We've Moved!

Our blog has moved to: http://www.debcannonfam.typepad.com/

No, our family hasn't moved to a new home. . . . This blog has moved to a new home. I wanted a new look and some additional features that Blogger doesn't offer, so I started researching other blog hosts. After accidentally letting a virus infiltrate and crash our computer when I was looking at new backgrounds on "The Cutest Blog on the Block," I got serious about moving.

After doing a lot of research and "comparison shopping," (although Jesse still thinks this is a spontaneous, not carefully-thought-out, move) I decided to try TypePad. I am very happy with the results: the more professional look, the photo albums directly linked to the blog, the "pages."

Please try it out. The old features like "Quote of the Week" and "News Flash" are "pages" listed on the left side bar; I even added a new one titled "Tender Mercies." Click on a photo album featured on the sidebar to see new pictures (you can click on the blog title at the top of the photo pages to return to the blog). I am still trying to figure out the best way to post videos (currently it is a hyperlink which opens separately in your default media player), though, so I welcome your feedback.

I tried to keep as much of the old url address as possible to make it easy on you. Visit us at our new home:

http://www.debcannonfam.typepad.com/

Video Time!

You can learn a lot from a child. They have a fresh perspective on life, a practical approach to solving life's problems, and best of all, they are always good for a laugh.

Joy In Our Journey

Make a Smilebox scrapbook

Spider Fighters Music Video

Julie decided to start a rock band today. They all assumed stage names, picked instruments, recruited a camera man (yours truly), and made their first rock video. Someday, this will play in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame- historical footage of the day that Spider Fighters was born.

NEWS FLASH

It has been a few years since I last watched the space shuttle launch on TV. I knew the launch had been postponed on Monday and was rescheduled for this evening. I remembered at 4:55 pm Central Daylight Time to look online to see if a live feed was available (we don't have a digital converter box yet). I saw that the launch was scheduled for 3:03 PDT, wondered why it was listed in Pacific time when the shuttle was launching from the East Coast, quickly did the conversion to Eastern time and excitedly found a live feed on NASA's website. We started watching at t-minus five minutes - just in the nick of time.

As the kids and I watched, we marvelled and wondered aloud if Jesse made it to see the launch. He has been in Orlando this week for a training class. He had called us Monday from Cape Canaveral disappointed that the launch, originally scheduled for that evening, had been postponed until Wednesday due to lightning storms. He was not sure if he would be able to come back, but the group he is with, all nerdy engineers (oops, don't tell Jesse I said that) who, like Jesse and I, grew up watching the space shuttle launches on TV- even in school - decided for a second try.

Jesse called five munutes after launch and told us he had seen it!!! He was on the eastern side of the island watching in person as the Space Shuttle Endeavor launched!!! His main comments about the sight were that first, he was amazed that the sound of the rockets was slow to travel to where he was and second, that the shuttle quickly disappeared into the clouds, while we here at home kept watching via NASA cameras for the rocket separations. I asked him if the ground shook, but he said he wasn't close enough to actually feel it. (I thought that that the power of the booster rockets was so great that you could feel it for miles - obviously, I was naive.)

We are very excited for Jesse! He said proudly he could cross "watching the space shuttle launch in person" off his Bucket List.

Video Time

While Nana was in town for Julie's baptism, she taught Julie to play the piano. I have faithfully tried to keep up lessons over the last two weeks. Julie proudly shows off her talent.

When Deborah walked in the door after getting her hair cut this afternoon, one of the kids exclaimed, "Look! We've got a new mommy!" We love the new hair cut!

Ticket to Ride

Happy Fourth of July! We celebrated by taking the training wheels off Josh's bike.

Life is a lot like riding a bike for the first time- you don't just jump on and do it (unless of course you're David.) You crash, get up and try again, crash again, get up again... you get the idea. Each time you try you get a little better at it. The trick is to keep getting up.

Josh kept getting up and jumping back on, and can now ride a bike without training wheels! He hasn't mastered the finer points of starting, turning, or avoiding parked cars- but he can ride in a straight line without falling! Good job Josh!

This Is Early, But . . .

I bought my first car, a Toyota Tercel, about a year after I graduated from college. I brought it home from the used car lot and parked it on the street (After all, I didn't have a parking permit for my apartment complex - yet.) I woke the next morning and walked out to my car.


Realization struck: This was my very own car. I did not have to return it to anyone. I could keep it and use it and, of course, take care of it. The realization brought with it a feeling of great pride.


The next time I experienced that "wow / whoa" feeling was when I brought my daugter - my first child - home from the hospital. The hospital stay was very sheltered. We had no schedule to keep but our own. Nurses were available to counsel when problems occurred. The experience was real, but we were in an alterate reality.


We took her home in my "first" baby, the Toyota. I rode all the way home with my new baby in the back of the car. I just couldn't leave her alone in the car seat. I carried her gingerly down the stairs into our basement apartment and sat down on our couch. Jesse took a picture of us - I was crying.


As I held her in my arms, on our couch, in our apartment, the realization struck: She was mine!!! I could love her and take care of her and watch her grow. No one else could do it for me! This realization brought not only pride but fear as well. Could I take care of her without the nurses' help? Would I be a good mom? What had I gotten myself into?!


I now have eight years worth of loving her, taking care of her, and watching her grow into a beautiful, bright girl. In spite of me, she has a blooming testimony that Jesus loves her, that Heavenly Father will answer her prayers, that the scriptures are the word of God.

I have truly been blessed by her presence in my life. She reminds me that prayer works. She reminds me to think before I reprimand so that feelings aren't too hurt afterward. She amazes me with her sharp intellect, her quickness to learn and to remember. She reminds me that it is okay to admit I'm wrong
. . . sometimes.

She inspires me to be better!

Happy Birthday (on Thursday), Ju!

Love yer guts!

NEWS FLASH- JULIE HAS GLASSES!

Jesse's annual eye exam came due. He was worried about Julie's sight (she couldn't read the huge time clock at my last 5K), so he set an appointment for her as well. Julie seems to be following in Jesse's footsteps (although we hope her sight will never get as bad as his). We picked up her first pair of glasses on Thursday.

Julie says, "It is incredible to see more clear."

Video Time!

A new spin on an old classic.

Happy-For-Deborah Day

It is sometimes hard to express feelings with words (at least it is for me- maybe this is just a guy thing...). I mean, its easy to say, "I love Deborah," or "Deborah is truly an amazing woman," but it is hard to convey through those words the depth of feeling that they represent. If I was a poet maybe I could find the right words, but I really don't think the right vocabulary exists in the English language to describe her amazingness and beauty. A picture, however, is worth a thousand words... so I figure a whole slideshow full of pictures ought to be worth about a million of them. Suffice it to say that I am truly grateful to have my best friend beside me, and her children are lucky to have her as their mother. Happy Mother's Day Deb!

MUSUEM TRIP

Post by Julie: I went to the Dallas Art Musuem Sat. 2, 09. We saw a movie about ancient Egypt in 3 D! 3 D can be scary because there was a monster that looked like it came out of the movie to devour us! It also was about Ramses the Great. Ramses was the Pharoah that would not listen to Moses.

Ramses and Moses

Happy-For-Jesse Day

Jesse turned 31 yesterday! (I can spill the beans on his age because I have more grey hairs than he does.) I decided to dedicate a blog post to him.

Why I Love My Engineer Husband
1. I have someone to keep organized. As an engineer, he loses all track of time. If he says one hour, I bargain on two. When he gives me an estimate of work on a project, I double it. When he loses his keys, I retrace his steps to help him find them. I calendar our activities, and let him know what days are open for things he needs to do. I am his Palm Pilot - this adds great meaning to my life. ;-)

2. He can fix things, and they work better afterwards! (For you to completely understand my joy for this special talent he has, I need to give you some background. My brothers liked to take things apart, but they never got them back together again. For the first several years we were married, I would hover around Jesse while he was fixing something and worry if he was doing it right. I finally learned to relax, that everything would be perfect when he finished. Jesse adds, "Sometimes.") Our dryer has stopped drying twice since we moved to Texas (it is over fifteen years old, after all) - he has saved us loads of money by fixing it himself. (We are also blessed to live within three miles of a Sears parts store.) One day a friend at playgroup said her dryer wasn't working, and she was going to have a handyman come look at it for her. I told her to cancel the handyman and sent Jesse to her home. He saved her money by discovering the problem, something very minor that would have cost tons of money in labor. He is amazing!

3. He keeps a cool head about him when all around is chaos. A few weeks ago, we woke up at 3:00 am to the smoke detector. Jesse disabled the loud offender while I thought I should at least look around for the problem. (Diane noticed that when the smoke detectors went off in the cabin at reunion, our first thought was to stop the noise that might wake the children, not to discover why they were sounding.) As I approached the stairs, I noticed that the AC unit was far too noisy. I shouted for Jesse and started running upstairs to the closet in which it is housed. The smell of burning started me in a panic, and I half expected flames to be shooting out of the metal box - like something you would see in a cartoon. Jesse stayed calm, shut everything off, including the circuit breakers to the unit, and we opened the windows to air out the house. We figured that the unit had been running to long (my fault - I tried to change the temperature and did it wrong), and the belts and drums were starting to smoke. The smoky air was being blown from a vent right onto a smoke detector downstairs, waking us up to a potentially dangerous situation. Gratefully, our AC unit can reset itself, so after a day of cooling down it was running properly again (which Jesse had found out last year by calling the AC guys about a similar problem - yes, my fault again).

4. He has to leave work at work. He might have to work an extra hour or three during a week, but I know our family is very blessed that he is home at the same time every night and has every other Friday off.

Jesse is amazing for other reasons, which many of you know and can add to, but I will keep it to his engineering side today. Love ya, babe!

The True Meaning of Easter

The children had a lot of fun at our Easter egg hunt Saturday. Julie invited her friend Katherine to come along with us.

Guess what was breakfast this morning? The usual- Cheerios, yogurt, jellybeans...

With all the fun and jellybeans, I was glad to see that Julie and David had put together their own special Easter edition of the Friend magazine for today. As James says (or at least Julie said he says...), "I wike candy. But not the menin of Estr..."

Happy Easter!

P.S. For "An Apostle's Easter Thoughts on Christ" video, go to:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EpFhS0dAduc

NEWS FLASH

Julie lost a canine this week. Her smile is a mix of little teeth, big teeth, and gaps. (You can't see that she has two more adult teeth on the bottom row; they are just farther back on the gum line. Braces are in her future.) She and David speculated that the tooth fairy might give more for losing a canine and even more for molars. Sorry, guys - all teeth are equal.

$20 Bunk Bed

Jesse found some scrap wood in a field near our home. There was enough lumber that he thought he could make a bunk bed for James. We bought a choo-choo train mattress a few months ago, and taught James to sleep on it on the floor in the playroom. He loved his big boy bed and thoroughly enjoyed jumping on it. Finally, this weekend, Jesse finished the long-awaited bunk bed.

TAH DAH!!!

Sadly, James wasn't too enchanted with the experience. He can climb up, but won't get down without help. He also wanted to go back to "his" room, the playroom, in which he has slept for the last (almost) two years. We settled on a compromise: David gets the bunk bed, and James is sleeping on the twin under Josh's bunk bed. He seemed more comfortable with this solution; maybe someday he will try the bunk bed again.

Video Time!

My mom requested that we make this video for her last fall; she wanted to use it in a Stake Primary Training Meeting. If you have primary-aged children in your home, they learned it in primary last month. Please invite them to sing along!

Goober Wars: Episode I, Revenge of the Ticklers

So my young padawons were practicing their jedi skills, acting out epic battles, and saving princesses, when Julie had a brilliant idea- "We should make a movie of this!" She worked up a script, found some costumes, used her jedi mind power to get her brothers and dad to obey her orders... and the rest is history. Enjoy!

Deb says: This movie is dedicated to Jedis Clayton, Isaac, and Brigham - We love Star Wars almost as much as y'all do!

Artsy-Fartsy

King Tut has been at the Dallas Museum of Art since last fall. Jesse and I have talked about taking at least Julie and David to see it. We had planned to go during spring break, but our plans changed two or three times before we finally settled on the week's activities. After hearing that one of our children's favorite author / illustrators was going to speak at the Museum Friday night, we jumped on the chance to attend the lecture. All things considered, we opted to buy a membership (discounted 10% because Jesse works for corporate sponsor Lockheed Martin - yippee!) which gives us two free tickets to the King Tut exhibit and a year-long pass to other general admission exhibits and activities. We've joined the enlightened ranks of the art intelligentsia!

Ahem, back to earth . . . While I purchased our membership, Jesse, my mom and the kids got our name on the "will call" list to see the lecture. Luckily, we were second on the list, so we made it in. We were privileged to listen to Mrs. Judy Schachner speak about Skippyjon Jones and her pets that inspired the stories. She was a delight to listen to and had a great slideshow of her pets' antics. After her narrated slideshow, Mrs. Schachner read Skippyjon Jones in Mummy Trouble, in which El Skippito goes in search of peas in the tomb of King Rootin-Tootin-Kitten-Kabootin. We have been fans of the Skippyjon series since Julie was in kindergarten, and we were very pleased with the lecture.

After the lecture we stood in a very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very (you get the idea) long line to have our edition of the book signed. The kids did quite well until the last twenty minutes of the wait. We were down to ten people ahead of us; we could see the table where Mrs. Schachner was signing the books; but the kids were at the end of their rope. We toughed it out with a lot of whining, but we finally made it to the end. Mrs. Schachner was very kind, patiently took pictures with us (they're on my mom's cell phone and won't be available until she figures out how to download them), and signed our book (and the book my mom bought while we were waiting).

TAH DAH!

The inscription reads "I am not a human bean!" To understand this little inside joke, bounce to your local library, Scholastic book fair, or Barnes and Noble and check out or buy any one of the four Skippyjon Jones books. We are excitedly awaiting the new book Mrs. Schachner announced will arrive this fall. We won't tell you what it is about - that will be our leetle esecret. ;-)

(We still haven't seen King Tut; we will go in April.)

James Loves Popcorn

James learned "Popcorn Popping On the Apricot Tree" in nursery.

He does all the actions and sings some of the words.

He's super cute, but beware - his cuteness demands singing the song

over and over and over and over and over and . . .

Jump!

If we could harness this energy it could power the world...

"Quote Of the Week"

Last Sunday I had an emotional breakdown and cried at Julie that she should be more loving toward her brothers and play their games instead of always wanting to be in charge. I confessed that I wish I had spent more time with my brothers, and I didn't want her to waste that opportunity.

Later in the week, I was getting after her - yet again - this time more calmly - to get along with her brothers. Her response: Mom, you were an older sister, and you know it was hard to have younger brothers. You can't get mad at me for doing something you did yourself.

BUSTED!!! She sassily stalked away. Jesse and I couldn't look at each other for fear of laughing loud, long, and hard while she could still hear us. (She doesn't tolerate people laughing at her.)

Shameless

We are very excited that James is in our family. Everyone thinks he is so cute, and we get numerous compliments on his curly hair. As a family we get a big kick our of exploiting his bad hair days. Jesse was inspired yesterday, so we got James to mimic our silly faces:

Does this picture remind you of anyone famous? Jesse found a picture of James' silly twin. Click on the link below for the result.

http://picasaweb.google.com/lh/photo/1_amLQlfXenj9WmxDZixNQ?feat=directlink

My Valentine

9 years ago, while Deborah and I were dating, Deborah conspired with my twin brother Chris (who was my roommate at BYU) to set my alarm clock ahead an hour on Valentine's Day. I woke up at what I thought was the normal time, got ready, and was about to leave when Deborah knocked on my door and invited me to have breakfast with her. Thoughts of getting to class on time quickly dissolved with the sight of a beautiful young woman at my door, offering me food. I happily accepted. On the way over to her apartment she explained that it was really an hour earlier than I thought it was (very tricky...). Turns out I made it to class on time after all.

I enjoyed her pancakes-and her company-so much, however, that I asked her to marry me. 9 years, 2 states, 4 children, and multiple grey hairs (at least one for each child) later, that beautiful young lady and I even more in love, and plan on being even more so another 9 years from now. I still enjoy her company- and her pancakes. Happy Valentine's Day Deborah!

"Quote of the Week"

Josh came in to my bathroom as I finished straightening my hair. He looked in the mirror and very frankly said, "When I look in the mirror, I am cute."
I agree; don't you?

Video Time!

Coming Soon to a Theater Near You.

Rated VS (very silly)

Written and directed by Julie (with some help from her parents)

Starring Julie Cannon, David Cannon, Joshua Cannon, James Cannon, and Deborah Cannon. And Jesse Cannon's hand.

Julie's Opinion of The Inaugural Ceremony

Julie watched the swearing-in ceremony at school. When we asked her what she thought about President Obama's speech, she said that he said a lot of things about what he wanted to do. But she raved about Yo-Yo Ma and the amazing song he played with his "band."

WOW!!!

I spent the morning watching the inaugural ceremony on CNN.com. I have been very struck by the timing of this inauguration - the day after Martin Luther King, Jr. Day. We watched the "I Have A Dream" speech last night as part of Family Home Evening, then we sang My Country, Tis of Thee with the kids. It was absolutely thrilling to listen to Aretha Franklin sing the same song this morning before President Obama took the oath of office.

I have said before that I don't agree with all of Pres. Obama's ideology, but I have great respect for him: for his abilities as a writer and especially as an orator; for his dedication to wife and family; for his ability to inspire multitudes with love of country; for his ability to unite vastly different people in a common cause. I expected a stirring inaugural address, and was not disappointed. His mood seemed somber, but I recognize his acceptance of the great responsibilities as President of these great United States. Following is my favorite part of his address. Even two hours later when NPR replayed a part of the second paragraph, I was moved to tears - again.

For as much as government can do and must do, it is ultimately the faith and determination of the American people upon which this nation relies. It is the kindness to take in a stranger when the levees break, the selflessness of workers who would rather cut their hours than see a friend lose their job which sees us through our darkest hours. It is the firefighter's courage to storm a stairway filled with smoke, but also a parent's willingness to nurture a child, that finally decides our fate.
Our challenges may be new. The instruments with which we meet them may be new. But those values upon which our success depends — hard work and honesty, courage and fair play, tolerance and curiosity, loyalty and patriotism — these things are old. These things are true. They have been the quiet force of progress throughout our history. What is demanded then is a return to these truths. What is required of us now is a new era of responsibility — a recognition, on the part of every American, that we have duties to ourselves, our nation, and the world, duties that we do not grudgingly accept but rather seize gladly, firm in the knowledge that there is nothing so satisfying to the spirit, so defining of our character, than giving our all to a difficult task.
This is the price and the promise of citizenship.
This is the source of our confidence — the knowledge that God calls on us to shape an uncertain destiny.

God bless America!!! And may the Lord protect President Obama and his family from harm and bless him with wisdom as he makes decisions for the people of the USA.

Would you believe me if I tried to convice you that our kids have joined the rodeo circuit and become wild bronco riders? After all, they are Texans, right? They don't start the little kids out on pigs or sheep here like at the Oakley Rodeo... its all or nothing.

Don't worry, David survived the fall. He's used to it by now.

Video Time

My mom shared a special Christmas song with us this year. Jesse thought it merited a video. Enjoy!

Video Time!

Celebrate the 40th year of Sesame Street with me by taking a trip to the Crayola factory! I loved this segment so much when I was a little girl, that I have wanted to share it with my own children. I have often thought about writing to CTW to request an episode with the clip in it. I was overjoyed when I found it on youTube today (much less work!). ;)

Edible New Year

Rochelle (Jesse's sister) and her family helped us welcome the new year. We celebrated with chocolate (Do you think I could celebrate any other way?): the letters and party favors are dyed white chocolate, and the chocolate "bowls" are filled with homemade cheesecake and topped with berries. Julie was very excited to help me spell "happy new year," and the boys were happy to eat the white chocolate I didn't mold. I must say, I have always loved chocolate-covered strawberries, but I discovered how delightful blueberries and raspberries taste when eaten with chocolate.