Music video battle.

I just can’t resist sharing this wonderful little story even though it has nothing to do with the kiddos. I just watched a spot on the Rachel Maddow show about two high schools in Washington State who challenged each other to a YouTube music video battle. They’re just super fun!

(from the local TV station)
SHORELINE, Wash. – It began in November when Shorecrest High School produced a music video to Outkast’s “Hey Ya!” The students banded together, performing for four minutes as the camera operator walked the halls of the school while students lip synced to the song. The video was shot with one take, meaning that there were no video cuts. It was all-or-nothing and it became a YouTube hit.

Their longtime competitors in football and band, Shorewood High School, weren’t going to be one-upped. Shorewood has just released their competing video to Hall and Oates’ “You Make My Dreams Come True.” It was also shot in one take, but with a twist They shot it in reverse. The students had to learn how to lip sync the song backward.

At the end of the video is a message: “Try and beat that Shorecrest!”
Game on. Shorecrest says it’s already planning its response, but the students aren’t ready to give away what that is.

Some recent observations.

– Art observed that there are no purple Christmas lights. "Why are
there no purple lights, Mama?" I never noticed that before!
Apparently I do not know "all of the things".- Art dressed himself from head to toe yesterday for the first time.
Socks, underwear, pants, shirt, sweater. He was very proud and
pleased. So was I.- Lewis took off his own shirt yesterday for the first time. He was
thrilled to be almost naked. And he is 2 1/2 years ahead of his
brother.- Lewis loves to be naked. But most people who have been over know that.- The boys' rooms have been reversed. And now Art has Ben's old
dresser, I have Lewis's old dresser and Lewis has Art's old dresser.
Art is very confused. But sleeping well.- Lewis likes multiple gackoos. The addiction is in it's most developed form.That's all for now.

Favre and pops.

I’m out in North Carolina where I photographed the Vikings game last night, but it also happens to be where my pops lives. So he came and worked as my ‘assistant’ on the sidelines. Here he is with his good friend Brett Favre.

Things always seem to work themselves out as soon as we think about them.

Recently Ben and I were thinking of bringing the t.v. to some other room so Art wouldn’t see it and wanna watch nature shows all day. Then the living room could be more about playing, dancing and reading. Turns out we had inadvertantly made a book nook for the kids when when we moved the couch for the Christmas tree. Now we have two rooms in one!

Suddenly, for the first time in Art’s little life, he is interested in looking at books on his own and even telling the story to Lewis or me! I tell you, four years old seems to have magically brought a bucket-load of confidence to our first-born son. Even just a few weeks ago he would have scoffed at reading to me. “But I don’t know how!” And I would remind him that he could read the pictures or make up his own story. The last few days he’s been doing just that. Here he is reading Brown Bear, Brown Bear to Lewis in what he has named his “library” after bringing armful after armful of books downstairs.

A frog and a bear on the bus.

Art is four, and he’s bigger than just about every other four-year-old.

As expected, Art’s height and weight were way up there on the growth charts today in his four-year-old check-up. 95th percentile for weight and 98th for height! He cooperated with all the tests. Hearing was just fine, blood-pressure, really good, eyesight was 20/20. While he was trying to read the symbols on the very bottom line (which must have been for people with telescopic vision) he said, “It’s so tiny. If I was really close I could tell you what it is.” So, he also gets points for intelligent observation.

Christmas arrived here.

Buff decorating.

Photos from the nightmare-inducing Holidazzle Parade

We took the kids to the holidazzle parade last night (or as my mom would say, the ‘razzle dazzle’ parade). Jess and I noticed many of the floats had some pretty scary stuff that left Art a bit speechless. It was beautiful though and everything had lightbulbs. He ended up not being all that scared.

Lewis’s many words.

Lewis is now a talking person. Well, most of his communication is in one-word sentences, but he's adding words all the time and can bridge that gap of understanding that so often leads to frustration. He can walk into the kitchen and say, "Eee!" if he's hungry. He can ask for "Joo!" if he wants juice or "Stoo!" if he wants to use his stool. (Unfortunately joo and stoo sound very similar and I often say he can't have any more juice when he really wants to get up to the counter.) He'll say, "Ow!" when he wants to get out of the car or the bathtub (you can imagine the confusion with that one).

He has also started labeling animals by their sounds. Cat is obviously meow, and dog is wow wow. (He must be an international spirit. Didn't anyone tell him this is America! Dogs say Woof!!!) Sheep are ba-aaa, a two syllable word (what a good dipthongy Minnesotan!) and birds a twee. The weird one is for frog. We learned this one when he started asking for something over and over and took us to the costume box. He wanted the frog costume and was saying, very gently, "We-we!" Later I realized that his gravely-voice frog sound is actually we-we, it just comes from the back of his throat like he's trying to cough something up. It must be heard to believe.

That's the latest. Getting a christmas tree tomorrow. Bring on the pine smell!

Another funny transcribed voice message.

Is it just me and Jess that get such a kick out of how google voice transcribes her messages? I think this one is likely the funniest so far:

“Hi, I’m getting shot. Hello, flavorful blacks. I’m just calling because you know what standard time and we think that you do insurance. We’ll talk to you in tell you what’s going on, and I need the lemon sure rented it and that coffee stuff I’d left outside school. Now it’s so hard that i can work with it so there’s warm up again. It’s console eat and I’m just kinda wanted to say low. Ohh and he ask you sheet so I don’t remember out. Alice cute. Okay bye”