December Letter

Dear Family & Friends,

Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year to you all! We had a very fun month and I hope you did too.

We got to do lots of fun Christmas activities that have become family traditions for us like going to Gardner Village to see the Elves. We also went to the Dickens festival, built a gingerbread house, decorated Christmas cookies and performed the Nativity play at our family Christmas Eve party which we had at our house this year.

We also did some fun things while Brandon & Eric were out of school and dad was off of work. We even got to go bowling which I loved! I even bowled a strike with the help of the bumpers and the rail. :)

Christmas morning was AWESOME!! I got new guns from Santa ... just what I asked him for.

I also got some Hero Factory guys which I wanted. Yeah!! My own guys!

I hope that things are going well for you and that you are all healthy and happy. I hope you have a great 2011!

Love Kyle Patrick Barnhisel

November Letter

Dear Family & Friends,

How are you? I am doing great!! This month daddy was able to baptize Brandon. It was really great. I had lots of 2 year old cousins there to run around with. :)

Uncle Ryan even let me and Collin play with his Fireball game!!!

Thanksgiving was fun although I really don't come for the food. I am mostly there to play with my cousins and to hang out.

I have learned lots of new sayings this month from listening to others around me. From mom I learned to say "I missed you too" and "Just knock it off." And from my brothers I learned to say "Sorry ... accident".

I come in mom's room every morning and ask for dinner. Anything Star Wars I call "Star Wars 'da Clone Wars". My favorite cartoon is "Tom & Jerry" and I won't wear any PJs that don't have a SuperHero on them. Batman is my favorite!

I am very tough and spunky. I am very into weapons these days and spend my days shooting every one in sight as well as many bad guys who are not in sight. I don't always win these battles I have with the imaginary bad guys though. I can often be found on the floor saying "I dead!" I also place mom under arrest many times a day.

I hope that you are all doing well and that I get to see you soon.

Love Kyle Patrick Barnhisel

October Letter

Dear Family & Friends,

Hello everyone! How are you? I am great!!! October is a very fun month. As you can see from my pictures I have done lots of fun Halloween things this month.

We got to pick pumpkins in Uncle Ryan's Pumkin Patch ...

And had a super fun family Halloween party at our house where my favorite activity was the doughnut game.

I also got to go trick-or-treating with my brothers and even though it was raining I totally got the concept and didn't want to quit ... people give you candy, and I LOVE candy!!

This month has been a good one for me. I have finished up my potty training and am completely done with diapers!! Yeah! I am really good at taking myself potty whenever I need to go, then I just go and track mom down half naked when I am done to show her my results. :)

We closed up the cabin this month and are done going up there for the winter. I love "my cabin" and will miss it very much over the next few months.

I am very much into the terrible twos. I am VERY strong willed and things have to be done MY WAY and I like to do everything MYSELF!! Mom has to really think before doing anything for me or she ends up with a temper tantrum on her hands. If she does something for me when I don't want her to do, I will undo what she has done and redo it MYSELF!!! Mom and dad say that all my brothers have been that way but that I am the most stubborn of them all. Good thing I am so super cute, helps me get away with more. :)


Hope to hear from you all soon.

Love Kyle Patrick Barnhisel

September Letter

Dear Family and Friends,

Hello! Happy Fall!! How are you doing? I am doing GREAT!! I hit the biggest and best milestone this month ... I am potty trained!! I picked up on it really quickly and now don't have to wear baby diapers anymore (except at night).

We of course went up to the cabin this month. Best thing is, mom got me my own dump truck so I no longer have to beg my brothers to use theirs.

I love the cabin!! I love to ride the 4-wheelers. Dad brought one down to our house for the hunt and I like to climb on it in the garage in hopes that someone will take me for a ride on it.

We went to the cabin this month over Labor Day weekend which meant we got to go to the Mountain Man Rendezvous in Fort Bridger. We LOVE IT!! We got coon skin hats and guns and needless to say we had so much fun!

We also had an Erickson family reunion up at the Stairs Plant this month and it was so nice. What a great place to play.

I had a great month and continue to learn and grow so much. I am following in my brothers footsteps by being a great talker. I can even say my own prayers now. I talk up a storm and would love to talk to you. Hope to see or hear from you soon!

Love Kyle Patrick Barnhisel

August Letter

Dear Family & Friends,

Hello there! How are you? I am doing great although since Brandon & Eric both have started school I spend a lot of time asking where they are. But don't worry about me getting too lonely. I kind of like having free reign of the house. :)

We had a super fun trip to the cabin this month. We will be sad when we have to close it up for the winter and wait until spring to go back up. But we plan to enjoy it as much as we can over the next month and a half.

I love to be outside. I beg mom to take me on walks all the time where I get to "ride" my bike (just picture how Fred Flintstone drives his car). But one nice thing about my brothers being in school is that some mornings mom takes me on a long bike ride where I get to ride on the back of her bike. I love that and could ride all day!!


I continue to parrot everything that everyone says. I am quite a chatterbox. I still love Legos. I love them so much that my brothers have to lock their bedroom doors when they go to school so I won't go in and take apart everything they have built.

I hope that you are all well and happy and for those of you far away, I hope that I get to see you soon!

Love Kyle Patrick Barnhisel

July Letter

Dear Family & Friends,

Hello there! Did you have a great 4th of July? I sure did. We celebrated 4th of July in Montana at Aunt Kathleen's house with my Grandpa Pat, the Walker's and the Sintay's. We got to see the best fireworks ever!

I had so much fun playing with my cousins both in Yellowstone and in Montana. I hope that we can get together again soon and my other cousins Corin, Declan and Collin can be there too!

We do a lot of hiking on the weekends and I love to hike! I actually RUN most hikes. I have to put those great calves to work! :)

I also love to roast marshmallows at the cabin and play there. The cabin is so fun. We try to get up there as often as we can. We love it!!

I love to play with Lego guys and army guys. I love to play in the backyard and enjoy doing whatever my brothers do. I am 2 going on 7 since I seem to think that I can do whatever my brothers do.

I hope that you are all doing well. I love you and hope to see you soon!

Love Kyle Patrick Barnhisel

June Letter

Dear Family & Friends,

Hello there! How are you? I am doing great. I hope you are all enjoying your summer. I am! I spend my time doing a bunch of important things.

First of all ... I eat. Not meals ... oh no, that would be too easy. I love to snack! And any treat that I can get my hands on is great!

And I jump on the tramp! I love to do that. If I can get a battle in while doing that, even better!

And I love to Fight! I walk around with my light saber challenging anyone and everyone to a fight. And if no one will first me, I walk around saying "Fight Darth Maul!"

I love to play legos, just like my brothers. I love to play outside. I am a very happy boy and I am very sweet!

I hope that I get to see you all soon!

Love Kyle Patrick Barnhisel

May Letter

Dear Family & Friends,

Hello! How are you? I have had a good month. I am learning a lot. Mommy is learning a lot about how stubborn a person can be as well. I have to do everything MYSELF! If mom or dad try to help me into my car seat, I throw a fit, climb back down, and then climb back up in MYSELF! I will only get in the car on the passenger side so that I can open and close the door with the button and no one else had better push the button or else I throw a fit and open it and close it again MYSELF! I have to get my own silverware out of the drawer. If anyone gets it for me, I throw a fit, put it back and get my own MYSELF!! See a pattern?

I got my own lego guys this month which is great because it stopped me from screaming at my brothers for their lego guys. I love to take the guys apart piece by piece. So needless to say none of my guys have heads or hands anymore. :) But I don't mind, I seem to like them that way.

We got to go to the cabin this past weekend and it was so FUN!

We got to play in the dirt ...

And go on the 4-wheelers which I called "truck". I kept going to the shed and pointing at the 4-wheelers and begging to go on the "truck".

I have learned a lot of really important things lately like how to do a flip on the tramp, how to do a flip OFF the tramp, how to climb up the slides at the park ... all sorts of safe boy activites. I am tough as nails and always doing crazy stunts that don't seem to phase me.

I hope you are all doing well. I love you very much!

Love Kyle Patrick Barnhisel

April Letter

Dear Family & Friends,

Happy Spring! Hope you are all doing well and have lots of pretty flowers popping up everywhere. We love spring at our house. If only we can stop getting snow then we will be really happy. :)

YES this is me going potty and YES I can do it but NO I am not really interested in actually telling mommy when I need to go and being completely potty trained. So for now, since neither mommy or I are ready to buckle down and get it done, we will just settle for me doing it when mommy puts me on the potty and only then.

I loved celebrating Easter this year. I love candy and downed more then my fair share of chocolate over Easter weekend. I loved hunting for eggs and of course opening them up and eating whatever was in it right away!

I love being outside. I love to ride my bike (I Fred Flintstone my trike) and I love to go for walks. I love to jump on the tramp even though I suffer a lot of abuse from my brothers while on it. I love to play basketball which consists of me standing under the basket (with my helmet on of course since I insist on standing right under the basket) holding the ball and begging for daddy to pick me up and help me make a basket. :) I also love going to Eric's soccer games and cheering for him.

The biggest thing that happened this month was my 2nd birthday!! I am a big boy now. We went out to dinner at The Mayan as a family and got to watch the divers. I was mesmerized and loved seeing them dive so much that I would just squeal in delight! Our waiter had become pretty attached to me since he was also celebrating his birthday and so he surprised us with a birthday dessert that me and my brothers obliterated!

And as if that wasn't enough chocolate (my favorite) we went home afterwards to have cake and ice cream that mommy had made for me. Yum!!!

This month I also got 2 new teeth. I have my own little personality with plenty of spunk and definitely do things my way. When mom calls me to come to her I yell "What?" over and over again even when I am standing right in front of her. I am very loving and very polite. I always say "Thank you ..... mom." or whoever is helping me. I always say "Love you .... dad, Love you .... mom" many times a day. I also am good at telling on whoever is being mean to me. "E'ic MEAN!" and point at whoever it is that has wronged me. When I get upset I beg for milk "M're milk please" or for a "Show." I am always talking even though it is often a conversation that only I understand. I do present myself as though I have something very important to say and everyone else should of course understand me. I am a very cute little boy and mom and dad wish they could just freeze time and keep me just like I am. :)

I hope that you are all happy and doing well.

Love Kyle Patrick Barnhisel

March Letter

Dear Family & Friends,

Hello everyone and welcome to spring! We have had all sorts of weather this month including snow but despite that we have been lucky to have many nice days and have been able to play outside and go to the park a few times as well. I love playing outside. Mommy often times has to drag me inside when we get home from going somewhere because I just want to stay outside.

Yes I did get a haircut. I was starting to look a little too "pretty" so mommy cut my hair. Now I look like such a handsome boy!

We also got to set up the tramp this month which is GREAT!! I love the tramp and am actually getting much better at jumping, even when my brothers are bouncing me. Mom doesn't usually let me jump with both my brothers at the same time and I hate that and cry and cry "Jumpy Jump Jump" pointing at the tramp. It's not fair but as the month has progressed I have learned to deal with it better. Mom and dad got a lot of yard work done. They got the garden all tilled up and the peas planted. I guess that is why mom has to keep stopping me from taking my bucket and shovel to the garden to dig. :) They did clean out the sandbox for me so I would have another place to dig and play.

The biggest change this month is that I got a new big boy room. No more hand-me-down nursery for me. I now have my very own room with my very own big boy bed just for me! I love it. I have lots of room to play and I love having my own bed.

I have also started using the potty the last week or so. I am pretty good at it. I don't tell mom when I need to go yet and she isn't ready to actually potty train me but she puts me on the potty a few times throughout the day and I am learning what to do. We will just have to see when she gets brave enough to put me in undies and spend some time at home working with me.

I love to do whatever my brothers are doing so I am often found crying outside Brandon's door for "egos" and crying that the door is "stuck" when they won't let me in to play. But Brandon is really nice and usually lets me play with him. I love my brothers very much and am especially attached to "E'ic". I can't say Brandon yet but I talk about E'ic all day long. I am even learning how to say the family prayer at night sometime. I thank Heavenly Father for all my family (with moms help) but since I can't say Brando I just say "no" on that one and skip on to E'ic. Like my brothers before me, I have a lot to say and am always talking. :)

I hope that you are all doing well and that you are happy. I hope to see you soon.

Love Kyle Patrick Barnhisel

February Letter

Dear Family & Friends,

Hello everyone! How are you doing? I am doing well. We have had a lot of good weather days (well as good as you can ask for in February) and have been able to play outside a lot this month which I love!

I am becoming a bit of a mommy's boy. I NEED my mommy to hold me much more often now and I also have my blankie trailing around after me a good deal of the time as well. Nothing gets me more upset then when one of my brothers teases me by taking away my blankie (pronounced "bankie").

I also am a monkey! One of my favorite places to play is of course in the room where kids aren't supposed to play, the living room. I can often be found, pulling out the book basket (dumping it out actually) and using the basket as a ladder to climb up onto the end table.

Then I perch myself up on the table and read or eat or whatever I like. What a stinker I am!

My favorite toy is still Legos. I love to build things. Of course, because of that, there are always legos strewn all over the house. I also love to play with "guys" which is anything else pretty much but usually it is army guys or trains. I also love to play with trains and have learned how to build my own train tracks.

I am continuing to learn new words all the time and talking up a storm. That is pretty much all that's going on here. Just playing, making messes and playing some more. :)

Hope all is well with you.

Love Kyle Patrick Barnhisel

January Letter

Dear Family & Friends,

Can you believe that it is not only 2010 but that we are already through January? I can't. This month has flown by. Mommy & Daddy went on a cruise at the beginning of the month for their 10 year anniversary and it took forever for January to get here for that but now it is gone. I had fun while they were gone with various family and friends (thanks everyone) but I am glad to have my mommy and daddy back. I walk around the house calling for daddy all day "Daddy ... w'are you?"

As seems to be the trend in the winter month once the holidays are passed, we don't have very many pictures from this month. We did have a super fun sledding adventure this month though so I have some pictures for you of that.

Other then that, we do the usual "hunker down and wait for spring" which is normal for this time of year. I am especially anxious for spring because I LOVE TO BE OUTSIDE. It doesn't matter where I am in the house. If anyone gets out their coat or their shoes I am right there getting mine out as well in hopes to get to go outside.

As I have mentioned in my previous letters, I am very stubborn. But to be honest, that is putting it mildly. I get more and more stubborn the more I learn. My new favorite words are "No" which I answer to any question asked to me. And "Mine". And my favorite way to use those words are to put them together. So basically I wander around the house all day saying "No Mine!" My brothers think it's hilarious and encourage me in it while mom tries desperately (and without hope) to get them to not encourage me.

I also think it's really funny to be contrary as much as possible. It's like a game to me. When mom tells me to come to her so she can get me dressed I sit out in the hall and smile and run away when she comes to get me herself. And when she does have me I be sure to throw as big of a fit as I possibly can to make it hard to get me dressed. Same thing with getting me into my car seat in the van. I am quite the stinker now and am very proud of myself for it. :)

I am learning new words every day. I can tell you most of my body parts. I can specify what foods I want to eat. I can name a lot of toys. I can say "I Love You" although it really doesn't sound very much like that but mom and dad know what I am trying to say. I am very into puzzles as was my brother Brandon at my age and I can do the cool trick that Brando used to do of being able to put the puzzles together upside down. I am also huge into legos right along with my brothers and love to build machines and fly them around making noises that mom says are pre-programmed in every little boy.

I fall down and get a new goose egg on my head pretty much daily but don't worry about me ... I never cry about it. I just get up and keep going until I fall and get up again. Mom is always surprised when people who are watching me are concerned that I fell and got a bump on the head. That is just daily life for us so to us it's really no big deal.

Anyway, that is a little bit about what is up with me. I hope you all are well and that you are happy and healthy. I would love to hear from you.

Love Kyle Patrick Barnhisel