Grandma Freda's 80th Birthday Memories Video

My Grandmother, Freda Walker, turned 80 this year and we celebrated this on Mother's Day weekend with a party in her honor. It was attended by family and friends. We had a a great turnout, which is not surprising, since she is such a great person!

To help set the tone for the celebration, we put together a video review of her life. It was very well received and we got some requests to make it available on the net, so I have posted it to youtube. Because of the limits on what can be posted, it is in 6 parts, but they are part of a playlist, so they can be reviewed as one video by pressing "play all".

Freda Walker's Memories Video

I will be posting a website with pictures of the party in the near future.

Enjoy!

Ileah in Grandma Sue's Dress

I just posted pictures of Ileah taken on March 1st, 2008.

The pictures are beautiful in their own right, but there is also some very cool history involved. Some of the people reading this pictures don't know our family, so I am going into a bit of detail. I just hope I have all the details correct.

The dress Ileah is wearing was her Great Grandma Sue's (Sue is Joe's Mom, Eric's Grandmother). It was hand-crocheted, circa 1946, by Ileah's 4th Great Aunt, Mary Redjack nee Noble (the sister of Ileah's Great-Great Grandpa Red Walker's mother, Doris Walker-Schlacter nee Noble). Unfortunately, we cannot find a picture of Sue wearing the dress. We know she wore it at age 13 months at the wedding of Chick and Ann Walker (Ileah's 3rd Great Uncle and Aunt). We are still searching for a picture.

Prior to Ileah receiving the dress from her Great-Great Grandmother Freda Walker (Red's wife), it was repaired by Freda's sister, Betty Burney (who is Ileah's 3rd Great Aunt). The blue slip under the dress was made by Ileah's 2nd Great Aunt, Jo Lynn Mahaffey (Freda's daughter, Sue's sister) in 2007. Evidently, Sue had used the original slip for her dolls when she was a child and it was in tatters from use.

Ileah in Grandma Sue's Dress

Ileah's 1st BD + Her New Dance

I just uploaded pix from the past month, including some from Ileah's BD party. Follow the video link to see a cool dance she has picked up.

Pictures of Ileah, Posted 10/21/2007

Enjoy!

Vote for Eric in ShowTime's Homegrown Humor Video Sweepstakes!

As most of you know, Eric is studying to work in TV and Radio at the Ohio Center for Broadcasting. He will graduate at the end of October. He is also working as an (unpaid) intern for the Enable Agency and hopes to work for them in a paid position after graduation.

He appears to really enjoy his field of study and if his latest creation is any indication, is poised to be very successful.

There is a program on ShowTime called "Weeds". I haven't seen it, but from what I understand, it centers on a single mom in the suburbs who makes money by growing and selling marijuana. The show opens with a somewhat unusual and surprisingly catchy tune called "Little Boxes".

ShowTime has a contest in which they have asked viewers to re-imagine the song. You are supposed to use the same lyrics and melody, but add your own style and personality to it.

Eric has done just that. I know I am biased, but I think his video truly kicks ass.

Here is the original show opening:

ShowTime's Weeds - Opening Song

And here is Eric's video:

Little Boxes - Homegrown Remix, By Eric McTee

One of the things I am proud of in Eric's video is his understated but powerful political message. Agree with him or not, that is what America and Free Speech is all about.

In the interest of full disclosure, the topic of the show and of Eric's video is marijuana. If this is a politically sensitive topic for you, please ignore the links and this post.

But if you have the time and interest, please view Eric's video, leave him a comment, and give his video a rating. There is $10K riding on first place and I think he has a shot (but also has some excellent competition).

Thanks in advance for helping him.

Ileah is walking!!!

...and we have the videos!

Ileah Walking and Talking

These aren't her first steps. She has been working up to this for about a week and a half, but this is the first time we managed to get video of it.

I have posted both the full size videos and some reduced size videos. If you aren't on broadband, use the low res versions.

Enjoy!

Good Ol' Fashion Fun...

We spent Sunday morning with some friends at a gun range near Idaho Springs. It has been many years (too long actually) since I had broken out the arsenal for some practice. The kids (that would be all of us) had a great time.

Shooting

Beware... The videos are large and will take some time to download.

Eric's latest creation...

As many of you know, Eric is studying to work in Television and Radio, with a strong desire to work in audio production.

As part of the requirments for these studies, he has to amass 300 hours of intern work. He is currently working (for free) at the Enable Agency.

The follow advertisement for EA was written, acted, and produced by Eric.

Eric's Commercial

Enjoy!