Home Movies

I found some great videos on the old camera before I emptied it.

This was a month after we moved to the new house (8/28). Gabriel was the writer and director for this movie the kids made up. They practiced about 3 times before I grabbed the camera. You can hear Gabriel's whispered direction at the beginning. Ephraim got a little stage fright once the camera was on.

Ephraim is singing "Little Rabbit Foo-Foo" here. He is also learning "Twinkle Little Star" but the words are hard to remember.

Conference and Costumes

Some fun update pictures. Here are my boys watering our garden. My dad was great and built these raised boxes for us and planted broccoli, potatoes, and lettuce (and a stray tomato). Gabriel has been so sweet and says that watering our garden is his chore (he says it proudly). I love seeing him grow up and want to help more around the house.

For Halloween, Gabriel wants to be Link from the classic video game Zelda. I sewed a shirt (from scratch cut from an old t-shirt of mine, yes I'm proud of myself). He eagerly put on the shirt, hot off the sewing machine, and found a sword. I found a belt for him and he ran outside with the first hat he could find. While he played, I sewed a real hat. This past weekend, Paul made a really cool shield to match (on a high shelf now to preserve it for Halloween).

Last weekend was General Conference (when the prophet and apostles from our church speak to us and the whole world). I set up the living room and laptop and provided candy incentives to listen. Here we are Saturday morning. Ephraim LOVES doing somersaults and head-stands.

Of course, when one brother does it...

Mormon Tabernacle Choir

Tonight (with Link costume on, of course), Gabriel started building a "roller coaster" with the train tracks. He used all kinds of blocks and toys as stilts to hold the train pieces up. Creative little monkey!

Also, I don't know if I've recorded that the kids are getting along really well now. I think Gabriel has a little more patience and a little less hostility toward his brother. It also helps that Ephraim can talk more and has plenty of ideas for play of his own and WANTS to play with big brother. It makes me so happy to see them playing nicely so often instead of needing constant supervision because of fist fights and shoving and fighting over toys.

Capturing Dust - A Movie

Camera and Bread

I bought a new digital camera to replace the one that is 6 years old. It still works fine, but it is big and clunky, so I don't use it as often as I do the camera on my phone (which takes terrible pictures). With this new "toy" I hope to record more of my boys' life before they get too big! Ephraim's voice is adorable and he tells such cute stories. I gotta get some video soon too.

Gabriel is learning to do homework.

Ephraim plays with flour after I made some mini bread loaves for dinner.

Gabriel likes my bread thiiiiiis much.

Ephraim would rather eat bread than anything else. (sigh)

Yum!

Cheese and Teeth

Ephraim fell asleep with his shirt off the other night (yes, early enough when there was still light). Too cute in his favorite pants and stuffed puppy.

Gabriel enjoys brushing his own hair after a bath to make himself "look handsome."

Gotta practice the funny faces in the mirror too!

Gabriel's mattress is usually in my room on the floor (helps us both sleep for now and he's not in my bed). To keep the kids from jumping on the thin slats left exposed on the frame, I put some extra shelf boards, cardboard, and pillows and blankets there as a quiet reading spot. Success!

This past weekend we all went to a birthday party at Chuck-E-Cheese. I don't think we ever took the kids there before. Paul and I browsed one in San Jose when Gabriel was about two years old, but we didn't like any of the games. This place was better and he was old enough to enjoy most of the games. Here he is peddling to make the helicopter go up in the air.

Ephraim liked the rides best. Yay for firetrucks (three times in a row)!

Gabriel felt something "dry" in his mouth when we went to brush teeth on Friday night. I looked to see if it was food stuck and it was a TOOTH!! Hard to see here but it is poking out behind his front teeth (slightly to the left). We had a talk about wiggling teeth (so it doesn't scare him) and the Tooth Fairy. Is my baby really old enough to lose teeth already?! (age 6 is average)

Weekend Trips

Catching up from our busy weekends!
A few weekends ago we went to my friend's son's 4th birthday. The superhero theme was a big hit, especially with my boys. Everyone got to make a personalized cape.

The birthday boy didn't like his birthday song. So cute!!

The cupcakes were really yummy!

Then we went to Tilden Park as a family. We went on the merry-go-round and rode the train. It was fun to relive memories with my own kids.

Walk a mile in my shoes, eh?

Oh, yeah, we have trains and this huge playroom floor!

Happy end of summer: ice cream sandwiches (on his face) and watermelon. yum!

Choice Words

Gabriel to Ephraim: Let’s play hide and seek.

Ephraim: Oh-tay.

Gabriel: You count. (thinks) Count to one.

Ephraim: One.

Gabriel: (tries to hide but sighs) Count to two.

Ephraim: Two.

Gabriel gives up and runs to hide around the corner.

Ephraim: “One, two, free, ready not, here tum! … Hmmm, where he be?”

Gabriel and Ephraim spent the weekend with their dad while I went away to the Girl Scout Alumnae relaxation weekend. Here is the story I heard.

Ephraim brought a set of dogtags over to me and asked, "This say, dad?" I told him it said "Sega dot com" (they were from the Dreamcast release party). He got a horrified look on his face and said "Sega dot konk? Mom say konk bad word!" and then he walked away hanging his head in disappointment. As background, the kids don't KNOW bad words. So they had made up a few that they say at each other with such vitriol that they SOUND like bad words. We tell them to "say nice things please" when they do that, but apparently at some point we implied that they were actual bad words. And later that day, Ephraim justified his use of "konk konk" because I "used" the word earlier. "Da, you say konk konk," he says, holding up the dogtags.