Tie Breaker

Tie Breaker! from Tysha on Vimeo.

We had our 20 week ultrasound this week, and got to see that our baby is growing and developing beautifully. It is always a relief to get to this point, and to see that things are going well and that baby looks healthy, as we choose to decline all other sorts of testing along the way. We also got to find out who this tie breaker baby will be - and we did a fun little cake reveal with the kids to surprise them with the wonderful news! Take a peek at the video to find out - boy, or girl!?!

Summertime

Summer 2015 from Tysha on Vimeo.

Last year, I made a little video at the end of the summer - and it was so fun, I did it again! I think it is now going to be a summer tradition! I simply take little snippets of video on my phone (when I remember ;) and at summers end, I put them all together. It's fun to see how a few seconds here and there add all up and then - abracadabra! - we have a short little 5 minute video that captured some of the fun memories we made. SO fun! The kids and I spent the afternoon uploading the clips to iMovie and then put them together and added some Bela Fleck and called it good! We had a fun fun summer exploring, adventuring, swimming - and simply just being together. Though our weather is still in the triple digits and the neighborhood pool is open until Halloween, I suppose summer has come to a close now that school is back in session. So...until next year - enjoy!

Summertime

Summer 2014 from Tysha on Vimeo.

I made an effort to capture little snippets of video on my iPhone throughout the summer and then put together this little family movie for fun. I have a feeling we will always look back on it with fondness and a big smile. There is something so magical about summertime, isn't there?

Christmas 2013

Christmas 2013 from Tysha on Vimeo.

I made a little video from our Christmas Eve and a few clips from Christmas morning. My twin sis and her fiancé, along with the Sister missionaries, came over for a wonderful fiesta-style dinner. Tia and Adam also had a sleepover with us, which the kids were excited about! It was fun to have family here. It was relaxing and fun, and a really magical Christmas. It gets more fun as the kids get a little older and are even more excited about every little thing :)  I hope you all had a great time with family and friends celebrating our Savior's Birth this season!

The Nutcracker (a family movie)

Ah, the ballet. During this time of year, my head spins with beautiful ballerinas and my mood is lifted by listening to one of my favorite classical suites - The Nutcracker. We knew our kids were too little to take to the ballet, so last year we got the storybook and NYC Ballet's version on DVD to see if they enjoyed the story and the dancing. I thought for sure they'd be bored with the "movie" version but to my surprise, they loved it! Several times throughout the year we have watched it, and when they unwrapped the book again this year in their stack of advent books - it was sheer delight at remembrance of the magical story. We almost took them this year. I found a ballet school production that was only 1.5 hours long - about half the time as the traditional ballet when performed by a professional company. I think Sawyer would have been able to sit through it, and be excited about it without a problem. Aspen gets a little more wiggly though, so I thought maybe better to wait a bit longer. And Hazel, well, you just never know with a baby. BUT I feared if I just took Sawyer, that Aspen would be utterly heartbroken if she didn't get to go, so we put it off for another year. Next year will be the golden ticket to the ballet.

This year, to have fun with it, I had this bright idea of putting on a little performance ourselves. I made each child a tutu and some themed masks (Sawyer wanted a black one and after I went to the trouble of making it he decided he didn't want to wear it, imagine that - but I bribed him with a candy cane, and now I have some video of him that is priceless!) I got the idea for the masks from an etsy shop - no wonder they were expensive, while the supplies are inexpensive, it took me all day to make those masks! But they turned out rather darling, I must admit. Especially on my little ones! 

Side note: Aspen's best girlfriend, Ruby, sent her a package in the mail a couple of months back. It was so sweet and Aspen was overjoyed. Besides some other fun stuff, Ruby sent Aspen this ballerina necklace. Her mom said she picked it out just for Aspen. Ruby knows that Aspen loves ballerinas. It's such a sweet little reminder of her special girlfriend. She wears it all the time. It has surprised me how much she misses her dear little friend. I thought she was young enough that most of her memories of people in Seattle would fade rather quickly, but that has not been the case at all. She still thinks about/talks about her "Ruby Duby" all the time. Sometimes when she's having a hard time going to sleep she will tell me that she misses Ruby. It makes me so sad. Anyway, thanks Ruby, for being a sweet friend to my Aspen Jane. And thank you for the ballerina necklace!

Without further ado, here are some of the cast in our family production of the Nutcracker...

Aspen - The Sugar Plum Fairy

Sawyer - The Mouse King

Hazel - Waltzing Flowers

The kids were excited all day long about doing our performance the other evening. We tried on costumes and I even dug out my old leotard, tights, and bloch slippers and squeeeezed my way into them. We practiced and had so much fun. We watched the NYC ballet version during the day and listened to Tchaikovsky all afternoon. To add to the festive and happy mood, I made egg nog french toast for dinner...everything was sparkly and shiny with all the Christmas lights and tulle around. I think Jacob was slightly shocked surprised when he walked in the door from work and there was his wife and children all dressed like ballerinas. He was a good sport and joined in the fun - he's pretty awesome like that. To add to the drama, Aspen fell asleep at the dinner table! We let her take a cat nap and then woke her up for the big production. It wasn't as seamless as I'd envisioned - I would probably describe it as more "interpretive dance" than an especially graceful ballet, but it was fun nonetheless and that's all I was hoping for. I caught a few glimpses on video and put together a little souvenir of our show. It's a very condensed version of our evening performance - so if your littles are too little to sit through the ballet, feel free to show our version (it's barely over two minutes long). Please laugh freely at our silly family and don't hesitate to ENJOY THE SHOW! *and don't you doubt that one day Aspen and Hazel will grace the stage...gracefully! (if they're interested, of course;)

Family Nutcracker 2012 from Tysha on Vimeo.

Celebrations // Happy Birthday, Jacob!

Words are not enough to express how much we love our Daddy.
happy birthday jacob from Tysha on Vimeo.

Five Little Pumpkins (a family movie)

Five Little Pumpkins from Tysha on Vimeo.

Sisters (family movie)

Well, I decided to try something new.

A home video.

The other day I just happened to catch Aspen "checking" on her sister. She does this often when Hazel is napping and often sometimes wakes her up from her naps. At times, I quickly usher her out. That day, I knew she was already awake, so I snuck and got my camera - and phone - and then put the pictures and video together. I love how much Aspen loves her sister, and sings to her. The whole motherly instinct thing is fascinating. Even if sometimes I have to restrain her from loving her too much, it's the sweetest thing. Making the video was fun. I have a lot to learn, but I might just do it again sometime. 

Thanks to my friends, Dan and Minna, for inspiring me to try capturing some video of my kids (they always make the greatest videos of their kids...my kids love watching them for entertainment!)

Without further ado, here's "Sisters"

Enjoy!

sisters from Tysha on Vimeo.