful bluebird day just perfect for a family day at the hill! We loaded up the skiis, boots, suits and toques and enjoyed the quick 15 minute drive to Bridger Bowl.

First order of business was to get the kids their first ever ($5) season's pass! Noah's looks like he's giving the camera a high five...this seems to be a good sign. Dan and I were both brimming with pride to see our kids dressed up like real skiers.

Lily amazed us with her willingness and excitement for skiing. She hopped right on the lift with me and snapped her skiis on like it was an everyday thing. Dan rode up with Noah, who also showed no hesitation. Skiing must be in their blood! I helped Lily slide and ran along with her (most exercise I've had for a long time). She did great! We did a couple runs, then went into the lodge for the best part....fries and dogs! During lunch Lily kept pointing up at the big hill saying she wanted to ski down there...yet another good sign of days to come.

After lunch we went out for one more ride up the lift. Noah opted out... This turned out to be Lily's best run! She even slid down the run for a portion of the time with me just holding her mittened little hand. We packed it in quickly...figuring less is more at this stage, and headed back home content with our successful first outing.

The Nutcracker "Tea with Clara"

2009-11-22T14:55:00.000-08:00

Today was the big event, "Tea with Clara". This is an elegant high tea hosted by the Montana Ballet Co. where the cast of the Nutcracker serves tea and performs several of the dances from the Nutcracker. It is geared towards young girls (who have a hard time sitting still for the long performance of the ballet). It was a delight to see all the performers dressed up in their elaborate costumes. Lily thought they were princesses and was most enamoured with the Rose dancers and Sugar Plum Fairy. Sara K and Miss Amelia joined us. Amelia thought it was wonderful...she smiled and laughed right up until the final number. The soothing tunes finally put her to sleep. The tea was delicous as were the tea sandwiches and sweets. We also enjoyed music by the Schlender's and the bell choir. All the while snow was falling gently outside the windows. This is a wonderful event that I would recommend to anyone with younger girls. They all seemed to love being up so close to the dancers. Some of the girls even got to touch the Sugar Plum Fairy's platter dress...magical! See more photos http://picasaweb.google.com/jessndanb/TeaWithClara09

Rag Ringlets...first attempt!

2009-11-22T14:44:00.000-08:00

The night before the Nutcracker "Tea with Clara" we decided to try rag ringlets in Lily's hair. I bribed her with her favorite tv shows while I tied strips of torn up old sheets into her hair and wrapped the hair around the strip. The expected result of this method would be to have tight ringlets like Nellie on Little House on the Prarie. By the time we were finished she looked like she had dreads in her hair. She was a really good sport about it especially when I told her that in the morning we got to unwrap them and we would find a surprise! She was excited to have hair like Clara from the Nutcracker. In the morning we pulled them out and found that she had tight little ringlets! Being that it was our first attempt the curls were not all perfectly uniform and there were some straight strands, so we decided to pull it back for an upswept do. We will post another post on the Nutcracker so you can see the completely finised product.

What to do on a Snow Day

2009-11-20T14:50:00.000-08:00

Bozeman remains covered in a thick blanket of deep white snow. Unfortunately for me, Dan is gone this week hunting and I am left to weather the intense energy build up of two house bound children and one house bound dog! By about 10 am we are bursting at the seams (note: toilet paper photo taken at 10:15). Yesterday and today we tried to visit two of the local parks, but the snow was so deep that the kids could hardly make it to the play structures. We tried... Lily has been enjoying the snow in our backyard and is seen here on skiis. She was singing a song about how much she loves skiing...music to my ears. We are reading "The Little House" by Virginia Lee Burton and also "The Nutcracker" by Susan Jeffers. Tonight we are planning to go to the free night at the Children's Museum just to burn a little more steam before bedtime. We are told it is going to snow more on Saturday....any suggestions of free toddler energy burn?

2009-11-14T14:16:00.000-08:00

We took the kids yesterday for a tour of the firehouse. Noah is bound to be a future firefighter. They let him climb into one of the trucks and I was worried I'd never get him out. They saw all of the hoses, tools, and attire of the firefighters. The kids got to see where the firefighters live and learned what kinds of calls they respond to. It was a lot of fun to watch them interact with the crew. Noah kept yellling, "truck! truck!" and he followed the firefighters around wherever they went. Lily enjoyed herself too...especially seeing the fireman's clothes.

2009-11-14T13:41:00.000-08:00

Here's Lily sprinkling magic fairy dust

2009-11-14T13:29:00.000-08:00

Winter in Bozeman arrived on Wednesday night. The snow started quietly falling in the middle of the night and didn't stop until the next evening. We stayed indoors all day Thursday, but on Friday morning when the sun came out we couldn't resist! Everything was dazzling and sparkling. The trees old men bowing under the weight of the fresh snow. I strapped some skiis onto Noah and he was in heaven. I pushed and pulled him around the driveway...he is a natural. I had to wipe a tear from the corner of my eye. Lily, who just discovered the story of the Nutcracker, preferred to sprinkle magic dust over everything...including her brother's head. It is a winter wonderland here!