Tuesday, December 04, 2007

out with the old!

Blogger has been a little crabby lately....


So even though my new website and blog are still undergoing construction, it's time to move on!

CLICK HERE FOR NEW BLOG


Go ahead, check it out and reset your RSS feed with the new address. I've added new pics today and will continue to add photos to the new blog.

Saturday, December 01, 2007

Weird Friday night

In memory of my neighbor's blow up Christmas thingy: 

November 25, 2007-November 31, 2007 


After recording Cassie (see below post) we had something really weird happen. Here's the story...

We live in a somewhat quiet neighborhood, but we do have some super bored kids who live here because there is a fair amount of vandalism. It's super annoying and can be expensive as we had to replace our garage door because of it a couple months after we moved in. (I tell you, spending  $900 to buy a garage door when you just bought a house and got pregnant is so much fun!) Anyway, Friday night while we were recording Cassie we were sitting in John's office and we heard yelling outside. It sounded like it was right outside our window and when we peeked outside it was too men fighting in our yard! It was pretty scary. They made their way to our front porch and started ringing our doorbell yelling all sorts of stuff.   I cautiously looked out the porch window and saw that one of the men had a knife. I freaked out! It scared the DAYLIGHTS out of me. I called 911 and we were all pretty confused and I was so scared! Both of the guys were yelling and the pugs were going nuts so we couldn't hear what they were saying.

It ended up MUCH less dramatic that John or I had imagined. It was our neighbor down the street who had caught some drunk kid cutting his blow up Christmas decorations with a knife. Since this guy gets vandalized all the time he was fed up. He chased the kid all the way down the street and wrestled him onto our porch until the police came. The thing is, we thought it was two drunk guys in a fight and after seeing the knife and hearing all sorts of yelling we didn't know if there was a gun involved. Talk about adrenaline pumping. (If you know me, I'm a bit dramatic anyway, so you can imagine how freaked I was.) 

It was the weirdest thing. Our neighbor came over today and apologized and thanked us for calling the cops.  I'm not sure he fully appreciated us though because when he was listing all the things that have been done to him (like having his lawn driven through EVERY week, etc. which really stinks) he mentioned that people have been putting his Christmas reindeer in sexual positions and upon hearing that John and I busted out laughing. We are so immature! He told us it wasn't so funny if you have a 5 and 7 year old daughter. Ummmm, yea. It's a horrible thing. (giggle-giggle.) 

No seriously, that does really stink for that guy. He's a hard working guy and a good dad, so I feel for him.  Our neighbor proceeded to tell us that as he was holding the kid in a headlock waiting for the police to come he realized the guy had soiled his pants. Must have been pretty surprised when got caught, huh? YUCK! Can you imagine holding some guy in a headlock and smelling that? sheesh. Oh, and remember the knife I saw? Well it was what he used to pop the big Christmas blow up thingy. You'd think he's be smart enough to drop it, but he held on to it the entire time. What an idiot! When the cops came that just made him look like a guy with a weapon. Oh, and he was 18, so he actually went to jail that night. Hope he had fun popping that balloon.

So that was our night Friday night. Thankfully, all is quiet on Bluewater Trail this evening. There's a blow up snowman and penguin in the yard behind us and so far, all is looking good for that duo. I think it's safe to say Christmas decor is safe in the suburbs this evening thanks to the vigalante actions of our good neighbor three doors down.


Oh, by the way, some of you asked for the link to Cassie singing at Miles' dedication. Just go to our youtube page, Click here for videos  It's the one called Miles' Dedication.  Enjoy!  It's a rough recording because it's just from a video camera, so I'm excited that we got to actually record her with an actual mic. 

recording session

After my friend Cassie sang at Miles' dedication this past summer, we offered to record her singing if she wanted a demo disk or just for fun.  Finally we were able to find a time to get together and do it.  John's studio is the perfect size for him, but add more people to the mix and it's pretty tiny.  I tried to get some shots but had minimal space and light. I was sitting out in the kitchen shooting most of the shots through a narrow slit in John's office french doors, so keep that in mind when perusing the shots. Btw, I LOVE Cassie's hair. I wish I knew how to wear headbands in the funky way she does.  
It was awesome to have our own little live concert in our home on a chilly Friday night.  We LOVE her voice and she writes her own music.  I just eat up creative people.  Oh, if you look closely, there's John in the upper left corner. 
Ok, how adorable is Cassie in these headphones?  Bless her heart, it was kind of a challenge to play the guitar part separately from the singing. She had to sit on her hands to keep from making noise when she sang.  Stamp came in and did some tap dancing on the plastic floor protector to help with the noise making.  That Stamp, she just has to be where the action is! 

I love that I was able to get the shot of her guitar like this and I was all proud of myself and then John said, "Yea, but she's just tuning, not playing."  Ugh! Leave it to a musician to notice that!  I was trying not to make her too uncomfortable by snapping a bunch of pics, so I tried to be quick.  I'll be shooting her again soon for a cover so I'll get another chance. ; )
Notice her beautiful engagement ring in this photo?  She just got engaged last week!  We are so excited for her and her fiance Jason because they are the sweetest couple.  Oh  my goodness I can't wait to see Cassie as a bride. She's going to take my breath away!  

When the CD is done, we will (with permission, of course) be posting her music.  She's so beatiful in so many ways. We love you Cassie!


kurtz family get together

Thanksgiving week we went to Brenda Kurtz's house where her kids were home and had all of the grandchildren together. I grew up next to the Kurtz family and these people are literally like family to me. I don't get to see them often, but when we do it's like no time has passed.

When we arrived, there were two dogs, 5 kids and an assortment of adults, so Miles was was kind of freaked out at first.

You all met Evan earlier this summer. Jen and I got to go through our pregnancies (and cluelessness together) and now we get to figure out this whole parenting thing together too. Here he is deep in thought.
Susan, on the hand, is a PRO as she has four little ones. Her youngest didn't have a problem conking out on the couch despite all the craziness in the room. 
And here Ariana is awake. 

Wendy, Susan and Jen's world traveling sister, is awesome with the kids. I had a million shots of her playing, but thought this one summed it up.  She's such a cool person. I love hearing her stories of where she has recently traveled when I see her throughout the year. 
This is Daisy, Jason and Jen's dog. She is super smart and totally Jason and Jen's first born.  We share the same dog craziness as we have both:
A. Taken our dog to see Santa 
B. Taken our dogs to a doggy daycare 
C.  celebrate our dog's birthday 
D. Dress our dogs for cold weather.  

(Um, I think they have taken Daisy to see Santa. Jen, you'll have to comment me if I got that right.)  
Evan was a tough guy to capture as he's walking now.  Here he is on the move. 

These two were braiding each other's hair the entire time. Again, I have a million pics, but thought I would show the end result. 
Towards the end everybody started to get sleepy. 
Must have been all those tickles. 
Susan's kids LOVED the camera.  
Issac held this pose for ever as he hung over the end of the couch.  He loved having his picture taken. 
Ok, time to put the camera down and get caught up with the Kurtz family.  Can't wait to see you guys over Christmas!  

Lots of love to you!