The Rabbit Hunter

This is a video from May 2011.

I want to upload some past videos and pics onto this Blog - to mark and remember the Passing of Time.  To celebrate our Family Journey and our Stories.  And LAUGH at ourselves too!!

Joel was all about "Hunting Rabbits" last spring.  He told us one day he was shooting - and hitting - rabbits with a toy bow and arrow set he had.  Well, I went outside to see this for myself - and sure enough - he was sneaking up on and nailing bunny rabbits in the back yard!  Hilarious!!  I had to get the Flip Cam to get some footage*...

Joel:  The Backyard Rabbit Hunter

(*No rabbits were actually harmed in the making of this video.)

Random Q Pic / Joel

Always liked this one of Joel - doing his thing in U8 soccer...

Joel - Dribbling through the competition.

Swinging and Singing...

"Swinging on a swing,
     Going way up high,
          Rolling back and forth
               Until we make it to the sky...!"


When the kids were little, I would write simple sing-songs for different things that we would do on any given day.  I can't remember all of those silly tunes anymore - but we had little ditties we would sing for bed time, eating a snack and yes, even diaper changing!  


If you are a parent, my guess is that there was a season where you had to stop at almost any swing you saw to try it out.  Right?  A lot of my early parent/kid time was spent in a park, or in the back yard - or even indoors - pushing all 4 of my children on swings of all kinds...  


Who doesn't like to swing??  Who isn't grateful for how peaceful and soothing it is to go "swinging on a swing"?

Below are pics of Joel & Lydia "rolling back and forth"...

This was a particularly good swing to ride over Memorial Day weekend at Doug and Kathy's...

    JOEL

LYDIA  

Lincoln Talent Show '12

It's never very quiet for very long at our house...  Our standard joke is, that on a quiet evening you can probably hear the Ochoa Home no matter where you live in Cedar Falls!  We are just a loud family...

One of the better "noises" that you will hear from our house is - thankfully - music!  Piano, flute, violin, singing, percussion, guitar, the computer - and SOMETIMES we are practicing/playing ALL of the above at the same time - but NOT on the same song.  THAT is quite a "Holy Hubub" of sound!  But I absolutely LOVE it...

I am SO grateful that our kids ended up - all of them - learning how to make music on their own and with others.  I am glad that they are starting to understand the true GIFT and BLESSING that it is - for a lifetime...

I had the gracious experience of playing for Lydia and Joel yesterday at the Lincoln Talent Show on the last day of school.  Not many Dad's get asked to do this with their kids.  These are the kind of moments that are SO valuable - and I know by now that they actually become even MORE valuable as time goes on...

So, I wanted to post these 2 videos (Thx Martha!) to have them on here for posterity - and to gush over how freaking talented and awesome my kids are...!!

Lyidia is singing an Allison Kraus song called "Evermore" and Joel is singing a fun tune called "(Don't Give Me That) Brocolli" - both are on kid's albums compiled and written by author Sandra Boynton.

Enjoy!!

On YouTube:

Lydia - "Evermore"

Joel - "(Don't Give Me That) Broccoli"