Weird smile function on my camera

So lots of cold winter days in a row sometimes make us a little wacky. One morning I was showing Hayley the “smile” function on my camera, where you can make people smile when they are not. As you can see it is very natural looking.

Hayley the Singer

Hayley is a member of a singing club at school.  Here is Hayley and her friend Savannah singing lead at a school Christmas concert.  Her friend Savannah is a member of the church too.  We foresee many beautiful musical numbers being sung by Hayley and Savannah in church.

Hayley the Musician

Here's a video of Hayley playing the flute at her first middle school band concert.  She's just to the right of her teacher (who is conducting).  Hayley's been taking lessons for a few years, but most of the rest of the kids in the band just started playing their instruments at the beginning of the school year.  Most amazing, this concert was the first time the 6th grade band played all together.

Go Chargers!

While we were in San Diego, we went to a Monday Night Football game vs. the Denver Broncos. Zack and Jeremy were in heaven! We were in the nosebleeds but the view was great. Grandpa Paul and Uncle Shawn came too.

Over the river and through the woods…

We had a great time in San Diego for Thanksgiving. Zack LOVED the airplane ride.

This is all we saw of Zack for the whole flight….

When we got to San Diego, we had a nice visit with Great Grandma and Grandpa Z. We were having so much fun that we forgot to take pictures.

But when we finally met up with our cousins, they had a surprise for Clara, a big fat frog! Clara kept it for a night and then she and Cole released it back into the yard.

We had a great time goofing off with our cousins and just hanging out with them!

Random Happenings

So Jeremy’s work had a talent show recently to raise money for the United Way. Jeremy was a judge. One of the entries was a break dancer. When it was Jeremy’s time to comment, he asked the kid if he could teach him some moves. Then one of the VP’s at Jeremy’s company yelled out that he’d donate money to see that. Here is the ensuing picture. What a good sport!

Zack’s art show. Recently Zack was interested in things that glow, after he got some glow bracelets at the store. We looked at different fish on-line that glow, and also fire flies. Then Zack (with my help) made this art installation in the downstairs bathroom. He was very proud! For family night, we all crowded into the bathroom for Zack to show us his art. We asked him what animals glow and he said, “rhinos!”

Hayley is pretty great. She LOVES the “Friend” magazine! (It’s a magazine for kids put out by our church.) Whenever it comes she stops everything and reads it cover to cover. She discovered this month’s issue as soon as she got home from school, and began reading even before having a snack. What’s cute is that the dog and her cat wait for her to come home so they are hanging out by her as she reads.

Cowboy songs

Recently Zack made himself a "matar." (That is what he calls a guitar.) He drug out one of his sister's music stands and "practiced" his guitar. You might need to turn up to volume to hear what he is saying, but it is worth it because it's pretty funny.

Other words that he pronounces cute are: "Buzz Lightyear" (used to be "Fuzz Lightler" )but now he says "Buzz Lightler" and he calls his friend Fernando, "Ferlando."