while i definitely realize that videos such as these are more for posterity than for your entertainment (grandparents excluded), i still feel it necessary to post them. as is tradition in the heller household, i have a list of fairly standard questions that i ask my children on their birthday. i hope it’s interesting to look back on their answers in a few years. here are the questions (and, more importantly, answers) for jack’s 4th birthday.
jackson jet: 4th year questions from RaisingHeller on Vimeo.
(this is how i found him this morning doing his puzzle wearing his optimus prime costume. i thought it was funny because could he really see the puzzle pieces this way?)
why don't we call it autumn anymore? so we went to the park yesterday and took some pictures of the kids playing. i think this is my favorite time of year in washington. the weather is beautiful, not too hot, not too cold and it is absolutely amazing how many different colors the leaves turn. it is like one day it is summer and the trees are green and the grass is starting to get brown from too much sun and not enough rain and then suddenly it is fall and the grass is green again and the trees are spectacular. it reminds me that now is a good time to start fresh and try harder. it makes me want to be a better wife, more patient mother and a more helpful friend. i know that typically the new year is the time for this reflection but seeing all the changes in nature is a much better reminder for me.
(i love being reminded that they really do love each other)
(the kids had so much fun just running around this tree chasing each other i thought it was cute)
(we went there with the intention of taking pictures in the rain but of course when you want rain, it goes away)
(steven was able to get so close to this bird it didn't even care)
this was mostly just a test of our new Canon T1i. it’s a killer camera. the light was a little low (and a lot fluorescent) so I’m not entirely stoked on the quality of this video, though I definitely see the potential. this is just a series of clips smashed together. no real editing, no music. just moments.
Random Kid Moments from stevelucky on Vimeo.
in what must be some sort of record for raisingheller.com, this is our 3rd update in 2 days. i’m just trying to get all our photos from our vacation in order. here are some from our visit to the tide pools at laguna beach. as you can see, lily was none too thrilled to be hobnobbing with the sea life of southern california. i tried to get jack and asher to actually look at the camera (or at least towards it) but their faces were pretty well glued to the water.
so, our little baby just attended her first day of real, honest-to-goodness public school. it ‘s kind of crazy to think that we’re old enough to have a kid learning her reading, writing and arithmetic. fortunately, because of jana’s long and hard work, she actually knows most of that stuff already. well, she’s learning to read but she can already do basic math (pluses and minuses) and has a pretty good command of writing out the english alphabet. anyway, we snapped a few pics and shot some video of the occasion. i apologize in advance for the video. it’s been quite a while since i shot any video of the kids and this one is a little sloppy. i also apologize for the soundtrack, the first track was all me, but after that i thought it might be nice to throw in a favorite of lily’s. enjoy!
Lily’s First Day of School from stevelucky on Vimeo.
so, a couple months ago, we took a family vacation to southern california. jana visted recently but it had been several years since i’d been there. we took the kids to disneyland for a couple of days (thanks grandma and grandpa brown house!) and saw a bunch of friends while we were there. our good friends kim and seth were awesome enough to orchestrate a giant beach party for all of our friends. it was seriously awesome to see all the people that we used to hang out with. other than the addition of several (and i mean SEVERAL) kids it felt just like old times. i took a load of pictures of the party, so here they are. i threw in all the pictures that i thought turned out decent. if you’re not represented in any of these, i apologize. i assure you it’s just a reflection of my photography skills and not your level of importance in our life. also, if you see any picture of you or your family that you’d like, just drop me a line and i can get you any of these images in full resolution.
p.s. – i’ll get the other pictures of our adventures in socal up in good time.
click the link below to see the pictures…
