calling all Sorensenites

Were you aware of this website?

We like to dance

And some of us like to ham it up for the camera.

one of my favorites

I keep thinking about posting one of my favorite Christmas songs or a clip from a favorite Christmas movie. There's Linus's speech from Charlie Brown of course, or the LDS Nativity movie. I always get a little teary eyed in that one when the wise man sees the new star for the first time. But I can't stop thinking about this video. It's from cjane's blog, and it makes me laugh every time. I hope I'm not laughing too much at the expense of someone else. I like to think that this particular Grandpa is unintentionally bringing joy to many. The video is at the bottom of her post. The camera work is a little shaky, but if you can stand it I think you'll like the end.

Merry Christmas everyone!

Christmastime pics

Just some various pictures from the last few weeks. These are from the ward party.

This is as close as Charlie would get to this Santa, and only because he had the candy cane.
None of my pictures of the program turned out, but I think the kids look like ewoks or something with their beady eyes.

This Santa visited Benjamin's preschool. He is by far the best I've ever seen. He doesn't pressure the kids to sit on his lap, he shows them some reindeer bells, he passes around his magic key that lets him into houses without chimneys, and when asked about the naughty/nice list, he tells them there is no such thing as a "bad" kid - that kids make mistakes sometimes just like adults.

And here's one of Charlie.

Ryan's golfball

While I was helping in Benjamin's class the other day, I overheard a conversation a few of the kids were having:

Kid #1: My dad is really strong.

Kid #2: My dad has big muscles.

Kid #3: My dad has HUGE muscles.

Benjamin: Well my dad has . . . a GOLFBALL!

And here it is:

Alex and Ben singing

My friend Judy posted a clip from our ward Christmas party of the primary children singing. You can see Benjamin and Alex in the background.
It's here.

(If you haven't seen the "Scared of Santa" website, it's here.)

Our boys are still young enough that so far they haven't made lists of what they want for Christmas. I don't expect this to last too much longer. This year whenever anyone asked Benjamin what he wanted he said, "Whatever Santa brings me is what I want." He told this to the Christmas tree lady at Home Depot, and to one Santa (he has seen two Santas so far). One friend of ours thought we had taught him to say this, and would ask him whenever she saw him just so she could hear that response. I think he is catching on now, though. Maybe he has learned that this isn't an acceptable answer. But he is easily influenced. Alex wants something remote controllable, so now Benjamin says, "A remote control thing." And today he listened to the Chipmunk Christmas song and as a result he thinks he wants a hoola hoop.

Thanksgiving activities

I'm thankful for preschool Thanksgiving Feasts:

Cousins playing hockey:

Good music that makes you want to perform a lip synching/air guitaring/air drumming concert:

By the end of this "concert", the other cousins had joined them onstage.

Talented sisters-in-law who transform me into a redhead (changing my hairstyle is becoming a Thanksgiving tradition for me):

But really, it doesn't get better than enjoying good food while surrounded by wonderful family. Especially when all I have to worry about is showing up with a jello salad. I don't have any pictures of the actual Thansgiving meal, but it was scrumptious, and contrary to what I wrote earlier we did not in fact eat Nancy.

Did anybody see this? It was on right after a Charlie Brown Thanksgiving the other night. I don't know if they usually show it but this is the first time I've noticed. I watched it yesterday (I was a day late) and I have to say I was impressed. They even mentioned John Howland, the guy who fell off the Mayflower during a storm. Supposedly I'm related to him. Most of us can probably find a connection since he's so far back, actually. Anyway, I learned a lot. We enjoyed Thanksgiving dinner at Ryan's parents, and before we ate Nancy (Ryan's Mom) gave us a little quiz about the first Thanksgiving. Sam had mentioned that he knew a few of the answers from watching this. Now I understand. And now I know that the pilgrims were taught to plant their corn alongside dead fish for fertilizer.

I know it's not even Thanksgiving yet, but . . .

One of the Baer family's favorite Christmas albums was Handel's Messiah: A Soulful Celebration. A lot of the songs sound dated now, but this one still gets me moving. Plus, it has Chaka Khan. I think this was the era of silky shirts for guys, which brings back memories of Church dances. Silky shirts plus a sweaty teenage boy doesn't make for a good combination, especially during the slow dances when I had to put my hand on their shoulder. Anyway, I remember telling Joel that this was the song that I wanted to have playing when I die and (knock on wood) go to heaven.

keith morrison snl skit

This made us laugh.

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I wanna be a cowboy

Well, it has happened. The cowboy blood that runs deep in Ryan's veins is starting to surface. Recently we adopted Grandpa Haslam's horse Socks. A friend in our ward was nice enough to let us rent out a place for him to stay. Socks is somewhere around 30 years old so we don't know how long the fun will last, but for now Ryan is going almost daily to see to his needs and ride him a little. The boys are getting the hang of using the reins.

Charlie had a fit when I took him off the horse.

Not the best pictures, but I'm sure we'll have many more opportunities for better ones. It's fun for me to see the cowboy hat, Wranglers, and boots side of Ryan. Especially the Wranglers side. (Sorry, I couldn't resist.)

Question of the day

From Benjamin:

Do monkeys make good pets?

(This is not the first time he has asked.)

Unsinkable

Alex has been a little obsessed lately with the Titanic. It is the subject of the last three books he has checked out from the library, and he has built several models of it out of his legos. I finally decided to get a picture of the latest one. He even built little lifeboats for it.

Don't worry, I have no plans for letting him watch the movie Titanic.

look alike

Ryan is often told that he looks like certain celebrities. Here is a sample.

Ricky Martin:

Jim Carrey: Johnny Knoxville: Josh Duhamel: Bob Hope: Matt Damon: Timothy Olyphant:

Edited to add: He says a lot of guys tell him he looks like Tom Brady.

And I once told him he had the same nose as Tom Hanks (I think he was a little offended):

If I pick him apart I can see some resemblances. Matt Damon's hair and mouth, Timothy Olyphant's eyes, etc. I don't think he looks like Jim Carrey but he can get goofy like him so I think that's what people see there. What do you think?

And now for my list. I've been told I look like:

Mary Lou Retton:

Kristin Davis:

Candace Cameron: Rachel Leigh Cook: A bat:

that's some good photoshopping

The demon barber of Fleet Street

Ryan and I were Sweeney Todd and Mrs. Lovett (the Tim Burton version) for Halloween:

We got to dress up for Mandy's (Ryan's sister) annual Halloween party. Mandy and Charlie were Ms. Hannigan and Daddy Warbucks. Here's Mandy along with a pretty good Sarah Palin. You can see Charlie sitting in the background:Ryan's cousins Dave and Matt and their wives were the gang from Scooby Doo. I like Rebecca's glasses:
Ryan's brother Sam was a Chia pet. And in this picture I guess he's a Chia pet pretending to play the saxophone:

We got to dress up again the next night for our ward Halloween party. This time the kids joined in:

Ryan pointed out that it might not be the best idea to base our costumes on an R rated movie for the ward party. A lot of people didn't know who we were supposed to be. Some thought Ryan was Edward Scissor Hands, which isn't too far off. In the past whenever Ryan or I have been in a costume the boys are a little wary of us, but it didn't seem to faze them this time. Not even Charlie.