New photos

James – great videos.  I enjoyed watching them and showing them to a few other people.  And yes, I think Happy Feet could be a good movie, so I’ll keep my ears open for Gia Ferrel.  So, what excactly does a production designer do?  Give us some specifics, please!

I’m also working on adding photos to our website.  Now that we’ve got the computer back, we’ll hopefully be back on top of those technology dependent activities.  Hope you enjoy the photos!

Cindy

Newest music video onlines

So, my newest musics are online.  The first is by an artist named Gia Farrell.  She’s supposed to be an up-and-coming pop star.  The song is on the soundtrack for the new movie “HAPPY FEET.”  (Yes, the dancing penguin movie.)  The second is a country song by Cody McCarver. I was the production designer for this one. 

Enjoy!

Gia Farrell: Hit Me Up

Cody McCarver: Red Flag

 James

Ellie the Sponge

About two weeks ago, Hannah changed her name. It happened something like this.

Hannah: Bett.
Me: What?! That’s not what you call me! What’s my name?
Hannah: Bett. Mommy’s Bett. Daddy’s Nate. [thinks for a minute.] Hannah’s Abby. (Abby is the name of Hannah’s new “My Little Pony” horse. Grandma and Grandpa Addink gave it to her for her birthday, and Hannah named it Abby. I’m not really sure where she got the name. We have a neighbor whom she met once, 2-3 months ago and her name is Abby. I guess the five minute conversation meant more to Hannah than I had guessed.)
Me: Oh. Are you Abby or Ellie?
Hannah: Ummmm… Ellie. Hannah’s Ellie.

And ever since she has been Ellie. She’s a little inconsistant—she still says things like, “Hannah’s jumping wight now” and “Hannah wants cow’s milk wight now. Yep.”—but she also regularly tells us she’s Ellie, as in “Ellie’s wight he-ah. Ellie’s so cute.” I did not know that play-acting and pretend came quite this early.

Speaking of early, Hannah is also working on potty-training since last week. Sometimes she wears big girl panties, but mostly she goes around the house sin ropa and dashes to her potty chair when the need arises. Wearing clothes at this point is worse for her than life-in-the-raw because she tends to forget that the panties are not diapers and she cannot just go when she pleases. She generally remembers that bit of information after it is too late. The number of laundry loads to clean has increased this past week, but the number of diapers we have gone through has plummetted, so I can handle the trade. It makes me think about starting to potty train Eli now, but that is not likely to happen for a year or two yet. He does not know what the word “self-control” means, nor is he particularly motivated to stay still in one place long enough to be trained. Unless I could find a potty chair with a tray attached so he could eat while he sits. Then he might be still long enough to produce something.

n8 and I left our children in the hands of my sister and parents for two nights and almost two days and went up to the North Shore. We stayed near Lutsen, very close by two of the places we honeymooned at almost three years ago. It felt like a second honeymoon, it being the first time we have gone off by ourselves overnight since Hannah was born.

Children have made us appreciate those brief spells of couple-travel so much more. The back seat of the car felt incredibly empty of its usual array of little people, carseats, diaper bag, toys, sippy cups, and Kix. We felt like newly-weds with so few responsiblities. It was wonderful.

There was nothing quite like coming back, though, and watching a little baby’s face transform into a five-minute-long grin because his mommy (and daddy) came back. Eli would not let go of me for the next hour, though he wanted n8 to come close and hug him in his mommy’s arms several times. Hannah Ellie was very excited to see her daddy, and giggled and chased him and was held by him for most of the rest of the evening. The kids were mostly good for their auntie and grandparents, though Eli still prefers nursing to injesting liquids any other way. At least he drank some during the day since he refused bottles at night. He has been starting to sleep through the night more regularly these last 2-3 weeks, which was a blessing for my family. His cold woke him up a few times, though.

While we were gone, my sister Anna tried to take the kids for a walk one afternoon. She couldn’t get the stroller opened, and after a struggle, looked at it in consternation and said, “What the heck!” Later that day, Hannah Ellie was talking to Abby the pony. She kept repeating, “What the heck, Abby! What the heck, Abby!” My sister learned a valuable lesson on just how well Miss Kairos absorbs words and language.

Hannah Kairos is a sponge, and I have yet to find her limit. She learned the names of the parts of the face in Chinese in 20 minutes. Then she tried to teach Daddy. This morning during her bath for the first time I heard her singing, “Open the eyes of my heawt, Lowd. Open the eyes of my heawt. I want to see You. I want to see You.” There is something about hearing those words from two-year-old lips that make me almost cry, and I cannot imagine how much her “Lowd” loves hearing such prayer-songs from her. In these little ways, Ellie brings me such blessing, and I am so very glad that God’s opportune time came earlier than ours.

Music Videos & Stuff

So I finally have a couple of projects online. You can see them at the following locations:

Bitter:Sweet “The Mating Game”

Head Automatica “Lying Through Your Teeth”

Although the Head Automatica video is a bit pixelated. I should have some other stuff available soon. I’ll let you know. I’m soon to be working on a low budget thriller movie. It’s not a horror film, but it’s a cross between a drama and an action flick. The script is pretty good and I’m excited about the project. I’m the leadman, which basically means that I get to order the set dressers around. A bit of responsibility, but it should be fun and challenging.

James

Grandkids’ photo

Thanks Bett for the photo link.  I have now copied it to my office computer as a background.  If anyone is able to merge a collage of photos to make on that shows all the kids clearly and in a “happy” mood, let me know where to find it and I will use that one instead.  In the mean time, at least I have all four kids together.

Well today our house is officially off the market.  The agreement expired as of October 31.  So when you make plans to come home, you will have your old rooms to occupy.  We “celebrated by going out and buying a new queen sized bed for one of the spare bedrooms, so now at least some of you will be able to sleep on a more comfortable bed.

Mom gave her notice this morning of quiting work by Thanksgiving.  So, she will be able to spend lots of time with any and all of you when you come out for the holidays.

 Cindy, I have lots of motorcycle pictures.  Unfortunately, almost all of them also include a picture of a Harley magazine, since they have to be in the picture when I send them in to collect my points from Harley Owners Group (HOG).  If you are interested however, I can look to see what I have that includes only Mom and I with the bike.

As you can tell, I am at work, so it is time to get back at it.  Thank you all for responding to my earlier emails and for keeping us up to date on your families.

Dad