January 19, 2013 - Kaylyn's 2nd Baskeball Game

Kaylyn had her second basketball game today.  She played more today than last week.  She did amazing this week.  She showed herself to be more aggressive with the ball and she tried for three shots and actually made one.  We did not bring the camera this week to take pictures either, but luckily one of the parents actually filmed her making the shot and sent it to me.  As this parent said, "Out of NOWHERE Kaylyn SHOOTS and she SCORES! Small but MIGHTY! Our secret weapon!"  It was so awesome, I think I got a tear in my eye for how proud I was at that moment!

January 18, 2013 - 2012 Scrapbook Volume 2

Finished volume 2 of our 2012 scrapbook!  Got the first 20 pages at 30% off and the rest of the pages at 20% off, which is why I had to hurry and get them done.  With the tax cuts for this year going up significantly, we have to try and catch every discount we can!  Anyways, here it is.

Barton Family 2012 Volume 2

January 17, 2013 - Ashlyn Was Independent

Got an email from the teacher today with a picture attached.  Here is what it said:

Just wanted to share with you a picture of Ashlyn completing her IEW outline (a form of writing I taught them).  She did it all on her own:)  YEAH:)  She was so proud!!!!

This is a big step for Ashlyn.  Her biggest struggles are reading comprehension and writing.  We are slowly moving forward!

January 12, 2013 Kaylyn's 1st Basketball Game

Kaylyn is now on the Girl's 5th/6th grade basketball team.  Before this year it was always recreational co-ed, so it's different this year.  There's also only two 5th grade girls on the team, and Kaylyn is the smallest.  She's very competitive, so when she didn't play as much the first game she was upset.  Also, take into consideration that we had to get up early this morning and be at the gym by 8:30 am that was an hour away.  That didn't help her mood.  Anyways, she did get to play in two the four quarters for part of them and she did really well at passing the ball.  I see basketball, swimming, and volleyball as her sports that she has a lot of potential in. 

January 5, 2013 - American Girl Best Friend Cover Contest

The first couple of pictures is Kaylyn doing her Smithsonian T-rex dig kit she got from Santa.  It's a block of sediment that has T-rex bones inside and you use tools just like a palentologist to dig out the bones and then put them together.  Kind of cool.

The last pictures are of her and one of her best friends.  Her best friend slept over and they entered a contest for American Girl to try and make the cover of one of their magazines.  They had to write 500 words or less about their friendship and then send a picture in.  Here is the summary they wrote:

Dear American girl,

We have known each other since we were very little.  In those years we had done lots of things together, like camping in the Keys and going camping at Disney. We had lots of fun together. Both of us like American girl. We love to share the historical dolls’ stories. We like to read your magazines together. What is funny is that we sing the same, at the same note! Both of us have American girl dolls. Shelby has Kaya, Felicity, Kit, and Josefina. Kaylyn has Kanani, McKenna, Julie, Caroline, and a My American Girl doll. We really like the new doll Sage. She really looks like Shelby (left) and McKenna looks like Kaylyn (right). It was fun picking out the clothes for our picture. We laughed and smiled at the outfits we made. The hardest part was getting Kaylyn’s braid done. Anyway, back to the adventures we had. Camping in the Keys with no electricity and no freshwater was quite a thrill for us. We saw dolphins and octopuses and all kinds of crabs and many species of fish. We had water right outside our campsite! So we got to catch minnows whenever he got the chance. Disney was easier since there were no raccoons stealing our food (like at the Keys) and bathrooms were closer to us. They had showers and electricity. We did many things there, even some we don’t remember. Anyway, in the future we have to have many more adventures together. We do not know what may lie ahead of us, but we hope that we have more fun than we did before!

-Shelby S. and Kaylyn B.

 

This was the picture we entered

Scrapbook for 2012 Volume 1

This past year we had too many pictures, if that's possible.  Well, it is possible if you have to condense them into a digital scrapbook :-)  So, for 2012, I will be making a Volume 1 and a Volume 2 scrapbook to entail the entire year.  I've completed 2012 Volume 1 which contains January 2012 through July 2012.  Select the link below to see the final product.  Enjoy!

2012 Volume 1

January 3, 2013 - We are home!

We made it back home today from D.C.  We had a good time and did a lot of walking.  Not sure I could live in a big city, but if I did, I would not want a car.  I can see how people stay fit in big cities with all that walking.  We came home to a nice clean house with animals that were happy to see us.  I love that trip, but I sure am glad we're home.

January 2, 2013 - Day 7 in Washington D.C.

Today was all about walking along Rock Creek Park.  And let me tell you, that was a lot of walking.  I got over 30,000 steps!  We weren't quite sure what we were getting into and ended up missing lunch (or rather finally getting to the horse stables around 2:30 pm and getting a snack out of the snack machine).  We ended up having an early dinner instead.  We ended up so far away from the hotel (about 5 miles) that we took a bus and then the metro back near the hotel.

January 1, 2013 - Day 6 in Washington D.C.

Today we decided to take the Metro Train to Arlington National Cemetery and then to the Pentagon Memorial.  After we got back from the Metro, we walked over to Georgetown.  I got over 24,000 steps.

Kennedy's gravesites