17 different women, 36 crazy children, 0 babies in utero
Adventures, Advice and Questions from a group of Mormon women who met in Queens, NY and have now scattered all over the place.
 

Sunday, March 12, 2006

THE JOY OF FAMILY MOVIES

After 11 years of marriage and 6 kids we finally bought a video camera for family movies. My 3rd and 2nd grader were in their first school play this year. So I excitedly charged the battery and found a blank tape and went to the show (with the rest of my crew). The twins were passed around quite succesfully, but my three year old little boy was not interested in being more than a few inches from my body. Making a family movie and juggling kids is a new experience and a skill that I am still developing. So after 2 hours and 20 minutes of elementary school singing and dancing it is finally time to go.

The next day I put on the masterpiece that I have created. It is bumpy and has the noises from my children talking to me, but they sit spellbound. During the actual performance they are all over the place...on the floor, trading seats, on my lap, looking for food etc. But at home they watch it over and over again. My DH can't stand the bumpiness and shots of the ceiling as I'm managing our children, but in the end it seems to accomplish the purpose for which it was made.

posted by Unknown @ 3/12/2006 07:42:00 PM   add to kirtsy


10 Comments:

  • Princess is the same way with our home movies. She is absolutely spellbound by them. She loves to watch "when princess was born". I was really good at making and editing all the home movies when she was little. Now that there are two children, I am so far behind that it is very overwhelming. I enjoy watching them much more when I cut out all the really bouncy parts or the parts when I got distracted and videotaped the floor for 5 minutes.
    posted by Blogger This is Carrie at 3/12/2006 08:27:00 PM  



  • I am so happy that I have taken as many videos as I have. It has taught me a lot about video-editing...and leaves me wanting more (if I had the time and money to devote to training and computers and programs). Before it was fun to see what we had created in a memory and then edited into a short movie. Now, when I am going through old tapes, I am so glad that I taped my babes as much as I did, b/c I have forgotten who they were and how they have changed.

    Pukey likes to watch videos of her aunts and uncles from when they were kids. She likes watching other fam members more than herself. I think she misses them.
    posted by Blogger Kage at 3/13/2006 06:43:00 AM  



  • I recently tried to find the videotape of my first delivery, which was a C-Section. I couldn't find it anywhere. I asked my husband if he'd seen it or if he remembered what it said on it.

    He said, "Yeah, it's got HELLRAISER on it."

    What?!

    "That was the tape I grabbed when you went into labor. I had to record over part of Hellraiser."

    I probably knew this at one time, but it was 16 years ago, so I'm guessing the reason I can't find it now is that I tossed it a couple years ago, thinking it was just a tape of Hellraiser.
    posted by Anonymous Anonymous at 3/13/2006 06:52:00 AM  



  • We did slides when the kids were little. I borrowed my neighbor's video camera just before my son left for the military, so I have a treasured bit of him. It hurts to watch it, but it's him.

    After he died, I bought a camera and we have tons of stuff on Sarah when she was little and my grandchildren. We have Maxwell boogeying to the Supremes at 6 months and cuddling. What treasures, huh?
    posted by Blogger annegb at 3/13/2006 07:19:00 AM  



  • For Christmas this year my parents had all of our home videos from 1985-90 put onto a DVD. It is a treasure. We love getting together to watch them and our spouses enjoy (or at least pretend to enjoy) watching as well. If you think your fams like watching them now - just wait until their own kids can watch them as children. A video camera is one of the very first things we got when we found out we were expecting. I don't have a crib yet...but the camera is juiced and ready!
    posted by Blogger Melissa at 3/13/2006 08:02:00 AM  



  • You guys are going to shame me into organizing our movies. I'll admit, we haven't taken a lot of them in the last 6 months, but I still have plenty to deal with from the first 2 years of Max's life. Actually, I take a lot of short movie clips on my regular digital camera (as opposed to my actual video camera) - the quality is not nearly as good, but I always seem to have that one around and ready to go... Maybe that should inspire me to have the real one more accessible!
    posted by Blogger marian at 3/13/2006 04:35:00 PM  



  • when I was in the nursery with 12 toddlers I would bring my little digital video camera. It was great! They could watch them right after they were shot. It would really distract them from crying and get them focused on the fun that we could have.
    posted by Blogger Helen at 3/14/2006 11:00:00 AM  



  • maybe the digital camera should be a new requirement for all nursery classes: books, snacks, toys, digital cameras...ps I think the toddlers enjoyed their teacher a lot more than the camera hn.
    posted by Blogger Kage at 3/14/2006 02:29:00 PM  



  • I've been using my digital camera movie thing too--the kids LOVE watching their videos over and over on the computer. It is so much handier to use. I'm so glad I have these clips to show them and make them laugh when they're older too--the entertainment value will only increase with time!

    And happy nanny, my little one sure misses you in nursery!
    posted by Blogger Katie at 3/14/2006 02:33:00 PM  



  • This Christmas, I watched a home video from my dh's family--of his grandparents' anniversary party. He and his brothers were teenagers at the time. The thing I noticed, while watching this very real piece of family history (and dh's family doesn't have a lot of them, so I watched this with intense curiosity), is that people are uncomfortable on camera. Everytime the camera turned on people, they walked away, put their hands over the lense, or looked quickly and turned around. It left me really unsatisfied. I wanted to watch dh's mother's expressions and conversations from 15 years ago. I wanted to see what kind of teenager dh was. I wanted to see if I could recognize his little brother in the kid I saw on the screen. And all I got for most of the hour-long video was a lot of walking around, panning from person to person, and a lasting memory of the buffet table in the room.

    Shaleen, my guess is that in several years, you guys won't even care about the school play (with your kids off in the distance) and you'll wish that the camera lense had been turned on your kids (up close) the whole time.

    With kids it's easy, they like being in the spotlight and don't get embarrassed. But does anyone have any suggestions for making people (adults and teenagers) comfortable in front of a video camera so that their personalities can actually be recorded?
    posted by Blogger sunny at 3/15/2006 05:11:00 AM  



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