holiday cheer

Posted on 01/03/2016 by amberunraveled

I asked O what I should blog about and after we got past the “I don’t know what your even talking about, blogs” like I was talking to some ninety year old woman who says the word “blogs” with such utter disdain and sheer resentment for what the world has come to… sheesh you are four.

anyway we agreed I should write about funny stuff that happened over the holiday break. My funny compared to her funny may be a little different but she had a good idea mentioning our Christmas Elf – Flounder.

My kids got the shaft, actually it was just O because Flounder had been around longer than W. I was walking around Marshalls and saw this sorry looking Elf on the Shelf knock off brand and figured “who cares what it looks like, right?” Little did I know it was going to blow up into this huge Christmas tradition that everyone talks about. I feel bad because Flounder is so ugly, and a bit scary looking but I am scared the girls will freak out if I try to upgrade to the normal commercial Elves that everybody else has.

The girls LOVE Flounder though and they are SO into Elf on the shelf. Grandmom babysat a few days before Christmas. I started getting frantic texts the girls were both hysterically crying she had accidentally knocked Flounder off the door frame and then TOUCHED HIM OMG.

I had to hide in an office and make the shape of the heart with my hands and text it back to O so she knew that code meant Flounder would still have enough Christmas magic to get back to Santa.

I also ran out of “secret candy” the girls didn’t know about and started using some from our own stash and they were PISSED. O was like Flounder is a thief!

Effing Flounder has it rough man. I get so annoyed with the shit I have to make Flounder do then clean up that I really lame out on his mischief. Our Elf is really laid back and typically very considerate of my time and energy.

Other random funny shit.

Chris hiding on the ceiling then waiting patiently for me to walk in the bathroom to scare the hell out of me for no reason at all. I don’t know how long he had to wait. Weirdo.

O using her birthday makeup to make W look like a hooker.

A grown ass man riding a pink tricycle.

screening

Posted on 01/02/2016 by amberunraveled

Way back in October we had the official screening and launch party for Redmonton. It was so awesome.

C and I had a MAJOR addiction to Entourage, watching episodes (or three) a night. It gave such insight to the upper crust of the industry, I assume it was accurate. Isn’t all tv accurate? And everything on the internet for that matter? Except we all know Web MD is fraudulent, meant to terrorize, but I digress. It doesn’t really even matter if Entourage was accurate because it was super entertaining. Ari and his wife are so so so hilarious, he totally reminded me of C minus the belligerent mouth. Really the whole cast grew on me. I even felt bad for Drama.

Anyways I wasn’t sure what to expect for the screening – I knew there was going to be a Q&A and we were going to watch the first two episodes. I was so nervous! You don’t get to see playback usually when your filming because everyone is so rushed to get done what has to be done. Plus we were always burning the midnight oil which put me wayyyy out of my element, often driving home 1,2 one time 4:00 in the morning on a Friday or Saturday night. It was an amazing experience to spend that much time in front of the camera.

The screening was awesome. It was so Entourage. There was a red carpet and even one of those legit looking back drops and photographers. The irony was my friend R (you know who you are) had just told me we should make a bunch of our own backdrops and just take pictures of ourselves all dolled up like we get around. Not like “get around” in the normal dirty highschool girl slang, but “get around” like party. Like Industry. Ha. Too bad I’m a total not partier and typically hit the hay around 9:30 on a late night. So lame. So the unparty.

Redmonton has released approximately an episode every other week. The show has a website, youtube and vimeo channel. I force C to watch the episodes in the family room on the big TV like we’re really watching a movie. He humors me of course.

Hi Mom I’m on TV! Hehehehe. I couldn’t stop myself.

Here’s a clip below, I liked this clip it has all the girls in the cast in this scene.

swiper

Posted on 01/02/2016 by amberunraveled

W has evolved overnight. She went from fragmented sentences to elaborate pretend play in like the blink of an eye. Her new favorite past time besides literally torturing the dogs by dragging them around the house on leashes and tying them to door knobs, is enacting scenes from the tv shows she watches. Right now she is swiper everything.

She will tell me to say “swiper, no swiping. swiper, no swiping.” then she will use this game as a valid excuse to launch something of value that I am currently doing across the room.

While I was hanging clothes in my closet she pulled shoes of my shoe rack and screamed “YOU’LL NEVER FIND THEM NOW” and threw them out of the closet. Thanks for that. This game sucks.

She threw my toothbrush in the bathtub the other night.

She takes the decorative wooden balls off the top of the dogs bed and throws them on the floor probably hoping I slip on them.

This is hilarious on so many levels. W playing swiper with Nika and then screaming at Lady to Be QUIET. Then W running for her life when Lady starts barking at the door, and poor Nika. Poor, poor Nika.

sorry santa

Posted on 01/01/2016 by amberunraveled

I took the girls to see Santa last minute, literally just for the picture. I dressed them up and we waited an atrocious period of time to see him since we arrived on his “scheduled break”. Thanks a lot Cranberry Mall website for mentioning that.

Anyway we were next in line and W says “HOLD ME”.

I pick her up and she grabs a big chunk of my hair and breathes heavily in my ear and all over my neck as I squirm not knowing whether she will scream or bite me or what the heck she plans on doing…

She suddenly whispers “I’m going to poop on Santa’s lap.”

no words.

rockin royals

Posted on 01/01/2016 by amberunraveled

The girls newest obsession is playing rockin royals. One is a princess and one is a pop star. But W keeps calling it a poptart and they both fight over being the poptart. In the photo above W got the shaft and had to play paparazzi. This is totally normal right?

This is becoming a major issue at home though because W is at the I’m scared of the dark, and dogs barking, and loud noises, and shadows, and monsters, and bugs, and the ice maker, ok everything. so turn on the lights, as a matter of fact turn on every light in the house and also walk into the bathroom with me every time I have to pee.

And O is like “turn off all the lights in the house and shine a flashlight on me so I can sing and dance in the sole spot light like a typical amazing popstar should.”

and I am all like “both of you STOP FIGHTING and go downstairs I’m trying to watch The Grimm.”

Here is the perfect example of what my two children look like terrified in the dark. What is going on here? They had all the lights out with a flashlight shining in their faces and the had their ipad set up on the coffee table. The reflection of the flashlight is on the wall above them – it looks creepy too, like an alien orb or something.

Look at their faces! That does not look like fun. I walked by and was like “are you watching something scary!”

The both just said “noooo. dora the explorer.”

bling

Posted on 01/01/2016 by amberunraveled

Daddy was on daycare duty while O was at an audition a few weeks ago. He text me this adorable picture of W enjoying her new favorite place sweet frog frozen yogurt.

awww cute.

Then he text me back and says “notice anything?”

Oh god, new baby earrings!!! So adorable!! C has to do that stuff because I can’t watch. He said her eyes got all big and when they walked away she looked him square in the eye and said “They HURT me”. Sooooo sad 🙁

I was really unsure if she would keep them in or mess with them because she didn’t really ask for them like O did. But She loved them! She kept showing everybody “Look at my earrings.” She was so proud and she even twists them herself.

pfizer

Posted on 01/01/2016 by amberunraveled

O just wrapped her first big time commercial.

It was probably the biggest one she has done so far in terms of competition and work involved on her part. Her BandAid commercial ended up being really big but it was nonunion to start so none of the union pros were able to audition. This commercial was a union job so all the union kids auditioned in addition to any nonunion kids. She had a couple solid lines and a principal role in the shoot.

I must admit I was nervous, we go on these auditions and typically the odds are so stacked against you that you leave and don’t think much more about it. (ok, well that’s such a lie because I think about it every day until I hear it books!)

I took her to the first audition, also called first round/call. We had just been to the same casting office a week or so earlier for a different huge casting (20 kids for a school class) which I was sure she would have booked but alas I will never know what casting is looking for. She did get a callback for that one too but ended up not booking! Bummer.

I will never understand this business and as much as I retrospectively analyze each experience it never paints a clear picture. We arrived on time and hung out in the waiting room. The casting director came out and informed all us moms there were lines for the audition so we all scrambled to get our kids prepped last minute. Usually we get the script ahead of time to practice but this was only a one-liner so it was no big deal. O ran lines a couple times then was called back and skipped her way into the audition room. But when she came out O came out with this look of sadness on her face I was immediately in mad-mom mode wondering what these people said to her.

“what happened, what’s wrong?” she informed me that casting asked her to do other lines that weren’t for her age. LOL. Good thing? Bad thing? One will never know. Except I did learn during the shoot the client thought O was hilarious because she apparently told casting in the audition “those aren’t my lines“. And she was right. And they loved her ‘tude I guess.

Then the callback audition.

This was awful timing for me and C so Grandmom ventured out this time. All was smooth sailing and O said she had fun and did a few more new lines.

O then got a “hold” placed on her, which is when they want specific kids to be available to them while they figure out which one they will use for the shoot.

When we got the booking call I was nervous and excited.

It’s a lot of pressure wondering how O will be feeling the day of the shoot, if she will be into it or pick that day to decide she’s over this whole “acting” thing.

To top it off O woke up with pink eye two days before the shoot. I was FREAKING. Luckily I treated her with medication I had and it went away pretty quick but she totally woke up full blown sick sick sick the day after the shoot. I did learn a little stress reliever while on set – union gigs always book a back up kid in case things don’t work out with the first pick. PHEW. There were two for O’s role, two for her fake older brothers role and two sets of twins for the baby sister role! That was crazy because all the babies were cranky too. The very last baby of the four ended up working out for the shot.

She cracks me up with these roles. Whenever she gets off book for an audition she always incorporates new language from the audition or the characters name into daily play with her sister. She did a voicover audition for a fairy role and had t say “whoopsie-doodle”. Now her and W say “Whoopsi-doodle” all the time. And she makes us call her by her character name all the time too. Maybe she is a method actor? har har.

The shoot ended up going great. It was a lot of work for her but she nailed it. It should air in February – I will be sure to post it 1 million times everywhere I can as soon as I get my hands on it.