Back to School and the Name Game

The kids went back to school this week, and although we love all our children with all our hearts, it’s been SO NICE having Maddy and Joel gone for a few hours in the day. The house is so much quieter, with less TV shows and video games, no fighting/yelling, and two less kids asking for snacks, drinks, time on the computer, etc.
Here are Maddy and Joel as they looked on the first day of school:



OK, so that second picture was a re-enactment of the face Maddy gave for the photo the teacher took at school (a picture for her student portfolio). Yes, she’s developing a very distinct persona.
The kids really seem to like their teachers/classes, and Maddy is annoyed that we’re currently in a weekend and thus has to wait 2 days to return to school. Nerd alert!
Abe and Amanda have been keeping busy at home with board games, movies, Legos, and keeping the house clean.
I’ve been keeping busy hurriedly trying to get my animated entry for the Fox Holiday Animation Contest. The deadline for THIS contest is Aug. 31st. I’m just finishing up the last few shots this weekend, and after some audio revisions, I’ll be uploading later this week. I’ll send out a link when it’s online. It’s pretty hilarious. It’s called “Chuck Nutcracker,” and is a comedic version of the story of the Nutcracker, but with the Nutcracker as a Chuck Norris/Clint Eastwood tough guy, and the Rat King as a drag queen. As you can tell, it’s a little wackier and edgier than my usual fare, but it’s for Fox, so what do you expect? The kids have fallen in love with the movie, and they watch my in-progress version all the time, quoting lines and acting out scenes from it. Their favorite lines (recited in tough-guy voice):
“Looks like it’s time to crack a few NUTS!”
“Sleep in Heavenly PEACE!”
“CHUCK…NUTCRACKER!!!”
My other contest (the History Channel one about slavery) ends the Submission Phase on Sept. 2, and I’ll know by mid-September if I’m a finalist. There have been quite a few entries added to the contest—some good, most awful—but mine is still one of the highest-rated and most viewed.
Meanwhile, our newest family member keeps on making trouble for us. Amanda had an ultrasound on the 13th and the baby revealed himself as a male. Definitely a male. The image of his maleness was clearer and more prominent than I’ve ever seen in an ultrasound. So of course we were all a little disappointed…except Abe and Joel , who were ecstatic. Abe, in particular felt very smug, justified in his continued insistence that it was a boy.
But that’s not all—it turns out the baby is also measuring about 12 days SMALLER than normal for Amanda’s expected due date. However, Amanda is very sure of her “dates” (whatever that means—she won’t tell me). But they went ahead and changed her due date from Dec 26th to January 9th. Amanda’s NOT happy about thinking she’s 20 weeks, then being told she’s only 18 weeks along…
Another wrinkle, adding insult to injury, is that Amanda has Placenta Previa, meaning the placenta is in the wrong place, right near the cervix. I guess 90% of the time, the issue resolves itself, especially if noticed early, but for the next six weeks, Amanda’s on “pelvic rest.” No heavy lifting or anything else that would cause stress, strain, or trauma to the placenta. Feel free to do your own research on the subject for Extra Credit. Sept. 23rd we’ll have another ultrasound, at which they’ll probably be like, “Oh, the baby’s measuring big now, let’s change the date back…”
So, once we found out it was a boy, we had to purge our minds, hearts, and souls of all the girl names we’d considered (Bridget was the current favorite, prior to the ultrasound), and we then had to rack our brains trying to come up with a boy’s name we didn’t hate. Boys names are REALLY tough. Most of the good, stable, useful ones are so common that they had to be eliminated just because a family member already had the name. Sorry, no Michael, Daniel, Adam, Joseph, Jacob or any other “normal” names.
Other names got eliminated because one or the other of us hated it. I happen to think Ebenezer is an awesome name, but I can see Amanda’s point that you just can’t name a kid that. The same goes for Amanda’s suggestion of Seamus. Amanda liked Jonah, which to me sounds like a mentally handicapped child. Jonas, Amos, and other names that ended with nus or mos got vetoed because they sounded nasty. Harry Peterson also got eliminated to prevent vulgar teasing nicknames.
Job was a top contender, but did we really want a child to be “hated, cursed, and afflicted”? Also, to make a complete palindrome of the kids, we considered Haley Madison (also boys’ names) so we could have:
Madison Haley Joel Abraham Abraham Joel Haley Madison
But in reality, that’s lame…even if it’s chiasmus-y coolness.
We really wanted a name that felt like it was in the same realm as “Joel Abraham.” On a whim, we looked up the meanings of Elliot and Ephraim, two names we’d considered and we immediately realized these names were right. Look at the similarities between the names and meanings:
Joel: “The Lord is God.”
Elliot: “God is Lord.”
Abraham: “Father of Many”
Ephraim: “Fruitful”
So his name is going to be Elliot Ephraim Peterson (or, perhaps, Ephraim Elliot, but probably not). And for short, we can call him “Eep.”
Some final funny anecdotes:
The other day, I was up at 8fish doing some freelance work and Amanda was taking a nap. Joel came in and asked Amanda if he could have some grapes. Thinking we had just bought grapes the day before, she said sure, and he got himself some grapes…he came to her a little later and mentioned that the grapes tasted really gross. Turns out we hadn’t bought grapes, and the ones he ate were a couple weeks old. Joel even mentioned that some of the grapes had white fuzzy parts on them…At least he only ate like NINE or TEN of them!!! Why did he keep eating them when they were gross? We have no idea. We had a discussion with him about “when food goes bad…”
Finally, as most of you know, Amanda has spitting problems during her pregnancies—as in, she has trouble swallowing her spit. Well, she’s to the point where she’s usually able to swallow her spit, but the other night she had a dream that she was spitting into the sink. Unfortunately, she was waking up from her dream at the same time and ended up spitting all over her pillow in REAL LIFE. Thankfully, she was not turned toward MY side of the bed when this happened. In her defense, PART of Amanda’s semi-conscious brain was saying “Don’t spit! Don’t Spit!” as she was doing it.
Well, that’s all for now. I’ve only got one shot left to animate for “chuck Nutcracker” and probably could have finished it in the time it took to type this blog entry…It’s also my birthday this Wednesday—34 years old, and apparently getting a bald spot…

Most of the Petersons Go Camping

Alright, so you devoted blog-readers benefit from our Family Night activity: writing about the Peterson Family (Minus Andy) Camping Trip With the McTeers. Last Thursday, Amanda and the kids went camping at the Alpine Loop (somewhere after Sundance, up in the mountains somewhere) with Amanda’s mom, her sister Molly (and her husband Doug and daughter Emyli—no, that’s not a typo), and sister Haley and her kids. They stayed there until Saturday morning, when they came home tired, dirty, and smelling like campfire smoke.
For Family Night, I’ve gathered Amanda and the kids into our room to let them give their input on the camping trip. Here we go:

What did you like best about the campout?
ANDY: I liked that for 2 days, I didn’t have to watch/hear ANY Disney Channel, TLC or Nickelodeon shows. Believe it or not, the TV was off most of the time.
AMANDA: Being with the kids and family; otherwise, she really didn’t enjoy the camping…would you enjoy it if YOU were camping in July, 4 ½ months pregnant?
MADDY: “switch-off storytelling” where people took turns making up parts of the story. Taking pictures.
JOEL: Hiking up the mountain.
ABE: The Food. Rolling down the hill. Leaving food for the squirrels/chipmunks.

What did you do during the campout?
ANDY: I spend most of Thursday and Friday working at 8fish, then came home and worked on my animations for the contests. I also watched “The Happening” (see comment below under “funniest thing that happened”).
AMANDA: Went on walks.
MADDY: Played games: Phase 10 (Amanda won), Uno, Scrabble Slam, Hungry Hungry Hippo. Maddy was disappointed that the “castle” was being renovated so they couldn’t play there. Saw 2 deer.
JOEL: Collected sticks for the fire.
ABE: Ate a Fiber One bar and pooped 5 times in one day. (Is that abnormal?)

What foods did you eat?
Andy: Spaghetti, fiber-loaded Pop-Tarts, an Arby’s Roastburger, and a turkey sandwich.
AMANDA: Hamburgers and hot dogs. Mountain Man breakfast with eggs, bacon, sausage, and hashbrowns.
MADDY: The Ultimate S’more: included an extra bar of chocolate. Costco muffins.
JOEL: Pulling the roasted marshmallow “skin” off the marshmallow, then re-toasting the middle. More burgers than anyone else. Drank Tang.
ABE: Roasting marshmallows, because they were yummy. Sitting on chairs having hot cocoa. (As you can tell, Abe’s favorite things all involve food).

What was the funniest thing that happened?
ANDY: I watched the movie “The Happening” which was terrible to the point of being laughably funny. Like the scene when the zookeeper lets the lions rip his arms off…poor M. Night…how far the mighty fall…
AMANDA: Amanda’s mom poured water on her head.
MADDY: The pot-guts (squirrels) ate Maddy’s shoelaces one night when they left the shoes outside.
JOEL: Joel heard a story about a snake eating a rabbit.
ABE: Abe put dirt on his head. Every time someone called “Doug,” Abe said, “It’s DOUG-LAS!”

What was the scariest thing that happened?
Andy: while walking down the hallway at midnight, I saw a huge, nasty spider run across my path, into the boys’ room. I squished it with Abe’s snow boot (which he had wanted to wear at the campout).
AMANDA: Amanda got no sleep because she was making sure the kids were safe; also, going to the bathroom in the middle of the night.
MADDY: Hiking up the mountain.
JOEL: Hiking up the mountain. Being chased by a bee.
ABE: Hiking up the mountain.

What was the grossest thing that happened?
ANDY: The squished spider guts were pretty nasty…
AMANDA: Joel peed on the toilet seat in the dark, after which Amanda sat down on the seat and got a”surprise.” The Swiss cheese was also disgusting.
MADDY: Touching tree sap.
JOEL: saw a snake pooping. I think he’s lying…
ABE: Touched some tree sap.

What did you miss most about home?
ANDY: I was home, but I really missed my wife and kids. No one at home to hug or talk to. Now I know how terrible it would feel to be single/divorced. It was lame…but I got a lot of work done!
AMANDA: My bed. Close toilets with a light in them. Missed Andy. (Notice the order in which she mentioned these…)
MADDY: Showers and warm bathrooms. TV.
JOEL: Didn’t miss anything…maybe real bathrooms…
ABE: Bathrooms that weren’t dark.

Final Thoughts
Maddy was bored except for when they were eating or going on walks. Joel got annoyed by Haley yelling at her daughter in the night (though Amanda and kids were all laughing into their pillows to hide their laughter).
At one point, they were all in the tent and Abe said “It smells like boobs in here.” Then Amanda asked, “What do boobs smell like?” and Joel said, “You’re a woman, you should know!”
Joel and Abe both cried when it was time to come home.
When Maddy saw the deer, she at first thought it was Haley. Better leave it at that…
Maddy was the official camping photographer for the trip. We’ll end with a few of her photos:

CLICK THE PHOTO THUMBNAIL BELOW TO VISIT THE PHOTOBUCKET SLIDESHOW:

Summer is a Bummer!

Really, summer is boring. It’s too hot to go outside, and indoors it’s just the same old thing—TV, Video Games, etc. I mean, since I’m not a kid, I tend to be busy working, taking care of the house, etc., but the kids seem to have lazy, repetitive days.
Here are some of the highlights of the past month:

Maddy’s Birthday
I cannot believe I have a 10-year old. Seriously. It’s crazy to me. So, Maddy’s plan for her birthday was a Movie awards-themed birthday. We went to Zurchers and bought movie-themed decorations, plates and cups, etc. Everyone was going to dress up like movie stars and do movie-themed games. Instead of a big party with family, she wanted to invite some friends from school. In the end, she invited 3 girls, but only ONE could come. So we quickly overhauled the plans, and I took Maddy, Joel, Abe, and Dylan (Maddy’s friend) to Trafalga. Maddy had a coupon that she got from school for a “Family Fun Pass,” which gave all 5 of us the following for only $10 per person (and Abe was FREE):
-A pizza and soda
-a round of golf
-a ride in the 3-D motion simulator ride
-30 arcade tokens EACH
We also each could’ve gotten a bowl of Dippin’ Dots for dessert, but we ran out of time.
So not bad, all things considered, although a Saturday afternoon in June is NOT the best time to take kids to Trafalga. We waited 20 minutes just to get our tokens.
Maddy got to decorate her own birthday cake, which she really enjoyed. She used her Littlest Pet Shop toys to do it:



She got some Hannah Montana stuff, some Littlest Pet Shop toys, and some practical joke stuff, including a hand buzzer and some goofy glasses:



Andy and Amanda’s 11 Anniversary
After the big 10th Anniversary Celebration last year, we knew this year would pale in comparison. Boy did it. With Amanda sick and me busy working on freelance projects, we didn’t do ANYTHING. I was going to take Amanda to see “Up,” but she didn’t feel well enough to do that. We’d already bought presents for each other/ourselves for combo Mother’s Day/Father’s Day/Anniversary, so there weren’t even gifts exchanged.
Don’t get me wrong, I’m not looking for sympathy. Just reporting the events in the blog for posterity.

4th of July
For the Fourth of July, Amanda and the kids went to a barbeque/swim party at the McTeers. I hung out at home, doing who knows what, probably working on Chico or playing Bejeweled Blitz on Facebook.
Later that day, Amanda and the kids made tie-dye shirts:



At night, we went outside and from our condos, we could see 3 different fireworks shows (mostly the Pleasant Grove one, but also some in Lindon and American Fork). Meanwhile, mosquitos devoured Amanda. Oops.


Sleepovers
One recurring event this summer is the “Sleepover at Maddy’s.” The boys get blankets, pillows, sleeping bags, stuffed animals, and books and set up beds on Maddy’s floor. Then they basically spend all day and night in there watching shows, reading books, sleeping, and yelling at Abe to stay in his own area.



Chico
I finally finished the Chico Music Video animation. Here’s the final version (It’s got the same intro as the previous one, but it’s got all-new animation!):

The Adventures of CHICO Episode ONE from Toby and Cody McClure on Vimeo.

I’m really pretty proud of it. In general, I’m not a fan of my drawing/painting abilities. But I feel like I’ve made some strides on this project and have developed my talents further than they’d been. I’m more confident in my design sense and ability to get the “look” I’m going for, rather than settling on my usual mediocre quality.

Harry Potter
Of course we saw the new Harry Potter movie. We all loved it, except for Abe who just complained about being hungry/thirsty/bored/tired/having to pee/etc. Maddy and Joel were much less annoying at movies over the years. Not sure why Abe’s such a pain. But the movie was really funny, and Maddy admitted that she cried at the end. This was the first time Maddy had READ one of the books before seeing the movie, so the whole time, she was noticing all the scenes that were left out or changed from the book.
In the days prior to seeing it, we watched the first couple HP movies, and tried making “butterbeer” (a drink in the HP universe). It’s basically hot cream soda with butterscotch syrup and sweetened condensed milk. WAY too rich. The next day we made “butterbeer floats” which were like root beer floats, but with cream soda and a hint of butterscotch syrup. Much better.

8Fish
The last half of July, I’ve been (and still am) doing some freelance/contract work with 8fish. The project isn’t anything as creatively rewarding as the Chico video has been, but it pays well and it’s steady work for the next few weeks.

Contests
I’m currently attempting to enter two animation contests, both of which have deadlines at the end of August. They’re both featured on ANIBOOM.
The first one is for Fox, which is looking for a funny, edgy, Fox-type cartoon (2-4 minutes long) that’s a “holiday special.” Mine is based on the Nutcracker, but with some very funny (and edgy) twists. I’ve got to have the whole thing animated by the end of August.
The other contest is for the History Channel. They’ve provided a selection of historic speeches read by celebrities, and you’re supposed to pick a 30-second snippet from one of them and animate it. I chose a section from Frederick Douglass’s “What, to the American Slave, is Your 4th of July?” read by Morgan Freeman. It’s gonna be awesome. That one, I only have to have the animatic (that’s a simple, animated version of the storyboards, set to the audio) done by Sept 1. If mine is picked as a finalist, I have a month or so to get it all animated.
It’s gonna be tight, but I think I can do it. It’s totally worth it. Here are the prizes for each:
Fox Holiday Special:
5 finalists receive $5,000
Grand Prize winner gets $10,000 and a development deal with Fox (valued at up to $25,000).

History Channel Contest:
5 finalists receive $5,000
Grand Prize Winner receives $10,000 and a development deal with History channel (valued at $15,000)
Voting in these contests is primarily by official judges, though I think one of the finalists in each is determined by “audience vote.” So, I’ll let you know if/when you can vote!

Joel’s Teeth
Finally, Joel has lost his two front teeth (though I’m sure for Christmas he’ll be asking for video games rather than “his two front teeth”):