March 22-29

Jacque and her kids came to visit last week. They spent a fair amount of time alone in our house since we had school, but after school the cousins were happy to visit. Julian and Matthias played Pokemon and video games together. Theodore and Samuel played with cars. There was plenty of outdoor and downstairs play and one visit to a playground. Lenore happily acknowledged the existence of the girls and was even willing to engage with them sometimes, much to their delight. Kaitlyn was often able to convince Lenore to adventure with her while Jacque was busy doing other things.

Jacque and I were able to visit in the evenings and -- side benefit -- I got my Christmas cards addressed, stuffed, and stamped while we chatted. Jacque may have helped. :) Those should be arriving soon if they haven't already. I remembered a few people preferred digital letters, so I've uploaded those to the Christmas Letter discord thread.

Olivia and Gretchen were also able to sneak in a couple of games of Villainous with Jacque while she was here. Their track schedule was different this week (Jacque on Tuesday night: "I just watched all of your complaints about track play out in real time!") which gave them some unanticipated free time. They put it to good use.

Kaitlyn turned 11 on Friday. As is the custom, she received a laptop for her birthday. Bryan helped her set it up and created a discord account for her at the same time, so some of you may be receiving friend invitations. We had church on her birthday, but managed to sneak in a dinner beforehand and cake afterwards. I also had the realization that we were at the exact same point in the liturgical cycle 11 years ago, because I remember hoping that all of the prostrations on the 5th Thursday of Lent would jump start labor. They did, and Kaitlyn arrived early Friday morning, one week before Catholic Good Friday and two weeks before Orthodox Good Friday.

Olivia's high school application and placement test are all complete, so now it's time for scholarship applications. I don't remember high school being this much like college, but it is. Luckily for her, there's one main scholarship application that covers about a dozen scholarships and only requires one 250-300 word essay. She was intimidated by it and worried about the length and accidentally wrote a 650 word essay. She and I slashed and tightened last night to get her down to the limit and today she's submitting the application and getting that off her plate.

We had to borrow a scale before we flew to Florida in order to weigh our suitcase. Of course, everyone hopped on out of curiosity. For posterity, our post-beginning of Lent, pre-vacation in Florida weights. Our children are going to have some strange ideas about the proper protocol for weight secrecy as they age. These were written on our fridge for two weeks before I copied them down.

Bryan 188.2

Johannah 129.8

Olivia 105

Gretchen 78.4

Kaitlyn 73

Matthias 64.6

Theodore 52.2

Next weekend we'll be in Columbus visiting Bryan's sister for Easter, so I'm not sure if I'll get the blog up on Sunday or not.

Pictures:

March 15-22

The remainder of our trip to Florida went well. Sunday afternoon was a trip to Gator Mike's for bumper cars, go-karts, and bumper boats. The girls attended karaoke night on Monday and loved it. They discovered that Mamma Mia songs are well received by the snowbird crowd and also that karaoke tends toward the original ABBA version rather than the soundtrack version, so some words are different. Murry and I discovered that when Kaitlyn sings “I fought the law and the law won” she affects quite a southern twang.

Our flight out on Tuesday was very delayed because of cancellations the day before due to weather. We didn’t find this out, of course, until we were already at the airport. Security lines were the longest I’ve seen them in the past 5 years and when we arrived at our gate the whole area was so packed full of people that we ended up retreating down the hallway to find a place to sit on the floor. By 1:00 we were able to find floor spots at our gate and Kaitlyn checked in with her teacher for the remote learning day that Ohio was having. At 2:00 our 11:45 flight finally boarded and we were in the air at 3:00. Alison had a warm van and dinner waiting for us in Detroit when we landed. We had planned to visit for a bit before leaving, but that didn’t work out, so we just headed straight home and finally made it gratefully to our beds around 9:45.

The rest of the week was a lot of catching up on homework, but everything got turned in by Friday so that the kids could relax and enjoy their weekend.

Kaitlyn and Olivia had Music Evaluation Day on Saturday morning. This is something the piano teachers in our area do and each student is tested at their level (1-5) on various music related things. There’s a solo portion, sightreading, technique (scales, chords, harmonization, etc), ear training, and a written theory/history test. Both girls did well and received their plaques.

Last night we had friends over and today we’re headed to Bargliokiewicz, which is a three family get together that we have about once a month. Well, 5 of us are headed there. Theo isn’t feeling well and a parent has to stay home with him. I’ll probably volunteer as tribute so that I can get my lesson plans for the week done.

Theodore has developed marker opinions recently. I have some paint pens at school that I use to mark seat spots. Theo uses them to draw pictures on the days when he comes to my room after school. He wanted a pack for at home, but I hadn’t been willing to buy them. He dug through all of our markers and managed to find six acrylic brush pens (I’m not even sure where those came from) and they are now his treasured drawing markers. They do have unique colors and are very vibrant.

Jillian and Caleb were here at the beginning of the month for card club. Jillian sent me a couple pictures of her playing games with the girls, and also one of a drawing by Theodore.

Theodore: Annemarie is learning cursive at her school. Or Japanese.

Pictures:

March 8-15

Thursday night we drove up to Detroit to stay overnight with the Ortegas. The living room was a party bed pit which the kids loved. Early on Friday I got everyone up and Alison drove us to the airport for our flight to Florida.

We've had decent experiences with Frontier over the years, but this year they set out to prove us wrong. First my checked bag tag wouldn't print because the kiosk was sure my flight had already left. Since my flight had not left, I got in line to talk to an agent and she was able to print my tag for me. Once we boarded the plane we began to taxi but then stopped because snow was coming. They decided we needed a de-icing treatment. I'm not upset about the safety precaution, but we did sit there for about 45 minutes while they did that. The pilot said that we were hoping to take off before the snow and didn't make the window. I would like to point out to Frontier that if they hadn't pushed our flight back from the original 6:45 to 7:00 then maybe we would have made the window. Regardless, we sat. Once we got to Florida, we couldn't get into the gate because another plane had beat us there. The pilot came on to say that we would have to wait an hour for that flight to take off so that the gate would clear. When I booked the tickets, we were expecting to be at Steve and Murry's house by 10:30. As it was, we arrived at 12:30. Other than a lot of extra sitting in the plane, the flight was fine. Theodore was very excited to see Florida from the air and marveled over the water and houses and tiny cars.

As we listened to updates on flight times, I decided that flights are kind of like instant pots. Just like you can have a roast done in 45 minutes, but that doesn't include warming up or cooling down, the pilot will say that a flight is 2 hours and 20 minutes, but that's only air time and doesn't include any of the taxiing pre-departure or post-landing.

It sounds like we missed an exciting day in Ohio on Friday. Alison said an ice storm came through Detroit a few hours after we left. St Charles had flickering power for a few hours until it went out completely around 1:00. I can't say I'm disappointed to have missed out on the experience of a basement classroom full of first graders when the power went out. The winds in Lima got pretty bad (we've heard 70-80 mph) and debris was flying off the school roof during pickup. The high school gym has a new sun roof, courtesy of the storm. I texted our neighbor to ask about our shed and she sent back a picture of a bunch of stacked plastic tubs with a mangled heap of metal in the background. We have no way of knowing for sure, but based on the "remain calm" and "thank you for your patience" texts and emails the electric company has been sending out, it's quite possible there is still no power at our house. They are estimating that some places could still be without power until Tuesday, although estimates on our side of the state are generally for sometime later tonight.

We remain warm and cozy in Florida until Tuesday mid-day when we will fly back to Detroit. The kids have been enjoying the pool and golf cart rides. They are decorating the golf cart for the St Patrick's Day parade and looking forward to karaoke tomorrow night. Bryan and I have been enjoying relaxing and visiting with his parents. He bought them a new tree, a cocktail tree that grows both lemons and limes, for their backyard. All Bryan's dreams of growing citrus are realized in Florida.

Pictures:

March 1-8

Sunday we had friends over (but just the kids, because the accompanying parent was sick) and went roller skating to celebrate some church birthdays.

Big news on the track front: We have a schedule AND it has been communicated to us. Will wonders never cease? It did take a few false starts, with miscommunication of both the meets and practices (in separate occurrences, of course) as the powers that be struggled a bit over who was most powerful and who had which information. And then when they got that straightened out inquiring mothers who just want to be places on time were told that there was never any problem at all, which is bologna. But inquiring mothers are taking deep breaths and practicing patient acceptance and being grateful that it only took a week and half to get correct information. Addendum: I wrote this paragraph on Wednesday and then on Thursday the kids finished 15 minutes early with no warning. Close enough, I suppose.

The kids get along amazingly well for a magical half hour or so at bedtime. Once a week or so Bryan or I will tell the kids to get ready for bed and they will instead sit down for an exceedingly cordial game of some sort. If we let it go too long, they get overtired and testy, but for the first 30-45 minutes it's calm and quiet and happy memories are being made, so we tend to let it happen and hope we don't suffer for it in the morning.

Bryan caught whatever has been going around on Wednesday and was confined to bed on Thursday and Friday. Whatever he has involves a fever and is likely viral. He also has theories that the diet change of Lent contributes to his poor immune system and makes him more susceptible to germs. It's possible that Lent just coincides with things being passed around. Saturday he was up and about more, although still wearing his sick hat and taking naps. We are hopeful that the rest of us don't catch it, especially since we are supposed to leave for Florida this Friday.

Wednesday night Bryan supervised a large scale (is 30 people large scale?) play test of his newest game, Ninjamboree. He wasn't feeling great at that point and came to bed after I was asleep, so I was able to ascertain that it went well enough, but no more. If he wants more details in the blog book for posterity, he will have to leave a comment. Anyway, the game wasn't broken, but it also isn't quite ready for launch. He has big hopes for this game and is ready for the years of work to be complete so that he can release it into the wild.

Friday night was our annual Happy March card club. Bryan was still down for the count, so the amazing team of Olivia and Gretchen filled in for him. They alternated games and ended up winning the whole thing! One thousand apologies to various adults later, they are the proud co-owners of a mug. Their euchre skills are great, but their trash talk could use some work.

We had several of those sticky ninja wall climbers to put in valentine cards and one became adhered to our kitchen ceiling back in February. It finally fell on Friday, after 20 days on the ceiling. The kids have tried to reattach it, but it has run out of stickiness. It remains the undisputed champion, having easily outlasted the second place ninja's measly 24 hours. 

It was Right to Read Week at school, which means out of uniform days. Thursday was dress as a book character day. Pictures below.

I finally got my Christmas letter written. Hopefully I will get it in the mail before we leave for vacation. I am accepting guesses for how many signature pages I had to print before we managed to get 7 successful signatures.

Some funny observations by Theodore this week:

He was looking at reptile books at the library. One had a frog, and he asked if frogs were reptiles. I said no, they are amphibians, and he told me they must be reptiles because they're in the book. This led to the examination of the cover, and we discovered that the book was actually called Reptiles and Amphibians. He promptly gave it back to me, saying, "I don't want this one, because I only want to learn about reptiles. I don't want to learn about amphibians."

One morning Theodore asked if we were ever going to move to a new house. I told him we had no plans to move anytime soon and wondered why he asked. He said it was because a new house would not be so dirty. Clarification elicited the understanding that "dirty" means "messy." I suggested just cleaning up the current house, noting that all of the things and people would accompany us to a new house. Then he sat me down and very seriously told me that now that no one was two or three years old anymore we should be able to just keep everything where it belongs after using it, provided it starts in the right place. Apparently the easiest way to do this would be to move.

Pictures:

February 22 - March 1

This week was a doozy. We didn't do very many exciting things, but we did have a lot of demands on our time.

Sunday was Forgiveness Vespers, but at 12:30 because we had a visiting priest. This is one service the kids remember, so that makes it one that I appreciate more. Once we made it home for the day, we had nothing else planned.

All the other nights of the week, though, were filled with services because of the first week of Lent. Now we decrease to just Wednesdays and Fridays until Holy Week.

Track suddenly started this week. Yes, I placed my modifier correctly. Track's communication since we've been involved has been ... lacking. We found out through the grapevine around 4:00 on Monday that practice might be starting. At 5:15 I texted the team mom who ran all communications last year and found out that practice had indeed started. The girls did not make it. Allegedly an announcement was made at school (at 3:00, for a 4:45 practice), but six Barhorsts did not hear it, so I am relatively certain that the school dropped the ball on that one. The girls were able to attend practice the rest of the week. At this point we know practices as much as one day ahead and we are supposed to be grateful for that extremely advanced notice. 

Gretchen got shin splints on day two of track, likely caused by running indoors (a theory not tested, but based on the fact that she did not suffer during cross country, nor have any of our off season runs bothered her). The new junior high coach gave her two pages of stretches and grounded her for a few days, which is more than anyone did when she sustained injuries last year. It seems unlikely that they will move training outside before the weather warms up more, so I guess we'll take what we can get.

Friday we had to go to the library to turn in winter reading sheets. We don't go to the library much at all anymore, preferring to read on kindles, but the boys wanted a chance at prizes. Now we have library books that we'll need to remember to return again.

Saturday I spent at a Mothers' Retreat with a friend. It's a Catholic retreat in farm country, Ohio, and I always find it refreshing and edifying.

I'm preparing for a half marathon in April and the training plan that I'm following has me ramping up the weekday miles, which is fun to try to fit in. I'm also starving all the time, but never hungry for anything, so that's great. In a related pondering, how much do we think I need to run to pull ahead of Dad's all time mileage? He put in more miles in high school, ran in college (which I did not), and trained for one marathon. Plus any other running he did just because. But this is my 7th half marathon build, so I feel like I have to be gaining on him.

Pictures: