Barnhurst slide-by

Cummings' Venture East

Fun at the farm at the Please Touch Musuem, the best kid's museum ever!

Four kids in a standard bathtub? Yes it can be done!




Enjoying the sights downtown, notice all our beautiful spring flowers!














I think the city of brotherly love is growing on me! Who's coming to visit next?

We just said good-bye to the Cummings clan who came to visit from San Diego. My sister Erika came up to Philly from D.C. to visit too, and now that everyone is gone I am feeling lonely! We had a great time and were busy every second of the day! We are so glad you all came to visit us, let's do it again soon!

Hello Spring

The weather conditions on Monday 4/16 ...not too pretty
Friday 4/20, hello spring! Logan celebrated by cleaning our slides in his diaper and cowboy boots.
We found these slides on Craig's list, I was only supposed to buy one but got suckered into buying 2 because the lady told me I could have them both for $1 more. I told Eric I would sell one, we'll see about that.
Logan playing with our new sand/water table, also a Craig's list find.
We'll see how long this weather lasts, but for now we are enjoying the sunshine!

Race Day - Take 2!

After our St. Patrick's Day half marathon got cancelled due to snow, it was rescheduled for April 14th. Both Angie and Jordan were going to be out of town (my two race buddies), so I wasn't sure I was going to go. Then my sister Erika said she still wanted to do it with me, so I borrowed Jordan's race number to take to the race because I threw mine away. Erika and I met in Chambersburg Saturday morning (after I got lost and had a nervous breakdown) and had a good, but tough race. The course was through farm country so we had the smell of manuer in our nostrils the whole time and were challenged by some pretty steep and consistent hills. After eating pizza and oranges after the race, we were ready to leave when they started the awards ceremony. We decided to stay and were so glad we did because I won 2nd place in my division! What's funny is that because I was running with Jordan's number, I accepted the award in her name and in her age group, 20-24. Feeling fradulent about winning in another age group than my own, we stayed to hear the winners of my own age group, 25-29, and had I been wearing my own number, I would have won 2nd in that divison too! I was pretty excited to bring home a trophy and Mason thought it was the coolest thing ever. I think I'm hooked on placing now, so watch out! For the record, my time was 1:47 and Erika's was 2:02.
Thanks for going with me, Erika! You're the best and rocked the race too!

Date Night Swap

Our ward has this great system of babysitting co-op groups made up of 4-5 families. Every Friday night one couple is in charge of babysitting and all the kids go to that house for 2 1/2 hours while the parents get to go on a date. We only have to babysit once every 5 weeks and get free babysitting the other 4 weeks - it's great! Here is a picture of our group of kids (minus one girl, Marley) watching a movie. This calm lasted all of 30 seconds, it gets pretty wild with all those kids! But everyone is well behaved and all the kids play good together, so it's manageable. I highly recommend this system to everyone!

Easter morning - Part II

What is this pile of hair, you ask? That is the aftermath of a serious haircutting session in the Barnhurst kitchen. Eric decided it was time for the kids to have a buzz, so despite much protesting on my part, he got the buzzers out and clipped away. I always mourn my kids lost hair, but I don't know why. They both have enough for 3-4 kids and it grows back soooo fast!
Here is the finished product. I am not quite used to it yet, but it's growing on me. People at church didn't recognize our boys!
Here is a full body so my mom can see their full Easter outfits - aren't they cute?

Easter morning - Part I

There was much fun to be had at our house Easter morning! I wanted to sleep in because it is my birthday, but I couldn't miss seeing Mason and Logan get their baskets (or buckets, in our case) and look for the hidden eggs. Here are the boys opening their loot.

Logan loves "chaco," his word for chocolate. I don't know how it started, but he's obsessed!
The highlight of the morning was the Superman pajamas the Easter bunny delivered. I knew the boys would love these, so I had to buy them even though they are hideously ugly. The Friday before Easter Mason told me he wanted Superman pajamas and I told him to ask the Easter Bunny for them. He asked me how the Easter bunny would know he wanted them and I told him to just think about it real hard and the Easter bunny would know. After thinking about it for a while, he said, "I don't think that will work Mom." Maybe now he's convinced!
Demonstrating the awesome super cape feature!

Easter Eve

On Saturday we went to an Easter Egg hunt at a friend's apt. complex. The kids loved walking around and looking for eggs, even though it was 38 degrees! Poor Logan is outgrowing all his coats, but I don't want to buy a new one because it's supposed to be spring, so please ignore the "fat man in a little suit" look.

Yeah, an egg! These eggs were hidden well so it was very exciting to find them!

Here is the proof that it was really cold, those white specks are snow! It only snowed for a few minutes, but I wasn't happy about it. This is not the weather I want right now.

Later that night we colored eggs. The boys loved it, but I was a stress case. Logan kept tipping the cup sideways to get the eggs out and Mason would take the spoon out of the cup with dye all over it and let it drip over the carpet. Eric was trying to study, but came upstairs when he heard my distress calls. Maybe this will be more fun for me in a couple years.

The finished product and look how happy those boys are! I guess I need to relax and let kids be kids!

Spring Photo Shoot

I took the kids to JC Penney to have their pictures taken and the photographer was the rudest person I have ever encountered! He was mad that I didn't want to use any props (like balls, bears, etc.) and didn't listen to me when I said I didn't like the backgrounds he was using. He kept calling Mason the wrong names, like Nathan and Morgan, and would snap at him when he didn't respond to those names! He kept giving Logan orders, like "tilt your head" or "put your head on your hands" and would get very frustated when Logan didn't do it just right. Poor Logan was doing really well and trying to follow directions, he would actually do what the guy asked, just not exactly the right way. Needless to say, it was a stressful experience, but we got a couple cute pictures. Check them out at this site https://www.smilesbywire.com/home.asp?AC=LTP43801037007JCP and enter Megan Barnhurst as the customer name. We're never going to JC Penney again!