glaimee

Gage Hendrix

2010-12-26T21:00:00.000-08:00

It's a late night for Gage, but how could we interrupt a jamming session?

Gage always loves it when Grandpa Hepner plays guitar. Tonight Johannas was playing too and Grandpa got out a mandolin for Gage, so Gage was in heaven.

We'll have to get him in guitar lessons since he loves it so much.

P.S. More posts to come. We hope to do some catching up over the next week.

Subscribe for email updates to our blog

2010-09-18T17:34:00.000-07:00

You may now subscribe to receive emails when we update our blog. Be sure to subscribe before we go private when our feed will no longer be available for a feed reader and you will have to log in to access our blog. There will be a long grace period before we actually make the switch from public to private (at least a month or so), but the email updates will work as soon as you sign up.

To subscribe to email updates, you may either:

Go to our Google Groups page and request to be added to the group (We'll then have to approve the request).
Send us an email through the Contact Us page requesting to be subscribed to email updates (We'll then send you an invite to the Google Group).

You will need to have a Google account (free) in order to subscribe to email updates. If you use our Google Groups page, then you can create a Google account. If you email us through our Contact Us page, then you'll get an invite from us that will allow you to create a Google Account.

Going Camping

2010-08-23T22:22:00.000-07:00

We're going camping for about a week and a half in the not too distant future and, well, we are probably crazy. Gage will likely do fine, but Ben is another story. He's had several evenings of being very awake and wanting to be held in the middle of the night until he is completely asleep which seems to take 1-1.5 hours or so. He also prefers to have his holder standing and moving around. We don't think that is going to be very easy to accommodate in a tent, but we're going to make the attempt.

Any suggestions?

Lock it down or leave it open? - The Results

2010-08-23T22:13:00.000-07:00

The results of the poll are in. We had 11 voters.

8 said they would still actually visit the site to read our posts
2 said they would like us to email posts out
1 said they wouldn't read our blog for a reason other than not having the RSS feed available or not wanting to log in, but they didn't leave a comment to explain why (We suspect this was just some random person who happened to run across our blog, so we aren't too concerned)

So, it looks like we'll be locking down the blog but emailing posts to interested parties. It may take us a while to actually get that worked out just because it isn't very high on our priority list right at the moment, but it is coming. We'll make sure to collect contact info to invite people with before we lock down the blog.

Lock it down or leave it open?

2010-07-31T15:54:00.000-07:00

We've been considering making our blog private because we really don't want to share everything with the world. Sometimes we think about posting something and decide that we don't want to have so much info about us online for anyone to see.

So, we're taking a poll. Those of you who read our blog through a feed reader will need to actually visit the site to vote as the poll is in our right sidebar. Polling is open until midnight 8/14.

The biggest problems with going private that we can think of are:

People who use rss feed readers won't be able to subscribe to our rss feed any more (I wish there was such a thing as a secure rss feed). So, those folks will probably be less in touch with what is going on with us unless we set up email subscriptions.
Our blog will be less accessible. I wish we could make some pages public so that we could have a landing page for our blog with a way to email us (in case someone wants to subscribe for example).

Currently, it seems like a decision of whether the purpose of our blog is: A. To easily share a public-safe portion of what's going on with our family and friends, or B. To create a journal/history of all the details of our family. We want it to be both, but we're not sure that is possible.

Free Model Plane Airshow in Morgan Hill 7/10-11‏

2010-07-08T22:56:00.000-07:00

I thought I'd share this in case anyone is interested in seeing the free model plane airshow in Morgan Hill this weekend. I know I've always enjoyed watching when I was lucky enough to ride by while someone was flying their plane or helicopter.

It is a free event with free parking and runs from about 10am to 3pm 7/10 and 7/11 (I've seen 9-3 and 10-3:30 on their site, so you are probably safe planning on 10-3). Here is their site if you are interested in learning more: http://www.sccmas.org/airshow/

If you've got the time and bikes, I highly recommend hitting the bike trail off of Cochrane Rd in Morgan Hill. It's about a 2.5 mile ride to the Radio Control Model Airplane Area (Here is the map), but you can always go further if you are up for the challenge (My dad and I rode all the way to Tully on the trail once and came back on Monterey. I don't recommend Monterey Rd for biking - it was pretty windy).

You know you want to go just for the chance that you might get to see a crash.

Capturing the Curls

2010-07-07T23:07:00.000-07:00

We're going cut Gage's hair soon - we just can't decide when. Here are a few pictures I took yesterday in an attempt to document how cute he looks on a good hair day.

Graduation from the crib...finally!

2010-06-24T16:01:00.000-07:00

Gage slept in his big boy bed for the first time last night! As I was driving home from visiting Emily yesterday I was talking to Glen on the phone and we just decided kinda spur of the moment. We had been waiting for a good reason like when he starts climbing out of the crib or something, but when I heard that Glen rearranged the furniture in Gage's room while we were gone, and that the bed was now right where his crib used to be, I decided it was about time. So Glen threw the new robot sheet set in the wash so we could make the move as exciting as possible.

He has wanted to sleep in the twin bed ever since we set one up in his room and one in the office (where Nathan naps when he's over) about 3 months ago. He helped us make the bed and seemed pretty excited about getting to sleep in it. When bedtime came he did the same old stalling tactics and refusal to brush teeth. When we finally got him in bed he seemed happy but a little concerned about the crib that was now sheetless. We said good night and shut his door. To make a long story a little shorter, he cried and complained for about 45 minutes. I finally went in to check on him and he insisted he needed his crib blanket which I'd hidden in hopes that he wouldn't ask for it and that the new robot sheets would be enough. I quickly gave in, giving him the blanket. He then requested, "Sing song!" which I did and then left the room. He complained briefly and went to sleep. Hurray! He never tried to leave the room or play with toys (which I'm sure is yet to come). We had pillows ready on the floor next to him in case he tumbled out, but that didn't happen either. We had to peak in on him a few times after he went to sleep and laughed to see him with his feet on the pillow. In the morning he called out like he normally does, "Daddy (or Mommy), I'm awake!" and never left his bed until we came in. We are very happy it went so well.

The picture above is from nap time today - the second time in the big bed. It went even better! I think it helped that he was tired from playing at the park and going down for his nap a little later than normal. We got home from the park and he headed right up to his room and climbed on the bed. I changed his diaper with no fight at all and then tucked him in with his TiVo bear and Elmo doll. There was no complaining when I left the room. I heard him over the monitor for about 10 minutes making small noises, but other than that there was not a peep! Yeah! I'm sure it will probably not always go this well, but I'm glad we started off on the right foot!

The Swiss Family Robinson Movie Is Better Than The Book

2010-06-10T20:51:00.000-07:00

After seeing the Disney movie version of "The Swiss Family Robinson" when I was a kid, I built a Swiss Family Robinson tree house and fort out of Legos (Not that you can tell from the picture). It was a great movie.

(I just couldn't edit this picture - the socks add so much interest)

I just read “The Swiss Family Robinson” for the first time (and when I say “read” I mean “listened to” because I do most of my recreational reading by listening to audio books during my commute). Not to offend anyone who has read this book* and loved it, but I like the movie version much better than the book*.

Typically, when I watch a movie and read the book it was based on (or visa versa), I like the book better. There's always more fascinating details and anecdotes in the book. This book* is the exception for me.

Here are a few comparisons of the more notable differences...

The Book*:

The family has many conveniences including a mill, a yacht, lots of animals, farms, several dwellings, tons of food, etc.
They are on the island for ten years.
There are no pirates.
There is no tiger in a pit.
They shoot and kill about every type of animal that they encounter on the island.
The girl's disguise doesn't fool anyone, but they pretend to be fooled for a short time. And her name is Jenny.
There are four sons.

The Movie:

The family doesn't have near as much stuff. They do have an awesome tree house that makes you think they must be related to Macgyver, several animals, a raft, etc.
They are on the island for maybe a couple years.
They fight pirates.
They catch a tiger in a pit which becomes a booby-trap for the pirates (Go to 3:53 in this video).
The girl's disguise fools them and they are very surprised to learn the truth. And her name is Roberta.
There are three sons.

* When I was putting this post together, I noticed that there are actually several versions of this book. I only read/listened to one of them, so I can't actually speak for the others, but I believe they are more like each other than like the movie. The version I read/listened to is the one I linked to above.

Our Child Star

2010-05-31T20:50:00.000-07:00

We had a small video crew over this afternoon to video how Gage does at meal time. I had a hard time not laughing at him when he just starred at the camera for the first 10 minutes. In his defense:

He was taking a nap when they arrived and set up, so he woke and came downstairs to find lights and a camera waiting for him.
We actually woke him up for this, so he may have still been recovering from sleep mode.
Cameras are cool.
If you've got someone shooting your good side, you might as well give them as much footage as you can so they have plenty to use.

It was an interesting experience. They wanted to see him get a snack, so Aimee gave him a snack to eat before dinner while she was cooking (I wasn't in this shot). We typically don't just give him snacks unless he asks for food and we don't give him more snack unless he asks for it either. At least it was a healthy snack - apples and oranges.

We then moved on to dinner which didn't go very smoothly since Gage had just had a snack and we were eating way earlier than we normally do - 4:30pm. But, they were actually hoping to film a kid not cooperate at a meal time, so Gage went along with that. He wasn't really that bad, he just wouldn't eat much and wasn't too interested in being at the table. I certainly can't blame him since I wasn't that hungry at 4:30pm either and he just ate.

I haven't decided that this was really worth the trouble for us. I guess we get a copy of the DVD even if we aren't in it, a book by Ellyn Satter (The woman working on the video), a $50 gift card to Safeway, and a bookmark advertising the Ellyn's books and website. Unfortunately, we didn't get as much done during Gage's nap as we would have if we hadn't been dealing with a video crew and didn't need to wake the guy up, but Ellyn did give us a few thoughts and tips after the shoot was over, which was nice.

Perhaps this will spark Gage's rise to stardom as he moves from this video to commercials to a supporting role in a TV series to the movies. We'll see what happens and get some of the footage up if we end up being in the video.

Catch Up Time

2010-05-17T23:48:00.000-07:00

We just posted a bunch of stuff from the past year (Yeah, back to last May), so take a moment to review everything you never heard about or just look at pictures. There are still a few more old news to come while we continue to get caught up.

You may also notice that we revamped our blog once again - new blog template, new header picture, links have reappeared, etc. We're in what Aimee might refer to as a "Blogging Frenzy."

Box Racing

2010-04-14T21:45:00.000-07:00

Gage and I put boxes on our feet and raced from the stairs to the couch and back a few times one night.

Gage thought it was pretty funny and let me win a couple times.

Our Thinking Man

2010-04-10T22:12:00.000-07:00

Ben is so serene when he ponders the mysteries of the universe. We were waiting for things to start floating around the room.

Awake/Asleep

2010-04-10T12:00:00.000-07:00

Here are Becca and Gage in the back of our car on the way from Grandma Hepner's house to Caleb's birthday party.

20-30 minutes later ...

They woke up when we got to the birthday party and we all had a good time there.

Two things Gage loves

2010-04-07T17:45:00.000-07:00

Gage loves his new brother, Benjamin,and he also loves his family - especially when they blow bubbles with him. Thanks Grandpa Saul, Auntie Monica, and cousin Krystina!

Benjamin Visits Great Grandma Lewis' House

2010-04-01T22:15:00.000-07:00

On our way home from the hospital we stopped at Aimee's Grandma Lewis' house to show off our new little guy to whatever family happened to be home at the time (We obviously didn't get pictures of everyone that was home).

Benjamin Allen Saul has arrived

2010-03-29T12:04:00.000-07:00

Look what the stork brought!

Benjamin Allen Saul was born at 12:04 PM on March 29th, weighing 7 pounds 12 oz and measuring 21 inches long (The same weight as Gage, but 2 inches longer). Both mother and baby are doing well. We now get to re-learn how to function on short sequential nightly naps for a while.

We tried to take a picture of him that was similar to the picture of Gage that we posted two years ago when he was born for comparison since we kept looking up that picture to compare Benjamin and Gage while we were in the hospital.

Gage, Ben’s big brother, was able to come visit us in the hospital. We had to laugh when one of the first things Gage did when holding his new brother was say “Honk” and honk Benjamin’s nose.

Here are our other visitors while we were in the hospital...

Las Madres Spring Fling and Easter Egg Hunt

2010-03-27T09:00:00.000-07:00

We took Gage to the Las Madres Spring Fling and Easter Egg Hunt. He had a good time checking out the animals at the petting zoo, but was not very interested in the egg hunt. The one picture we have of Gage during the Easter Egg Hunt is him putting down his basket so he could go play at the park.

Geeky cool kid

2010-03-21T23:52:00.000-07:00

Gage is 2 Years Old!

2010-03-04T16:30:00.000-08:00

It is hard to believe, but Gage is already 2. Andy and Liz Hale were kind enough to lend their home and backyard for the party. Friends and family came by to party with him and we all had a good time. Here are some more pics from the party...

Youth Snow Trip

2010-01-23T10:00:00.000-08:00

We all went with the youth in our ward to the snow for a few days. It was a lot of fun despite having no power in the cabin the three days we were there. Wood burning stoves kept us warm and cooked our food. Gage had fun tasting the snow, but not being buried in it when sledding into a snow bank with dad.

Cousins from Portland

2010-01-01T12:13:00.000-08:00

Coleman and Aedan came to visit and we all had a fun time playing at the park on New Years Day. We threw a Frisbee around a bit too, but Gage didn't quite get that he was supposed to throw it and didn't want to let go of it either.

Wicked good time in SF for our aniversary

2009-12-23T21:50:00.000-08:00

We enjoyed our stay at the Serrano Hotel while we were in San Francisco, it was in a great location, not far from Union Square, allowing us to walk everywhere we needed to go. The staff was very nice, the room was clean, the free continental breakfast at the restaurant next door was good, the Wi-Fi was free, and they upgraded us to a king size bed for free too. We can't speak for the price since it was sort of free to us - we used some United Miles on it. Apparently, the previous occupant of our hotel room on the 16th floor loved the room and location so much that he didn't want to leave.

Wicked was very enjoyable and we both highly recommend it to anyone who hasn't seen it. We did sit in the cheap seats, but still had a great view of the stage as well as a prime location by the women's restrooms (Aimee only had to wait behind two people to get in and walked by a line of 20+ leaving). From the probably inebriated woman who wandered in front of traffic to the incomprehensible babblings of toothless grinners and 7-10 police vehicles that passed us, the 13 minute walk back to the hotel at 11pm felt adventurous. We'd probably find a ride if we were to make that trip again that late at night.

Thanks to Steve and Emily for watching Gage, especially while he was barfing all over the place.

Look at that baby!

2009-12-22T14:54:00.000-08:00

While walking down the street in San Francisco, we overheard a youngster trying to get her mom to look at a window display. "Look at that baby!" She was very excited, repeating this a few times, but her mom never looked at the "baby" which was actually this-

It made us each laugh, so we had to take a picture.