This next video, I couldn't decide whether to delete it or watch it over and over. It seems I have taken the second option. It is definitely rated 'G' for gross. Each time I download stuff from my camera, there are dozens of videos that Ashley has made, and they are long. I cut over 2 minutes from this one and it is still long. She is truly an entertainer at heart. It doesn't matter who, if anyone, is watching. Put a mirror or a camera in front of her and she's on. Hence, why it takes her 20 minutes to brush her teeth at night. All of the sudden, her toothbrush becomes a microphone and the mirror is her audience. Anyway, here is is glimpse into her world.
Monday, April 9, 2012
Saturday, April 7, 2012
Madness
Here is another video that I will share. It's a minute and a half of screaming. It's for all of you not in the state that miss out on the precious noises emitted from our children. Ashley is videoing and apparently she & Charlie are fighting over the camera. Wrestling is a frequent occurrence here. For *some* reason, Ashley & Charlie can wrestle without anyone getting upset or hurt (despite the pink foot in the face), but when Charlie & Abby wrestle, someone ends up getting hurt and/or crying. Anyway here it is for all you bored/desperate souls.
Friday, April 6, 2012
Take 1
A favorite for the kids lately has been to take the camera and "make movies". Seems as though I didn't use the camera for a few days and when I finally downloaded the pictures, I had several "treasures".
In the first group of videos, the girls had made "Nature Perfume" out of who knows what. Then apparently they made a commercial for it. (with Ashley's new tent as a backdrop, thank you Gma & Gpa). Abby had a tough time with her lines at first, but she worked it out and had a great assistant to top it off. Here are some samples of the 83 takes (or so) I found on my camera.
Our daily saying nowadays is, "Maybe it doesn't taste like spring, but you can put it on your chicken, and it tastes like spring!"
Thursday, April 5, 2012
Skiing at Bachelor
Last week we went to Bend for Spring Break and took the kids skiing. It was Abby's 2nd time and Ashley's 3rd. We had mentioned the night before that there was a slight possibility we would go skiing for a 1/2 day on Tuesday, and when I woke up at 9am, Abby was already dressed like this:
We didn't leave the house until 12:30. Apparently this is what Andy would do as a kid too. He'd be dressed and ready to go, waiting for hours until everyone else was ready. I kept telling Abby that she could take her ski stuff off because we had awhile until we were actually leaving, but it didn't work. She just followed us around for 3 hours like a lost puppy not wanting to miss her ride.
It worked out great where Andy's dad took Abby, Andy stuck with Ashley, and I was in charge of taking pictures. :) The girls were equally excited heading up the lift.
Abby and Chuck:
Ashley and Andy:
I walked part way up the hill so I could get good pictures, so I couldn't fully tell what was going on at the top, but Andy & Ashley were up there for a good 20 minutes just talking. This was a great match up because Andy and Ashley are very similar learners. They want to know steps A - Z before initiating A, and if any step in the middle doesn't make sense, then A doesn't happen. Abby, on the other hand, just wants to be pointed towards step 'A', and figures the rest will fall into place. Here is Chuck attempting to give instructions. (Abby may have fallen asleep) :)
Abby was clearly wanting to go and it seemed as though Chuck was assessing the possible damage:
Well, she finally went, and from then on I could not get a picture of her. She was a maniac!!! She pointed her skis straight downhill and went all the way down right into the ski lift line, barely slowing down in time to stop & wait for Chuck. From then on, there was no stopping her. Andy saw her once from the chair lift and apparently said, "Who is that kid? She's gonna wipe out!" Then when she got further down the hill he screamed, "That's Abby!" She did wipe out once on a mid-hill crash where she tumbled & her skis came off. It was of no concern to her though. I wish I could have gotten a picture of her, but I couldn't get the camera to focus on her before she passed me. I did get one video of her. It cracks her up to watch it.
Meanwhile, Ashley & Andy finished hashing out the steps. Ashley could complete everything perfectly in her mind before she made her initial move. Here she is coming down:
I was able to get a mid-hill shot of her and Andy because they actually stopped for me!
They both had an equally great time. When talking on the way home about what they did well, Andy was saying how Ashley can stay in control, turn, and stop. Abby can go fast. Period. Apparently those other steps can be learned later.
We didn't leave the house until 12:30. Apparently this is what Andy would do as a kid too. He'd be dressed and ready to go, waiting for hours until everyone else was ready. I kept telling Abby that she could take her ski stuff off because we had awhile until we were actually leaving, but it didn't work. She just followed us around for 3 hours like a lost puppy not wanting to miss her ride.
It worked out great where Andy's dad took Abby, Andy stuck with Ashley, and I was in charge of taking pictures. :) The girls were equally excited heading up the lift.
Abby and Chuck:
Ashley and Andy:
I walked part way up the hill so I could get good pictures, so I couldn't fully tell what was going on at the top, but Andy & Ashley were up there for a good 20 minutes just talking. This was a great match up because Andy and Ashley are very similar learners. They want to know steps A - Z before initiating A, and if any step in the middle doesn't make sense, then A doesn't happen. Abby, on the other hand, just wants to be pointed towards step 'A', and figures the rest will fall into place. Here is Chuck attempting to give instructions. (Abby may have fallen asleep) :)
Abby was clearly wanting to go and it seemed as though Chuck was assessing the possible damage:
Well, she finally went, and from then on I could not get a picture of her. She was a maniac!!! She pointed her skis straight downhill and went all the way down right into the ski lift line, barely slowing down in time to stop & wait for Chuck. From then on, there was no stopping her. Andy saw her once from the chair lift and apparently said, "Who is that kid? She's gonna wipe out!" Then when she got further down the hill he screamed, "That's Abby!" She did wipe out once on a mid-hill crash where she tumbled & her skis came off. It was of no concern to her though. I wish I could have gotten a picture of her, but I couldn't get the camera to focus on her before she passed me. I did get one video of her. It cracks her up to watch it.
Meanwhile, Ashley & Andy finished hashing out the steps. Ashley could complete everything perfectly in her mind before she made her initial move. Here she is coming down:
I was able to get a mid-hill shot of her and Andy because they actually stopped for me!
They both had an equally great time. When talking on the way home about what they did well, Andy was saying how Ashley can stay in control, turn, and stop. Abby can go fast. Period. Apparently those other steps can be learned later.
Tuesday, April 3, 2012
No School Days
The kids have plenty of complaints about having to do school on certain holidays, conference/grading days and during breaks. They have had plenty of chances to make up for that though. We had one day recently with amazingly strong winds. We were looking out the back window, watching branches blow off trees, random things fly through the air and Andy's awning nearly break loose, when all of the sudden the power went out. OF COURSE this meant it was too dark to do school since the noon-day sky actually sucks light away rather than gives light here in Portland. It's a weird phenomenon that I'll have to explain another day.
The kids sitting "nearly in the pitch dark" waiting for the power to come back on:
Well, it turned out that the big excitement was yet to come. The cause of the neighborhood outage was a fallen power line - from a pole in our backyard. It took them nearly 3 1/2 hours to pinpoint the problem, and then only about 30 minutes to fix it. I have to admit, it was very cool watching them work in our backyard. We even caught some of the guys admiring Andy's golf set-up and the chiminea.
By the time the power came back on, and the kids ran around appreciating everything that actually runs on electricity, we had no hope of getting anything else done.
Then, two weeks ago, we had "Arctic Blast 2012". Treacherous conditions including at least 1 1/2 inches of snow. Absolutely no way we could get to school. Wait, that doesn't work. Well, somehow the kids finagled another day of no school. You may start to wonder who is actually in control here. I'll save that conversation for another day. We had just gotten back from taking my mom to the airport, and the kids immediately went to the frond yard to have a snowball fight.
Then they decided to build snowmen. I was really enjoying my nice spot inside by the fire where I could watch them but not have to endure the arctic 40 degree weather, but I braved the conditions and went out to help. They each made a snowman. Here is Charlie's: (he had help)
Ashley's: (it's actually a snowdog - she is getting less subtle in her hints)
And Abby's: (very alien-like)
The umbrellas were a late-add. The girls thought that this might prevent the "sun" from melting them. They were very optimistic that the sun would actually come out. It never did, and they melted anyway. Go figure.
The kids sitting "nearly in the pitch dark" waiting for the power to come back on:
Watching the crews get to work to find the source of the outage:
Well, it turned out that the big excitement was yet to come. The cause of the neighborhood outage was a fallen power line - from a pole in our backyard. It took them nearly 3 1/2 hours to pinpoint the problem, and then only about 30 minutes to fix it. I have to admit, it was very cool watching them work in our backyard. We even caught some of the guys admiring Andy's golf set-up and the chiminea.
By the time the power came back on, and the kids ran around appreciating everything that actually runs on electricity, we had no hope of getting anything else done.
Then, two weeks ago, we had "Arctic Blast 2012". Treacherous conditions including at least 1 1/2 inches of snow. Absolutely no way we could get to school. Wait, that doesn't work. Well, somehow the kids finagled another day of no school. You may start to wonder who is actually in control here. I'll save that conversation for another day. We had just gotten back from taking my mom to the airport, and the kids immediately went to the frond yard to have a snowball fight.
Then they decided to build snowmen. I was really enjoying my nice spot inside by the fire where I could watch them but not have to endure the arctic 40 degree weather, but I braved the conditions and went out to help. They each made a snowman. Here is Charlie's: (he had help)
Ashley's: (it's actually a snowdog - she is getting less subtle in her hints)
And Abby's: (very alien-like)
The umbrellas were a late-add. The girls thought that this might prevent the "sun" from melting them. They were very optimistic that the sun would actually come out. It never did, and they melted anyway. Go figure.
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