Lake Myra Christmas show

This is an amazing Christmas lights show that we went to see tonight. They have 175,000 lights timed to music that you pick up on a radio station. This video does not do the show justice, but you get the idea.

All of the boys loved it, especially Rylan who "sang" along to the music and clapped his hands. But I think I liked it the most. It was like getting fireworks for Christmas!

Cole Says...

Cole: I woojally like to read easy books.

Me: You usually like to read easy books.

Cole: Usually?

Me: Yes.

Cole: (pausing to think)...Well then what does woojally mean?

There he is...my little one year old.

Rylan had a very uneventful birthday. I made him a cake that we took with us to Baskin Robbins and got ice cream. That's it. We didn't even get him any presents. Poor kid...I'll bet he'll be traumatized.

Also, it turns out that Rylan doesn't like ice cream. :)

Cute pics of Rylan

Here he is taking his first steps. He turns 1 year old tomorrow, so he better figure it out soon.




This video is mostly to show off his new haircut. My sister Miriam did it over Thanksgiving, and I spent the rest of the day moping around. Miriam kept saying, "You told me to cut it!" It takes some getting used to, but I think he looks cute now. Just older.

Watching my babies grows up always makes me so sad. I took Cole to Target the other day to get some mittens, and after trying the little kid's section, I had to take him to the big kid's section. My little Colie Polie is a big kid!

Music Lessons

Last year I was driving around with Erin's nephew Tristin (who was 17 at the time) and we were talking about music and I made the comment that "some people consider Avril Lavigne to be Emo" and he looked at me and said "she is Emo". I was shocked...

If you don't know what Emo rock is then take a gander at Wikipedia. The first "wave" doesn't really have much surviving music left (it's hard to find a Rites of Spring CD) but I listened to a lot of the second "wave" in high school and college and it's still a staple of my music diet even today. But nowadays they call any pop-punk band Emo without knowing what it originally was. And I do admit that that last sentence makes me feel old...

Anyway, I decided that Tristin needed to hear what real Emo was, so over Thanksgiving I made him a mix cd. Actually I made him 2. The first was an Emo sampler and the 2nd was a Head Bangin' mix just so he wouldn't feel like I was trying to be too nerdy :)

The Emo mix contains some songs from Fugazi, Sunny Day Real Estate, Mineral, Jawbox, The Get Up Kids, Engine Down, Jimmy Eat World (their older stuff is more Emo), Hum, Further Seems Forever, and others. Some of the songs are also from Emo related genres like Math Rock and Space Rock, but I think they still get the point across.

The Head Bangin' mix contains some songs from At The Drive-In, Brand New, dredg, Failure, Hot Water Music, Jawbreaker, Pilot To Gunner, Strike Anywhere, Thursday and others. All good thinking man's rock bands.

If any other friend or relatives would like a copy of these mixes, please feel free to ask. We'll be making the rounds to visit just about everyone this Christmas (we'll be in PA, VA, SC, KY and TN) so it should be easy for me to hand them out.