The Baby Name Game

As of today we are 22 weeks pregnant.  Baby Boy gets stronger and more active every day.  Sometimes I think he's working on some ninja training with the kinds of jabs he dishes out.  Nate's even been able to feel a few kicks and thumps by putting his hand on my belly.  

So now that we know we're having a boy, it's time to name the little bundle, right?  With all of our children, we've pretty much had their names picked out from the time we conceived or even before.  I thought it was the same with this one.  We had a boy name picked out way back when we were pregnant with Jayne, so I figured we'd just use that.  Then, the other day, Nate pointed out that it has been 4 years since we picked that name.  Maybe we should "look at our options."  So I started checking out baby name websites and doing some brainstorming.  We ended up with a list of about 10 names that we liked and then narrowed it down to 3. 

We noticed that we tend to like more old fashioned names.  And for some reason all of our names seem to have originated in the Bible or are of Hebrew descent.  I promise we didn't do that on purpose. We really have no formula for naming our kids.  We don't do something catchy like have all their names start with the same letter or name them all after places or songs or anything like that.  We just find names we like and it seems that there's always one name that just seems to fit.  

So, here are our 3 finalists in alphabetical order:

Abram

Ezra

Jude

The middle name will depend on the first name.  We use family names for middle names and have two that we're deciding between. 
So, what do you think?  Feel free to weigh in on which you like best and why.  Just don't be offended or anything if we don't choose the name you like.  It is our baby after all.  =) 

Barnum Family Summer Fun (so far)

 The kids have only been out of school for three weeks.  To help combat summer boredom, we've resolved to get out of the house as much as possible and do something fun as a family every week.  So far we've gone to the zoo twice, Wheeler Farm, out shooting with Daddy, played in the sprinklers a few times, done our weekly trip to the library, we enjoyed the Salt Lake County Library's summer reading kick-off party, and we've gone on a couple of picnics at the park.  While it has been fun, I'm not sure if I can keep up the pace all summer long.  Come the middle of August, I will be one worn out mama.  So here are some pictures of our summer adventures thus far.

Cooling off with some sprinkler hopscotch

The girls with the DARE car at the summer reading kick-off

You can't visit Wheeler Farm without climbing up on the tractor

Jonah driving like a pro

We decided to take dinner to the great outdoors

Jonah & Lilly have taken up chess.  They're not really big on strategy.  It's basically just a matter of getting as many of the other player's pieces as they can.  But they're practicing and getting better.

We headed out to Grantsville so Nate could do some target shooting.  They kids watched from the Jeep, looked for rocks, and helped set up and clean up targets. 

One day, the kids were playing downstairs while I was doing some homework.  I guess they found the costumes in the closet and decided it was a good day for dress-up. 

Our first trip to the zoo this year.  Grandma and Grandpa Barnum gave us a family pass for Christmas.  Nate forgot his hat and decided he needed this over sized cowboy hat to keep himself all shaded.  So now it has been dubbed "the zoo hat" and it will be worn every time we go to the zoo. 

We love the new Rocky Shores section of the zoo.  I didn't get any great pictures, but the kids loved watching the seals and sea lion, sea otters and polar bear. 

Riding the Rhino

On our second trip to the zoo, the kids decided that they need zoo hats too.  So they each got one of these Junior Zookeeper hats.  I guess I'm the only one now without an official "zoo hat".  Maybe on the next visit we'll remedy that. 

The kids loved seeing this owl up close.  Notice how the hats make it easy to pick them out in a crowd?  They proved quite helpful throughout the day.  =)

And last, but not least, a pregnancy self-portrait in our lovely yellow bathroom.  Yep, there's no denying it now.  I'm definitely pregnant!  This was at about 21 weeks.  

So there you have it.  Our adventures so far.  There will be plenty more to come!  Summer is just beginning. 

Lilly's 6th

We're going to play a little bit of catch-up here on the Barnum family blog, okay?   I'm so fabulously on the ball when it comes to this lovely patch of cyber-space that we're going to go all the way back to May 11th. 
May 11th was Lilly's 6th birthday.  As you may have guessed, this post will probably be a bit lengthy.  So, here we go....
In Lilly's kindergarten class, instead of celebrating their birthday, her teacher does what is called their "Everyday Hero".  She usually tries to have it on their birthday to help make the day special.  Lilly was highlighted at the beginning of class.  She filled out a paper about all of her favorite things.  One that made me smile was that her favorite thing to do is "Cuddle with Daddy and watch a movie".  She's a daddy's girl through and through! 
The Everyday Hero also gets to bring their favorite book for Miss Farmer to read and can bring a small treat for the class. 
Miss Farmer also has the kids talk about why they think the Everyday Hero child is a hero to their class.  The kids said that Lilly is a good example, follows the rules, and is a friend to everyone.  

Lilly with Ms. Farmer during her Everyday Hero presentation

We've started a tradition where the kids get to choose something fun for our family to do together to celebrate their birthday.  With Nate's work schedule, he's usually working during the family dinners that we do on the weekend after their birthday.  So this way, he gets to help us celebrate too.  Lilly chose to go to Chuck E. Cheese.  We had never braved Chuck E. Cheese before and I'm not going to lie....I was NOT looking forward to it.  We've kind of avoided it like the plague.  We went on a Wednesday afternoon around 4:00 PM to avoid the crowds.  The place was virtually empty and the kids had a great time.  It's still not my favorite place to go, but it wasn't as bad as I had imagined it in my head.  Think screaming children, germs everywhere, and lots of loud music.  Yeah, it was pretty mellow compared to that, thank goodness.  I didn't get any good pictures though.  Sorry, you'll just have to imagine how cute they all were playing the arcade games and the insane amount of time it took them to decide what prizes to get with their tickets.

Lilly's Aunt Rachel moved to California this year.  She sent Lilly a birthday package in the mail.  It was so exciting for the kids to see the box on the porch and open it up.  Here's a picture of them with all the fun stuff Aunt Rachel sent.

New flip-flops for everyone, an outfit for Lilly, and a fun sprinkler/hopscotch/water thing to play in

 Then, on Saturday, we had her family dinner with Grandma Laurie, Grandma Great, and aunts and uncles.  As usual, Lilly got a lot of fun gifts and enjoyed all the attention.

Lilly chose chocolate cake with chocolate frosting and pink writing.  As you can probably tell, she's all about pink these days.  On her birthday she wore all pink to school and here she's wearing her pink cupcake dress from Grandma and Grandpa Barnum and a pink princess hat. 

So there you have it.  Our sweet Lilly is another year older and wiser too! We're truly grateful to have her in our family.  She has such a positive personality, loves to be helpful, and truly is a friend to everyone.