Crumpled Home » music

Littering is bad

Luke — Mon, 26 Mar 2012 03:07:34 +0000

(singing)

RJ: And the baby said, “Wah wah wah wah.”

And the kitter litter sang nothing…

And the baby sang, “Cry cry cry cry.”

And the kitty litter stayed silent…

And the baby cried, “Tear tear tear tear.”

And the kitty litter attacked…

And now the baby is covered in kitty litter.

Great Songs by RJ and LR

Luke — Thu, 09 Feb 2012 03:07:46 +0000

Over the school holidays, LR and RJ had the chance to write and record their own songs with a live musician! Be warned, these are extremely catchy tunes.

Monsters Chow, by RJ

Blue Eyed Cat, by LR and friend

[ Click the pictures to get to the songs. ]

December 2011, Photo Wrap-Up

Luke — Fri, 13 Jan 2012 03:07:47 +0000

With a huge overseas vacation looming, the first half of December was filled with the last days of the school year, some early Christmas celebrations… and a lot of silly hats.

December means the Advent calendar gets brought out. We like to pretend the kids appreciate the tradition and fun puzzles and clues that we leave in there for them...

It's RJ's job to read the clues this year. LR was surprisingly patient.

Oh no! The end-of-year music "party" turns out to be an impromptu concert and no one will volunteer to go first. RJ steps up and breaks the ice with a few of his favorites.

Three songs later, RJ has the room in stitches, finishing his performance with a flourish in classic RJ style.

LR volunteers to play a few of her favorite songs too. Beethoven FTW!

LR won one of the three coveted prizes for the students who improved the most during the year. Well done, LR! You deserve it!

The last game of the year (but not the season). RJ's teeball skills (and patience with fielding) are improving with every game.

Everyone works together building the gingerbread house. For some reason, only about half the materials make it into the construction -- there must be some dodgy contractors on the worksite.

Nice work guys! The finished gingerbread house looks terrific!

Because we went away for Christmas, we had an early Christmas dinner at Grammy and Poppa's.

LR takes the time to read the cards before tearing into the presents.

Thanks Grammy!

Careful there Auntie Jess. It's not safe to get between RJ and his Hero Factory legos. Just carefully put it back on the table and you'll be okay.

Parental win: the kids actually remembered their manners without prompting this year! Now if only we could get them to stop picking their noses.

Christmas dinner. A time for family, a huge feast, and the opportunity to wear ridiculous things on your head...

RJ got first pick of the hats and picked out the crustacean for himself and a spicy little number for Grandma Dot.

LR picks out her favorite, complete with spring-loaded pom-pom action -- essential for tormenting younger brothers.

Everyone helps out during the final rush to the kitchen, delivering the food to the table.

Crumbly destruction and delicious, sugary mahem ensue as the gingerbread house is attacked!

An important lesson learned... Never, EVER let the kids pick the hat for you or you will end up looking silly.

The end of another school year!

Luke — Thu, 12 Jan 2012 03:07:59 +0000

Once again, LR’s and RJ’s school put on its huge biennial musical performance. All the kids at the school have a part, with each grade getting its own big musical piece to perform. This year’s performance was Jack and the Beat-stalk, another original written by the school principal, filled with only-slightly-mangled songs by the Beatles.

LR and the Go-Go Girls strut their stuff across the stage.

Shake it up baby, now! Twist and shooout!

RJ wasn't a fan of the costume, but graciously decided to play along and not ruin the entire show for everyone.

Here comes the sun! Doo doo doo doo!

And we can’t forget a super big thanks to our awesome teachers this year… We’ll miss you!

LR loved Alice and all the amazing creativity and imagination she brought into the classroom.

Claire and RJ got along amazingly well. We were lucky to have such a wonderful and understanding teacher.

Zero sum? No way!

Luke — Thu, 10 Nov 2011 03:07:43 +0000

LR is in the kitchen helping Dad get dinner ready. Music is playing and things are relatively calm. All of a sudden, RJ goes zooming past, dancing like a crazy guy.

Dad: LR! What is he doing?

LR: I don’t know… I think it’s… musical statues?

The music stops and RJ freezes.

RJ: Yeah! I’m controlling the music and I’m playing musical statues… Against MYSELF!

The music starts again and RJ resumes whirling.

Dad: What a cool idea! Who’s winning?

RJ: I AM!!!

LR: (with a grin) Yeah? But who’s losing?

The music stops, bringing RJ to a halt.

RJ: (sadly) That’s me. I’m losing…

RJ: (devious grin) … But I think I have discovered a trick!

The music resumes and away he goes.

Rained Out!

Luke — Tue, 08 Nov 2011 03:07:45 +0000

We had a great camping weekend planned down at Dwellingup, and had we been equipped with scales, fins and gills we would have had a terrific time. The skies opened up and happily alternated between a torrential downpour and a soaking drizzle for most of the time. Mum held out, despite a leaky tent and the kids tried to make the most of it before Dad took them home early…

LR discovered a passion for playing the guitar. She happily entertained the group as we waited for the rain to pass.

Still raining... So Rod helped the kids make Johnny Cakes. Yum!

It was still raining, so Colleen took her guitar back and played some great music for us.

It was still raining... So we went hiking anyway! Hiking down an overgrown track with an oversized umbrella is RJ's kind of challenge.

I guess this is where all the rain is ending up!

Jump in the line

Luke — Wed, 28 Sep 2011 03:07:36 +0000

(while eating breakfast)

Dad: RJ. We’ve got a problem. We’re not drinking enough milk. We’re never going to get through all this.

RJ: I have an idea! Let’s get all the bottles out and dress them up and then put on some music and have a milky conga line! They can dance along, it’ll be great!

Dad: Yeah! And we can dance them all out of the house and down the street and all our neighbours can have their milk join in too!

RJ: …

RJ: …

RJ: …

RJ: Don’t be silly, Dad.

Dad: Sorry, mate. I got a bit carried away.

RJ: That’s okay. It’s cold today, right?

Dad: Yeah. Very wintery. They said it might hail.

RJ: Good, because today I’m going to wear TWO hoodies AND my wooly hat.

It's the dreaded double hoodie!

Roll over, Beethoven. Just keep spinning.

Luke — Tue, 23 Aug 2011 03:07:00 +0000

(getting ready for bed)

Dad: I’ll put some music on for you if you want.

LR: (Snuggling down under the covers) Thanks Dad.

(The first few quiet notes of Beethoven’s Moonlight Sonata fill the room…)

Dad: (kissing her head) Goodnight, LR.

LR: Goodnight Da-…

(The melody starts playing; this time with unexpected, accompanying harmonica.)

(from just outside the door) Hawwwwnk… Hawnk haw hawwwwnk…. Hawwwn haw hawwwnnkk…

RJ: (waltzes into the room, playing along and dancing around) Hawwwn haw hawwwnnkk…

LR: (uncontrollable giggles)

RJ: Do you like it? It’s the Harmonica Sonata!

Dad: Oh yeah, it’s heaps better than the original. I’m sure Beethoven would have loved it. Now, BACK TO BED!

(A few minutes later, RJ insisted on showing me his “emergency harmonica” and where he keeps it, in case he needs it in a hurry… And THEN he went to bed.)

July, 2011 Photo Wrap-Up

Luke — Tue, 02 Aug 2011 03:07:02 +0000

While we were away for half of July (pictures coming soon, promise!), we were just as busy through the rest of it. American Independence Day rolled around and we invited the family over for hamburgers and sparklers. Dad got to stand outside and grill the burgers in the cold, rainy winter weather and ponder how to get some ‘real’ fireworks into the country. There was a disco for the end of the term at school — apparently costumes were NOT optional. Finally, Dad and RJ rocked out at the AC-DC exhibition at the WA Museum.

Grammy gets some sparklers lit while RJ... Hang on a minute! HEY RJ! STOP TRYING TO SET THE LAWN ON FIRE!

LR attempts to write her first and last names at the same time.

Even Poppa gets into the action.

Auntie Jess and Uncle Nick are back from London! Yaaay!

Grammy came over, bringing along her face paints and a book of great designs to try. LR and I. chose the cat faces.

LR carefully adds some details in the mirror.

Our friend J. helped RJ paint his face as a monster and laid the paint on VERY thick. He looked great, but there'd be consequences later!

LR with her facepaint complete. She is most definitely a practical, jellicle cat.

The two kitties stopped to clean their paws.

The two cats climbed the pillars in our front yard and started miaowing incessently.

After two hours of suffering, RJ was so tormented by the itching, peeling face paint that he could barely move. A quick trip to the bathroom to wash up and the monster problem was solved!

The cats were tearing it up on the dance floor.

We checked out the tour bus, but none of the band members were back in black. RJ thought it rocked anyway.

RJ takes a seat at the virtual AC-DC concert and shook them all night long.

We finished up by heading into the city for some bubble tea and TNT icecream (dynamite!) Thanks Dad!

We visited Grammy for dinner and she bought us some great books! Thanks Grammy!

Required to rock

Luke — Tue, 12 Jul 2011 03:07:12 +0000

(While walking through the city one evening)

Dad: (pointing to musician playing on the sidewalk) How about that guy? He’s really good. That’s a really crazy solo he’s playing.

RJ: Yeah, he’s great. (Pointing to the rows of parked cars) He’s so great that all these cars have stopped along the side of the road to listen!

Dad: Wow. I didn’t even notice. He’s so good he causes traffic problems.

RJ: Well…. There is another reason.

Dad: Yeah? What’s that?

RJ: He’s part of the Rock Police. If people don’t stop and tell him how good he is, he sends them to jail.