Post #5.

Here.  I posted something else!  Does this count as a post?  Does it actually have to have meaningful content or an actual update about the family?  Does it have to completely (and accurately) reflect some sort of family history or event that we want documented forever and always?  What is the minimum acceptable hurdle for a post to count?  Could it be word count (because I'm starting to ramble pretty good here and this could really turn into something).

Seriously, here are some things you can (probably) look forward to this year on the blog:

• Since we went to Disney in January, I'm sure I have at least 3 or 5 good posts about those days (including photos).  So, look for that sometime this year. 
• Ali was on the middle school basketball team and wrapped up her season in 2016 (although it started in 2015).  So, that's something right there.
• Kaitlyn and Maxwell are doing gymnastics, and Kate is doing Activity Girls while Max does Cub Scouts.  So, I think there might be some good stuff there too.
• Ava is learning to play the violin, so could there be some sort of Lindsey Sterling (not to be confused with Scott Sterling) music video lip-sync thingy in the works?  Could be.
• Olivia is the cutest little speaker (and singer) at her age.  I think there could be some good material there too.

So, go ahead and comment and let me know your thoughts.  Videos, good?  Still with photos better?  Long, rambling posts just taking up space trying to get credit for a post to try to close the gap to the number of blog posts planned by this point in the year, good?

Ali's Music Video

Admittedly, I'm not off to the perfect start to the blogging, as I had originally intended.  Still, something is better than nothing--unless that "something" is being awakened at 5:00AM this morning by Olivia who couldn't find her white blanket (pronounced "blain-tee") which was actually just under her other blanket--in which case "nothing" is definitely better than "something."  But, I digress.

After discovering (with Kaitlyn) that I could make the kids test subjects in practice music videos of all kinds, and discovering that they actually liked it too (I can't tell you how many people Kaitlyn has wanted to show her video to), I thought it would be worthwhile to give Alison a chance to shine, after observing her reaction to Kaitlyn's video production.

Our kids are becoming wonderful multi-instrumentalists, this gave Ali a good chance to show off some of her skills (although as I type this I realize that we didn't get any good ukulele shots here).

Any who, here's Ali doing her best Taylor Swift impression.  She rocks!

(For all of about 7 minutes of shooting and 30 minutes of editing, that wasn't too shabby, I don't think.)

What's that tremendous improvement in camera stability in this video vs. Kate's, you ask?  That's the latest toy I'm rather excited about--my Lanparte HHG-01 gimbal.  My new secret weapon in video-making.

(4 down.  48 to go.)

Kaitlyn's Fight Song

Yesterday, we had the goal of spending some quality time with each of the kids doing something that they wanted.  Olivia and I put together some puzzles (pronounced "puzz-o").  Ava and I did something, probably.  Max and I had some epic light saber battles and played Killer Bunnies.  We went and watched Alison play some assist-heavy John Stockton-like church ball. 

And, then Kaitlyn and I played a game where we say a song and see how many notes in a row of the melody we can play on piano by ear.  She's pretty good.  She wins more than I expect her to.

Yesterday, that game morphed a little into "figure out the chords to the song" and we chose "Fight Song" to figure out.  After a few minutes we had the main chord progression down and were having some fun jamming on it.  Then, I had to step away to for a moment address something with one of the other children.  When I came back, I found that Kaitlyn had started recording herself playing and singing it on my phone.

I asked her if she wanted to try to make a real music video for a few minutes.  This is what we came up with:

(Take that 3rd blog post of 52!)