Greetings to Ya'll - Happy Fall!
Today is Mr. Wonderful's Birthday - he is now 12 years old. We had a party for him on Monday at Chuck E Cheese while Grandma M and Grandpa J were still in town with my folks and my sister's family. Mr. Wonderful was sooooo excited. We didn't tell him where we were going, he had to guess the whole way. It went like this: "Legoland?" No, "Disneyland?" No." California Adventure?" No. "Toys R US?" Mr. W, it's a place we eat pizza at. "Pizza Port?" (in Disneyland.) No. You don't need a pass or ticket to go there.... Anyway, after naming almost every place we've been, I gave another hint...you've only been the
re 2 times. (By then, we were getting pretty close.) Then he figured it out. "Chuck E Cheese?!!!!?" Yeah! You got it! He was sooooooo proud of himself. He said something like "I've been thinking as hard as I could and I kept going and I got it!" It was truly adorable how proud of himself he was. We had a great party, here's a shot afterwards, with his brother out in front. (That's a red noise maker in his mouth, he hasn't taken up smoking red stogies.)
Mr W. has been really worried about getting his Halloween costume for 2008 since, oh, I don't know, Nov 1st 2007? Maybe since the day before that? Anyway, it's been decided for months that he HAS to be Superman. So last night we went shopping for costumes. Mike is going to go as Indiana Jones, Squish is going to be Link from the Legend of Zelda video game series and I will most likely be going to pirate route again. Mr. W found a great Halloween store while he does Community based instruction through his school, and so we spent about 2 hours there yesterday. I know it's really early to be buying costumes, but I wanted to 
be sure I got the right sizes and I'm glad I did because they weren't getting any more stock this year, so what was left was what they had. Do you think that Mr W likes his costume? I guess that made it worth the $54.99 they charged us for it.
Just to give Sir Squish a moment in the sun, I wanted to mention that yesterday Mike and I spent part of the afternoon at his school "bbq." I put it in quotes like that because it's a cafeteria hamburger or hot dog with cafeteria type side dishes like applesauce and warm choc. milk. YUM! But it was worth going, we got to see Squishy with his friends, and after lunch Mike went on the playground and played what the kids call "kickball" (this is where you kick the ball in the air and everyone tries to catch it without crashing into each other) with the 2nd graders. One impressed 2nd grader was overheard saying to another with awe in his voice "Wow, he (Mike) kicks the ball higher than you!" A proud moment for our family.
On Sunday, Sept 28th 2008 Squishy was baptized and confirmed a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. It was a great day, with lots of dear friends and family. I just can't believe he's 8 years old. Wow.
The baptism opened with "When Jesus Christ was Baptized" and the opening prayer by Peggy Q. Then Squishy's maternal grandma spoke on baptism. Following the talk, Squishy was baptized, with both of his Grandpas standing as witnesses. Then the primary children in attendance sang "When I am Baptized" while Squishy and his dad changed and we passed out 4x6 index cards for everyone to write a message to Squishy on, that I later placed in one of those pocket photo albums for him to read. (This tradition was started a long time ago by a very dear brother in our last ward, Larry R. Everyone gets the chance to write something - it can be funny, inspirational, a memory, a scripture, a cartoon, whatever - and we have the kids all draw pictures. It is really fun to read the cards - if you are looking for an idea for your baptism I highly recommend it!) After all that Squishy's paternal grandma spoke on the Gift of the Holy Ghost and then Squish was confirmed a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Those that stood in the circle were: Dave and Nick J, Grandpa J, Pop, Mike, Charlie P, Jerry L, Fred P, Larry R, Pat G. The closing song was "I am a child of God" and Squishy's primary teacher, Cheryl G gave the closing prayer. Afterwards our about 60 guests enjoyed cake and milk with us in the cultural hall. I want to thank everyone that made Sunday possible. Our family, all of Squish's primary teachers and leaders, kind members of our ward - past and present - & friends, everyone that helped with the program, and the wonderful sisters that saved me from having to serve all that c
ake and milk. What would I do without the Relief Society?
This is a photo of some of our family and friends that attended. We're so lucky we could be surrounded by so many loved ones on Squishy's special day.
Hello!
I am really new to this whole blogging thing, and I never understood why people wanted to create them. But, after blowing a few hours playing with the customize features of this page, now I understand. It's fun! It's like playing dress up with a web page. A little bling here, a few links there, and poof! Here we are. Well, welcome to Mikybarb-land. I hope you purchased an annual pass because while the stuff here may not be "e ticket" I hope you enjoy it.
Why Mikybarb? When creating our first email address as a married couple my husband wanted to have both our names in the address. Thusly, Mike and Barbara had to be merged. He speaks spanish, and knew that "and" in spanish is "Y" (pronounced "e") So he smushed us together with Mikybarb. We pronounce it "Mike - e - Barb" but I've heard it said other ways as well. Kind of silly, but 14 years later I can still usually find that name not previously used for thing
s like this.
I'm calling this Mikybarb-land mostly because Mike suggested it, and he thought in honor of the happiest place on earth, it would be a good name. We do love Disneyland, and have had passes for almost as long as we've been married.
Our family consists of Me, My hubby Mike, and our boys, Mr. Wonderful and Squishy. Mr. Wonderful has autism, and loves to draw. Squishy is all about NOT being "demanded" (told what to do) and last night his Grandpa J introduced him to Calvin and Hobbes. I'm pretty sure that Squishy is Calvin, or that at the very least the comic strips are an instruction booklet on naughtiness. Squishy feels like there are too many rules in the world and we all need more time for legos and video games. (Hence the comic on my opening page.) Our family does have one more girl, my husband's daughter from his first marriage, a wonderful brown eyed young woman we'll call Belle - short for "brown eyed love" and then accesorized. (there I go again!)
Well, that's all for now, glad to meet you World Wide Webbers!
-Mikybarb
April brought General Conference, lots of visits to the local Nature Center, the Science Fair, a field trip, and Amanda in a show! (Actually, as I type all this, I am shocked by how much we did in April.)
Squish joined an after school soccer camp that met after school for 4 Thursdays in April. He really likes soccer but the draw of video games and legos is also strong. He won the"caring" award for his class in April too. (After the awards ceremony the school decided to stop giving awards to those students with good grades, good attendance, and the "your classmates have voted you" type awards bec
ause it was too difficult for the kids that didn't get an award. I understand that, we all went through that as kids. And yet we survived....)
We had open house nights at both schools, picture days, and park play days each Tuesday. I got to go with Squish's 1st grade class to the LA Zoo for a field trip.
Mr. W was in a Track Meet where he took 1st place for the 100 meter dash. The school 
has a program where regular ed kids run alongside the special needs kids to help and encourage them. The boy that ran with Mr. W made some comment like he would have p
ut on his PE shorts if he'd known how fast he was. (I'm not sure if that meant he was burning up his pants or what, but it was cute that he was so surprised.) I think that some people assume that if a pers
on has something like autism that they can't do things, not realizing how very aware and able they are.
We were sad to lose Brother Bob Jimenez in April, and we miss him.
Mike and I saw Phantom of the Opera at the Orange County Performing Arts Center and the boys slept over at Mayme and Pop's house.
Squish was chosen to represent his school on the 26th at the district science fair and so he and I spent the day admiring other students projects and wading through groups of would be scientists. While he was not chosen to go to the state science fair it was a great experience and he likes to wear his science fair shirt to things that are science related. (Almost as if to 
say "hey,
I do science too!")
That same day, the 26th we were able to go see Amanda in a show. She does an amazing job and sings very well. Her high school has a professional group of budding stars and they all looked like they had a really good time.
What did we do in March? According to the Calendar...
* the 2nd was Auntie Wendy's birthday
* on the 3rd Squish was sent home with Pink Eye - always a pleasure.
* Mike was practicing to be in and sing in Phantom of the Opera - Raul
* We had Sea Monkeys and enjoyed watching them swim about.
* Mike took the Cubs on a tour of his work.
* Grandpa B had a birthday on the 19th
* We had an Easter Egg Hunt with our ward on the 22nd
* Spent Easter at my folks place after church
* We did some geocaching at a local park with our GPS and then fed the ducks at the pond.
* Kidnapped Mike from work spontaneously and we took the kids to the Los Angeles Zoo on the 25th.
* Cakes turned 7 on the 26th - Happy birthday Cousin! Her grandma Donna also had a birthday that day!
* Spent a spring break day with my folks and Wen & the kids
* Unc Rob turned 40 on the 28th!
* Mike's show was the 29th
* Squish decided to do a study of sand for his school science project. We drove to 8 beaches on the 31st and collected sand from each one after school. THAT was a LONG evening!
I am hoping to find my photo discs and cute up these posts. Sorry the months in review posts are so bland, I just want to get the info up and get back to the current activities. *grin*
re 2 times. (By then, we were getting pretty close.) Then he figured it out. "Chuck E Cheese?!!!!?" Yeah! You got it! He was sooooooo proud of himself. He said something like "I've been thinking as hard as I could and I kept going and I got it!" It was truly adorable how proud of himself he was. We had a great party, here's a shot afterwards, with his brother out in front. (That's a red noise maker in his mouth, he hasn't taken up smoking red stogies.)
be sure I got the right sizes and I'm glad I did because they weren't getting any more stock this year, so what was left was what they had. Do you think that Mr W likes his costume? I guess that made it worth the $54.99 they charged us for it.
