Swimming Fun with Sydney and Sara

Tanya came out to visit with the twins, Sydney and Sara. Obviously the kids had a great time playing with their cousins in the pool with lots of jumping, splashing, spinning and other water fun.

I put together a short video entitled Swimming Fun with Sydney and Sara.
Enjoy!

Production Notes: I used our waterproof camera to get shots of people in the pool and jumping into the water. Most of the editing was done in the latest version of Windows Live Movie Maker, but I had to use Sony Vegas for a couple "special effects". I think you'll know which ones once you see the video.

Rosemary's French Commercial, Le Baton!

Rosemary, along with her classmates Will and J.P., came up with the following French commercial as part of a French class assignment. They had to create a commercial for a product and tout the positive uses (along with things to avoid). This was filmed over a weekend and then edited together with sound effects, titles, etc.

So have you heard about this new useful product that everyone should have? If not, be sure to watch the commercial so you too can have one. Everyone should go out now and buy Le Baton!.

Christmas Crafts, Cupcakes, Stockings and More...

Each Christmas we pick a fun craft to do with the kids. This year we made little felt mice with candy cane tails and handed them out to family, friends and classmates.

On Christmas Eve, Blaine sang with the church choir and Felicia played violin.

Christmas Day was the usual fun of opening stockings, having breakfast, opening gifts, playing games, eating a scrumptious Christmas dinner, etc. Click the link for our Christmas 2009 album.

Can You Solve Our Christmas Puzzle for 2009?

All the kids had a lot of fun creating our annual Christmas Puzzle for 2009. It's a standard word search puzzle, so it shouldn't be too difficult, but there is a hidden message to find when you are done.

If you are absolutely stuck, you can find the answer here.

When you solve it, please don't give away the answer but feel free to add a comment to let us know that you successfully figured it out.

Thanksgiving 2009 - Making Yummy Hors d'Oeuvres

For Thanksgiving, we had a fun time making hors d'oeuvres for Thanksgiving dinner. My favorites were the "Bacon Hugs" which were figs stuffed with water chestnuts and wrapped in bacon.

If you'd like to see the photos, click the link to our Thanksgiving 2009 Photo Album.

Halloween 2009 - Seven Wonders of the Ancient World

Michael came up with this year's theme of "Wonders of the Ancient World". We dressed as the Great Pyramids of Giza, Colossus of Rhodes, Lighthouse at Alexandria, Statue of Zeus at Olympia, Hanging Gardens of Babylon and Temple of Artemis at Ephesus. Extra credit if you know the seventh wonder without looking it up.

Jason's 8th Birthday at Chuck E. Cheese

On Jason's actual birthday, we had a small celebration just with the family. For this cake, Jason requested a vanilla cake with peanut butter and Reese's Pieces. Felicia made a SpongeBob SquarePants cake decorated with shells, seaweed, sand, peanut butter and chocolate frosting, etc. The inside was vanilla cake with embedded Reese's Pieces and chocolate mousse filling baked so that it formed a heart in each slice.

To see the photos, click on Jason's 8th Birthday at Chuck E. Cheese.

Jason's 8th Birthday Party at the Jungle

Jason recently celebrated his 8th birthday by inviting classmates to join him at the Jungle. Apart from all the fun of crawling through tunnels, heading up and down ramps, sliding down slides, etc. the group had fun in the "Monkey" party room.

There the group had pizza, played several rounds of "Cat Bingo", opened presents and ate cake. For the cake, Jason requested sky blue and red frosting, a cat, chocolate inside and Oreo cookies. Felicia was able to incorporate every element and you'll see that in the pictures.

To see the photos, click on Jason's 8th Birthday Party at the Jungle.

Mini-Vacation Luau Party at Work

When you can't afford to send everybody off to a tropical vacation to celebrate their hard work, what's the next best thing? How about a fun "virtual" vacation luau party?

A group at the office organized a fun celebration with Hawaiian music, a slideshow of vacation photos, a raffle, best Hawaiian outfit contest, real luau food, etc. It was a great way to take a break from work.

Here's a few photos I took of the Mini-Vacation Luau Party!.

Easter in Full Bloom!

It was a fun-filled Easter.

There were easter baskets, egg hunts, colorful dresses and ties, good food, playing games, and spending time with our family.

Check out an album of our Easter 2009 Fun!.