Our awesome movie promotion!

Christina's brother Casey is something of a genius. You can see his work here. Well, Casey does more than just paint--he does a little pro bono work setting up marketing posters for independent films just like ours--films full of heart, depth, and talent, but without exposure. Okay, so maybe this is Casey's first try at movie posters, but I'd have to say it's just about the coolest thing I've ever seen. So, without further adieu, I give you the movie poster for our first family film, "Daniel and the Lion's Den": (click on it to see it better)

Be sure to check out the film here: 

Daniel and the Lion's Den

Jonathan's first movie

I'm so excited to announce Jonathan's first movie. He decided to take up filmmaking as a career and I think his first movie is wonderful. Here is a sneak peak before it hits theaters! Enjoy!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=scP81X8e7Ug

Art class

I love how creative kids are. I am amazed everyday by the things they come up with. I also love how they are not afraid of a blank canvas at all. Most adults I know are wildly intimidated by the whiteness starring at them. One of my art teachers taught us a trick to overcome this fear, she used to tint her gesso just so that she wasn't starting a white canvas. Kids do not have this fear. They go at a white page with gusto, joy, triumph even. I wonder why we forget how to do that as we get older? 

Anyway, here are some of the masterpieces created today:

by Ezra. "kitty." 9 x 12 in. watercolor on paper.

by Ezra. "a lot of clouds." 9 x 12 in. watercolor on paper.

Here is some mixed media by Annika

by Annika. untitled. 9 X 12 in. crayon, graphite, and watercolor on paper.

P. S. We are going to have a Preschool Art Show in May to showcase the amazing things the kids have created this year. If you would like your kiddo to be part of it let me know! We'll have an opening reception with yummy treats and everything.

Big Broccoli

Ezra is a fan of really BIG things, which is odd because his mother has always been obsessed with really little things. I have even tried to force my love for little things on him but he always chooses the big stuff. Odd, I know. So anyway, when I gave him a huge broccoli for dinner tonight, he was pumped! What a kid. (Personally, I still think a little tiny piece of broccoli resembling a normal sized one would have been cooler, but whatever.)

Story time

This is what happens everyday when Daddy comes home.

Conquering the world, one rock at a time.

Our new home!

This past weekend we had the chance to go checkout where we are going to be moving this summer. I am so excited! I love it, love it, love it! We were able to check out the area a little bit and check out some places to live and we even got to go to church. Jonathan was excited to see Merril Hoge at church. I didn't know who that was but apparently he used to play football and is now on ESPN. Everyone was really nice to us and we really feel like this is where we should be. We are really thankful to be led to such a great place. You should all plan to come out and visit us!

Oh- and I got to try Cincinnati chili (five-way). I have never heard of this before but it is basically chili over spaghetti noodles with cheese on top. A four way is with beans and a five way is with beans and onions. I really love that they have a "thing." You know, something that is unique to the area. Oh, and it was good too!

A little bit about Mormons

Jon and I are trying to figure out what we should be doing to make sure our kids turn out like this girl. She has confidence, a testimony, is articulate and of course- she got into Harvard.

She does an amazing job at answering the questions that are fired at her. Pretty good for a 20 year old.

Day of Faith: Personal Quests for a Purpose - 3. Rachel Esplin from Harvard Hillel on Vimeo.

My dinosaur egg story.

Fifteen years ago I found a dinosaur egg. At least I thought I had. Everyone thought it was cool looking but no one rushed me to the Smithsonian or anything so I put it on my shelf. It came in handy quite a few times to hammer a nail in here or there. I figured it was okay. No one would ever know that I used my dinosaur egg as a hammer. 

Before the age of the internet it was really hard to know if your dinosaur egg was real or if it was just a dumb old rock. 

So the dinosaur egg sat in my collection of cool stuff for years and years. Yesterday I came across this specimen again and decided to inquire once and for all of its authenticity. 

In the age of the internet it is really easy to find out if your cool looking rock is a dinosaur egg or not.

Turns out that it's not a cool dinosaur egg at all but a dumb old rock. A concretion to be exact. Which is nothing cool at all. Concretions are really boring and are pretty much just dumb rocks. How sad.

Good thing though because this morning I let Ezra see my dinosaur egg and he thought it looked like a fun thing to shoot hoops with. After a couple of shots my egg, excuse me, concretion, looked like this:

So I'm not sure the point of this story except that I thought it must be told. 

Rest in peace concretion.

I'll admit it...

We were all having a bad day so we played hooky. I guess we'll make it up on Saturday.

Cheers!

There's nothing better on a fine wednesday afternoon than a cupcake party with a few of your closest pals. 

The cupcakes positioned.

The guests arrive.

Here's to spring coming, to cupcakes, to life, and new adventures!

The end.

I was a weird kid.

So the other day Jonathan and I were cleaning some things out of our bedroom when I had the good fortune to run across this: 

What is it? Only the MONSTER SQUAD secret notebook of spooky spells!! Made up by yours truly and the other members of the monster squad. We were an elite team of 5th graders determined to rid the world of terrible monsters. Or at least procure for ourselves grade books, frogs, unsolved mysteries (to solve, I'm guessing??), Milli Vanilli backup singing gigs, and the like. It was a great time. We even had a secret hangout, the upstairs closet at my parents house. We were totally fierce- and studly.

Here's a sampling of spells but remember-- use with caution! (There were an alarming number of spells that required some sort of "turd" involved. Spell making is a dirty business!)

This one will definitely come in handy one day... 

Ha ha! Those were the good old days!

From crib to big bed.

This little thing is 18 months now! She has really blossomed during the past few months. She talks like crazy, is very stubborn, does NOT like to be told no, likes to trick people, has a great sense of humor, and is very happy almost all of the time. She is hilarious and we are lucky she is ours. 

In honor of Annika reaching the year and a half mark (and also because her crib was starting to fall apart!) we got her a toddler bed. She loves it! You can tell she feels special that she has a bed like Ezra's. Surprisingly, she goes to bed in it really well. However, she now wakes up a lot more at night and when we go into her room we often find her standing in the middle of her room disoriented.  

So... she now sleeps in ours bed a lot more. Oh well. At least I don't have to worry about her old crib falling apart on her in the middle of the night. You take what you can get, right?