Liam sings

Here is a quick clip of Liam singing:

Shakespeare

McKelvey is learning about Shakespeare a the gifted program at her school. They are having a contest to memorize the most lines of a Julius Caesar speech here it is below. It’s pretty cute.

Tech or treat

In the middle of tech for Where We’re Born. The first with actors. We are at the point that we have everything the actors need, doors, props and all that. Now I just need to add the layers to the design. The walls are just flat, they have no texture. None of the age and distressing has happened yet. But I feel pretty good about it. I have a full week before we open. So that is plenty of time to finish up what this show needs, and still have time to go trick or treating with the kids.

It is great to see the show come together, all the little tweaks and adjustments that tighten up the story. I love seeing how the lights take it up a notch. They really ratchet up the mood and I think it helps the actors a lot. Although we keep having to stop and get them to actually deal with the light switches. ;)

But hearing the rhythm of the words in conjunction with the rhythm of the screen door slamming and the crunch of the fallen leaves under their feet is awesome. Some people don’t like tech rehearsals because they take a lot of time. I think it is fun to see the show come together.

But sometimes the production at home is more fun than the production at school. I am ready to go trick or treat!

Doing vs teaching

We do a lot of drawing and crafts in our house. So what comes up in my mind a lot is how much should I do for them and how much should I make/let them do. When we help McKelvey with her homework,it is pretty obvious that we don’t do it and help her discover the right answers. But for art and craft projects it is something different. When there is no right or wrong answer, how much should you help? McKelvey is interested in drawing pictures, but she is not very concerned about getting it to really represent whatever it is she is drawing. Right now they(Arden & McKelvey) are more interested in symbolically representing the object than being very realistic. Which is where they should be developmentally. But what about those times they want to be more realistic?

Morning routines

Mornings in our house begin slowly. It seems the ony one eager for the day to start is our dog Mazie. While everyone else is walking around like zombies, she is running up and down the stairs like she had a tall latte or two. Earlier in the year the morning sun would help the kids wake up, but now it is not very bright when I wake them up. It will get harder as winter approaches and the days get even shorter.

After getting the kids dressed, it is time to make sure they get something to eat. They always have to sit in certain chairs at the table, they eat prefer to have their cereal out of a certain kind of bowl. They some times vary between their current favorite cereal, sometimes have toast.

I can remember all that stuff, but when it comes to making Their lunches, I can never keep it straight. One like jelly sandwiches sometimes, one only likes peanut butter. They like different fruits in their lunches. There are different preferences of crackers. I really need a written down list. I really hope I wasn’t that picky when I was a kid.

Then we have to make sure they brush their hair and teeth, and do all of the above in 45 minutes, although if I am lucky I actually wake up earlier and have an hour it is easier.

Now you may say that sounds like enough time, but getting my beloved daydreamers ready in the morning is like herding a bunch of cats that don’t pay attention to you. And if this what my parents went thru when I was a kid then I guess this is my comeuppance.

That being said I wouldn’t trade this time with them for anything.

Life Masks and collaborating

I am working with my brother Matt on The Nativity Scene he is sculpting for the church of San Ambrogio in Florence. My main contribution has been life masks of Ann and I to be Mary and Joseph. Here is a taste of what Matt is doing

from Owen’s posterous

Bunk beds and beginnings

Well school has started up officially for me. Taught my first class, which seemed to go ok. Most of my days are dealing with the multitude of little details needed for the department. It has been great catching up with all the students and my co-workers.

Last week for labor day weekend the family traveled up to New Jersey to visit the Courtney’s. We picked up some bunk beds for the girls ( which they now love). We also celebrated Dennis’ birthday which was on the first of September.

I just posted some pictures which include the kids’ first day of school. They all looked very cute and were all excited to go. Especially Liam who most mornings asks if it is time for him to go to school.

There are also Pictures of their gymnastics class over the summer, some good pix of the beach up at winni.

Tomorrow is McKelvey’s first soccer game. I took her to her practice this week. I don’t know how I feel about this, I don’t have good memories of organized sports as a kid. I’ll let you know how it goes.

Tooth fairies and brute force trauma

Today McKelvey had to get two teeth extracted. They needed to clear some space in her mouth for her permanent teeth to grow in. Let me tell you, one thing you should never see is someone going toward you child with a set a pliers. McKelvey was really brave she handled it very well. The dentist even said she did way better than most kids. There were times that I could see she was getting anxious. She didn’t like the novacaine. She said “I feel like I chewed on a cloud.” I thought that was a very good description of the numb feeling you get. It was good that it kicked in, because watching the guy yank at her teeth with the pliers looked very painful. And after it was pulled out I got to see the root and it was like a 1/2 an inch long. Man, it bled a lot. She hAndled it very very well.

Now it’s time for the tooth fairy to pony up some money. Ann and I have decided that getting the tooth yanked out by force is worth more that the usual loose tooth falling out. Excuse me as I put some $1 coins under a pillow…

Videos from over the summer and Spring

Over the summer on a brief break from working at ETC I visited my family and we went to the New Jersey Adventure Aquarium. It was a lot of fun Below is an overview of all the different animals we saw. and at 11:00 minutes in you can see McKelvey be a helper for the Sea Lion Show. We all had a great time.

NJ Adventure Aquarium from Owen Collins on Vimeo.

Also from way back in April, I got Liam and I trying to teach Cloda a new trick. It all started with Liam wanting someone to crawl thru his legs in the same way he has crawled thru my legs. He is pretty cute.

Teaching Cloda a new Trick from Owen Collins on Vimeo.

I am looking thru the video I have on the computer. Soon I will have more things to share. Enjoy.

working on

I just started keeping tabs on my old hometown paper The Wednesday Journal. Something that caught my eye was the story on renovating the WWI memorial. It has a list of the the local boys that served in the war.

The list of oak Park Veterans is here. You will see my grandfather Milford Collins as well fellow Oak Parker Ernest Hemingway.

We Collins’ kept some pretty good company back then.