We wish you all a
VERY MERRY CHRISTMAS & HAPPY NEW YEAR!

We wish we could be with you all at this special time of year but know that you are with us in our hearts!

Miss you & love to you all,
Don, Sherri, Bailey, Nicholas, Olivia, Isabella & Chloe

The Barnes' 12 Days of Christmas

Read to the tune of the Christmas song!

On the twelfth day of Christmas my true love gave to me:
12 Football Practices
11 Trips to the Store
10 Christmas Parties
9 Pounds Gained (Hope not!)
8 Days for Shopping
7 Stockings Hanging
6 Days with Aunt "Flow"
5 Packages from Family
4 Anxious Children
3 Barfing Kids
2 Tired Parents
AND
1 Cotton Bowl Game

Athletic Department Christmas Party

Last night was the annual MU Athletic Dept. family Christmas party out at the Midway Expo Center, and we all had a great time! The kids loved it because they had two bounce houses, some flip the spider game, story time & SANTA!

Olivia & Kinleigh in the bounce house...

The kids listening to "Twas' the Night Before Christmas"!
Every year, since we have been here at least, they read this to the kids to prepare them for...
SANTA!!!
Bella's present from Santa...

Olivia got some High School Musical makeup from Santa - as you can see she's pretty pumped about it...

Thanks Santa, we love you...

The whole crew & Santa..

Decorating the Christmas Tree

On Sunday (12/9/07) we finally had time to decorate the Christmas tree and here are some photos form that:

"Uhh"...

Isabella is LOVING Christmas this year...
"Hmm, where should we put this one"...
Nicholas posing...
Bailey deep in thought...
I just thought that this was a cute shot of Bella...
Olivia asked to have the privilege of putting the angel atop the tree..The finished masterpiece...

1st Christmas Party

Our friends the Spicci's had a Christmas party last Saturday night (12/8/07) and this is our little diva all ready to go party...

1st School Social!!

Bailey had her 1st school social/dance on Friday, 12/7/07 which was held in the school gym for grades 6-8 and, of course, mom was a chaperon. I was very grateful to be apart of this milestone in her life, but very sad that she is growing way too fast! Watching your children growing up is bittersweet...it is very exciting watching them learn, grow, reach new goals/milestones, but at the same time I just wish I could freeze it all because you realize how fast it actually goes by. I know this is so cliche but so true, it feels like just yesterday that she was born...I can remember exactly how I felt the very 1st time that I held her and now she is old enough to be dancing with boys...AGGHH! Oh yes, she had 2 different boys ask her to dance, and she had 3 slow dances total.

Anyway, she had a great time dancing the night away and here are some photos of the night:

Getting ready...check out all of that hair....

It took me an 1 1/2 hours to do her hair...

But it was worth the time, isn't she adorable!!
(as you can see we haven't completely decorated the tree yet)...
Bailey & Ryan
(No this is not her date - he is in Bailey's grade & he and his family are our good friends)...
Bailey & Katie - so cute!!!
(she is in 8th grade & her and her family are our really good friends as well)...
The girls gettin' their groove on....
Lights up & dance is over but from the looks on their cute little faces I think that they had a great time!!....

Let it Snow, Let it Snow, Let it Snow!

Well last night we had our 1st snow fall that stuck! Nico, Liv, Bella & Chloe had a great time playing in it!

Here are some photos of the fun:

Chloe...

Aren't they cute....
Bella helping Angie clean her car off...
This just looks like trouble :)....

Cutie Pie...

St. Nick Came!

On the night of Dec. 5th you're supposed to leave your shoes out & St. Nicholas comes that night to leave a treat in your shoe to celebrate his feast day which is Dec. 6th. Well he came and here are some photos:

HUGE Surprise for Bailey!!

This past Monday, after I picked up the kids from school, I had a huge surprise for Bailey. I had a gift bag with a new outfit in it for her and told her to put it on, once she had it on she asked what was going on. I told her that I was going to take her shopping for a dress for her 1st school social that is tonight. She and I got in the car and I handed her a card which read: "Get ready, get set for you best Christmas yet! Have Fun (and I added this part)...because you are going to see Hannah Montana! :) Oh my gosh, she was so excited she started to cry and was saying are you serious! We had tried to get tickets when they went on sale but couldn't because they sold out so fast, so she didn't think this was a possibility. We started to drive and I said to her, "it gets even better, we are flying in (our friend's) jet!" (I didn't want to drive to Kansas City by myself because I knew it was going to be a late night so I called these friends to see if they wanted to call pool. She had said that they were going to be flying in for it and asked if we wanted to join them...duh) Anyway, Bailey was in total shock! We had so much fun and all the girls that were going we're surprised to be going as well!

Here are some photos of the night:

The girls on the plane before take-off....

The opening act, The Jonas Brothers...

That smile is priceless...

Miley Cyrus as Hannah Montana & her backup singers...

Bailey rocking out...

Miley Cyrus' encore....

After the concert back on the plane...look at those smiles even though their ears are ringing (imagine being @ a slumber party w/20,000 screaming girls ...I felt like my ears were gonna blow)!!...

What a night...almost 12 years old and she takes a private jet to her 1st concert! :)

Love you Bailey...hope you had fun!!! ~MOM

Going to the Cotton Bowl!!

We are back from San Antonio! As you all probably know, our Tigers had a rough game vs OU with a score of 38-17....it just wasn't meant to be for us this year! Despite that loss we had a really great time in San Antonio & the Riverwalk was beautiful!

I just want to add that MIZZOU has had and AWESOME season and we are very proud to be TIGERS!!

We are excited & look forward to going to the Cotton Bowl in Dallas, TX! The game will be on January 1st with a 10:40am kick-off. More info about our trip will come later.

Our Elves!

Here are our little elves...enjoy:

http://www.elfyourself.com/?id=9614147156

# 1 in the Nation!!

Congratulations Mizzou Tigers on the victory over KU 36-28 (out biggest rival), making us the Big XII North Champs! We are now ranked #1 in the nation...1st time since 1960....AMAZING!


This weekend we are headed to San Antonio to play in the Big XII Championship Game vs Oklahoma (for the 2nd time). It's a 7PM game on ABC.

Good Luck Tigers!!!

IT'S A GREAT TIME TO BE A TIGER!!!

PS - This is my favorite image from the game, and it was the last play of the game when "Zo" got the safety to seal the deal......