Baby vs Baby

In the last month, Eliza has learned how to crawl. Some people call this natural development. We call it training. We were trying to build up her skill set before we went out to Utah for a week to show her off. Here's the training regimen:




And if there's anything cuter than a baby, it's two babies interacting. See how Eliza's training paid off:




Unfortunately, we didn't get video of the one time Eliza got pinned by her opponent.

Bray Family Movie Trailer

If you've done something twice, does that make it a tradition? The last two times the whole Bray family has gotten together, we've organized the grandkids into making a video. The kids have watched this 20 times in the 20 hours since we finished the video. We had a lot of fun making it.

Bowling Stones

Miriam and Henry both made it to the end of their charts (by practicing the piano, emptying the silverware, etc.), so we went bowling as a family. Quite by accident, we ended up at a small cash-only (in 2010?) alley, with small balls and small pins. Apparently, it's called duckpin bowling. It was a fun twist on bowling and worked out great for kids that can't carry a bigger ball.

A reason to slow down and smile

We decided it was cheaper to buy our kids slippers than turn up the thermostat. As we're not ones to just give our kids things as nice as slippers without a reason, we waited until Halloween and made a trail of pumpkin seeds for them to follow to find their gift. It was fun, but the really special moment was our kids' creativity the next day.



Here's the text from Miriam's note that flashes at the end of the movie.

"Dear Mom
I love you
You givd me a spris so I dsidid to giv you a spris
Love Miriam ed Henry"

Do the Creamery Shake

We went to visit a local creamery on Saturday. They gave out little containers full of milk that just needed a little shaking to become butter. Thus, everywhere we went there were people shaking. It was a fun, free trip.



PS We had a great video last week that got muted by YouTube because we don't license the music we use on our videos. Usually, it just sends us a warning. If anyone has any ideas for allowing us to use unlicensed music, let us know.

Pony Pony

We went to a park that had quite a variety of activities, including pony rides, for a limited fee, and on the way home, the song in the video came on. We debated about whether the background singers were saying 'Ride your pony' at one point in the song. The internet (the ultimate settler of arguments) says yes. Enjoy.

Retro Entry: From ATM to MATH Team

Before our digital camera took usable videos, we used to have a video camera. We had lots of great footage that we never downloaded to our computer. When we finally tried to download video, we no longer had the computer with the software and operating system necessary. After trying multiple computers and methods, we were able to download something, but the download wasn't smooth. The audio was terrible and the picture jerky. Here is the best of what we were able to salvage:



A year and a half of our lives in less than 3.5 minutes.

A Dream (finally) Come True!

Miriam has been asking to take dance lessons for at least a year. We successfully put her off for a while, but decided the time was finally right to let her give it a try. We've got one happy girl!

(She's in the pink leotard with the fluffy tutu. You can't actually see her face until the end of the video.)

Little Bits of Goodness

We've been taking lots of videos over the past month, but none of them have been worth a post all on their own. However, a mix of a lot of good, little clips, makes for one great long clip. Enjoy.

Games that teach important life lessons

We got this great game at a garage sale. It's called, "Don't Wake Up Daddy". Every space you land on makes you push the button a certain number of times, and if Daddy wakes up, then you have to go back to bed. First one to the refrigerator wins. In the 2nd half of the video below, Alvin was one space away from sweet victory over his children when...


But here's to fun games with an educational message!

Miriam the Monkey

Miriam found the perfect set of monkey bars to practice on. Well-spaced and not too high off the ground. This is the first time she's successfully crossed on her own. The funniest part is how she always has to "wipe the grease" off her hands before she can start.

Swimming Solo?

Our swim team welcomes anyone interested to attend two weeks of pre-season practice in order to determine if they would like to join the team for the rest of the season. Miriam was delighted to be a part of something and attended every practice with enthusiasm. After 4 practices she progressed to the point in this video and that is where she still remains a week later. She is so proud of herself because, as she says, "I can swim by myself!" It seems that since the wall is not a person, it doesn't really count as helping. We're trying to convince her that there really is more to learn, but in the meantime she is happy to swim the perimeter of the pool by "herself"!

We're posting this video as a reference point. It will be fun to look back at the end of the summer and see how far she has come. You'll get the idea after the first 20 seconds. No need to watch all the way to the end unless you want to see Miriam unknowingly splash a bug out of the pool which then scurries along the wall next to her.

New Dogs Can Learn Old Tricks

Recently, my mom was sorting through her attic and found a dress that I wore as a little girl. We washed it and Miriam wore it to church today.

When we got home, I went through my scrapbook to see if I could find a picture of me wearing the same dress. This is what I found:

Miriam immediately wanted to try. We may not look much alike in appearance, but we can both do really cool tricks!

A-Tooty-Ta

Last week we attended "Cafe Pre-K" in Miriam's classroom. Alvin had the honor of being the family member that Miriam chose to sing this song with her. Sometimes it's nice not to be the favorite. :)

"Do Something Cool"

IF Miriam ever became a cheerleader, the first clip would be great to look back on someday. But given her genealogy, that's not ever going to happen.

The second clip teaches two lessons:

1. If you are speaking to your kids, make sure you specify which one you are talking to.

2. IF you ask your 2-year-old to do 'something cool' (which we weren't), make sure his definition of 'something cool' is the same as yours.

#3 celebrates 3 months

We were recently looking through our videos and realized that we didn't have any of Eliza. She must have been feeling the lack of attention, so she pulled out some tricks to show off. This past week she has started smiling, making contact with toys, and she even laughed for (or at) us!



Sidenote: When Alvin was a youth, he attended an activity where the kids were paired up, this song was played ("Baby, Baby"), and one partner had to put a big marshmallow into the other partner's mouth every time he heard the word "baby". Try it sometime!

Cac Resup

A week or so ago Miriam started planning for Mother's Day, and part of her plan was to cook for her mom. She even went as far as to make a recipe book. Today we saw the results...


When you're child goes through all that work, how do you tell them that it won't work and that you won't make it? My (Alvin's) plan was to simply suggest she add a few more ingredients to the ones she already had. So while I looked for a good made from scratch recipe, Miriam went about spooning in the sprinkles and marshmallows. I told her she'd need to add some milk and some other ingredients. While I searched for the other ingredients, she added about a quart of milk. At this point, I decided that it would take so many other ingredients to make the cake salvageable, that it wasn't worth it. We just threw her cake into the oven.

The result has more of the texture of flan than it does of cake, but I kind of like it. I ate most of the missing half of the 'cac'. Miriam, on the other hand, can't stand it. Maybe this will keep her from creating too many things on her own in the future.

Fetching Pails

Our kids were doing this all on their own. Then Tammy brought the camera and eventually a prop.


Thank goodness they have each other for entertainment.

Simple Pleasures

Here are two short videos from last month.
1) Is it true that if you focus on one spot, you won't get dizzy?




2) Popcorn ball anyone? Actually, I think they said they were gathering the petals to put on top of their fairy sandcastle. The quality of the falling petals/video goes waaaay down when we post it to the blog. Sorry. [Update: If you saw the original post the flower petals were going from the ground to the tree, as Tammy didn't realize that Alvin had been playing with the reverse video feature. The gibberish words did not tip her off, as we don't really pay attention to our kids anyway. ]

Old College Tricks

Alvin's freshman year, he and his roommate taught themselves how to juggle 3 balls. As his college education progressed, Alvin and his future cousin-in-law taught themselves how to juggle 5 balls between the two of them.



Some of the most important things you learn at school don't happen in the classroom.

Backyard Bully

I was getting dinner ready last night and was taken aback by what I saw out the window. It took me several looks to figure out exactly what I was seeing.

I called the kids over and we all watched transfixed as a really big bird plucked and ate a smaller bird. He eventually flew away and took his kill with him, leaving no evidence except a yard full of feathers. Cool!

ps. I know it's not the greatest picture, but do you know what kind of bird this is?

Happy Palm Sunday!

We've found a book of Christ-centered Easter ideas, and we're trying to do a little bit more than just the Easter Bunny and candy this year (though we'll be doing that, too). So with Alvin reprising his role from Christmas Eve...



Have a happy Easter week!

How to Make Something from Nothing

Last weekend we got to have both sets of grandparents in town for Eliza's baby blessing. This video is one example of the creative fun we had while they were here.

(in case you were wondering, we ate the soup for lunch and it was almost fit for a king - just a little more salt & pepper next time!)

Rise All Loyal Cougars!

All on her own, before leaving for school this morning, Miriam made "Go BYU" signs for each of us to hold during the game!

During the 2nd over-time, when BYU seemed to have clinched their victory and the stress-level in our house had drastically decreased from the 1st overtime, Miriam began chanting, "Who's winning? BYU!"

No better way to celebrate the victory than with BYU Mint Brownies!

Unbalanced Beam

Today we bring back an old blog favorite...falling children! Well, almost. Let us explain.

When you're stuck inside for long periods of time, you come up with creative ways to entertain yourselves. We decided to play balance beam (yes, we know it's a summer sport), making the balance beam progressively higher and higher...



Yes. Henry did end up on the floor, but he recovered quickly. If Alvin had been filming, you would have seen the whole fall, but Tammy has those darn maternal instincts. Enjoy the Winter Olympics!

Defense Against the Bad Guys in the Snow

This post is for those of you out there concerned about our welfare, and for those of us trapped inside a house all day with little else to do. First, let me say that shoveling 2 feet of snow off of a driveway, sidewalk, road, and car is harder than it looks in these pictures. Thus, on day 1 of shoveling I recruited a 9 month pregnant wife to help, and she did (Yes, she's amazing!). On the second day of shoveling (after a day of rest), I recruited Bruce Springsteen and shared him with the neighborhood. Miriam gave me an award for my hard work.

As you can see, two feet of snow shovel leads to four foot embankments, which leads to your children playing on top of the lamppost.

And when sliding down from the the top of the lamppost gets boring, then you have to recruit Dad to help you build...

Note that construction of the snow fort was often delayed by ever escalating attacks from bad guys, but while the construction in a war zone is hazardous, I must say that I was fed well (a steady diet of snow rolls, snow soup, and snow ice cream).

Apparently, someone doesn't think this record setting snow is enough because forecasts have predicted 10-20 inches (and lots of wind) for Tuesday night and Wednesday morning. In related news, Tammy has felt some tightening in her stomach today, though she swears its not contractions...yet.

Blizzard of 2010

You may recall that 3 days before Henry was born we had a fire in our townhouse. Well now, as we're counting down the days to the birth of baby Eliza, we're in the middle of what may turn out to be the biggest blizzard in DC history. We've gotten 30 inches of snow already, and it's still coming!

We're safely and warmly packed in, and as long as we have power and the internet, we'll be content to spend some extra time together as a family.

Happy Backwards Day!

What can you do with a day off in the middle of the winter with a lady that's 8 month's pregnant and two children? You can celebrate backwards day! The rules are simple:
1. Wear your clothes backward. (It's OK if you don't make it through the whole day, as it is a bit difficult to use the bathroom when your pants are on backward.)
2. Do your entire routine backward: We started with baths and scriptures, then had 'dessert' and family home evening, and ended the day with breakfast. Changing the order makes even the mundane part of the routine more exciting.
3. Always go up and down your stairs backwards. (Going everywhere backwards is too tiresome.)

The kids were overheard multiple times saying, "I love Backwards Day!"

Our normal camera was on the fritz this morning after Miriam dropped it, so we broke out the old video camera when typically we would have taken a still photo or two. (Unfortunately, we did not get video of the reactions of our fellow shoppers at the grocery store.)

Enjoy your 30 seconds of the Beatles...




P.S. Our normal camera has miraculously regained functionality.

The Final Countdown

We invited some friends over on New Year's Eve. We pigged out on delicious food and played multiple games. Our "kid-friendly" New Year arrived around 9pm with a simulated countdown and the Bray tradition of balloon stomping.