Howie's the one on the left...

Howie got to meet Eddie George tonight at a fundraiser for Make-a-Wish. Pretty Cool.

What we're watching...

Part of our philosophy regarding music is basically that we refuse to listen to the Wiggles, the BackYardigans, Barney, Disney or anything remotely juvenille in the car. At home, fine, but when we can't get away from it, like in the car, adult music, please. Laurie Berkner made a brief appearance in the car when it was just me and E and not Howie. The boys had a CD by "They Might be Giants" that was made for kids, but technically they're an adult band, right?
Therefore, the kids have gotten a lot of exposure to the Beatles, Elvis, BNL, artists that are catchy, kid friendly, and bearable for those of us over the age of 7.
Enter YouTube. This site has enabled me to find anything that I want to expose the kids to. I can pull together references to music that they understand. Elvis singing "Burning Love" on the soundtrack of "Lilo and Stitch"? Found the real video clip. H making fun of Micheal Jackson? ( FYI in the fourth grade in 2008, comparing someone to the King of Pop is the ultimate putdown.) I found the whole video of "Thriller" and "Billie Jean", trying to prove that at one time MJ was the epitome of cool, a little cheesy, but still cool. Any Dan Zanes video E wants to watch is on YouTube.

Here are two of her favorites at the moment. The one of Mika we found because one of the contestents on American Idol sang part of the song, and I liked it, the other was on some MTV countdown the otherday. I suppose if I was twenty, I would know all about these artists, but I don't, I just know the songs are cool and E comes running whenever I put them on.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tPUpxIBkcjM

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SGTDRztaCCw

Basketball Pictures

H's last game. The picture is fuzzy because I used the zoom on my camera, which never works right.

M and couple of his teammates from the neighborhood. Notice H in the background. I am so proud.

The great end of the season celebration.....mmmmm...Cheez-its and Capri-Sun. What more could you want?

Would the real "Guitar Hero" please stand up?

So after weeks and weeks of waiting...( OK just three days, and we tracked the thing on the UPS website ), the real guitar made it to our house safe and sound. Someone please call me crazy. It has an AMPLIFIER. Of course, H being H, is completely convinced that he already knows how to play. Every 5 minutes he his calling me down to hear some awesome chord or riff that he magically figured out. Do you remember the scene in "Back to the Future" when Marty McFly is disappearing at the dance and is still trying to play "Johnny be Good"? Yeah, sounds kind of like that. I pray for his new teacher.


By the way, Happy Valentine's Day. Here they are waiting for the bus this morning. E is holding a Baby Beanie Baby she got. It's a pink sparkly unicorn named Frilly, which she insists on calling Emma. Go figure.

Old Kitchen/New Kitchen

Here is our revised kitchen remodel. The first picture was taken with our old camera, so it's blurry. The second 2 were taken after the new paint, hardware, and curtains. I think it's hard to tell it looks better because it's empty.