Wednesday, April 18, 2012

Audrey's New Haircut

For the past year Audrey has been growing out her bangs and the rest of her hair with them. I've had a hard time with it because Audrey almost always refuses to tie it back or wear a headband and I feel like the ragamuffin look with her hair always covering her face reflects on us as parents. The bangs recently were just getting long enough to start staying behind her ears.

Today Carol had a hair appointment. It's spring break so Audrey planned to go with her. This morning Audrey told Carol she wanted to go and get her hair cut short again. Carol was nervous about it given the time investment Audrey has made in growing her hair, but Audrey was sure. Off they went.

I had no idea they had been discussing short hair, so when I got home from work I was surprised. I think it's incredibly adorable. I'm so happy to see Audrey's beautiful eyes again!

Saturday, April 14, 2012

More Catching Up

Wow, I got caught up on videos and now I'm getting caught up on photos, too. And all while purportedly in the middle of a house project: the two bedrooms that had wallpaper and carpet when we moved in - that we thought we'd get to within a few months - are now undergoing refinishing (after three years). I'll post photos of that when it's done.

Meanwhile, life goes on.

Audrey's Winter 2012 Ice Show

The whole reason for getting caught up on videos was because I had the video from Audrey's ice show to post. Anal retentive person that I am I could not post that before older videos as that would leave my online video collection out of order! The ice show video is the last of the ten videos in the previous post. The first album at left is photos from the same event. As I think I've mentioned Audrey has continued into the Spring session of figure skating lessons and is loving it.

March-April Miscellany

This album really is miscellany. Some random notes:

Melrose has a symphony orchestra that claims to be the oldest continuously running community orchestra in the country. Carol and I finally attended one of their concerts on a date night. We really enjoyed it. The quality was quite good and the conductor was amusing and educational. And they didn't look anywhere near 100 years old!

We have a longstanding activity called Icky Pie. Carol gives the girls a bunch of cheap dry ingredients and they mix them together and love it. This last time they added some liquid and baked it. It looked pretty good but boy did it taste bad. Way too much baking powder.

Our neighbor Scott Burtnett is a great photographer (he produces television commercials for a living). He took a couple of cool candid shots of Carol and me while we were at their house having a casual dinner.

A couple weeks ago I volunteered once each in Charlotte and Audrey's classes. In Audrey's I read with Audrey's reading group of six kids. Man, they are really good readers for second grade!

Audrey had her first significant project for school this year. It was called a Bio Blast. She had to choose a heroine from history, research her life, report what she learned in several increasingly complex forms and finally dress as the person and deliver a short presentation in front of the class. Audrey chose Susan B. Anthony. Her final piece was a protest sign with a slogan on one side and her biographical summary on the back. Audrey came up with that idea all by herself. She did a great job and we were really proud of her. I just discovered video that I thought was lost; I'll post it soon.

Carol took an art class from the same teacher that the kids take classes from. She really enjoyed having that creative outlet again. I hope she continues.

Audrey & Dad Canoeing

Today was the latest chapter in our one-on-one days with the girls - where each girl spends at least a few hours alone with one parent. The girls really need that separation. Charlotte has been asking forever to go to Chucky Cheese so Carol took here there and then they went shopping. Audrey and I went to Concord to go canoeing. We paddled from the South Bridge to the Old North Bridge (one of the locations of the first battle of the American Revolution). It so happens that battle took place on April 19 so there was a large reenactment going on nearby and lots of people at the site. We beached our canoe and had a little picnic.

After canoeing we went for ice cream in Concord center. The commuter rail tracks are right behind the ice cream shop and Audrey enjoyed balancing on the rails. She really wanted to squish a penny and the next train was about 20 minutes away. So we waited and ended up squishing several coins. Check that one off the list of required childhood experiences!

Thursday, April 12, 2012

Methot Family Film Festival

I recently realized that I had gotten really far behind editing and posting videos. For the past couple of weeks I've been catching up and now have ten new videos to share dating back to last summer. Here they are in chronological order. Click each image to watch that video.

Enjoy!

During our Seattle trip last summer we visited the Woodland Park Zoo. At one point we wandered into a secluded, quiet grassy area with a couple of benches and no people and decided to pause there for a few minutes. Then we noticed a butterfly that was flying back and forth across the clearing. He or she seemed to be just having fun.
I thought I would try to get the girls to script and act in a short film, teaching them about scenes, camera angles and editing it all together. It turned out to be too ambitious - they had no interest in planning the film beyond a single sentence "treatment" and they certainly had no interest in multiple takes. Audrey's friend Zack had also been bugging his dad Dana to help him make films, so we joined forces.

We did manage to capture a couple of shots that followed a story before it devolved into improv. But it was fun. We'll try again in a year or two.

A very brief video of both girls demonstrating their magician skills.
We made our first visit to Santa's Village in June 2011, but it was just Charlotte, Carol and me while Audrey was at circus camp. In October an especially warm weekend was forecast so we headed north for a repeat visit. Temperatures were warm enough that the small water park was even open in the afternoon. We had a blast.
We have developed a tradition of two birthday celebrations for the girls: a "family" birthday celebration and a "friends" birthday party. At the birthday party this year each guest got to "get fancy" with satin gloves (from the dollar store), bouquets and fancy fabric to wrap herself in.

For Charlotte's sixth birthday I managed to capture "Happy Birthday" at both celebrations.

Audrey has now attended two half-day LEGO Engineering "camps" at Tufts University's Center for Engineering Education and Outreach (CEEO). In December she built a crazy snow plow. On March 31st she attended a camp with a "April Fools" theme and built a waving cartoon hand reminiscent of a jack-in-the-box. Next year Charlotte will be able to go, too.
After some really creative but laborious themed birthday parties at home, Carol surrendered and held Audrey's 8th birthday party at Plaster Fun Time. Audrey invited eight friends and Charlotte got to invite a friend, too.

We still can't believe we have an 8-year-old.

Carol surprised the girls one night with a special bath: a bubble bath with glow sticks in it. A huge hit!
Saving the best two for last! One gorgeous evening when I got home from work Charlotte immediately asked me to take the training wheels off her bike. Of course! I took them off and a few minutes later Charlotte was riding her bike in a straight line from Carol to me and then back. Before long she was riding all around the driveway by herself. She completely skipped the dad-running-along-holding-on phase! We were so proud of her. On the next couple of weekends we all went down to the school to ride in the parking lot. Now Charlotte is a pro.
Audrey told us some time ago that she really wanted to learn figure skating. This winter we signed her up for a 20-week session in nearby Medford. Audrey really loved it. She paid close attention and worked hard at all of the skills she was taught. At the end of the season the organization produces a huge ice show in which every skater performs. They are divided into skill levels with each level performing a different program with themed music. Audrey was in "Under the Sea". The whole program was really enjoyable.

Audrey liked it so much we signed her up for the Spring session. It's much smaller with more individual attention. Audrey is working on learning to spin. I'm thrilled that Audrey has discovered an athletic activity that she seems to love.