October 2 - Leslie Julian Barhorst

We recently lost another baby to miscarriage.  We named this baby Leslie Julian.  The confirmation for this loss took about five days due to the various tests the doctor ordered, so Bryan and I had several days to prepare ourselves before sharing the news with others.  I've ordered icons for the oratory and beads for my bracelet.  Grandpa is going to carve another cross for our wall.  We're doing better than expected, perhaps because we've done this before.  Thank you everyone for the prayers.

September 18-October 2

I've decided to start taking viola lessons again!  I found a teacher at BGSU who is willing to give me a lesson every two or three weeks.  I'm hoping this will motivate me to practice more as well as giving me a chance to learn new repertoire.  My first lesson is tomorrow was last Monday and went very well.  :)

We announced baby news last Sunday, beating the Bossards and causing a minor upset to betting pools across the country.  The new addition is expected in late May.

Kaitlyn started saying "please."  At this point she just sprinkles it into her speech indiscriminately, even if she doesn't necessarily want something.

The girls and I have officially finished one month of school!  We crossed of (almost) everything on our list to accomplish this month and several extra things as well.  I'm having lots of fun, and it seems that the girls are, too.  How much they've learned so far remains to be seen, although when given primary colored paints, Olivia did notice that "two of the colors made purple!"  She has no idea which two.  In other visible learning, neither girl looks like she might lose a finger while using scissors anymore.  This was a real concern at the beginning of the month.  :)

I don't think I mentioned earlier that Bryan and I decided to have "No Fight September" as our dinner inspiration for the month.  We chose only meals that we knew the girls already liked and had a wonderfully conflict free month of dinners.  We did get incredibly tired of spaghetti by the end, though, since that's one of only two vegan meals we thought had a chance for all the Wednesdays and Fridays.  We are now gearing up to tough out "All the Fights October," where-in we will once again eat less popular meals.

Pictures:

Bonus Post: Tell Me a Story

Stories from September 13, 2016

Gretchen's Story:
It's the one with when we get back I'm going to pretend that we buyed ice cream and we go outside and it's melting.  And I get all sticky and I go in the bathtub and wash it all off.

Olivia's Story: {sung}
Once there was the sun shining everybody.  This is a singing story.  This is the singing story.  There is trees growing outside.  And there is a car.  And driving, driving today.  There is all kinds of cars driving away.  And there is a house with four peoples in it.  Gretchen and Mommy and Kaitlyn, Gretchen and Mommy and Kaitlyn and Olivia.  Those are the people.  First there was the bink.*  There came the moon then they went to sleep and then they woke up and there was snow outside.  And then they ate their breakfast and then their lunch and then -- !** ...That's the end.

*Me: The what?
  Olivia: The bink!
  Me: The bink?
  Olivia: Yes.
**I read the story back to her and she said, "What about dinner?"  "You didn't say dinner," I replied.  "Oh.  And the dinner."

Gretchen's Second Story: {sung}
Once.  Once there was.  A.  Car with peoples in it.  They were driving at church.  And then!  Jesus came and said, "I'll make sure the monsters don't come.  But if they do come, I'll stay here and be with you.  If the monsters came then you would be with Me.  Everybody is so perfect."  Once there was a green car.  Somebody broke* into it with us in it.  Then it was green and yellow.  And old.  It was our old car.  And then there was Olivia and Gretchen and Mommy and Daddy and Kaitlyn.  And then they got a new car.  They got in it.  And then somebody thought the old car was theirs.  They got in it and drived away.**  And then there was the wind.  It was blowing my coloring paper.  I catched it.  I drived away.  My mother drived away.  Everybody was so happy la la la la la la la.  They went to sleep.  And then a bracelet was glowing.  And then the strong wind blowed it.  I catched it and put it on me.  I watched my mother drive away.  We went to sleep.  We waked up.  There was snow outside.  We runned back inside and got our things.  And then!  Everybody was happy!

*Olivia said this word was "bumped," and Gretchen agreed after the fact, but I heard "broke."
**Olivia: The end!
    Me: Yes, the end!
    Gretchen: No, not the end!

September 11-18

A bonus post happened this past week, so hop on over and look at that if you haven't seen it already.

Keshia and Rudy came to visit one afternoon, so we made sure we got a cousins picture.  Other than that it was same old same old at the Barhorst house this week.  Olivia (and Gretchen) are enjoying school so far.  Kaitlyn is enjoying getting into things while the older girls are working on them.  Really, there's not much to report.  Maybe this next week will be more interesting.  :)

I do have videos, though!

Pictures and Videos:

Bonus Post: Sound Bites 13

Bryan: Will you always be my little Gretchen?
Gretchen: Yeah.  When I say I'm not your little Gretchen then I'm silly.

Olivia: Three and three spells six.

Gretchen: Daddy, I thought you were a monster because I saw a big head.

*After a trip to the grocery store*
Olivia: Why did we not get any food from those people?
Me: We did get food.
Olivia: No, why did we not ask for food that we could eat?
Me: Oh, a sample?
Olivia: A human.
(She did want a sample, she just didn't realize that's what it was called.)

Gretchen: Daddy, if you were my daddy I would take you a bath.  And I would let you watch a lot of movies if you were my daughter.

Olivia: Last night when we waked up on the next day.
(I'm not really bringing points back, but sometimes a reward is necessary... 15 points to the first person who can tell me what time Olivia was referencing in this comment.)

Olivia: I could not remember what you telled me to say to grandma, so I telled her something else.

Gretchen: Let's play with the meerkats!
Me: Meerkats?  Can you show me the meerkats?
Gretchen: The meerkats are in your room!
Gretchen goes into my bedroom and comes back with the board game Blokus.

Me: There's New Hampshire and New Jersey and way down New Mexico, then New York, North Carolina, North Dakota, OHIO!  Can you sing Ohio with me?
Gretchen: Yeah.
Me: There's New Hampshire and New Jersey and way down New Mexico, then New York, North Carolina, North Dakota... *points at Gretchen*
Gretchen: I-HO-OH!

August 28-September 11

A few posts ago I wrote about the Indianapolis Symphony and their viola openings.  Since then I've found their repertoire list and discovered that I don't know about a third of it, including the concerto.  So I shall not be auditioning for Indianapolis this time around.  :-P  Around the same time, I decided not to audition for Springfield either.  One of my 30 Before 30 goals was to play with two professional symphonies, but at this point playing with Springfield would be more trouble than it's worth.  I play with Lima, and I get paid to supplement college groups, and that's good enough for me.  Auditioning for a very similar symphony an hour and a half away is not a priority right now.  I have started investigating the possibility of taking the occasional lesson, though, in an effort to learn more repertoire (including that concerto).  We'll see if that goes anywhere.

Olivia  doesn't use the words "people" or "person."  Instead, she uses "humans."  It's a weird quirk that makes her sound like she's constantly on the lookout for aliens.  In actuality, we think she uses humans because all the movies and books she likes have to differentiate between monsters and humans or mermaids and fairies and humans.  They don't use the word "people," so neither does Olivia.

Gretchen is going to be a better mother than I can ever hope to be.  Her nurturing instincts are strong, a fact I've noticed even more now that we have an extra one-year-old running around the house several days a week.

Kaitlyn can carry a tune pretty well.  One day she sang a perfect arpeggio in the car ("I don't care" from "Let it Go").  Her words for that part are pretty clear, too.  Other words she's learned: outside, dessert, brrm, chugga, honk (these last three from her favorite car book).

Kaitlyn loves to go!  She'll stand on one side of the room, yell "go!" and run as fast as she can to the other side of the room.  She also does this on the enclosed trampoline, which is hilarious to watch because the unsteady surface makes her rather ungainly.  She is easily persuaded to do things if enough excitement is added to a "ready, set, go!" command.  By far the best incarnation of this delight, however, is found in the car, where she yells "go!" and then kicks her feet as fast as she can while breathing heavily.  I'd take a video, but it always happens when I'm driving.

Olivia started dance class this week.  It's a ballet/tap combo class and I wasn't sure how she would do with being dropped off.  We've been talking it up for a few weeks now and last week she and I went shopping for her shoes and leotard, which I think helped a lot.  I introduced her to her dance teacher, pushed her into the room, and left.  She seems to have done fine and Gretchen, Kaitlyn, and I got to see her dance a little at the end when we picked her up.  Gretchen was very excited and stood in front of Olivia mimicking her moves as she danced.

We started school on September 1.  I'm doing preschool at home with the girls and it's going well so far.  Gretchen is participating more than I'd planned because the older of the two little girls I babysit is participating at the request of her parents and Gretchen is the same age.  All three of the schoolers seem to be enjoying the activities.

The electrician finally came.  We now have baseboard heat and independent lights in the two rooms Bryan built in the basement.  There are a few ceiling tiles to put in yet, and then trim, carpeting, and furnishings.  Bryan is excited to have an office (with heat!) for this winter.

Because of Olivia's dance class, we knew we would probably need a second vehicle soon.  It seems ridiculous since Bryan works from home and I stay at home, but if he ever needs to be in the office on a day when Olivia has class then we're in trouble.  Bryan's been wanting a truck for a while now anyway, so he took his opportunity and ran with it.  He is now the proud owner of a Dodge pickup truck that is approximately twice as big as the one he set out to buy.

We went to the zoo at the end of last month, meeting Kara there on one of her days off.  Let me tell you what, August 31st is the day to go to the zoo.  School has started so the zoo is wonderfully empty.  We wandered around at our own pace and stayed at each exhibit as long as we wanted to.  We even got to go on the giraffe observation deck to see the giraffes up close and personal -- and one was very close, pushing his 250 lb head right through the opening to see if any of us had lettuce leaves for him.  We also compared tongues, and Olivia and Gretchen decided that the giraffe's tongue was the longest of anyone's.  We're headed back to the zoo at the end of this month to visit one more time before they close for the season.  :)

The Fourth Annual Barhorst Fun Run happened on Labor Day.  People came and had a good time.  Only one of our 5k runners ran an actual 5k, despite vastly superior signage compared to last year's sticks with yarn on them.  Everyone else missed a loop and only ran 2.5 miles.  To be fair, Alison and Hector went out after finishing and ran an extra 0.6 miles.  Bryan ran his annual mile, running the whole thing this year and finishing in a respectable 8:34.  I was not able to run since someone had to do times and watch kids (we missed you, mom and dad!), but after a couple of the milers finished I relinquished my clipboard in order to prove to Bryan that I could run a mile faster than he could.  He claims that had we been running together he could have beaten my 8:07.  I guess we'll have to find out next year.

Pictures:

August 14-28

Kaitlyn walks into the oratory and immediately starts singing and crossing herself.  I would guess that she's trying to do the Beatitudes since that's what we sing every morning.

Gretchen and Olivia can both say The Lord's Prayer and the Hail Mary unassisted.  They still fake it through the occasional difficult phrase, so we're working on enunciating.

Surprising words that the older girls use (correctly, for the most part):
Surely
Precisely
I rest my case
Perfect

Words that are still pronounced incorrectly: aziting (exciting), packpack

Kaitlyn's newest words: son, spirit, amen, marks, set, go, up, yeah, yes ("yeah...ssss" or "yeaaaaaas"), bye ("daa" while waving), nose, belly ("baa" while smacking someone's belly), down, can't

Kaitlyn has a favorite book: Toot Toot Beep Beep.  She brings it to bed at night, reads it in the car, and requests it often throughout the day.  I think part of it is that she doesn't have as much access to the other board books as Olivia and Gretchen did.  Even when she has other books available, though, this book is still her first choice.

I made salsa using a small number of my tomatoes and a somewhat larger number of CSA tomatoes.  I had planned to make only one batch of six pints, but I had many more tomatoes left than anticipated, so I ended up making 5 quarts each of two different kinds of salsa.  The good news is that they are delicious.  Next time I have tomatoes I'm making some pasta sauce.

I started babysitting two little girls last week.  Monday through Thursday we have a three-year-old and a one-year-old come stay with us during the day.  All the kids are used to each other now and things have been going pretty smoothly thus far.

We got the rice sensory bin out again.  Another mess was made, and my initial reaction was to never, ever do rice again.  BUT.  All three girls played in it and sprinkled it around and danced in it and generally amused themselves for such a long time...  And when it came time to clean up the rice, Kaitlyn was genuinely upset that I wouldn't let her rescatter the neatly swept pile.  So I guess maybe I'll buy a bag of rice periodically and let them spread it all over my living room.  Sweeping up rice is rather therapeutic...

We have a caterpillar.  I rescued him off our driveway and put him in a jar.  Since he was on the driveway rather than on a plant, I stuffed his jar with an assortment of leaves in order to find a variety he likes.  There is a type he prefers, so now I just have to hunt for that particular plant in my yard in order to keep him fed.  Periodically I stick something new in to see if he takes to that as well.  No luck so far.  Olivia is very excited to check on him every morning to see if he's a butterfly yet.

Pictures:

July 24-August 14

A lot has happened over here.  I guess that's to be expected when the blog writer neglects her duties for three weeks.  :/  Let's see what I can remember...

Olivia turned 5!  She was very excited and now proudly proclaims to everyone that she is 5.  This is usually followed by the person she's talking to asking about school, and then we have to explain that she missed the cutoff by two days.  She's doing preschool at home this year and has to wait until next year for kindergarten.

Olivia's party had to be moved to her baptism birthday.  It was originally scheduled for her actual birthday, but then most of her friends couldn't make it.  This solved a problem for me, though, because Olivia knew that Gretchen's party had been on Gretchen's baptism birthday, so Olivia was definitely expecting baptism birthday presents.  She was also a little confused about whether she was already six or not...  I think we got that all straightened out.  :)

Since she turned five, Olivia had to have a checkup.  She's 41.6 pounds and 43.75 inches tall.  We decided to get her "school shots" this year even though she's not going because she and I had already discussed them after one of Kaitlyn's many appointments.  She did very well with the shots, helped, I'm sure, by the promise of a movie later in the day.  She did less well with answering questions posed by the doctor (the only one she answered was "What do you want to be when you grow up?"  The answer was "a ballerina.") and following directions.  We'll have to work on the crippling shyness.  We also need to work on her tendency to hoard toys in an effort to keep her sisters from using them.  Her sharing game is terrible, at best, and her chosen corner of the playroom often resembles Smaug's lair.

Speaking of Kaitlyn's many appointments, she had a 15 month checkup about a month ago.  She is (or was at that time) 23 pounds, 3 ounces and 31.75 inches tall.

Kaitlyn sings "Let It Go" all the time now.  It's the only song she sings, in fact.  The family sings "Happy Birthday" and Kaitlyn follows it with "Let It Go."  There's music in the car and Kaitlyn sings "Let It Go."  You get the picture.  There was a video a few posts ago of her first foray  into the world of music, but she's improved since then.

In other Kaitlyn news, she leaves a clear trail of where she's been if you know what to look for: she almost always trades an item for the new one that she picks up.  For example: Kaitlyn is in the bedroom.  She finds a barrette, and tries to stick it to her head with sheer force of will.  Failing that, she carries her prize clenched in her fist to the playroom, where she discovers a barbie.  She drops the barrette, picks up the barbie, and wanders into the kitchen.  As she passes the cupboards, she opens doors and peers inside.  What's this?  A bowl?!  Excellent.  The barbie goes in the cupboard and the bowl comes out.  She tries it on like a hat.  Such a trendsetter.  When she gets to the TV room, the bowl finally wobbles off her head.  She reaches to pick it up, but it landed right next to dad's shoe.  The bowl is forgotten and the shoe is placed on one small foot.  Clomping happily with every other step, Kaitlyn makes her way to mom and dad's bedroom.  Dad always keeps fun things on his bedside table.  The shoe is left on the table, and Kaitlyn is the proud possessor of a set of motorcycle keys.  Into the oratory she goes, dropping the keys in front of the icons she can reach and grabbing St. Catherine off the wall.  Kissing the icon repeatedly, Kaitlyn weaves her way back to the playroom, stopping at the kitchen table to trade St. Catherine for a sippy cup.  And so on, and so forth.  Only some parts of this story were made up.  :)

Gretchen helps me in the kitchen.  That's what I was trying to remember in my last post.  She is always asking if she can "make" with me.  She likes to stir and measure ingredients, but she is wary of the big knife after she cut herself (not badly) getting it out of the dishwasher about a month ago.  Anytime I'm doing something in the kitchen, Gretchen is there helping.

Gretchen is also incredibly sweet, always giving hugs and kisses.  She shares everything she has with her sisters.  Gretchen seems happiest when others are happy, so she is very generous with her food and toys.  Gretchen also likes to talk -- no shyness here!  The doctor did learn the answers (and then some) to all the questions she asked Olivia, but Gretchen was the one giving them.  Gretchen also jumped on one foot and took deep breaths for the doctor.  :)  Check out the video below for a sample of how Gretchen might answer a question that is asked.

We went to camp two weeks ago and saw lots of family.  Olivia and Gretchen are getting old enough that they remember faces, so they're more comfortable with the people.  I don't remember many details about camp, but we did have fun and there are some pictures on facebook that I should steal for the blog.  :)

Pictures and Video:

July 17-24

Olivia and Gretchen often let their barbies fly.  The game started because they had a superhero barbie that would swoop in to save the day.  Gradually, however, all their barbies achieved flight and now they hold them over their heads and shout "shoom!" as they run from room to room.  Kaitlyn has been watching intently, so it should surprise no one that when presented with a barbie the first thing she does is hold it up in the air and say, "shoom!"

Kaitlyn loves grandpa.  No one, including grandpa, quite knows why since he doesn't do anything special to win her affection.  He does hold her, though, and they are content to sit in stoic silence together.

Other Kaitlyn updates: She says cat, most often when pointing to our cat as it stubbornly stays a safe distance from her grasping fingers.  She's chosen two battles to fight in her young lift: carseats and diapers.  Sorry, Kaitlyn, you won't win either of those.  What she does win, though, is getting into things.  She can climb up onto chairs and has started pushing them around the kitchen to discover what is hiding on the counters.

Olivia got big enough that she graduated from a five point harness to a booster seat in the car.  Her old harness seat is also a high backed booster, so we just removed the harness and now she buckles up using a real seatbelt.

I had something I was going to say about Gretchen, but I can't remember what it was.  It wasn't that she's slow as molasses (though she is) or that she listens like a rock (which she does).  It was a good trait, but it escapes me.  Hopefully I'll remember it for next week.

Words Bryan wants to remember: hangaber (hamburger), pasketti (spaghetti), yogut (yogurt), strapen (the act of tightening car seat straps), ache-up (throw up)

Pictures

Bonus Post: 30 Before 30 Update

A record of my 30 Before 30 progress thus far.  Some of these probably won't make it, but I think I've been moving in the right direction on all of the concepts.

1. Genuinely surprise Bryan at least once. February 15, 2014
2. Record the psalms.  --Siblings, when are we going to do this?  --Jacob and I have started this project.  We've recorded about 25 psalms with just the two of us.  I'm hoping to rope Jacque into some recording while she's around more these next few months.
3. Run a sub-2:00 half marathon. April 6, 2014.  1:54:30
4. Sell at least one thing I've made (at the Farmer's Market or on Etsy).  --May 17, 2014.  Steph and I set up an Etsy account and my first order was for the matching squares that I made William for Christmas.
5. Learn Spanish. --I listen to Spanish CDs while I run on the treadmill, so I'm making progress here.  --Progress has slowed since my race in April ended my daily treadmill runs.  I need to get motivated to keep learning.  --Progress has picked up again, thanks to smartphones and the duolingo app.  --Progress has slowed again.  I need to just start using Spanish for a set amount of time each day.  :/  --I tried to convince Jacque to come live with me so that she could speak Spanish to us all the time.  Does that count for anything?
6. Record all 6 cello suites.  --This goal seems unlikely to be achieved, but I do have plans to record at least one suite, which is a start.
7. Sew Christmas and/or Easter dresses for the girls. --I have patterns! I'm waiting until the girls are bigger to make them.  --This will happen for the upcoming Easter.  --April 30, 2016
8. Minimize (eliminate?) the need for disposable products in our house.  --Jacque says I've made it.  The only disposable product we use consistently is toilet paper, and I'm okay with that.  Every now and again Bryan feels the need to buy paper products for when we host a party, and I'm okay with that, too.
9. Have a compost pile.  --We have a bucket that we've begun collecting scraps in and the pile is growing.
10. Play with at least 2 professional orchestras.  --I play with Lima, and I'm looking for auditions with other orchestras.  --I was contacted by the Hamilton-Fairfield Symphony Orchestra to play with them.  Unfortunately, I'm already busy the days they need me.  I'm hoping that this means they'll contact me again, though.  :)  --I've gotten a few paying gigs with college orchestras that need extra musicians.  Does that count?
11. Go 7 days in a row without letting my temper get the better of me. February 14-21, 2014 I'd gotten 6 days in a row a couple of times and then finally made it 7 (nine, actually). I'm finding it easier to take deep breaths and move on, and I have a chart to keep track of my progress. Next goal: three weeks. That's how long it takes to form a habit, right?
12. Make an honest attempt at clean eating/real food. I've done some research and tried some substitutes and reached a comfortable point. Do I care enough to use butter instead of margarine? Yes. Do I care enough to buy coconut oil regularly? No. Whole grain noodles and brown rice most of the time? Yes. Completely eliminate sugar? No. Homemade bread? Yes. Whole wheat bread? Sometimes. But often I appreciate the airiness that I can only achieve with a little bit of white flour.
13. *Skipped because knowledge by some of my readers could skew the results.* April 5, 2014
14. Go on an overnight vacation with just our family.  --We're thinking this summer.  --July 11-12, 2016
15. Grow a garden.  My garden is progressing nicely, although technically we haven't seen any actual vegetables yet since they still have a month or so before they reach maturity.  The leaves look beautiful and healthy, though!  --Summer 2014
16. Write a book. --Dad has suggested several times that I draw from my blog to complete this goal.  I have not written a book based on my blog, but I did find a website that will print a bound version of my blog and I decided to order a volume for each year of writing.  I now have four hard copies of various sections of my blog and intend to continue to get one for each coming year.
17. Sew a skirt that becomes my favorite. --July 4, 2016
18. Volunteer to host campout. --We tried to do this for 2016 campout (and even thought we'd succeeded), but apparently we didn't tell all the right people, so someone else is doing 2016.  We will be trying again for 2017.  :)  --Success, at least as far as I know.  I'm pretending that we succeeded and have started vaguely considering where to host 2017 campout.
19. Go through RCIA. Edit: Arrange to talk to a Catholic priest several times.  RCIA won't answer the questions I have.  --What if I just become pen pals with the Pope?
20. Attend Seekers' Group (similar to RCIA, offered by the Orthodox church in Lima).  --Bryan and I are attending this every Tuesday and I have no reason to believe we'll quit before it's finished.  --We've started twice and haven't finished only because the group keeps disbanding before we make it all the way through the material.  I've been going for over a year now and intend to continue going until we've finished the book, so I'm crossing this off.
21. Complete at least 3 things on my (ever growing) Projects List.  --I think I finished one, but now I can't remember what it is!  --I have an Advent Calendar that is halfway done.  I'm also planning a music program for the kids in our parish.  Now perhaps when I finish those I will remember to count them.  :)  --I finished one: The church has a lending library as of July 17, 2016.
22. Start a soup kitchen.  --There is a flourishing soup kitchen in Lima already, but I'm working on getting together a Supper and Psalms with a goal of ultimately hosting it once a month.  --I keep having new plans for a way to somewhat implement this idea.  I'm hoping one will work out soon.
23. Make pectin-free jam. Make up the recipe.  --August 18, 2014.  I made peach jam with almond and nutmeg.
24. Go on an overnight vacation with Bryan -- no kids. --September 25-28, 2014
25. Use up all the coupons Bryan gave me (I still have some from when we were dating). --Slowly but surely coming along.  --Only three left!  --Now only one!
26. Learn one of the 3 big concertos. --I have music for two of these. Now I just have to practice.  --Practice is not happening as much as it should. at all. :(  --I got bowings for the Walton from Steph and we talked about learning it together, but that is the extent of our progress.
27. Arrange a regularly recurring get-together with the Lima folk.  --Second Thursday of each month is "go to Lima" day.  We've successfully done this two months in a row, so I'm crossing it off.
28. Have a religious conversation with Bryan that doesn't end in tears.  --July 27, 2014.  Nothing was solved, but I didn't cry.
29. Make a new friend.  --Why did I put this on my list?!  --I have new friends! ...Kind of.  There are three couples we've gotten together with more than once in recent months.  Add to that the fact that I've become better friends with people I didn't know as well when  I made this list, and I'm counting it.  --Summer 2016
30. Improve a stranger's day.  --I sent a book to one of dad's new parishioners and then realized that now I get to cross something off this list!
31. (Because I thought of one more and it kind of fits in with several of the above goals) Join a co-op.  --It turns out that I AM a co-op.  I organize the buying of bulk foods and distribute them to others.  I'm counting it.