Won't That Be Nice?!

Right before we moved, I had a few VHS tapes converted to DVDs.  I was afraid the VHS tapes would eventually disintegrate and all those precious memories (like our wedding video) would be lost forever.

One of the gems from that little conversion was the following video.  Some of you may or may not know that when I graduated from college I moved to Houston, TX to teach high school.  While I was there, I went to Second Baptist Church (which is where I met Kevin and got married).  Second is huge - Texas HUGE.  I mean really, really big.  It is a wonderful church and I loved going there.  But did I mention it was really big?  Overwhelming for most people when they visited there.  Not one, but two balconies.  Parking was crazy.  The campus was enormous.  You get the picture.

Well, one day a few singles were sitting around talking as we used to do when we had lots of free time before we had kids and mortgages and soccer practice and carpool duty.  We thought, "Wouldn't it be funny if we made a video poking fun at life at Second Baptist."  Now, keep in mind this video was filmed almost 10 years before youtube ever came along.  And I think that Facebook Zuckerberg guy was still in elementary school.

Disclaimer:  You've always heard it said that the camera adds 10 pounds.  Apparently, this camera decided to add all ten pounds to my face.  Yikes!  Fletcher and Luke saw this video (they think it is hilarious) and they wanted to know how I could make my eyes get that big.

Enjoy!

Groundhog Day

Christmas 2011

I was so caught up in the excitement of Christmas morning, I only took a few pictures and videos.

One advantage of buying pjs a few sizes too big is that they get to wear them two Christmases in a row. 

This was Fletcher's face after he realized the really big present was for him. 

They sat still long enough for a quick picture, then it was off to play with new toys.

These videos capture the personalities of our children when they wake up. We later found out that Fletcher had been up since 4 am (but didn't come out of his room until 7). We had to wake Luke up a little after 7 for fear that his brother might burst with anticipation!

Luke


Fletcher

The Christmas Story

According to an 8 year old...


And according to a 3 year old...

We are happy to report that the angel has only a mild concussion and is recovering nicely.

Jedi Training

Disney Hollywood Studios offers Jedi Training for kids who want to become Jedis. We thought it would be fun for Fletcher to do and Luke decided he wanted to do it too.

Luke was fine with the training part, but when the real Darth Vader came out he was terrified. He started crying and backing away. The helper was trying to get him by the hand to take him to Kevin but Luke thought she was trying to take him to fight Darth Vader and he started screaming and crying even more. Kevin and I felt terrible. He quickly recovered in the safety of Daddy's arms and enjoyed watching Fletcher take his turn battling the Dark Side.

Fletcher thought it was one of the coolest things we did at Disney (besides riding all the big rollercoasters).

Jedi Training


Practicing with Darth Vader

Epic Parenting Fail

For those of you who were curious how the boys reacted to the Disney surprise, here is the video.

Let's just say I probably need to work on "reading comprehension" with Fletcher. 

Not exactly the reaction I had envisioned in my head.  I didn't expect much from Luke because he doesn't even know what Disney is.



I'll be posting some pictures and videos of our trip in the days ahead. We had a great time (in spite of the rough beginning).

What Do You Want To Be When You Grow Up?

Bob Dylan is getting old.  I think we may have found a possible replacement.
Still makes a mama proud.


This guitar has served us well.  Remember this?  Fletcher was about the same age as Luke is now.

Let It Glow, Let It Glow, Let It Glow!

Makes a mama proud!
Science Fair 2011.  We have a video but you can't hear Fletcher on it.  Too much other noise going on the room.  Here are his note cards he used for his oral presentation.  He learned lots of new things (and we did too). 

 Luke was listening attentively (at least for the first minute) to Fletcher's presentation.

What A Difference A Year Makes

Remember this from last year? 

Here are two clips from this year's performance.  I was so happy and proud that I completely zoned out for about 15 seconds in the middle and then realized I didn't even have the camera on Luke.

More Surprises!

When we knew we were going to be in the Raleigh area on Saturday, Kevin thought it might be fun to go to a work site and let Luke drive a real excavator.  He is still fascinated with big machines.  He loves playing with his dump trucks, bull dozers, skid steer loaders and tools.  One of his favorite things to play is "worker" at the "working site."  Kevin's friend knows how to operate the big machines so we met him there.  His son got to go first and Luke was mesmerized watching this other little boy drive the track wheel excavator up the hill through the dirt and then dig a hole.  Since it was somewhat loud, I wasn't sure if Luke would want a turn.  But as soon as Kevin asked, Luke was ready to go.  He loved it.  I couldn't zoom close enough to see his expression on his face.  Let's just say that he thought the Lego Fest was cool, but driving the excavator was way cooler in his book!

But we had one more surprise before we came home!

Make A Face

July 17, 2011

Sunday morning Fletcher went forward during the invitation to let everyone know he had asked Jesus into his heart and wanted to be baptized.  He was so excited about his decision and so are we.  He was baptized last night along with 5 other children close to his same age.  Grandma and Papa Charlie came to see this very important event. 
He accepted Christ a few years ago, but we really didn't push the baptism thing because we wanted to be sure he understood what it meant to be baptized (an outward symbol of an inward commitment) and what it meant to make a public profession of his faith.  After lots of conversations and a conversation between Fletcher and our pastor, we really felt he was ready (and was doing this because he wanted to, not because we made him or because some of his friends were doing it too). 

We reminded him that this is something he will remember forever.  It is so neat to see how God has been working in his life and how He has used so many people (our pastor, Sunday School teachers, RA leaders, school teachers, VBS leaders, friends, family, coaches, etc) to teach Fletcher spiritual truth.  What a blessing as parents to see our child come to Christ and grow in Him. 

On a funny note:  Our church doesn't have its own baptistry so when we do baptisms, another Baptist church in the area lets us use theirs.  However, someone from their church forgot to turn the heater on in the baptismal pool so the water was freezing!  One of the kids asked if they could do baptisms in the hot tub next time.  Ha!

A Fish Is Born

I realize this video is long, but I decided to put it on here anyway.  Luke has done so well with his swim lessons the past two weeks.  He really clicked with "Mr. Matt" and was pretty cooperative.  (What a difference a year makes.  Last year he would not cooperate at all).  Of course, he was a little bossy here and there.  You can see in the video where he is pointing and telling Mr. Matt exactly where to stand in the pool so Luke can jump to him.  It also cracks me up when Mr. Matt says "Face in" and Luke just about gives himself whiplash putting his face in the water.  Now he just needs to practice this summer and he'll keep getting more comfortable in the water.

George Thorogood

Just to clarify...he insists on going to the bathroom all by himself these days with no help whatsoever from mom or dad.  So sometimes things get a little twisted when he comes out.  I think he was trying to adjust his underwear at the beginning.  I don't think he was grabbing his crotch like Michael Jackson. 

Shot Through The Heart

We had to give Luke about a 10 foot radius all around him so he didn't hit anyone with his shovel or the sand he was flinging everywhere.  That child loves to dig in the sand.  Did it from the time we got to the beach until the time we left. 

Just in case you can't hear the dialog....
Kevin:  Hey, Luke.  Whatcha doing?
Luke:  Digging
Kevin:  Digging? What are you digging for?
Luke:  (mumbling)
Kevin:  You're digging for what?
Luke:  For treasure.
Kevin:  For treasure?
Kevin:  What kind of treasure?
Luke: Beautiful treasure
Kevin:  Beautiful treasure?
Luke:  For mommy
Me:  Awwwwwww.  Thank you!
Luke:  For Tucker's mommy
Me:  Oooooohhhhh
Teresa (Tucker's mommy):  Yeah!

Luke loves him some Mrs. Teresa!

Top Chef

Sometimes it's the everyday stuff I don't want to forget.  Making pancakes with Dad is one of Luke's favorite things to do.   (Yes, I realize that is an enormous bag of chocolate chips.  But we like chocolate chips in our pancakes and they are much less expensive when I buy them in bulk at Sams.  That bag will probably last us through elementary school). 

Minute To Win It

Fletcher decided it might be fun to have a birthday party based on the "Minute To Win It" television show.  Kevin brought home a projector and his laptop from work so the kids could see the "blueprint" that explained each game and then see the 60 second countdown on the big screen.  I thought I picked games that would be relatively easy for 5, 6 and 7 year olds to do, but some of them were a little too hard.  I think the kids had fun anyway.  If you've never seen the show, all of the games are based on pretty common everyday objects.  They did the Candy Elevator where they had to move string along their ears to raise a platform that had Skittles on it (too hard for them).  Another one they did was Face the Cookie where they had to put an Oreo on their foreheads and get it into their mouths without using their hands or feet -- only their face muscles. The game at the end was called Junk in the Trunk where they had to get ping pong balls out of the tissue box strapped around their waist without using hands or feet.  The other ones we played just for the record were Hanky Panky, The Nutstacker, Noodling Around and Movin' On Up.  I am so glad my friend Jen and Kevin were there to help me!  Even though we only had 6 boys and I had all the games planned out, it was still quite a challenge to explain the games, make sure they were following the rules and transition to the next game.  The cake had miniature replicas of all the games they played. 

The fun thing about these games (there are hundreds of them on the NBC Minute To Win It website) is that they really can be enjoyed by all ages.  My family needs to be warned...we're planning to play some of these when we get together for Christmas...so you better bust out the Oreos and start practicing. 

So Sweet!

Tearin' It Up On The Dance Floor

The video is a little dark, but that's Luke (in the green jacket) and his cousin Anna getting their groove on before the Gregg Russell concert in Harbor Town.  At first Luke was a little unsure about it all so he started in the corner by the speaker.  But once he hit his stride, he was all over that stage.  I told my sister-in-law Stacie that he reminded me of Rodney Dangerfield in Caddyshack with those rockin' pants and stellar dance moves.

The Show Must Go On

This was Luke's debut performance at his preschool holiday program. They've been working on these songs and the pledge for weeks. While he had practiced in that very same room many times before the performance, he had never done it with 40 or so parents watching him all holding video cameras. I love how God makes each child unique. If you recall (if not, click here for a reminder), Fletcher is my very social child. He thrives on being with people and so being on a stage and performing is right up his alley. Luke, on the other hand, prefers smaller groups. Often if we have other kids over to play, he will play for a while and then he will go play by himself. It's like being around lots of people for too long is draining for him and he needs time to recharge his batteries. I'm sort of like that too. He loves, loves, loves to sing and we constantly hear him singing at home when he is awake and when he is supposed to be going to sleep or napping. He likes to listen to music in the car and always asks for me to "turn it up wouder." So I wondered how he would do today. Singing + crowd = ?

Note his long hair that I mentioned in yesterday's post.  And his cute sweater.  That's a truck with pumpkins in it.  So cute. 

My first clue should have been his hesitation at the door when he saw all the people.  The poor boy next to him kept his eyes covered.  I guess he thought "If I can't see them, they can't see me."  (I didn't show it in the video because I had to edit it down, but the teachers did help the crying boy off the stage and his parents took over.)  I have to explain the last part.  After he'd had enough, Luke just walked off the stage and came and sat in my lap.  He would NOT go back up and stand with his class and sing.  He was done.  Kevin tried to convince him.  I tried.  We bribed him with the promise of cookies afterwards.  Wasn't happening. So for posterity's sake I turned the camera on and video taped him watching instead of singing Jingle Bells - his current favorite song.  His teacher told me afterwards that she almost called me the night before the show to tell me that she wasn't sure he would actually stand up and do it.  I told her that I had the same feeling, but I thought he might surprise me. 

I did ask him what he leaned over and told his little friend who was covering his eyes.  Luke said he told him, "It gonna be ok."  How sweet is that?!

The funniest part was not caught on tape.  I put Luke down for his nap and he didn't sleep probably because of all the cookies he ate after his performance.  Instead, there in his dark room, he sang every single song he was supposed to sing for his performance.  If I could have figured out a way to sneak the video camera in his room I would have. 

Oh Luke, Mommy and Daddy are so proud of you and whether you sing with the crowd or sing all by yourself at the top of your lungs in your room.   We will always love you and we love the way God made you!

Psalm 139:14