Thumbs up
I did it. I posted every day in the month of November! Woo hoo for me!
To celebrate, we'll watch a younger Jonas sing a song he learned in Kindergarten. Enjoy.
Happy Thanksgiving! from Heather on Vimeo.
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The hard work of a mom
Every year, after we put up the Christmas tree, I take a photo of the boys together. Rarely is it a good photo, they're ready to move on with their life. But this year, I wanted a smiling photo.
Kevin told me once, about a feature on his camera called "burst". I then learned that my camera has this feature! Rapid fire photos, just hold down the button. I've had it on all my cameras since I learned about it. I use it frequently. So, here you go, my attempt to get three boys to look at me, and give me a REAL smile. Jared was off to the side, telling jokes. Music by us. The family.
Here's the result:
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Videos are HERE!
I had to make the files smaller, and use some high speed internet, but here are some videos from the past couple weeks! Sorry to all of the dial up users out there. This post is not for you.
Jonas' third grade program. This was a good example of him being a bit over the top goofy.
Alex's honor's choir. I wished I would of recorded some of the other songs. This was the last song. It was touching... the teachers all came and joined them. It is called "Why We Sing."
Last, our cat, Little Harry, chasing the football. The video is light, not sure why. You should get the point anyway. He came to live with us, obviously because this household loves football as much as him.
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New Traditions
So, this year, we went out hunting for a tree. We ran through a few options, together as a family. First, was a "Pine Faux Tree", where we took branches, bundled them together, and made a tree. No one but me liked this idea. The pine trees were at my folks' house, and we had permission to cut down one. They are huge trees. Much to big to be inside.
Next, we were given the option to borrow an artificial tree. We just watched Fred Clause not too long ago. There's a scene, where Santa cuts down Fred's favorite tree. So, the artificial tree... well, at least we wouldn't make a bird homeless.
But, the option we went with was a cedar tree. We found one, and Pete cut it down with a chainsaw for us. (I did bring a saw with me, but he insisted his way would be faster. He was probably right). We brought it home, I conscructed a tree stand out of Christmas-y bucket, and wala. A tree.
It's rather ugly. But the price was right, and it was fun to pick out.
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Happy, Happy Thanksgiving!
*
Today was the second time I've made a Thanksgiving dinner. Years ago, a friend was living with us, and we made a Thanksgiving dinner to eat with him. This year, we're eating with Gary and Cheryl this weekend, which left the actual day open. We must watch the parade, eat food, and have football on tv. It's tradition.
So, I made a meal. It was suppose to be small, but it grew and grew. My parents came and joined us. We played music before and after the meal. Our group is growing. It now features Jared on guitar, me on mandolin, my mom on banjo, Alex on accordian, and Jonas on violin. Caleb refused to play the trumpet. My mom suggested we play at church, and my stage fright overwelmed me. I do think we sound pretty good, if I do say so myself.
Jonas took some photos and videos of the day. It was very delightful.
*ignore my poofy hair. I sacraficed hair styling for yummy food preparation.
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He’s back
The mouse is back in my minivan.
I felt it run past my leg. I screamed. I pulled over, I opened doors, and I kicked things.
Then, I listened to my teenager tell me how crazy I looked, and he hoped no one drove by and saw. Scary, scary mouse.
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Thanksgiving feast number two
So, today's feast was at work. The students' parents made it, the kids dressed like little pilgrams, and I got a GREAT meal. I stuffed myself. That doesn't happen at work. The parents out did themselves.
Only two meals left! I just *LOVE* this time of year! (no sarcasm! Really.. I'm loving it)
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A touching moment refused
Tonight, Caleb and Jared went outside and played catch. It's been awhile since they've done that, and I got a warm fuzzy feeling inside. So, of course, I decided to go photograph them.
I managed to get one shot of them, sneaking out the door. But, then they noticed, and stopped playing. Then, I noticed, I didn't have a card in my camera. I couldn't sneak that door open again. I didn't get another shot of them playing catch.
So, instead, they demonstrated, how Little Harry loves football too. A football chasing cat. Very appropriate for this household.
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Welcome home!
The piano has made it out of storage and is HOME! It was an adventure. It was complicated getting the trailer/truck situation in order to get it here. In the end, we rented a uhaul trailer, and my dad hooked it to his truck. It was 3 inches shorter than the opening, a close, tight fit. We took everything off, that we could get off, to lighten it, and then my wonderful dad and wonderful husband got it into the trailer. I was there, and I attempted to help, but I know in my heart, I was doing so very little of the work, I cannot take credit.
We've put it back together, put it in it's proper home, and started in on the Christmas music. It's slightly out of tune, but not so much that it drives me crazy. It will do. I'm so very happy to have it here. We've picked up our instruments more than once, and made music together. It just took the piano to bring the music back.
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The video saga
I went to do laundry at my parents' house tonight, three loads, about 2 hours. Immediately I started uploading videos. I had three. I wanted the two big ones to go to vimeo, and the little one to flickr. I forgot how slow vimeo is. So, I only got the little one uploaded. I'll try again, next time I have laundry.
This was taken, in between acts. He's just off in his own little world.
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