12-06-15 The First Christmas Night

This evening was the kids production at church. The kids have been working on this for weeks and were very excited that the day had finally arrived. C was a star and Big as was a donkey. 

The kids practice with the Cherub Choir every Sunday morning. I've been helping my mother in law with that for some time now and it really is a lot of fun. The 2s and 3s basically just stare at you the whole time, but the 4s and 5s really get into the signing. This evening their song was Go Tell It On The Mountain. We had multiple conversations with Big E that he was not allowed to bounce through the entire song. He must have been listening cause he stayed pretty still. Also it was the first year that one of my kids wasn't picking their nose the entire time! 

C got to sing the verses with her cousin Adie. She was practicing all afternoon.

Shortly before showtime, Daddy started prepping our little donkey.

All ready to go!

My little star waiting in line...

During the rest of the evening, the youngest kids were contained in the stable. 

Thanks to everyone that put so much time and energy into this evening! You did a great job!!

Baby E discovered Christmas lights!

12-05-15 Date Time

Ever since having kids, Tim and I have had very little time to go on dates. 

For the first few years after C was born, I always felt guilty. I worked five days a week an hour from home, and my time with my babies was always limited. I felt like a bad mom if I willingly chose to leave them again just so I could go out for fun. 

We've gone out for dinner, we've seen a few movies, but we have always been watching the clock... Knowing we only had a few hours before having to get home. Well today, for our anniversary, Tim's mom watched the kids for the day so that we could go out. We did some shopping, saw a movie and grabbed dinner. It was nice to spend some time with him without worrying about getting home right away.

You'd think I'd have a picture of us to commemorate this delightful occasion, but no, I have pictures of doughnuts. Oh well. 

12-04-15 The Time I Sang Karaoke...

I'm not a great singer... I sang a lot when I was younger, but I'm an alto and I'm a vocal follower. I can only really carry a tune if I have a strong singer beside me. I can sing along to songs on the radio, but take away the voice singing and I am completely lost. I married into a musical family, but it never really rubbed off on me... Sigh...

I went to a karaoke box once. I had a Japanese teacher that loved karaoke and invite me to join her and some friends. Tim, my sister and I went. A karaoke box is pretty much a small private room you can rent that has all the karaoke equipment set up for you. You bring your own food and drinks. It was quite an interesting experience, but cemented my realization that it just isn't my thing. It was fun, but I just wasn't good at it. 

Fast forward to this week. C has been talking constantly about an event at her school where they were going to have... Wait for it... FROZEN karaoke. She informed me that she and her friend Kaia had been practicing all week and they were ready. With all the excitement about it, I agreed to take her and Big E this evening. She signed up for a 6:30 slot. I assumed once we got there and she saw the people watching that she would get incredibly shy and back out.

The event was a holiday bazaar at her school. There were a lot of vendors, food, Santa, and yes... Frozen karaoke. We got there right at 6:30 so I took C to the hallway that they were doing the singing in. To her disappointment, her friend was not there, but the music teacher asked her if she wanted to sing anyways. C nodded yes, and the teacher found another girl to sing with her. They sang Do You Want To Build A Snowman?

She was nervous, but she did a great job. I was surprised she actually did it. Afterwards we walked around looking at all the vendors. When we made our way past the karaoke booth again C said she wanted to see if her friend was there yet. She wasn't. Then C turned to me with big eyes and said she really, really, really wanted to sing the Elsa song (Let It Go.) And would I please sing with her. 

That's right... Me, sing karaoke in front of a group of strangers. I wanted to say no so badly,  but I knew it meant a lot to her, and I knew it was good for her confidence if I encouraged her...

So there I was, singing a song half out of my vocal range in front of a group of total strangers. I pulled the mic away from my lips when the high parts came, and made sure I just watched C the entire time. Talk about being out of my comfort zone! Seriously, the things we do for our kids!!! But I could see on her face that I had made the right decision.

The rest of the evening was pretty nondescript. There was a pretty cool train set up for the kids to watch and we did that for awhile. C saw some friends from school and they colored and played together. Naturally it was total meltdown time when it was time to leave, but we made it home relatively unscathed! (Except maybe my pride! Ha!) 

To be honest, though, I cherish the times I get to take her to her school. As a working mom, I don't get to see her in that element very much, and I'm sad that I miss out on a lot of opportunities to be involved, so when events like this come along, I jump at them. 

I snuck in on them sleeping this morning and snapped this pic. It is extremely rare for me to get in the room before Big E wakes up, so it was nice to see them both fast asleep! 

12-03-15 The School Picture

C's official kindergarten picture showed up the other day, shoved in her backpack and full of wrinkles. Thankfully I have some mad photoshop skills, so I took it in and cleaned it up a bit.

Let me be the first to say, I love this picture. She looks so very grown up! How did that happen so quickly!

It just so happens that I found my kindergarten picture. Who doesn't love a great 80's silhouetted photo with a bowl haircut?!? 

12-02-15 My Boys

It's been a long week, and it's only Wednesday! Late Sunday night Baby E was throwing up. We think he ate some bad baby food because it only happened a couple of times in the middle of the night and he was done. No fever, no other symptoms. And he only threw up that one baby food, nothing else that he had eaten. 

Needless to say, we were up quite a bit that night. The next night Tim didn't get home until very very late, and I can never sleep well when he isn't home. 

On top of that, it's been raining for four days straight, so my commutes to and from work have been atrocious- 1.5 hours each way, every day. 

All that combined made for a desperate need for a quiet, stress free evening. I was supposed to attend a meeting at church, but with Tim working and the exhaustion of the past few days, combined with potentially exhausted children, I decided it was best for our family for me to forgo it. 

So I brought the kids home and sent C to church. That left me and my boys for the evening. In my head it was going to be easy.... Feed them and put them to bed, then veg on the couch till C got home...  In reality, it was two hours of fussing, bath time, stepping in pee on the bathroom floor, and rocking a screaming baby so he would calm down. 

But in between the crazy moments, the boys were very sweet. Big E is such a kind, gentle boy who loves to give hugs. When I'm having a sad day or a long day, he's the kid I track down for cuddles! Baby E was testing out his legs this evening by walking all by himself around the room. At one point he got up to about 8 steps before falling over. Another week or so and he should be on the run! 

I gave them a bath. Apparently Baby E loves water and has no problems with splashing and getting drenched. (The other kids freak out if any water at all gets on their faces.) After finally getting the boys down, C got home from church hungry and tired. After feeding her and getting her in bed it was well after 9. 

So much for a quiet evening, but at least the crazy was contained to my house!!

These photos were taken just moments before stepping barefoot in a huge puddle of pee on the bathroom floor. Lesson learned... Don't let babies crawl around naked.

Baby E gives great big open mouth kisses, teeth and all. 

My little man was super tired this evening so I tried cheering him up with funny faces.

That smile. Every time. 

12-01-15 Happy Anniversary

Dear Timothy, 

Eight years ago today, I married my best friend. It was the happiest day of my life. 

Eight years and three kids later, I still love your company. I love seeing you each morning and sharing each crazy, hectic, asylum worthy day with you! You have taught me so much about selflessness, grace, and gentleness. You see past my flaws and love me in spite of them. You see me at my worst, yet choose to see the best in me. And when I look in your eyes, or rest in your arms, there is no doubt in my mind that you cherish me. 

Our marriage isn't perfect, but hey, neither are we. We argue. We miscommunicate. We fail each other. It happens. That's life. But I count it an honor to be by your side, for richer or poorer, in sickness and in health, till death do us part. 

Happy eight years, my love! Here's to so many more! 

11-30-15 On How I Became An Editor

I never wanted to be a editor.

When I was young, I didn't know what I wanted to do when I grew up. At first I thought I should be a nurse, after all, my mother was one, and I knew she loved it. But try as I may, I could never get over the sight of blood- even in movies where I knew it wasn't real, I had a hard time stomaching it. Part of me felt obliged to join the family business, but the older I grew, the more I knew that it just didn't suit me. For a while I thought being a teacher would be fun... But in hindsight I think the summer vacation was the thing that called me loudest! For a long time, I wanted to be an actress. I loved being on stage and in productions. It wasn't until I was a senior in high school that I stumbled into an internship at a production company, that my future started to focus. After a few months of working there, they allowed me to edit a few small projects. There was an editor there that let me sit behind her while she edited and I spent hours just watching her. Those were the early days of nonlinear editing. 

I was fascinated by what she did and how the videos came together and it didn't take long for me to decide that what I really wanted to do was become a filmmaker. I was taking classes at the community college and when it came time to transfer everyone I spoke to urged me to try NYU. I assumed it was way out of my league, but applied anyways. I also applied to one back up school. Months passed with no word from NYU. I was accepted into UMBC within days of submitting my portfolio. As the weeks passed, I began to accept that it New York wasn't for me. 

One night, I was working late when my mom called me to say I had received a letter from NYU. I asked her, "Is it a big letter or a little one?" Big would mean I had gotten in, little would mean I hadn't. She said it was big. I knew I'd been accepted. When I got home that night I tore open the envelope and got my acceptance letter. 

A couple of months later I was packing my bags and moving to NYC to start classes at one of the most prestigious film schools in the country. I was young and naive, but the experience surely helped to define who I was. 

While visiting my parents this past weekend I was scrounging through old photos and ran across these. It's funny how time has affected technology just in the past fifteen years! 

So young!

We shot 16mm film on nearly ancient cameras. 

When we finished a roll, we would send it away to get developed. When it returned we would edit it on Steenbecks, in what might possibly have been the most frustrating editing method ever designed! I cut my fingers on more than one occasion! 

In our more advanced classes we shot on bigger, heftier Super 16mm cameras. We transferred the footage to Beta and worked on it from there, usually on an Avid, but occasionally tape to tape. 

When I graduated, it was the summer after 9/11 and there wasn't much work to be had in NY. I stuck around for awhile, but I knew I could get editing work in Maryland, so after a time I moved back. I figured it would be temporary, I had bigger plans.  I started editing immediately, and I'm still editing! I've edited the gambit from Steenbeck, Beta Cuts, Media100, Avid, Final Cut, and Premiere. Most I have taught myself out of necessity. Technology constantly changes. However over a thousand videos later, I can say with confidence I love what I do.

I never became a director, I never moved to LA, and I never made films that changed the world, but that's ok because I did something much more valuable. I married my best friend (tomorrow will be eight years) and my greatest accomplishments are currently sleeping soundly upstairs. I wouldn't trade those  achievements for those unfullfilled dreams (which when I look back, were meaningless.) I'm glad I serve a God that saved me from my own plans and pursuits and brought me to a place of contentment. I am truly blessed.

11-29-15 Home

We got home this evening from a wonderful weekend at my parents' house. The kids love seeing their grandparents! Naona spoils them silly with crafts and cookie decorating. Big E got a real treat when he got to ride in GP's new car! 

I'm looking forward to the Christmas break, when we will get to spend even more time with them! 

You may be wondering why most of my pics this weekend were of C. The answer is simple, she doesn't move around as much as the boys! Most of my pictures of the boys were just a blur! Ha!

My wrists have been hurting me the past few days, so typing is painful. That's why I haven't written much. I got a brace for one of my wrists tonight, and that seems to be helping a bit. Praying they start feeling better soon! I kinda need my wrists for editing!!

11-28-15 A Quiet Visit

Each major holiday we try to hit both sides of the family. Thursday was my husband's side, in all of its noisy, boisterous glory!

Now we are visiting my family. The difference is night and day. Seeing my family always feels like a reprieve from the crazy, busy, noisiness that is our life. I love coming here. I love the calm. I love the quiet.

I just wish we could stay longer!