The Barnett Family Update 2006

Barnett Family Update 2006

This is the 6th year we've been doing a web update. It seems like yesterday we started doing these. I was looking at the first updates, and comparing the kids to what they look like now - probably not a good idea! They are growing just too fast...

The girls are now 12 and 10 - The picture on the left was taken a few weeks ago at the house. We had just returned from a Bat Mitzvah in Boston and the girls took off their dresses too quickly! So we settled for the casual look.

There were several exciting things keeping us busy in 2006. The New Year kicked off with a busy home improvement project - we added a new Master Bedroom/Bath over the garage. The work actually started in December '05, but it really kicked into gear in 2006. We haven't done that great a job of documenting it, but you can see pictures on our site. The job took a little over 6 months to be completely done, and we are thrilled with the results! For those of you who haven't visited us yet, we now have a guest bedroom "suite", complete with private bath. Friends and family have enjoyed the privacy, the girls love their new bathroom, and we are loving our new bathroom, walk-in closet, and large bedroom, including a work-out area. The first person to really enjoy the new room was Grandma Tina, who came to visit in April and stayed for a few weeks. She gave the new room a spin and it held up great. We've also had friends (from the Hauser's to Bianca) give the room a test drive.

The other major news in early 2006 was that Scott left BEA to start his own company with 2 colleagues from BEA. The company, Bluenog, has been doing very well so far, although it has been quite a challenge finding time to do much else. Combining the new entity with the home improvement project left for many long nights. Scott is finding the efforts exciting and hopes to keep the energy level high.

With all the excitement, the only vacations this year was a trip to Chicago in July for cousin Lew's wedding (a great long weekend for 4th of July). We did the Taste of Chicago and enjoyed all the city had to offer (including watching Movin' Out for $5/ticket! and seeing all the Museums on the City Pass). The kids bought us beers at a Pizza joint for our Anniversary (don't ask!) and we got a chance to see the Barnett clan for the first time in a while. We did a ski trip late 2005/early 2006 in Vermont/New Hampshire with our friends the Hymanson's and Young's, which was very successful (if any of you remember, the last family ski trip resulted in Aliza and Andrea in a cast for 6 weeks!) No broken bones this time, and the kids had a blast.

Our "spare" time has been filled up volunteering - Andrea for the Synagogue, and Scott for the First Aid Squad. Both jobs are rewarding but do take up a lot of time.

Naomi is in 7th grade at the Middle School and is having a wonderful year. She adjusted pretty much immediately and we've been really impressed with how responsible she has been on our own without any prodding from Mom and Dad! She did very well the first marking period (honor roll), and she is still quite involved in extra-curricular activities. She is in Show Choir (which she had to try out for), and also made the school play again, which will be Guys and Dolls. This is in addition to Dance, Soccer (2nd place) and Hebrew School during the week, as well as Bat Mitzvah lessons, which just started (once/week). Naomi is a wonderful girl - she makes friends easily, and really cares about others. She has a handful of really close friends, and then another 10-12 that she keeps in touch with via email primarily - these are friends from summer camp, mostly. She is still very close to Andrea and enjoys spending time with both of us as well as her sister, but she'll still let me hug her, so hopefully I have at least another year! Sleep-away camp was another positive experience, and she will return next year (with her sister!), but not until after her Bat-Mitzvah events in June, 2007, when she turns 13.

Aliza is now in 5th grade and is a funny and LOUD kid. She cracks us up all the time, and works very hard at getting noticed (she's still easily one of the littlest kids in her class). She is still doing gymnastics, soccer and piano. Her Soccer team came in first place this Fall, and it was the first time ever that we went 8-0! The kids on the team were just great, and Scott had a wonderful time coaching them. She also did very well on her first report card, and studies regularly, and is working very hard on subjects that challenge her, such as Math (who would have figured?) She still loves to sing, and joins Naomi in singing show tunes pretty much every night (Rent has become a favorite). She is still involved with Girl Scouts with a group of her friends - they meet once every few weeks after school. Aliza will be going to sleep away camp with Naomi for the very first time next summer, and seems very excited. It will definitely seem odd to have an empty house for 4 weeks.

Andrea is in her third year at Solomon Schechter - a private K-8 school in East Brunswick. She enjoys it there and the kids and parents (and other teachers) obviously like her too. She is still doing the Teva trip every September, which is an environmental sleep-away camp for 3 nights. She also chaperoned (as did Scott) a trip into NYC to watch a Broadway play, and get a tour of the largest Temple in the world (Temple Emanu-el), as well as visit FAO Schwartz. The school allowed us to bring our girls too, so it was a fun family outing. She's still very involved with the Temple - she runs the Education department and it seems like has to put out a fire practically every night. She's also involved with ORT (a woman's group) and of course the day-to-day job of Mommy. The kids have gotten much more self-sufficient, but they still need help with homework and other basics that just seem to take a lot of time.

In addition to Bluenog and the First Aid Squad, Scott is still coaching each girls soccer team (actually, assistant coach for Aliza, head coach for Naomi) and helps the girls out with Basketball (they signed up this winter) and even had Naomi try lacrosse last Spring (she didn't really like it, although she did well). Scott spends a lot of time as the Computer "Administrator" in the house - we have 6 computers throughout the house and one of them typically has something wrong with it. Scott also turned the big 4-0 this year - Andrea treated him to a weekend in NYC, including a Scandinavian dinner and Jersey Boys on Broadway, which Scott LOVED. We also went running/rollerblading in Central Park, which was a great experience for Scott, but not so much for Andrea, who fell on her tush and had a bruise for a good 10 days.

We really enjoy all the cousins - we see Alison and Cameryn Thaler pretty regularly, but Kaitlyn and Zachary Barnett not often enough! We had some sad news this year - Alison and Cami's grandfather (our sister-in-law Sherry's dad, Bernie) passed away after battling with cancer. We lost Andrea's cousin Steve, also, way too young. We will miss them both and remember their kind hearts. We welcomed some new family members, too, this year with the marriage of Uncle Joel to Ann Marie and Cousin Lew to Gina. There should be even more additions in 2007!

So, it's been another full and mostly wonderful year and we look forward to 2007. We hope this finds you and your family happy and healthy, and as always our door is always open - come by or call or email!

Love,

Andrea, Scott, Naomi and Aliza

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Barnett Family Update 2006