Why we keep the door closed...

Bobbin' Love

No, not for a Bernina - just a funny Lauren giving her sib some love!

Kisses

Lauren kisses by clicking her tongue. She loves her baby sister!

Spring Preview

This week brought a great opportunity for me to share a bit of our Spring preschool program when Nathan started telling me about the "big people" song he learned and would like to sing for me.  I shot a quick video on the camera for all of you who don't get to come see the kids perform at their preschool programs (which would be all of you!).  

Isn't he cute?

Tricky

Here we have, for your viewing pleasure....

Clapping! (or the sign for "more" - depending on if she is hungry or not)

Lauren's First Snow

Free Music - and a great reminder for me

I don't think I've shared this with you so here you go! I was listening to a CD I burned last night that I made originally to give out to my YW on their birthdays. Since I put music on there that I liked I kept one for me! Instead of a "mixed tape" burned from my library (technically illegal) I found some great resources online and wanted to share.

http://www.ldsmusiconline.com/free_music_downloads.html
I especially loved "Day of Tears" by Hilary Weeks.

http://www.lds.org/cm/display/0,17631,6611-1,00.html
The seminary songs! "The Olive Tree" is beautiful.

I also checked the websites of artists I liked and downloaded some there. These kind of downloads are usually promos and only available for a short time. For example I love "Healing Waters" by Michelle Tumes, an Aussie Christian artist. I was able to get "Lovely Day", a new track from her album, for free last year. It's no longer available, but just an example of something to look for.

And speaking of "Healing Waters" - here's a link to a YouTube of the DVD where I first heard this song. Our local missionaries presented this at a fireside for the youth and I bawled like a baby! I remembered all the feelings I had felt during my similar journey and I was very touched. Thanks to the San Jose, CA mission for putting that out! The Elders gave me a copy of my own and I (and my kids) love to watch it. It's a nice FHE that you could flesh out for older kids with some discussion and maybe a BoM placement challenge. For the fireside all the missionaries talked about how they did (or didn't) share their faith with others and why we might find excuses to be afraid to do so. Then we watched the video. Anyway - an awesome night and I was grateful to be a part of it!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZSKUEVamgc0 The people in the flick are the actual people involved.

And if you're interested in the actual DVD ask your Elders/Sisters if they have it. I went to tell a friend about it and it turns out she had seen it a while back when her ward's missionaries showed it.

The bestest song

I had this song come up on Pandora today and I had never heard it before. Wow! I love it.

Edited to add: Rick just listened to it and doesn't see the big deal. Wow - he needs to get in touch with his inner Erika. Man this song makes me melt and want to listen to it on repeat for multitudinous minutes. Mmmm - yummy. He needs to lose the nose piercing though - not yummy.

Milestones

Here we have SMILING!!! This has been my favorite thing that she has mastered. It makes my baby seem like a real person. It's so nice to interact with her!

And some JABBERING for good measure. After these the only thing you haven't seen yet on her list of accomplishments is sticking her fists in her mouth and sucking on her clothes.

What a coincidence!

I was just over at April's blog watching this video.

During the middle of it I get an email from Pam talking about it!

I had decided I would probably post it - but now it's definite. If 2 cool people think it's cool then it's worth passing on. Most of my readership (in the fabulous state of WA) will have already heard about it but another positive experience today can't hurt!

Fast Forward

I took this video today and thought I'd post it for all of you! I know it's been a while since the last post, and I'll try to fill in the gaps later. But here is our big tada from today.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MlXKytqHlUM

(I tried uploading this through blogger and after 14 HOURS I gave up!)

When Tents turn into Tits

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VPFQ4kor3I4&feature=related

Too funny! I love church!

Buzz!

I tried to upload this here as a link to our youtube video but blogger is freaking out in a thousand ways today and apparently (I'm guessing since they now host videos) they don't want me connecting to youtube. Ugh. You can find it on youtube under our username (same as the last video) if you'd like. Hope this blogger video thing works! So I lost the original post and here I am trying to remember all my witty comments...

Ok, so this is from this morning! Rick usually puts on his gear in the kitchen. While he was getting dressed Nathan decided to borrow his cool motorcycle stuff. :) He does this frequently - hey, who could resist! After Rick had put on one of his boots Nathan grabbed the other one and after putting both feet in, tried to hop around the kitchen.

Then he crawled up onto the chair and put on the gloves and helmet and said this! :)

You should all know that my kids, and especially Nathan are in love with Toy Story. (So if you're thinking of a Christmas or birthday gift - that would go over well!) We don't even have the movie but our friends Aaron and Shelly are sweet hearts and have let us borrow their 2-disc set (1 and 2!) twice so the kids could watch them. They love those flicks and quote them all the time. In fact Buzz is what Nathan wanted to be for Halloween, but I couldn't find any costumes for less than a fortune. So Spidey (who runs a close second for fave hero) was our costume of choice. :)

Ok, here's a hint

He's saying...
"Sunshine is my destroyer!" Except he's got an accent and it's "destroyah". :) And his hands are on his head as part of the character. Does that help?

Got love?

Wow - saw this on April's page and just had to share - what an amazing video. She said to sit down, grab some tissues and watch it - no joke, I was sobbing, not just crying. This is so inspirational and speaks to the power of love of a parent for their child. I hope you enjoy it as much as I did! (push the play button below the picture). http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WjPrL3n63yg is the direct link if you have any problems.

You can check out their website at www.teamhoyt.com.