Friday, July 20, 2007

home movies

How many of us actually take the time to watch old home movies? We video hours of precious memories and then they sit on a shelf for years and years. Well, thanks to our oldest son Shawn, we have been watching those old home movies. I am telling you, they are hysterical! I swear I don't remember experiencing half of what we're watching! Probably because most of the time I was tired, overwhelmed or completely unaware the camera was even rolling! But here's the blessing... my kids think I was the most fun Mom ever. Well, of course I was, we were filming birthday's, Christmas, talent shows, vacations, church events. Little do they remember what happened when the cameras were turned off! Ha! But hey, I will take what they remember and thank God these videos show my better side.

But here's what I know for sure as I watch these home movies...
Shawn & Miranda had crazy, vivid imaginations...pretending to be Batman & Cat Woman, Vanilla Ice and MC Hammer dancers, and the Roxettes singing "Joyride", to name just a few. (can we all agree that "Joyride" is the best song ever!)
They sang constantly, all day long. Miranda, by age 3, knew every Disney song ever written!
They used strange materials to express their artist flare. Tyler would put Playtex gloves on his feet and pretend to be a dinosaur.
They embodied whomever they pretended to be. Miranda believed she was Briar Rose and would sing "I know you, I walked with you once upon a dream..." while picking berries in our backyard and she was only 2 years old.
I tried real hard not to impose my insecurities onto my kids. Picture this, Tyler insistent on wearing a three-piece bonded knit suit on picture day when he was in the first grade. He was James Bond all summer and would wear that suit riding bike in 112 degree temps! Well, he wore the suit that day, even though we told him that kids may tease him. He didn't care in the least, but Randy & I worried all day till he got home and said "ya, kids laughed but that's ok".
And just how authentic did they get? Well, one day our neighbor called asking if we knew that we had a "sniper" on our roof. Umm yes, that would be our Tyler.
Oooh, gotta share a story... several years ago we spent a week with two other families at the beach in San Diego. Tyler literally packed every Army Ranger/ Sniper costume and every single gun he owned. One day we heard helicopters over our condo... yes, Tyler was out on the Bell Tower dressed as a sniper, all in black, with enough arsenal to scare anyone witless! Randy had to climb out on the roof and wave the the helicopters off. True story!
Oh and who can forget the commercials they recited over and over... my favorite "come on in, take a seat, I'm gonna tell ya what the big boys eat. Name is Wheaties, crunchy wheat, and now you know what the big boys eat. Hello milk, come on in, jump in berries, have a swim. Wheaties, Wheaties, crunchy wheat, now go tell your Mama, what the big boys eat!" Bring back any memories?
And last but not least... Tyler (age 3) telling us on camera that he wants to be "a corn, a dinosaur and a Cool Whip Man" when he grows up. Let me explain... we were sooo excited when we picked the sweet corn we had grown, that I think he must have thought, "then I want to be one!" He lived and breathed dinosaurs... enough said. And the Cool Whip Man, well, he would see this big, white, fluffy monster-looking character at the grocery store and... well, go figure.
Isn't it true though? Kids say and do the darnedest things.

9 comments:

Lizzie said...

Oh thats hilarious that your boys had such imaginations!!! What a fun day to watch old movies!

I played one of our videos for my husband a couple months back of the twins when they first came home. I looked up, and my husband had tears streaming down his face. I said "What is it?" and he said "They were so very fragile and small". We had forgotten how tiny they were...

I just teared up writing that... and to think they are almost a year old now, and that soon they will be joined by their new siblings!

Becca said...

I need to see pictures!!

Anonymous said...

One time, at music practice (when we would practice at Butler but have church at Madison), Tyler brought along a friend and they were sneaking around & jumping up from the baptistry trying to scare us. Randy shoo'ed them away, but I about died laughing. Hilarious!

Angie in AZ said...

These stories are so great... and even more so because I know your kids! I love the story about Tyler telling either Shawn or Miranda not to hit him because Jesus lived in his heart and HE didn't like to be hit! LOL! I also remember teaching Tyler when he was 4 and around Thanksgiving, they were to make a little list of things they were thankful for. Tyler was the only kid in class thankful for all inanimate objects. One that sticks out in my head was his desk! LOL! Or the time the Tyler, Stephen Huey, and another little boy were sorta' fighting at church and when I talked to them telling them that Jesus doesn't want us to hit our friends, Tyler misunderstood me and his big brown eyes popped the size of saucers and he exclaimed "Jesus hit his friends?!!!?" I told him,"No, that's the point! Jesus didn't hit his friends and he doesn't want you guys hitting yours either!" LOL! Too funny. Tyler was a character and he was always making me laugh!

Amy said...

aaah memories are made of things like this. My aunt and uncle have all the home movies, they had a projector in the 1970's, I'd love to see them again.

NanAZ said...

Great memories! Your kids were fun. Tyler was especially imaginative and it's amazing that he wasn't self-concious about any of it. Great job guys! I wish we had been there to share more of it. You inspire me to get out our old videos. We don't have nearly as many as you, but they're still so much fun. We'll have to figure out a way to do highlight reels or something. I just want to get them copied on to DVDs before the tapes dry out and break.

Linda said...

Great post. It is always fun to get out those movies and remember good times. Thanks for sharing some of your good times.
Blessings

Sandy said...

Sounds like a lot of fun!
We do the same, and the kids in particular LOVE watching when they were younger.
Happy Weekend!
Sandy

Lori said...

Linda, I have my son Marc who would put on full camo makeup too and hide on the yard under the pines with a toy whatever weapon he had and wait for me to return from class to see if I could spot him! The neighbor lady called him the devil child!! Which he is not! This was when he was 8-10 well Marc is 19 a police explorer,JROTC Air Force at his school and has enlisted in the Air Force with military police and wants to return home one day to be a officer. Guess one day the neighbor may need "Devil Child" to her rescue!! Lori