Wednesday, September 26, 2012

What Daddy Does

It's hard to explain to my kids what I do. I tell them I work on 'TV Commercials,' but I think it's hard for them to understand. So I took some pictures on my latest job to give them some kind of idea of 'What Daddy Does." I've been away on a pretty long stretch in New York. Great to be back at work, terrible to be away from the kids for so long.

Besides all of the boring paperwork we have to do beforehand, on the day of the film shoot, we have to 'land the trucks.' All the trucks loaded with filming and lighting equipment show up where we are filming and we have to have a place ready for them to park their trucks.
So here's one of the big trucks, full of filming equipment that daddy has to park. There's usually a few of these big guys.

Then all the worker guys unload all of the equipment off of the truck. 

And here's the star of the commercial! The new Chrysler 300. Looks a lot like Mr. Sheetz's car from next door. It's the same car, but this is the brand new one!

Then we have to drive the car up on a trailer called a 'process tralier.' The camera guy sits up on the trailer and films it, so it looks like it's driving! But it's actually not driving, it's being towed by a tow truck!

In another scene, our guys hook up a hose to a fire hydrant, and spray water on the street to make it look like it just rained outside. 

Then, when we're all ready to film, the director asks if the camera guy is ready, then he yells, "Roll Camera!" and..."ACTION!"
So, that's a little bit about what daddy does. In a few weeks, we'll be able to see this commercial on TV, and you can say, "My Daddy Worked on that Commercimal!"

Sunday, September 23, 2012

She Can Fly!

Give the girl a Tinkerbell dress and all of a sudden she can fly!









Thursday, September 20, 2012

Kiss

Evan went to his first 'Kiss' concert the other night at just 4 years old. I'm jealous, but most of all proud. I hope he will always remember it.

Sunday, September 16, 2012

Don't Quit

I probably wouldn't have thought much about this if it didn't keep falling into my lap. I keep coming across this and I can't help but wonder if I'm being sent a message right now. My mom gave me this several years ago, I think it was in a birthday card, when I was going through some difficult times. It's really hard to keep your head up when things are going so badly, even when it's your own fault, so reading this reminded me that I have to keep going, and not give up, ever. Thanks Mom.


Growing So Fast

I'm always amazed when i haven't seen the kids for a few days, how much they've grown it what seems like such a short time. I asked Eliana tonight, "How come you're not a baby anymore?" She said "'Cause I big now!" That she is. Evan is tall, and Eliana is not far behind at all. There was a few funny moments tonight where both of them were trying to talk to me at the same time at full speed, and I'm trying to keep up with what each one is saying, but it's impossible! My head was going back and forth trying to hear what each of them were trying to tell me. Evan looks like such a big kid with his new haircut. Eliana's hair getting really long and she has these really big and beautiful curls in the back. Evan impressed the heck out of me last night when Mommy showed him some flash cards and he could READ! He's so smart it's astonishing to me. Both of them make me so proud. Times are difficult right now, but they are such a ray of beaming sunshine that it's hard to feel down when you're with them. (By the way, i typed this whole paragraph with two thumbs on my iPhone.)

Friday, September 14, 2012

Action Movies!


IMG 2581 from Pete Burke on Vimeo.

Check out the movies Evan and I made with the "Action Movie FX" app on the iPhone. Evan starred in this one. No children or police officers were hurt during the making of this film.

IMG 2582 from Pete Burke on Vimeo.

Evan and Eliana star in this clip where two kids on the swings get an unexpected visitor...



Back to School!

Today was Evan's first day back at nursery school. Well, it was more of an orientation, his first full day is Monday. But he got to meet his teacher and see some of his friends from last year, as well as some new ones. Evan has been so excited to be going back to school. He looks like such a big boy now.


Evan had to pick out his name written on an apple, color it in, then place it on the apple tree on the
wall with all the other student's names.

Since it was orientation, the parents were allowed to stay with the kids.


Evan put his apple up on the apple tree. Evan now proudly poses for photos. Thank God!

Evan and his new teacher, Mrs. Ryan.

It was too bright to take a photo in front of the school door, so Evan ran to a nice spot in the shade to have his photo taken. What a handsome kid! By the way, Eliana was very upset she didn't get to go to school with Evan this morning. She was mad when we got home. "You forgot me!" she said. She'll get to come to Evan's school on Monday to see him off. Next year, it'll be her turn.


Thursday, September 13, 2012

Welcome Home Treeman!!

There is this tree we call Treeman that lives a block away from us.  The kids love him and we always stop to see him on our walks.  Well, as you can see by the construction in the photo, Treeman's family recently tore down their house and are building a new one.  To make sure Treeman didn't get hurt during the process, they sent him on vacation.  The kids were really heartbroken when they found out he was gone.  But thrilled when they found him back in his home again!  As soon as they saw him they ran up to him and hugged him telling him how much they missed him.  It was very very sweet.  (My kids are true tree huggers!)  Then they immediately wanted to go home and make him a welcome home card and bring it to him with balloons to celebrate his home coming.  So that's what we did.  While we were there visiting Treeman the owners happened to be leaving their house at the same time so they saw us in the middle of our little celebration.  I was hoping they didn't think I was too crazy tying balloons to their front yard but they were very nice about it.  They even asked Evan what he thought Treeman should be for Halloween this year, he thought Treeman should dress up as a pirate.  They told him that he will have to wait and see but if Treeman dresses up as a pirate Evan should know that it was done specially for him.  Here is a photo from today.  If you look above Eliana's head you can see Treeman's two little friends in the background behind the fence.  Two other trees like Treeman but smaller. 
Here is the card the kids made.  "Melcome Home Treeman"  You can see Evan drew a blue eyed Treeman in the middle that Eliana colored in and Treeman's two friends looking quite smug in the top corner.  Maybe they are just jealous that Treeman get's all the attention.  Evan also for some reason for the first time ever wrote his entire name completely backwards.  And when he wrote out Eliana's name gave her an upside down A.  But he's doing great with his writing.  He asks how to spell things all the time now so he can write it out on his pictures.  Eliana did the drawings on the lefthand side and Evan did the drawings on the righthand side.

Monday, September 10, 2012

Evan's First Band Practice




Evan not only sang but also played drums.  When we got home he wanted to talk about his singing techniques and was mostly asking if I thought he should sing louder.  Then he asked if he could practice his drums in his room - it was 10:30 at night.  I guess he really does want to "rock and roll all night"

Sunday, September 9, 2012

Eliana's Yo Gabba friends at Sesame Place!

Evan working in Mr.Hooper's Emporium 

Super shy Eliana finally gets up enough courage to shyly wave to Cookie Monster at the last possible second.


Evan is now a pro at posing for pictures with his friends.

Eliana waiting in line to meet her Gabba friends.

YAY!!! Evan and Eliana with DJ Lance, Plex, Muno and Toodee.  Foofa and Brobee weren't there today.  (As soon as we walked away, Eliana crumbled to the ground crying because she forgot to hug Toodee.  Luckily Elmo made up for it later on in the day.)

Eliana and Evan with DJ Lance.  DJ Lance and his friends were quite the troopers as it was so hot and humid that day.  Plex, Toodee and Muno had to keep taking little breaks before they passed out. 

Evan relaxing by the pool after a nice swim.

Eliana relaxing in the pool.

Eliana was really happy to see Abby Cadabby even though it doesn't look like it.

She was also really happy to see her pal Elmo.  She's just so shy, this is her super shy face.  She made sure this time to hug her friend, and walking away she said: "Mommy, I hugged Elmo!  I just so happy now!"  

Waiting for the parade. Every time I try to take a picture of Eliana she pulls a face.

Here are some fine examples of the faces she pulls for photos: (please note that these were all taken within seconds of each other)






It is so nice to be able to go for a swim after sitting in the hot sun watching a parade.

Eliana and Evan swimming.

Me and Evan waiting for the Gabba show to start.  As you can see by the sky in the background a storm came just as we got out of the pool.  Luckily we made it over to the show just in time before it started to pour rain.  And lucky for us we were early enough to get seats under cover.

Eliana could care less about the storm.  As long as she's got the phone she's happy.

Isn't he so handsome?

Hi Muno!

On our way home.  Eliana barely made it through the Gabba show without falling asleep.  She was sound asleep as soon as she climbed into her stroller.  

Friday, September 7, 2012

Wednesday, September 5, 2012

Haircut


Evan's latest haircut. So handsome! Thanks Aunt Andi!

Our Little Princess

Eliana came downstairs the other day in her little Snow White dress that Mommy got for her at one of those great kid sales. Her whole demeanor changed. She carried herself like a real princess. She looked so beautiful.

Eliana posing in front of her chariot.

My little girl is getting so big.