Sarah H-F in Student Directed Play!

Check out the CSW facebook page to see pictures of Sarah H-F starring in our student-directed "Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf: Act I." She was AMAZING. Hysterical. So expressive. Wish you could have seen it yourself!

Barn Holiday Party 2010

We celebrated the end of a wonderful week of Secret Snowflake subterfuge with our holiday party last night. Our decorating committee outdid themselves and we had wonderful finger foods and ice cream and exchanged lots of gifts and merry laughter. We celebrated our successful fundraiser--we were able to sponsor THREE homeless children AND buy 7 extra blankets for the shelter with the $250 the girls raised with their candy cane grams. It was a wonderfully festive and spirited night! The dorm will seem so empty next week, as our Barnies spread out to their homes all over the globe!

We're wishing happy holidays and a peaceful 2011 to all of our families and blog readers!

Cheers from the Barn at CSW!

Getting in the spirit...lots to celebrate!

Sorry we haven't posted for a while. It's been very busy in the barn! First, the girls have decided to run a candy cane gram fundraiser to raise money to buy winter clothes for 2-year-old twins who are homeless just now. The girls worked really hard on this project and raised enough money to buy LOTS of warm winter things for the girls. Maybe we can even buy a little toy or two. =) We're going to go shopping on Thursday to pick stuff out, and then we'll still need to do a lot of work to deliver the candy canes next week before everyone leaves for break. Special thanks to Lili, Riz, and Rowan who took on an organizing role with this project...though nearly everyone in the dorm got involved either with marketing, selling, shopping or getting ready to deliver!

Meanwhile, Asha, Rowan S., Rowan H., and Briana are meeting tonight to plan our holiday party on Sunday! They'll be in charge of planning and decorating and shopping for snacks! The party will celebrate the end of a week-long "Secret Snowflake" event in the dorm. Everyone is participating, by leaving small gifts and notes for their person each day. At the party on Sunday, we'll all try to guess who our secret snowflake was and we'll exchange slightly larger gifts and celebrate the end of the year. It's always great fun, because the girls go to great lengths to keep it a secret--they could be future CIA agents! =)

We've also been celebrating Hanukkah, which ends tomorrow night. We like to learn about and celebrate ALL the holidays that our residents celebrate.

Finally, you may have heard that we've been celebrating some more good news in the Barn...Michael and I shared with the girls that we'll be expecting a new addition to the Barn in early June. The girls were so excited that you might have heard the cheers at YOUR house! We're feeling very lucky to be part of such a wonderful extended family, and we're excited to share this adventure with our "other" 29 daughters! =)

Here are some pictures of our dorm getting in the holiday spirit...

Secret Snowflake present spotted on a desk!

Melisa's new favorite holiday decorations

The newest addition to our dorm!