Bring it on, 2012!

Some people like to time their Christmas lights to music. We prefer to time our lives to music.



Here's to the beginning of another great year!

Top Ten Soccer Kids

It's with mixed feelings that we bid farewell to fall soccer. The games were cold, the practices dark, and it tied up our Saturday mornings. But here are the reasons we enjoyed it...



The song, "Waka, Waka (This Time for Africa)" by Shakira, was the official anthem of the 2010 World Cup, held in South Africa.

Note: There are more clips of Henry than Miriam because
1)Henry played the whole game every game, as Henry's team didn't have any subs
2) Miriam got a spring soccer video
3) Miriam's field is bigger and thus harder to take video of with our little camera

Oct-Snow-Brrrr

We have a good laugh every time we go into a store and see Christmas decorations. It's a slight to both Halloween and Thanksgiving, not to mention Alvin's birthday. Retailers surely never passed the marshmallow test.

Fall has been a little slow in coming here, and most of the leaves on the trees are still green. So boy were we surprised when we saw some fluffy white stuff all day yesterday. Eliza, of course, has had no experience with snow that she remembers, so she was part confused, part giddy with excitement.





Have a very, merry Halloween!

What Marshmallows Tell Us About Henry

If you're not familiar with the marshmallow test, you're not spending enough time on youtube. There are several great examples of this experiment available to watch, but we recommend Elder Uchtdorf's explanation of the experiment and the lessons we can learn from it.



We decided to perform our own marshmallow test on our resident 4 year old, Henry. We substituted 2 mini-marshmallow for 1 big one, and he wasn't in a closed observatory but we hope this doesn't invalidate the results. Here's what happened:



This probably doesn't qualify him for the top 30% cited by Elder Uchtdorf, but at least he didn't eat the marshmallows before we left the room. We think he's still above average.

Pennsylvacation

Miriam had a half day of school on Thursday followed by no school on Friday. We seized the opportunity to take a short family vacation and be "Free" from the worries of daily life. We drove 1.5 hrs north to Hershey/Harrisburg, PA and stayed in a hotel! Our kids would have thought that was cool regardless, but were over the top when they found out that there was indoor miniature golf and an indoor pool with a water slide.





Documented in this video is the fun we had as we toured Hershey's Chocolate World, played at the hotel and a Science Center. (other activities, not documented here, included the beautiful Harrisburg capitol building and a nature center)

You can once again thank Barbie for the music.

Saturdays in the Fall

The last two Saturdays we've found ourselves with some beautiful weather and a little extra time, in part thanks to some canceled soccer games. Both times we quickly improvised and found some close outdoor fun. Two weeks ago, we went to a covered bridge and had a picnic dinner at a park. This week we hiked to Annapolis Rocks, a point on the Appalachian trail.

Here are some children blowin' in the wind...

There's Something in My Ice Cream

It's clear that
1. Our kids are not all that surprised to find things in their food.
2. They've been expecting this announcement for a while.

And we thought this was big news...

The Sound of Miriam

Activities highlighted in this video:

-"The Lonely Goatherd Band"

-Explanation on how the eye works after a science lesson from Aunt Reta

-Indoor Rain Party organized by Miriam after her outdoor rain party got canceled due to lightning. She cut out raindrops and puddles by herself and planned all the activities.

-Slip-n-Slide at Ward Activity

-Lemonade Stand

Eliza at 18 Months

The best part about Eliza turning 1.5 years is that she gets to go to Nursery. As Tammy is in the primary presidency, it was always Alvin's job to take care of her, so he is very excited to finally be able to sleep in peace.

It's hard not to compare her to our other children at the same age, and she's behind the first two in her language. Miriam was a jabber box by 18 months; Henry consistently used a dozen words and a handful of useful signs; Eliza can't say anything.

OK. Technically, she CAN say about 8 words (a few are evidenced in this video). But she doesn't use any of them consistently and without a lot of coaxing, and they aren't words that help us know what she wants.



We are going to watch this video on a loop and try to pretend she really talks, and just think about how cute she is.

And as the song (from the Barbie videos) says, we think she's on her way to something better.

Swim Star

We are very proud of Miriam for improving so much in her swimming this year. This week at practice her coach complimented her on her enthusiasm and her desire to learn and give it her best effort every time she's in the water. It has been really exciting to watch her improve a little each day. You have to look at her stroke, not her competition, to see her improvement, as she was moved to a faster heat after the 2nd meet.




Here is the record of her progress over the season.
Freestyle: meet 1 - 58.53 seconds, meet 2 - 43.12 seconds, meet 3 - 34.94 seconds
Backstroke: meet 1 - hadn't learned yet, meet 2 - 59.66 seconds, meet 3 - 45.59 seconds

Bad Town

The kids spent a lot of time making a little town, and they didn't want to put their town away without taking a picture first. We were too busy to take the pictures for them, so we let them borrow the camera. This is what happened.

Dance With Me Henry

With recent videos featuring Miriam and Eliza, it's time to spotlight our little man, Henry, who just celebrated his 4th birthday.




Video clips include:
Henry on Father's and Son's campout (May)
Henry singing to himself (May)
Henry et al dancing (June, July)
Henry et al at the Marbles Children's Museum in NC (July)
Henry finding clues for his birthday present (July)
Henry riding his two-wheeled pedal-less birthday present (July)
Henry blowing out candles, twice (July)

For Grandparents (and the extremely bored) Only: Below is Henry's first primary talk, given July 3rd. Henry is always very excited when it is his turn to teach Family Home Evening, but then can't make it through the lesson without getting shy or embarrassed and refusing to continue. So, we were extremely proud of him when he repeated his lines with a loud, confident voice. If we'd had time to practice, we think he could have done this much more independently, but well, we were busy. Maybe next time.

Taking Off the Training Wheels

Teaching your child how to ride a bike is supposed to be one of those classic parent-child moments, like your child's first steps or their first lost tooth. On Saturday, we went to the church parking lot with the camera, ready to capture that special moment.

Well, Day 1 turned out to be more frustrating than rewarding, as Miriam didn't make much progress. Thankfully, despite the lack of progress, she was still excited and wanted to keep trying after her parents had exhausted themselves from running behind her.

We figured this might take awhile, so Tammy took the kids to the church on Monday and didn't even bother to take the camera. Miriam started to show some minor progress immediately, but her final break through came while Tammy had her back turned talking to another mother who was at the church for a minute. Miriam got tired of waiting and figured out how to start all by herself. The end video is of Miriam showing off for Dad in the street in front of our house.

You can't have a bicycle video without a medley of songs from Queen.



Our apologies for the bumpy footage that was taken while running alongside Miriam.

How to Entertain a 17 month old

The first clip is of Eliza giving the couch a "zerbert". (If you don't do it to another person, is it still a zerbert, or just a farting noise?)

The rest of the movie is Eliza playing with water bottles, while Miriam gets her first bike riding lesson in the church parking lot. Not a lot of action, but we find it entertaining nonetheless.

Commentary is provided by Henry.

Alvin's Song

Alvin wrote the first draft of this song one morning after a rough day of seminary, about 9 months ago. It has undergone lots of little revisions since it was first performed at a pair of family reunions in Nov./Dec. We've already received one good suggestion for the song, and we welcome more. However, with the posting of this video, we are probably done revising until:
1. We find someone to sing it who can really sing. (Alvin became nauseous from hearing his own voice so much in the making of this video.)
2. We find someone to write and play some orchestral back-up.
3. We find a studio to professionally record it.




Thanks for all of you that have contributed directly or have offered your encouragement. If you have not already received it, a copy of the music is available upon request. Please feel free to pass the song along and use it wherever it is appropriate. We only ask that you tell us if you use it, so we can have the satisfaction of knowing that our work was appreciated.

Cleaning Magic

This video was taken while we were visiting friends in Lexington, MA. The kids seem to have picked up some magical skills during our visit to Salem, MA. The editing was done for us by the fabulous Cami Jones, mother of the great actors Bryn and Calvin. The premiere viewing was held on July 2 in MA before debuting here in MD on the lucky 7/7. The promoting of high profile movies, like this one, is hard work.

The Great Outdoors

We just got back from a little trip across multiple states. Can you guess where we've been? Our newsletter will have all of the details this next week. (If you're not a subscriber and want to be, let us know.)

My favorite part about this video is the song. You may recognize the tune, but the words were rewritten for a performance on Sesame Street.

An Unedited Snapshot (er, Snapvideo?)

Here's a little clip of what happens when Mom is on the phone (and Dad is upstairs putting Eliza to bed). Is it like this at your house too?



Things to note:

1) Miriam's independent creativity.
2) Henry's "flip a switch" ability to go from grumpy to happy to grumpy again in 15 seconds.
3) The utter inability of two children to resolve their own problems.


Tammy was more than aware that an argument was taking place while she was on the phone since she tried to walk away from it 3 times and it kept following her into new rooms pleading for a mediator. But when she finally got off the phone, she gave the kids a little talking to about their bad phone manners and then refused to listen to their problem or help solve it.

You can imagine our delight when we discovered this gem tonight as we were downloading things from the camera card onto the computer. What a treasure to be watched over and over!

Tammy has a theory that her cell phone must transmit some sort of electromagnetic pulses (or some other scientific something) to the neurons of our children causing them to mutate into angry monster children while the cell phone is in use.

Soccer Star

Selected highlights from Miriam's first soccer season. Unfortunately, we weren't videotaping when Miriam scored either of her two goals this year.

Oh Somebody's Had A Birthday!

One of the fun things we did on Tammy's birthday was go to a park in Middletown where they were giving out free ice cream!



But when Tammy was asked what she really wanted to do for her birthday, she said she wanted to get some work done!?! All I can say is she's so, soooo...



Note: The miniature golf was the pre-'work party' celebration the night before. A few other pictures were borrowed from our anniversary and mother's day.

F-Words

If there were an American Idol for blog videos, Randy Jackson would probably have this to say about this video:
" Yo, Dawg. You know I love you, but this video just didn't do it for me. It's all about song choice, and this just wasn't the right song for you. At this stage in the competition, your video needs to have that 'moment', but there was no 'moment' (and the goat eating your daughter's toes doesn't count). Sorry, Dawg, but I don't think you're 'In it to win it'."



They had a free 'Family Fun Day' at a local farm turned playground. There are 4 F-words (or perhaps I should say words that start with F) that are key to a great time. In order, they are:
1.Free
2.Family
3.Fun
4.Food

As a 3.5-F activity, this was pretty nice.

Baby Steps to Baby Steps

This video may be a little long for the casual viewer, but we wanted to capture each of the milestones that we have celebrated along the path to Eliza's first steps.

We have thoroughly enjoyed watching her progress one step at a time.

It's who you are

Henry has been saving up his points from doing jobs and chose to spend them on a date with Mom (The most expensive thing there is on the list of possible rewards). We went to Chuck E. Cheese and played several games using leftover tokens that Miriam got almost a year ago at a bday party. We ended the date with a milkshake from Baskin Robbins. It's always fun to have one-on-one time with the kids.



While we were driving in the car I asked him if he would like to sing songs, tell stories, or do math problems. He chose math! He has started having an interest in adding numbers less than 5, so he can put each number on a hand. For example, he can add 5+5, but hasn't figured out how to do 7+3.

Go West!

Warning: This video does not feature any Van Ordens. Alvin took this video of his beloved seminary kids.

The stake seminary coordinator put together a fabulous seminary activity this Saturday. It was a mini-trek west across the plains. They had to hunt for food, ford a river, barter with indians, saw logs, break out of jail (a common pioneer activity), get medicine away from rattlesnakes, and compete with another class in a stick pull. They dragged more than a wheelbarrow full of water jugs to each station, and at each stop they found out how the imaginary supplies they had bought before the trek (with imaginary money) dwindled. Classes that wisely spent their money had more imaginary success than others. After my camera battery died, there was a big bonfire, dinner, and words from the stake president. It was all very well done.



This was my favorite church dance song when I was in seminary.

Maple Music

Yesterday we went to a state park where they were giving demonstrations on making maple syrup. After eating pancakes and syrup, we enjoyed making crafts and music, followed by a short hike to a nice waterfall. It was a fun family day.




It was an interesting demonstration, but in our opinion, 100% natural maple syrup is not superior in taste to our standard cheap version.

Idioms: Keeping Up With the Joneses

If you're like we were a mere month ago, perhaps you can give a vague definition of the word idiom, but it's not a word that's part of your every day vocabulary.

That was before our friends, the Joneses, reported teaching their kids a lesson on idioms for FHE and they made a video. (Note: Jones really is their last name, and thus, keeping up with them is not, in our case, an idiom.)

On Monday, we paid homage to our genius friends by making our own video about idioms because 1. We needed to make sure our kids don't fall behind academically and 2. It's a fun FHE idea. (Learning + family time = killing two birds with one stone).

For the record, dictionary.com defines an idiom as:
id·i·om   /ˈɪdiəm/ [id-ee-uhm]
–noun
1. an expression whose meaning is not predictable from the usual meanings of its constituent elements

...but we'll let the kids give you a clearer explanation.

Disco Birthday and a Big First Step

After the votes were tallied, we ignored them (we expect there to be more opportunities in the future for cakes about books). Instead, we went with a disco ball cake, in honor of Eliza's dancing prowess.



The video below is a bit long with clips of presents and dancing before her birthday and clips of various activities on the day of her celebration in NC. If you make it to the end, there's a fun bonus clip for those of you that know Tammy's parents.




About a week after her birthday, Eliza navigated her first stair. While we should be worried that the stairs are no longer safe, we're just excited that she's finally developing some gross motor skills.



And yes, given the music from these videos, Eliza may someday think she turned 1 in the 1970's.

Vote on Eliza's Birthday Cake

We were trying to decide what is most representative of Eliza as she hits her one year mark this next week. Miriam liked to play on the phone, and Henry loved to climb the stairs. Eliza is amazingly content to sit and watch life around her and hardly ever talks and does very little moving. Her siblings started walking on or before their birthdays, but she is no where close. Anyway, we've had a hard time deciding on how to decorate her first cake. Here are our ideas:

1. An eyeball cake, as most people will comment to us on her big, beautiful blue eyes and how she'll stare at them without cracking a smile or blinking.



2. A music note cake, as she likes to dance as evidenced in the video below [At the end of the dancing bit, there is a segment of her 'talking'. Can we say that her first word is Bye, Bye, even if she has no idea what it means?]





3. A book cake because she enjoys pulling every board book we have off of the little shelf.



Let us know what you think or if you have any other ideas.

Daddy-Daughter Ice Skating Date

Miriam earned a date and chose to go ice skating for the first time in her life. I was impressed with the progress she made in such a short period of time (approx. 45 min.). The key to success is being able to get up after you fall and fall hard.



The video is a bit choppy because I'm no skating-pro either, and this catchy but repetitive song was playing while we were at the rink.