I think with both of my kids my favorite thing is when they start to sing. This is Harper singing "Popcorn Popping on the Apricot Tree" from school. This song is a standard for Utah kids. Helena and Harper both know it, although Harper has the words a little off. I enjoy his improvising. :)
(Real Lyrics):
I looked out the window, and what did I see? Popcorn popping on the apricot
tree! Spring had brought me such a nice surprise, Blossoms popping right
before my eyes. I could take an armful and make a treat, A popcorn ball
that would smell so sweet. It wasn’t really so, but it seemed to
be Popcorn popping on the apricot tree.
Since I started working so early in the morning, Ash has had the job of waking Harper up. Poor Harper, he likes to wake up on his own...he'll even say "Mom, I still sleeping!" or "Mom, I want sleep more!" just like a teenager in the mornings. :)
Anyway, Ash sings various songs to him to wake him up. (Fun Ash fact: He's very 'singy' in the morning. And he's very good at making up songs). His old preschool songs are usually the go-to ones. Harper knows about five songs and has started getting better at singing recently. (Currently he can sing the ABC's, Twinkle Twinkle, Up on the Housetop (yes, the Christmas one), and Itsy Bitsy Spider). Here's he & Helena singing the "Good Morning to You" song at dinner time.
Lyrics: Good morning to you! Good morning to you! We're all in our places with sun shining faces....good morning to you!
I love Harper's inflection on the "you!". He sounds like he's trying to increase his range. Ha! Helena did a great job keeping him going, too!
Another song Ash sings that cracks me up is this one:
We live in Kansas. Our home is Kansas.
It's the state in the west where the people are the best.
We live in Kansas. Our home is Kansas.
I'm a Jayhawker through and through.
I don't remember this from my Kansas preschool / elementary school days. Does anyone else? Just curious.... Ash went to montessori school in Lawrence before he moved to Detroit when he was 5, so I think the Jayhawk-ish songs were maybe more popular there?!? :)
Small sidenote: Helena finished up her 'school year' and we got her 'portfolio' from her teacher. In it was a list of her favorite this and that. In the map unit ,she drew a picture and put that her favorite country is.....Kansas.
Helena had a tap dance recital right before we left on vacation. Here's a snippet of her dance.
She did so awesome and we were so proud of her. She did tell Ash not to come because she said he makes her nervous. His feelings were hurt, but he obliged. :)
They did the dance twice and when the teacher asked them if they wanted to do it a second time Helena yelled 'NO!' the loudest. Needless to say, we're still battling some shyness from time to time. Which is also why you can tell the video is shot from the 2nd (back) row...less chance of her bolting & crying if I'm not RIGHT THERE.
Next up this summer...swimming lessons. Then back to dance in the fall most likely. :) Pretty sure we're not going to torture ourselves with tee ball this fall again. Ha!
I'm not sure how this started. I think Ash was joking with Harper one day after he was doing some sort of asinine two-year old thing (you know, like wiping off candy with a wipe so that it will taste different/better, maybe?).
So now we have our own little Steve Carrell in a weird voice I'm not so sure about.
And, for those of you who are clueless about the movie reference, here ya go. (Anchorman, circa 2004).
Our first of many Christmas events is always Christmas Eve at my Grandma Millie's. We eat shrimp and pie and open presents. This year it was so warm we even got in a walk around the lake!
Great Grandma Millie and Great Grandpa Bill with Harper, Kane, Helena & Ellie.
A family gathering isn't complete until Uncle Justin gives horsey rides.
The girls showing off their purses.
Ash & Jess snacking and drinking before dinner.
My dad's main job: fry shrimp.
My grandma ruining a perfectly good pan of jello. ;)
And then there was this:
It started when Jess decided it would be funny to have the kids 'smell' the pies and pushed their faces in it a little bit. But then Ellie got really upset when it was her 'turn' and Jess felt bad and said, "look, I'll do it too." And that's when Justin and I went in for the kill -- he pushing her face full force into the pie and me giving her a wet willy of whipped cream. It was an opportunity we just couldn't pass up.
Jess took it in good humor, but then after Ash & Justin made a liquor store run, Jessica got her revenge on Justin. And Evan got it all on 'tape'.
When we went to Michigan, we decided to take advantage of free babysitters (thanks again Grandpa Ash & Grandma Maggie) and take a little mini-break to Sandusky, Ohio to visit Cedar Point -- home of some of the tallest and fastest roller coasters in the world. Months ago, Ash bought us VIP passes to the park...I told him not to tell me how much that cost...but it was worth the money, for sure.
Here's what VIP at Cedar Point means:
Our own personal staff escort for 10 hours (except for a one-hour lunch). Everyone, meet Matt! Michigan State senior, career Cedar Point intern, and all-around good guy who is a major roller coaster NERD.
Matt fast walked with us everywhere....told us where the best ice cream was, the best place for lunch, walked us up ALL OF THE EXIT RAMPS TO GET ONTO THE RIDES FIRST IN WHATEVER SEAT WE WANTED (yeah, that part rocked), he held our sunglasses and cameras when we went on rides...yeah, Matt rocked. Matt also thought Ash & I were like 24. Bonus points! Ha! Can I say rocked any more in this paragraph?!?
So we hit it HARD at the park...Ash was on a mission. We did 30 rides total, including five times on this sucker:
This baby gets up to 120 mph in like 4 seconds. I had to scream loud every time so I didn't lose my lunch. Matt told us a real astronaut rode this and said that the G's were almost as intense as the Space Shuttle. Whoa! We sat in the front every time, I think. At the end of the ride, we literally had dead bugs all over us. It was intense. And fun.
Hard to believe this was actually the first time Ash & I had been to any type of amusement park together. I knew Ash was pretty hardcore about roller coasters, and I thought I was too, but about halfway through the day, I had some very nauseous moments. Which NEVER happens to me. My mom said it's because I'm old, but I think since we were able to get on all of the rides so quickly that my body just needed to sit still for more than two minutes after awhile. I seriously almost puked very high up in the air on top of a crowd of people. That's when I told Ash we HAD to break for lunch and I ended up lying down for 10 minutes in a booth at Famous Dave's. But after one hour of not spinning, flinging, turning, or going at high rates of speed (and some corn muffins and a Pepsi), I rallied and was good for the rest of the day. Matt said we were pretty intense VIP-ers.
Do I look windblown? I was windblown.. (Also, unintentional use of black & white photography here...silly Matt switched the camera settings. lol.)
Cedar Point is in a beautiful spot for an amusement park...on its own island in the middle of Lake Erie. And if you visit, save up the cash for the VIP experience. You won't be disappointed.
Harper turned 14 months old this week....and he's quite the chatterbox lately. In addition to what's on this tape, he can say thank you, please, cheese, down, bye-bye and this! (when he wants something you have). We are officially in the "you're talking but I have no idea what you're saying to me" phase of toddlerhood.
Who knew John Lee Hooker-ish music would be such a hit with the kiddos. One of their favorite while-mommy-is-putting-the-laundry-away activities is having a dance party in Harper's room. Hopefully next time I tape Harper there won't be a near-injury moment captured. :)
Helena had her first ballet recital last Thursday. Talk about adorable. I had tears in my eyes the entire time. And I'm pretty sure Ash did too. We were so proud of her getting up there and dancing in front of all of those people. We did have to bring bunny (who watched from my purse this time), and, as you'll see, immediately following the dance, Helena beelines to me to give me a hug in the audience. So cute!
Here's the video...and my apologies for seeing a lot of her teacher's bum during this...ha!
Her teacher also got all the little girls roses. So sweet! They all did such a good job.
Very excited about her costume for the recital -- new crown and tutu!
Almost too excited to pose with mommy!
Afterwards we went out to dinner to celebrate. We asked Helena what she wanted to eat....her answer...."French fries and eggs!!!" So, off to IHOP we went.
For all you transportation nerds out there, here's what Ash is doing tonight - watching a bridge move from the farm where it was built into its permanent bridge/road home. The bridge is the longest two-span bridge (354 ft.) that has ever been moved using Self Propelled Modular Transporters in the Western Hemisphere. (Wow, can you tell that last sentence was from a press release or what?!?) Anyway, Ash's company is part of the team moving the bridge. It really is pretty crazy, interesting stuff.
Here's the video from the news tonight (below) and the newspaper article.
Right before we left town for Christmas, I got Helena to sing her Christmas program songs solo accompanied (kind of) by her new guitar. She was a little disappointed at first that the guitar didn't know Frosty the Snowman, but she made do.
Again, apologies for my obviously superior videographer skills...just didn't want to miss 'the moment'. And oh what a cute moment it was. Coincidentally, I unsuccessfully tried several times to get her to sing this for family when we were home. One time she made an entire room of 15 people sit covering their eyes for about 10 minutes with the promise to sing, only to not perform. :) Fortunately, this video proves she's not really THAT shy.
Ya'll didn't know that somtimes rock stars have to pick their nose and then start the song over again, did you? Oh, and I think the last few stanzas prove she's going to be an alto.
Hot off the presses, here's the video from Helena's preschool Christmas program this evening.
A couple of comments:
Ya'll will notice Bunny got to attend. We will do a lot of things to avoid bolting and/or crying. And Helena did neither, thankfully. I am very proud of her. And Bunny.
Helena's class is made up of 3 & 4 year olds and she happens to be standing beside the two tallest and oldest boys in her class. She looks like a total munchkin up there!!!
You'll also notice, again, what a horrendous videographer I am. Yes, I know I majored in BROADCAST JOURNALISM. But, it's been eight years and I was also trying to pacify a 6 month old. Oh, and I was trying to shoot through a very small window between two people's heads. So there. I should probably dig out the tripod Ash gave me with said video camera and actually use it sometime.
Warning, there are four songs. It's about six minutes long... :) But it's cute. I promise.
Merry Christmas everyone! :) This might be the last blog before the holiday. Lots to do!
We've had such a busy weekend I'm pretty sure I'll have about five posts about Halloween...but until then, in honor of Harper's 1st Halloween, here's a video of him in his Halloween garb showcasing most of what he's up to lately (grabbing feet, squealing, babbling, smiling and generally wiggling around). And again, sorry for the weird orientation of this...you'd think I'd learn one of these days. :)
This is a video I shot on my iphone a couple of weekends ago right after Helena and Ash had been literally having a fight over bacon at breakfast. The last piece fell on the floor, and they both lunged to grab it for themselves. Helena won. I'm a sausage gal, myself, so I don't fully relate. :) Highlights include Helena rubbing in her bacon 'win' by chanting "I eat it...uh huh..."
I've been trying to take some videos of Helena to post here, but without much luck. So, here's what I'm dealing with, folks, every time I try to shoot one. There's annoying-ness sprinkled with a touch of cuteness at the end.
A couple of comments now that you've watched it. Most of the time when she says please and means it she holds up her hand like she's in school. Also, the funny thing she said to me at the end...that was literally the first time she's said anything like that to me. So hilarious. And speaking of my belly...some pics to come after our 2nd sonogram this weekend. I mean it this time.
I really enjoy the Olympics when they come around every couple of years. This time around, I guess now that I'm a little bit better skiier, I really appreciate the skill and endurance involved with all of the winter athletes.
Snowboarder Shaun White has been all over the network coverage...I think the half pipe finals are today, actually. But there are two videos I've caught involving him that have blown my mind.
I mean seriously, HOW IS THIS GUY ALIVE? He should at least be bleeding after that. I think I'm going to find out what type of helmet he was wearing and buy some stock in that company.
Secondly, this feature...which oddly gave me goosebumps and I'm not even a snowboarder!
On first thought, the fact that he had his own private half pipe built somewhere only accessible by helicopter is insane. He'd better have some pretty sweet new jumps to show off tonight if they need to be THAT big of a secret from all other competitors. On second thought, how freaking ridiculous is this whole scenario? American excess at its best. I hope Shaun White and Red Bull both give A LOT of money to charity. Ooh! Research project!
Helena had her first Christmas program on Thursday. I'm continually impressed with what preschool teachers can get a group of eight two-year-olds to do. Her teacher told me she was so nervous about one or all of the kids melting down that they totally forgot to sing one of their songs.
Here's the full video-- we got great shots of her but weren't able to get the whole group because it was packed in there! Helena's very enthralled with her hat and I think she was lip synching a couple of times. Oh, and she shows off her signature Galbreath dance moves at one point. She's the one in the the pink scarf.
Oh, and here's a little craft Helena made at school this week:
I think she thinks all holidays are Halloween.
Happy Holidays everyone! We leave for Kansas on Tuesday! Yay!
I think she thinks all holidays are Halloween.