Tuesday, December 15, 2009

Christmas stuff with the boys

At school, the boys participated in their winter thingy... or whatever they are calling the Christmas concert these days. Here is Ethan celebrating his Canadian heritage:


Ethan with other kids at the concert.

One of his songs:


Scott was Scott. His class sang "My Country ' tis of thee", but he said he was allergic to the song and refused to sing. (Looks like we will have to have a family home evening on citizenship and patriotism). Strangely he is not allergic to it when he sings it by himself in his bedroom. I guess he doesn't perform on demand. It didn't matter too much because it was too crowded to see him. We were stuck at the waaaaaaay back. I snuck up to the front and got this great shot of the back of the head.



(Just left of the kid in the red shirt). If you could see him from the front he had an American flag sweater on. Given the crowded conditions that was as good as I was going to get.

Moving on... or actually moving back in time.

Ethan got to play the part of the innkeeper at our Christmas pageant at church. He got to be the good one... or at least the not so bad one. He let Mary and Joseph stay in the stable.

Apparently innkeeper fashion at the time was to wear turtlenecks on your head with a broach, neckties for belts and oversized shirts. Ethan was a litle nervous when it was time to say his lines, but I was pretty happy that he had his lines memorized.



As you probably have gathered, Scott doesn't perform in public. He turned down the part of playing Mary and Joseph's donkey. In lieu of an actual performance, I got this video when I found him playing piano in the priesthood room.



He plays this song over and over and over at our house on the electric keyboard (thank goodness for volume buttons). To his credit he did pick the melody out on his own after watching this video (It is a spoof of this one ).

Finally, here are our Santa shots. Normally we would go to visit our favorite Santa Joe from our old ward but events conspired against us this year.

Scott actually chose to see Santa on his own. He couldn't pass up those blue candy canes. :)

Merry Christmas, Happy Hanukkah, Winter Solstice, or whatever you happen to be celebrating this year.

Manhole Scientist

At least once a week Scott takes us on a tour of "manhole territory" which involves going around the block and stopping at every manhole to listen for water. On special occasions, we take a flashlight to peer into the tiny hole in the cover to see what is inside. Despite never being able to fully see the interior, Scott makes diligent attempts at every opportunity.

Last week, to our amazement,they were actually working on one nearby. Now we bring you exclusive video documentation of an insiders view of the famed Southern California manhole in its natural habitat. Move over Steve Irwin, it's time for the manhole hunter.
(This video is not for the squeamish among you)






This was his follow-up report:

Sunday, December 06, 2009

Big brothers

Ethan and Scott love their baby sister. When they go to school or anywhere else, the first thing they do when they get home is find Elizabeth. Scott held Elizabeth today for the first time (his choice to wait so long). He continues to write her notes, although they are tending to be descriptive, "Elizabeth wears diapers" or "Elizabeth has blueish grayish eyes" rather than expressing any particular sentiment. Ethan loves to hold her. When she naps on the couch, Ethan likes to lie beside her and watch her. When I was nursing her on my bed this afternoon, Ethan brought in a pile of books to read. "I like to be with Elizabeth," he explained.



Before and after (just for fun)


Here I am, in all my 41+ weeks of gestational glory. HUGE and ready to get that baby out.



Here I am, on the day we came home from the hospital. Even with the encumbrances of c-section recovery, I am much more comfortable with Elizabeth on the outside.

Thursday, December 03, 2009