Cheering for the Homewood Basketball team

We might have made history today.......I imagine we are the first residents in England who have ever cheered on Homewood High School's basketball team (our alma mater, for those who may not know) as they played in the final four tournament. Wow. What a game it was too! They were down by 11 points or so with 6 minutes to go when their top player fouled out. We thought all was lost, but they all stepped it up and won the game. What an exciting game! And what great coaching too---way to go, Rick!

Dance party USA

The Barnett boys dancing cheek to cheek.
My husband prides himself on having not been in a fraternity, but somehow he still managed to learn how to dance with a babe in one arm and a beer in the other.
Luke really breaking it down. This is just after the splits.

Picnic on a beautiful day

Here's Philip, Luke, and Sam (left to right) and Sam's mom, Emma. The truly amazing thing about living in a place where the weather is absolutely horrible is that you appreciate the nice days. I remember this being true in Chicago. The first day that warm weather hit after the long, cold winter----everyone was outside and soaking up the sun. Today was that day for us here. It was gorgeous (not warm by any means, but very sunny!)! Dana (Philip's mom), Emma, and I picked up the boys and headed to the park with food for us and the ducks. It was a great day out!

Big Boy Saturday hikes

As is our new tradition around here, the "big guys" (Chris and Luke) went for a hike this morning. I dropped them off at C.S. Lewis' old house (named Narnia, by the way. It's very common for houses to have name plates and his house is named Narnia.) and they walked along the public footpath behind it.
Apparently, this is an old war bunker (now covered in modern day graffiti) that Lewis had in mind when he wrote the bit about the bunker in The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe.
Luke and Chris had a wonderful time; and Luke even said that his big boy hikes are the best time of the whole week. He loves his daddy!

Batman Jr.

We've been battling tummy bugs around here and so we've been stuck inside for a few days. We all have felt so sorry for Caleb especially that Luke was even happy to share the coveted Batman costume with him.......but only for a minute. Caleb didn't much like the chest and cape anyway. But he loves to say, "Bat-boo."

A fun day with Kaye and family

Luke, Caleb, and I drove up to see Kaye, Tim, Ella, and Zac in Bletchley today. We had such a wonderful time. Here are Caleb and Zac waiting for me to turn around so they can try to manuever the gate and sneak upstairs with the "big kids."
Kaye is so fit and trim----she and Luke were a good, even match on the seasaw!
Ella hanging out after getting dizzy.
Caleb, the swinger.

It was great fun catching up, eating lunch, and thinking about how we've become such "good, old friends" in just 2 very quick years. Kaye is the one and only person in the world who has ever seen me attempt aerobics as an adult-----she will be a friend for life after such an event that left us both crying from laughter.

Walk to the Trout

It was another gorgeous Saturday, so we set out for a walk to the Trout....
with our favorite Texans, Clark and Abbey.
After drinks at the Trout, we headed back and pit stopped at a park. Luke had lots of fun spinning Daddy as fast as he could.
Meanwhile, Caleb was in heaven with Abbey. He loves slides and swings.
And Luke loves anything that gets him attention!

Saturday in Dorchester

It was a beautiful Saturday and we had a great time walking around this little town.
Here they are perched in an alcove (is that the right word??)---a little indentation---on the outside of the town's Anglican church.
It was (of course) a gorgeous church. The artwork on the wall on the right side of the picture is from a very long time ago.
Caleb is all about imitating his big brother. Here he is in the middle of a patch of daffodils beneath a cross in a beautiful church yard, lifting up his shirt and saying, "Tee-tee." (Just for the record, Luke did not pee in the church yard.) :)

First glimpse of Baby #3

Saturday morning, February 9, 2008......we saw our 3rd baby today on an ultrasound at the JR Hospital in Oxford. Chris held Caleb in his lap, Luke held my hand ("to help me be brave"), and I laid on the table as we all stared at the screen waiting for a glimpse of this little person who will forever change all of our lives. He/she was laid back sucking their thumb with feet kicked up in the air. What an incredible gift from God families are! We look forward to meeting this little one in August in Alabama.

In this picture, Chris is rolling his eyes at my sentimentality, but here we are leaving the hospital after seeing our littlest one.

Breakfast on the kitchen floor.....

I'm sure this will all come out in therapy someday anyway, but some days I serve breakfast on the kitchen floor in one dish for all. Here they are sharing sausages, the final course.

Our Amazing Caleb

So, we all have nicknames around here......silly nicknames, I should add. But Caleb's is actually fitting of his personality. He started out as Caleb-Rooney which was then shortened to just Roo and which is now becoming the most fitting nickname in the house----"THE RASCAL ROON." He is so wiley and cunning at times it is hard not to think it's just cute. In this case, he dragged the yellow chair across the den and into the kitchen thinking all along I wasn't noticing. Then he positioned it just right for the sink and began splashing and drinking the dirty water around the dishes. All the while he would cut his eyes around to make sure I wasn't watching. (I did stop him from drinking the dirty water, by the way, but then I would go back to not watching.) :)
In the meantime, Luke has a terrible cough and enjoyed some orange juice and fruit on the couch while watching Peter Pan. When asked who his favorite character was, he said, "the crocodile, of course!"