Weekend Update No. 3

Last Friday was the final day of co-op for the school year. This is the first year we have participated in this, or any, homeschool co-op, and we have been so pleased with how it worked out. The kids loved the experience of packing and taking their lunch to eat in the "cafeteria" (the gym of the church where co-op is held), the opportunity to make some new friends, and their classes. They went every Friday for two classes and lunch. It is a big enough program that, while I had to fill a few volunteer lunch duty hours here and there throughout the year, for the most part I just dropped them off and picked them up every Friday. As an extra bonus, it sometimes worked out that Brendon and I could have a lunch date on co-op days--something pretty unheard of for us! Shayne took "Brain Games" (learning more about chess and other games of strategy) and choir; Gracie took a cooking class and choir; and Aubs and Alex took music and P.E. together.

Since it was the final day of the year, the music and choir classes combined for a spring concert. I don't anticipate that anyone but immediate family would want to watch these videos of their performances, but I'm still putting them here for us to come back to.

(If you want to watch just a snippet, I would suggest skipping to 6:22 in the first video for just the last song by Shayne and Gracie's choir. Impressive! And in the second video, with Aex and Aubrey's class, I recommend skipping to the songs either at 1:00 or at 4:15. Heart-melters!)

On Saturday we went to Corsicana to celebrate a birthday in our friends' family, the Dixons. It was also Derrick Days in their town, and one of the sponsored events was a giant slip and slide down a hill, which our kids took full advantage of for a solid two hours. Up and down, up and down. It was "epic," according to Alex.

Sunday went at a much slower pace, a caterpillar's pace you might say. Late in the afternoon, Gracie and the littles put on a dramatic presentation of The Very Hungry Caterpillar.

That's Gracie in the green sleeping bag, playing the part of the hungry caterpillar about to eat the smorgasbord of food in front of her. Ignore the tent in the background...What? That's not a totally normal thing to have a tent set up in your living room?

We finished off the day with Family Home Evening, and the activity was a family game of Star Wars Trivial Pursuit (which Gracie and I won, naturally), followed by a viewing of the Phineas and Ferb Star Wars crossover episode. We are officially a family of geeks--in case there was any doubt.

This, That, & The Other

• THIS: 

We saw the Olate Dogs at Diadeloso this week. I wish I had captured more pictures of 

the enormous grins on my kids faces throughout the show instead of the dogs themselves.

They were looooving it. In these clips you can hear Alex laughing, and I caught a little 

bit of his reaction at the end. 

They thought it was the best thing they'd ever seen in their lives.

• THAT: I am totally grossed out by Pace Picante sauce these days. We have always been faithful purchasers of the giant container from Sam's, but at some point earlier this year, I started eating it with some chips, stopped, and was just like, "This is NOT GOOD." I haven't been able to stomach it since. I crave a smoother salsa, even better if it's warm and homemade. The On the Border brand is working for me right now as a store-bought version--bonus, they even sell a large bottle at Sam's! Do you have a favorite brand?

• THE OTHER: I am kind of obsessed with StoryCorps. I love the whole idea of it, and now they have a really great app to help you record your own stories and interviews. Every Friday morning I sit in my car for a few minutes longer before heading in to work, just to listen to the StoryCorps clips they play on NPR's Morning Edition. Then, when I finally do head inside, it's usually with red, puffy eyes after weeping over some heartwarming tale. Since this weekend marks the 20th anniversary of the Oklahoma City bombings, today they played a couple of survivor stories of children from the daycare in the Murrah building. Grab a tissue and listen!

30 Days of Thankful: Humility

I am thankful for children who occasionally serve Mom a slice of humble pie. You certainly can't keep up much of an ego when you find video clips with your kids mocking you left on your phone...

In case you didn't catch that, Alex is pretending to be me, and apparently pretending to be me means wearing my Aggie hat, stomping around, and commanding people to do my bidding. Yeah...awesome.



---

"Anyone who shops with children has had 'the conversation' with another mother. On this particular day, a grandmotherly woman in a motorized shopping cart pulled up next to me in the crowded produce department and declared, 'Your girls are such angels.  Doesn’t it make you want one or two more?'

"Let me paint a picture. We had already been in the store for a long time. My girls, two years old and five years old, were sitting in the front of the car-shaped shopping cart, eating giant chocolate chip cookies. Their faces were covered in chocolate and their hair was not done. The cart was overflowing in groceries....my girls had been running circles around me in the bakery department, screeching at the top of their lungs. I was wearily trying to get their attention and rein them in before they injured themselves, someone else, or an entire rack of beautifully frosted cakes. I was exhausted.

"This entire painted picture flashed through my mind when she asked, 'Doesn’t it make you want one or two more?' Then, I had an epiphany. This woman saw their dirty faces and the full cart of groceries. She knew. She was a mother....She laughed a deep, hearty laugh. I laughed. We discussed due dates, ages, and the challenges of motherhood right there in the produce department. The girls finished their cookies and exploded out of the cart with more energy than ever. I started disciplining again. We had a pleasant conversation, and I walked away from the whole experience less weary and more optimistic.

"My house was full of toys, clothes, and clutter.  My day was full of chores, projects, and appointments. However, my heart was overflowing with gratitude for this time in my life. The cheerful grandmother at the grocery store knew the secret. Motherhood is a sisterhood, and for one brief moment, I felt loved and understood. It is not always easy, but it is good. It is worthwhile.

"The woman in the produce department reminded me that my life is full, and for that I am truly grateful."

Excerpted from "My Life is Full...Maybe a Little Too Full" by Emily Allen for Power of Moms

 

Christmas Eve



 

Christmas Eve at Nana and Papa's, shot using the 8mm Vintage Camera app on my phone. So fun!

Oooooh, Candy!

We've gone into into full Halloween mode around here: the decorations are up, the costumes have been chosen, and jack-o-lantern designs are brewing. Alex has asked me every day this week how many more days until we can go to the pumpkin patch. And last night we passed the time looking through pictures and video from previous Halloweens. This video of a twenty-month old Aubrey checking out her Halloween haul had us cracking up:



Don't we all feel this way? Oooooh, candy!

Snippets

 

Clips of recent family performances: Shayne's spring recital (yes, his teacher was a pirate this time around), Alex rocking the headset mic, Alex showing us how he "reads" at family scripture time, Alex and Aubs playing Just Dance, and Shayne in a bedtime show he put together...quite a different kind of performance than his recital.

Aaaaaaaaaaaand

we're back!

Phew! Did ya miss us? I sure missed you, Internets!

I have so much catching up to do. Upcoming posts: Things we learned from moving, 30 days of Alex, and moore. For now, I'll start back with this totally random video clip. It was made by our nephew Ethan, unbeknownst to us, this summer when he was here visiting from New York. We found it on the camera some time later, and it has been on repeat in our house ever since. All the kids just LOVE it; Aubrey asks to watch it over and over and over again, and even Brendon and I can be heard randomly singing, "Barbies, Barbies...Barbies all over the place" on occasion.

 

Hope you never run for president, Ethan. This could come back to haunt you. Of course, my messy living room could do the same for me.

The sea was angry that day, my friends.

Has it really been this long? Yes, I believe it has.

It's been quite a month. So, while I work on some posts and pictures that chronicle our July, let me leave you this video clip...

Backstory: With a newborn in the house, you sometimes need some mind-numbing distraction. I love to just rock and snuggle with my babies, but at some point you need something else to stare at in addition to their sweet faces.

With Shayne, I became rather attached to the late late night crew of ABC's World News Now. Liz Cho will always hold a special place in my heart for our 2:00 a.m. meetings. With Gracie, it was the middle of the day (when Shayne was finally napping) re-runs of The Cosby Show on TBS. Oh, that Cliff Huxtible! Then Aubrey. The internet and its unending link of blogs--craft blogs, in particular--kept me sane.

Now, Alex. We still are cable-less, but get a few local channels since the new digital tv changeover. Every night as I go to feed Alex for the last time and rock him to sleep, back-to-back Seinfeld re-runs keep us company. I love it because you just can't watch this show too many times; they still keep me laughing.

So, I give you my all-time favorite Seinfeld moment:

You Tube Tuesday

Our church recently created its own YouTube "channel" with inspirational messages and a few statements of faith. I spent some time this weekend watching the clips posted so far (there are fifteen total), and this one was my favorite inspirational message...it's from Elder Joseph B. Wirthlin's final conference address last fall, "Come What May and Love It." (He passed away in December, just two months after this address, at age 91.) It's so sweet, funny, and hopeful. I love it.

YouTube Tuesday

Haven't done one of these in a while (and don't really have plans to start them up again), but since the quote "I didn't know Mormons couldn't send flowers" has been on repeat in my head lately, I thought I'd post this classic... 

     

I miss Cheers.

YouTube Tuesday

We do not currently have a DVR. We watch live TV...like animals! I know. It's amazing that we are able to survive in such a state.

One of the perks, however, is that every so often we catch a really great commercial, like this one:         

The ending puts a smile on my face. And then it makes me feel a bit sad for all you DVR-owners who might have missed this gem. (Only for a minute though, then I resume coveting the extra 18 minutes you have in your life thanks to tivo.)

You probably have seen this next one, since it was a SuperBowl commercial. It's both cringe-inducing and funny, a winning combination (as any fans of The Office can attest)...

Now that is a unibrow!

And finally, a Hallmark commerical that made Brendon and I laugh outloud when it came out around Valentine's Day. A song sure can take you back...

Thanks for staying tuned during this commercial break. Now back to your regularly scheduled posting!

I dare you

not to laugh, or at least smile, while reading this post.

First, a video clip. I remember seeing this on AFV ages ago, and have seen it here and there since then, but Kristie emailed it to me last week for YouTube Tuesday, and dang it all if it didn't have me giggling all over again...

   

If that didn't put a smile on your face, perhaps you prefer babies of the non-human variety, in which case you might want to head over to The Daily Puppy or Cute Overload, where you can get your fill of smile-producing photos like these:

Resistance is futile. Smile today!

(P.S. I finally figured out how to get my links to open up in new windows so you don't ever have to be clicking back and forth from links I may post.)

YouTube Tuesday

First, this one is for any one who has had to translate baby babble before:

Next, a cool "improv" stunt by over 200 people in Grand Central Station:

Finally, if you were a fan of the most recent season of Project Runway, here's Saturday Night Live's version of a Project Runway spin-off. Amy Poehler is hilarious; her Christian is spot on.

Hope you're having a great Tuesday! We are in the middle of a thunderstorm here, and it's making me sleepy. Yawn.

You Tube Tuesday

Brendon and I have loved the comedian/actor Jim Gaffigan ever since we saw a Comedy Central Special featuring him a year or two ago. You may know him from his TV/film roles, or from his "hot pocket" stand-up routine. So funny! Here are a few other favorite clips from his stand-up...

There are tons more clips on YouTube or his website (both linked above) if you have some time to waste. :-)

YouTube Tuesday

First, another oldie, but again, because I can relate...

And in case you missed the Stewart/Colbert/Conan brawl last night...

(And if you have no idea what that was all about, you can watch the clips that led up to it here or here.)

If you can't tell...I'm starting to run low on bookmarked video clips. What have you seen lately?

YouTube Tuesday

Thought this one was cool...

And this is an older one, but we've been having quite a few sleeping issues at our house lately, so it is ringing true with me today...

Happy Tuesday!

YouTube Tuesday

Actually, today's clips are not from YouTube, just a couple of links to videos I wanted to share...

This one is for all of the Moore women who like to make handmade cards. Or, more accurately, it is for your husbands. (It's a five minute clip, but be sure to watch all the way through. Funny stuff.)

"MAN-made" Cards: A Tutorial

And this one is just a great idea:

The Gratitude Campaign: Saying "Thank you" to our Servicemen and Women.

You Tube Tuesday

It's time for a Christmas edition of YouTube Tuesday! Enjoy!

This is seriously so clever...

And for all you crafters, another version of The 12 Days of Christmas. Also very clever...

And, finally, because this is just good stuff...