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Watch-It Wednesday: A Series of Uneventful Episodes

We've done it now. Made it public. What really goes on when parents double-date and leave 19 kids at home? Absolutely nothing worth mentioning, of course...just a bunch of uneventful episodes.

Wishing you an uneventful Wednesday!

Watch-It Wednesday: It's Been a Week

Yes, it has. A whole week. I cannot believe there are only three days left of training...time flies when it's filled to the brim! :)

For this Wattch-It Wednesday, I have several videos! The first is from our outing I alluded to in this post:
(Drumroll pleasel) an Indiana-Jones-style dessert! (Actually, I’ve never seen “Indiana Jones,” so I’m really just taking other people’s word for it. I did see the Veggie Tales knock-off, “Minnesota Cuke”, though. It’s about as close to the real thing as I want to get…so it counts, right?)

On our way to the hotel our very first night here, we met a local who told us we ought to try "The Mayan" for dinner sometime during our stay. "It's very Disney," he elaborated, "kind of like a big tree house with a waterfall in the middle. And they have diving shows every half hour." A tree-house style restaurant? Yes please! Saturday night, with no early-morning classes the next day, seemed the ideal evening, and so a plan was made! We invited our new acquaintance, Marissa, to come with us, and climbed into our personal limo - er, I mean shuttle van – for a fun-packed evening out!

Lauren, Marissa, and Mikaela!

As we walked into the dark, mysteriously-lit room, looking for all the world like a network of mining shafts, we couldn’t keep the grins off our faces. Yes, this was an awesome place to be! Down one of shafts halls we were led, the end opening up to reveal (dum, da-da dum) the waterfall! Throughout the evening we witnessed some heart-stopping diving and climbing shows which impressed us greatly! Unfortunately, because of the dramatic lighting, I was unable to get many pictures, but here are a few!

 

For dessert, Mikaela, Melissa, and I ordered some "chocolate lava cake." Little did we know what we were in for!

How exciting is that? Sparklers on your cake? Too much fun. :)

Video number two is from our wonderful return to Gateway! Behold the great fountain and music, spoken of here and here:

Ok. I lied.

No video.

But I tried.

This video is, for some reason, way too large to upload

So I shall have to wait 'til I get home to compress it.

But it's the thought that counts, anyway.

So just try to imagine it.

The last video is one I received in an email yesterday afternoon. The Littles and Rachel put it together for me...SO SWEET!! Aren't they dears?

Note: I do realize that it is now Thursday. But better late than never! I did start the post on Wednesday...
For more pictures and another perspective on our trip, visit Lauren and Mikaela's blog!

This is Me Right Now...

No, I do not have a bald spot - it's just my fingers showing through my uber-thin hair.

...because playing around with skirt designs is a frustrating pastime. Actually, because I hate when things don't turn out exactly how I planned them...even when a potentially cuter alternative comes along. "Maybe," mama said with a grin, after listening to my lamentations, "God wants you to get used to it - remember Benjamin Franklin?"
"It was Thomas Edison!" I burst out, after a moment of surprise, and so I laughed which makes many things better - mostly. But I still needed some help, so I had some comfort food....


Fresh sourdough bread!

And smelled these lovely roses my students gave me...

They've been perfuming my room all weekend!


And got out this movie to watch as I finish the ironing...


Pretty much my all-time favorite animated movie

And remembered that, in the big scheme of things, it won't matter a whit if it takes me a couple more days to work out the quirks on this skirt. In the big scheme of things, it will simply matter that I stopped and smelled the roses, tasted the sourdough, laughed at the silliness, and learned the patience and flexibility I tend to so not have time for! in my own mind.

O, to patiently learn patience...

Watch-It Wednesday: Battle for Skandia

Ladies and Gentlemen! Presenting, for your viewing pleasure, the professionally-filmed video of "Battle for Skandia", conducted by Benjamin Coder!

Disclaimer: the quality of the performance is in no way connected with the quality of effort put forth by cameraman, composer, or conductor (these persons are perfect, and of course, leave nothing to be desired); and as such, the afore-mentioned persons should not be held accountable for any aspect of the performance. This includes, but is not limited to, the intonation, energy, and precision of the musicians. However, if any of the performance is offensive to you, there are no persons available to sue. Sorry.

Spring Break Has Begun!

Rachel, in her...interesting...outfit. :)

It really began about a year ago. No, not Spring Break - I mean that what I'm about to tell you about began a year ago. To be completely honest, I don't remember all the particulars. Was it that Emily had been looking at joining a Christian flimmakers group, or that Ben had just completed the soundtrack for a friend's movie? Maybe it was simply that we were being, as always, incredibly over-ambitious in the discussion of creating a full-length film (have you noticed that ignorance can often appear as arrogance?).


Either way, Daddy overheard our conversations at one point, and came up with a challenge: Project Spring Break. At 6 am one morning during our week off school, we were handed an envelope containing a theme-word, a deadline (6pm the same day), and a $26 budget. Our goal? Plan, film, and edit a 5-minute music video.


We. Had. A. Blast.


So much so, in fact, that we decided to hold a 'Family Film Festival' that summer, with remarkably similar guidelines. All participants were given a 12-hour time frame, beginning when I posted the word and ending when they were required to show up at our front door, DVDs in hand. It was...an adventure. Each family had their unique story of catastrophe, and no one made the deadline exactly (in fact, two of us holed up in the bonus room for the final minutes of burning). Actually, I take that back. One family had impeccable timing, but that doesn't make quite as good of a story. Anyway, adventures are rarely anything but fun, and we decided a repeat of the experience was definitely in order.


So here we are, at Spring Break one year later, and the second Family Film Festival has just concluded. We tweaked a couple of the rules this year, just for fun. Instead of a "skin-of-the-teeth" twelve hours, we were given nearly 60 (that is to say, the weekend) for this film! In addition, 'music video' was not the required format, though it maintained the 'format of choice' status for most entries.


Despite these o-so-cushy guidelines, however, we the Coders managed to still not finish our DVD until the last minute (*ahem*, that is to say, after guests had arrived). 'How could you be so negligent?' you may ask. Well, I blame it entirely on circumstances "beyond my control" (does anyone know that movie quote?? :). You see, we diligently planned, costumed, stage-propped, and filmed all day Saturday and all afternoon Sunday - we were, bluntly, done with all but editing (and one scene, but that hardly counts, you know).


Then, the unthinkable happened.


And all the filming was worth...


Worth nothing, strictly speaking.


You see, at 12:30 last night - or this morning, or, something - I had just finished uploading all our footage and was doing a quick play-through to make sure it had transferred correctly, when I noticed the most curious lack of sound on the footage! O dear, our in-camera mic had decided to take a holiday - or move away, or, something - and all we had to show for the last two days of work was a silent movie, minus the black-and-white and o-so-dramatic music. So, I roused the house (after going to bed for a couple hours, of course), borrowed a friend's video camera, and the movie you now see before you was filmed, uploaded, transferred between computers, edited, and burned between 9:45am and 5:30...ish...pm today. Enjoy! - or cringe, or, something - :)

I hope to have the other entries posted on Shutterfly by the weekend. Happy Spring Break!