TIS THE SEASON

One of our friends in the manger.



Yulia and Paul as "Mary and Joseph" at our church's drive through living nativity. We lucked out with the weather this year. Temperatures were in the 40s and 50s.







Making Turtles! A Barry tradition.

Karen's Dedication

I don't normally talk about my personal weight loss, but I must toot my own horn! I've now lost 20 pounds on Weight Watchers!!!!!!! I've been a WW member at least 10 times(I'm not exaggerating) and this is the first time I've actually received the key chain. Very big news for fellow WWers. PP, I owe you, babe. You're my inspiration.

DEDICATION

When Debbie, Kevin and I were babies, we were all dedicated at church. Our parents were promising to raise their children in the church and as Christians until we were old enough to commit ourselves to baptism.

Dedication is what our Missouri church practices. Every year they hold a baby dedication. There has never been any dedication for parents who adopt older children. Well, we have a new children's minister and he and his wife are considering adoption, so we were allowed to participate in the ceremony this year. In fact, there were 3 adoption dedications this year! It was a special day for us. Since we have no family close by we asked our small group to be our "family." We all sat together. One couple was present for the dedication of their grandson. Another for their new born baby. And another agreed to come up on stage with us for the dedication. We're so blessed to have such close church friends.

Yulia has been talking about baptism a lot since Kitty died. She wants to make sure she's baptized so she can be with Kitty in Heaven one day. It's very sweet but we want to make sure she knows exactly what she's committing to. Our kids minister will be starting Baptism Class 101 after the first of the year.

On a less serious note, the day was quite the social event for Yulia. She got to wear her fancy Christmas dress, go up on stage and wave to the crowd when her name was announced and everyone was calling her a princess(because of her dress.) After the dedication she told me, "Mom, everyone knows me and everyone loves me." Gotta love the self-esteem.

GINGERBREAD HOUSE

After a FABULOUS Thanksgiving, Colyn was able to stay until late Sunday. That gave her and Yulia a chance to make a gingerbread house.

Not sure how long the house is going to make it. Yulia's been ready to eat it since Colyn got on the airplane to go back to Texas.

FABULOUS TURKEY DAY

As many of you know, my FABULOUS blog is a bit febrile at this time. I can post pictures and comments, but not in the correct order. Perhaps I need to consult the FABULOUS Summer Mittig to correct this faux pas.

But, for now, just figure out the pictures for yourself:
-FABULOUS pool table in the now FABULOUSLY finished Barry Basement.
-FABULOUS family time
-Barry deck in FABULOUS fall with the fellas drinking frosty brews
-FABULOUS nephew Mike looking at the FABULOUSLY smoked bird.

We did have a great time. 12 Barry-Burnettes gave us a chance to try the FABULOUS new basements. Also, Fun, FABULOUS, family tours of the wineries, brewery, arch, casinos(where much money was frivously forked over) and the darkened former abode of Scott Joplin.

One bummer to the weekend. OU SUX beating OSU. Yes, makes perfect sense that two of the teams TEXAS beat are now vying for the Big 12. Alas. Woe is me.

BYE, BYE TWO-DOLLAR DRINKS

As you'll remember, when we moved to lovely Wentzville, Missouri, I was quite excited to know there was a Sonic Drive-In.

I quickly realized that the Wentzville Sonic was not up to par, in fact, had numerous discussions with the management and the corporate offices regarding their poor service. At one point, Paul Barry suggested I become a Sonic consultant since I was spending so much time complaining and offering my unsolicited suggestions for service which is supposed to be "at the speed of sound." I must say I considered that possibility, but finally decided I'd just rather bitch to anyone who would listen. When I realized I had no one's ear, I just threw in the towel and decided I would continue paying $2.00 for my diet coke with lime(extra ice) please and keep my mouth closed.(Or attempt to keep my mouth closed).

Imagine my surprise one day last week when I was stopped at the Sonic entrance by yellow "crime scene" tape. Seems the sucky Sonic has ceased to serve the city. I was very upset about the closing, as you can imagine. In fact, Yulia is getting very tired of my constant complaints about no "nearby" Sonic for our daily needs. It's really quite stressful. I told Paul Barry we might have to move back to Texas, where properly-run Sonics are a plenty. He reminded me that Yulia and I both can get a fountain drink(with Sonic ice) at the U-Gas right down the street....two U-Gas drinks for the price of one Sonic drink. There are just some things he'll never understand. For instance, the drinks aren't the same. And, you can't wear your pajamas to U-Gas because you have to go inside the store. And, you have to put on a bra. Never know who you're gonna run into at the Wentzville U-Gas. Bother.

So, for all the Burnette-Barrys heading this way for Thanksgiving, consider yourselves warned. It's either the U-Gas or driving 10 minutes either way for another properly mixed beverage. Yulia and I observe a moment of silence every time we drive by the defunct drive-in. We're planning a family drive by right after lunch Thanksgiving. Please wear your red Sonic-like attire.

Basement Update

Well, the countdown's on for Thanksgiving. With only a week and a half, Paul and Justin put down tile yesterday and today, hung doors and trimming. The painter has already primed the walls. He'll be back Monday to paint for real. The carpet gets laid Friday and Saturday and the toilet and sink placed Monday. Our new bed for the basement comes Monday morning with the first of our guests arriving Tuesday afternoon. Very festive!

Here are some pictures of basement work today. I was banned to upstairs because I "asked too many questions" and couldn't "be an Indian." Poor Yulia. I'll have to teach her those tricks so she doesn't get stuck on anymore scrubbing tile chores.

A Magical Time

Yulia and Friends

High School Musical at Disney

Dinner at Cinderella's Castle

Mr. and Mrs. Jon Barry

HIGH SCHOOL MUSICAL 3

It's been a very busy week:

1. Yulia's fall party Friday. Must say, I was excellent Head Room Mother. It's because I'm so artsy-craftsy, you know. Didn't even have to call Cuestas for ideas this year.
2. Jon's wedding Sunday.
3. Disney World on Thursday.
4. But, nothing can compare to the opening of HSM 3. Of course, we had to buy the CD ahead of time so we'd "know all the songs." Of course, when I tried to sing along, I was shhhhhed.

Yulia was up at 6:15 this morning, dressed and ready to go. I asked her why she was up so early because the movie wasn't until 11:00. "Mom, I have to get dressed and do my hair. And, we need to take my picture(with and without sunshades). And, I'm taking my brush in my purse in case my hair gets messy during the movie."

Wow, she must have been disappointed when I walked out of the bathroom with my hair up in a pony tail, no makeup and my Longhorn Happy Halloween shirt.

BARRY BASEMENT UPDATE

Something's wrong with my blog site and all this garbledy-goop comes up when I download pictures and I can't type anywhere but right here, underneath the pictures. Oh well. I'm in a hurry. It has something to do with the Edit Html I think.




With quite a large number of Barry/Burnette family members coming for Thanksgiving, we've had to put finishing of the basement on the fast track. Justin, our old neighbor, is in the middle in the picture. He's done most of the work, although Paul Barry has hit a few nails of his own(that's not just thumbnails, although there have been a few of those!) The extra rooms and bath will come in handy for Turkey Day.


The St. Louis Rams have only won 2 games this season and the second was against the Dallas Cowboys. And, yes, we were there. Lovely. We had been told about 25% of the crowd would be Cowboy fans. It was more like 65-70%. There were Tony Romo jerseys everywhere, but it didn't help us any. Oh well, at least we have the TEXAS LONGHORNS TO CHEER FOR. HOOK 'EM!!!!!!!!

FABULOUS FRIDAY STUDENT

So, I'm leaving Wally World Friday and there is a message on my cell phone, "Hello, Mrs. Barry. This is the vice-principal at Peine Ridge Elementary and I have Yulia in the office." My heart drops. What has she done?

Well, we were excited to learn that Yulia was selected by her peers to be the Fabulous Friday Student for the whole school!!!

"Yulia was nominated for Fabulous Friday because of her outstanding good sportsmanship she shows in P.E. Her peers say she is friendly and always willing to help. We are so glad to have Yulia in our classroom."

FALL FOILAGE

Realize we haven't posted in a long time. Haven't taken many pictures lately, so I stepped onto the back deck. We're hearing this is going to be a great month for fall foilage.

Barry news:

1. TEXAS LONGHORNS #1!!!!!!! Paul and I got a baby sitter yesterday(Saturday) and went to join the St. Louis Texas Exes in watching the LONGHORNS DEMOLISH ou SUX at a local sports bar!!! It was so awesome. It was also great to be in a sea of orange once again. It was very comforting. They even had the UT fight song that was played after each score. Very exciting!
2. We're enjoying watching the Dallas Cowboys as well. They'll play the lowly St. Louis Rams this coming Sunday and we have tickets. Look for Paul in his Tony Romo jersey.
3. Paul has been busy trying to get the basement finished. They're currently putting on sheetrock so it won't be long before we're finished. We're kinda on a rush here because we're hosting Thanksgiving here in St. Louey this year.
4. Yulia continues to do well, especially socially. She has made several new friends who live in the neighborhood. We are in the process of finding her a math tutor that can work with her a couple of days a week.
5. Karen is contemplating a job change. Probably still with RehabCare. Will keep you posted.
6. My big Sis has a birthday tomorrow, October 13. The Burnette's are celebrating in Celina today. Makes me sad that I'm not there;(, But, I'll get to see her when we're in Texas for Jon's wedding.
7. Yes, Jon is getting married October 25th. Very exciting.
8. Of course, that's also the weekend that High School Musical:3 opens. Very, very exciting.
9. And, we're traveling to Disney World in late October for Yulia's spring break. Very, very, very exciting. I think we're more excited that her. She's afraid we're going to make her ride roller coasters. She has no idea what fun she's in for.

AUNT DEBBIE VISITS!

Debbie flew in to visit this past weekend. Since the weather was so beautiful, we went back to Grant's Farm.