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Parker’s Comedy Routine

Erik — Mon, 19 Mar 2012 03:43:46 +0000

Each year our church holds an event called Cornerstone’s Kids Got Talent. It’s a “talent” show that our kids put on to raise money for camp.

Last year, Parker was asked to participate with a comedy routine. It went so well, that he decided to do it again this year. And in the humble, totally unbiased and realistic perspective of his dad…I think he knocked it out of the park.

Christmas 2011

Erik — Wed, 04 Jan 2012 02:44:47 +0000

Each year at Christmas I create a video to remember the season. Here’s a highlight video of the boys’ experience this year. The footage is almost exclusively of them opening presents. In some ways, I wish I had captured other video of our time, but on the other hand, I love the reactions they have as the give gifts (the beginning of the video) and then open up those toys they had been hoping for. I hope you enjoy it.

I made the following video with the Action Movie FX app for my iPhone.

In case you missed past videos, I’ve embedded them below. My personal favorite is probably the first one I made (it’s at the very bottom).

On Fire….

Erik — Mon, 29 Aug 2011 21:49:50 +0000

I had a good day today. I got up early, even though it’s my day off, and went outside to do some much needed yard work. I mowed, weed-whacked and burned some old brush that had been sitting in the back yard (left from the previous owner). I even filled in some low spots around the house (under the sidewalk, next to the egress, etc) with some extra sand from another project.

It was productive. I was “on fire” and my To Do list was dwindling to nothing.

We have one of those little, round metal fire pits that I used to burn the brush in. By about 10:30, there were no more flames, just some ashes. I let them sit there until about 2:45, when I decided to dump them into a ditch next to the tree in our back yard. This “ditch” was where the dry brush was left from the previous owner. The fire pit was cool to the touch and I didn’t think anything of it.

Until 30 minutes later.

Bethany had gone outside to meet the boys as they came off of the bus when a neighbor came up to her and said…”Do you know your tree is on fire?”

Apparently, the ashes were still not quite extinguished and with it being so dry, they ignited some of the leftover brush….and my tree.

It wasn’t too bad, but with it being so dry it could have become a lot worse.

Thankfully the Meadowbrook Fire Department was just a phone call away.

Below is a video of the damage.

o, christmas tree

Parker’s Comedy Jam

Erik — Sun, 03 Apr 2011 03:12:42 +0000

Last Sunday night, Cornerstone Church held “Kid’s Got Talent,” a fundraiser for summer camp. Parker showed off his skills by telling some jokes.

Valentime’s Day

Erik — Tue, 15 Feb 2011 05:01:12 +0000

I made a quick video with the boys for Bethany today.

I love how Kent says “Valentimes”.

I love you, Bethany!

No related posts.

New Year

Erik — Sat, 01 Jan 2011 07:42:28 +0000

I’ve noticed a bit of an attack on resolutions this year. Okay, “attack” may be a strong word, and it may not be widespread. However, I’ve come across several blogs that expressed some negative sentiment towards the idea. I’m not sure where this is coming from, but on one of the posts I read, the author expressed her disdain for resolutions. To her, they were never kept, because they were too radical. Instead she said, we should look to improve areas that we are already excelling in. She then proceeded to make goals for what she wanted to do in 2011. Maybe I was missing something, but they seemed like resolutions to me, regardless of what you call them.

Life works in cycles. We need to experience the ebb and flow that these times bring. For me, the New Year is a time to reflect on the past and find vision for the future.

The Past

It’s healthy to slow down and consider the road we’ve been on. For me, 2010 has been marked with transition. I’ve changed my role in ministry, moving from being a Youth Pastor to Executive Pastor). And we’ve moved from Chicagoland to the St. Louis area. This past year has been a time to heal and be restored. I had to let go off some things as a result of our move that were incredibly important to me (family, friends, familiar environment, etc.). The end result, however, is that my family and I are healthier and stronger because of it. It hasn’t always been easy, be we have great new friends and a church family who have walked with us through the process.

I made 3 commitments/resolutions/goals last year.

One-Year Bible Reading Plan – I completed this…though I missed a lot of days and had to make them up along the way.
Read one book per month. – Didn’t make this one, but I was probably more diligent in my reading than I have been in past years.
Spend more time with family. – I’d say this year has been great for our family and we’ve been able to spend a good deal of time together.

Future

Read one book per month. – I wasn’t going to quantify it this year, but I’m tired of not reaching this goal. This one is important to me. I’m at a point in my life, where I realize how incredibly important this is for me. Part of this will involve cutting distractions out of my life (and that will be the hard part).
Physical Activity – I’m not saying I’m going to exercise everyday or anything like that, but I need to be more active. People may role their eyes at me when I say this, but I’m getting older…and I’m starting to feel older too.
Develop my skills in two areas: Design (general principles as well as skill with the tools) and Web Development (specifically WordPress and Joomla!). I like doing this. Setting up WordPress and Joomla! sites is incredibly satisfying to me. I want to hone these skills and learn more about coding and development. I’m certainly no pro, but I’d like to continue growing in these areas.

So, there you go. That’s my list. What’s on yours?

Christmas 2010

Erik — Fri, 31 Dec 2010 15:46:02 +0000

We headed back home to Chicagoland for Christmas this year and had a great time seeing friends and family.

I made the video below with the new “movie trailer” feature in iMovie ’11. It’s a quick and simple way to put together a brief “highlight” video. I spent more time importing the video into the computer than I did editing it.

I hope you all had a great Christmas and a Happy New Year.

O Christmas Tree

Erik — Sat, 04 Dec 2010 05:45:22 +0000

I love Christmas. And I love watching the excitement in our boys eyes as we decorate and create memories for them.

Yesterday we decorated our Christmas tree and I decided to make a time lapse of the process. I made one last year when I put up the decorations outside, so I thought I’d make it a tradition.

The decorating process wasn’t as smooth as I wanted it to be. I’ve always started our Christmas lights at the bottom of the tree and worked my way up. That way I can keep the lights plugged in and see how it looks along the way. For some reason I decided to start at the top this year. Never again. We made it work, but there were a few hiccups along the way.

The music is Rockin’ Around The Christmas Tree by Brenda Lee.

In case you’re wondering, the video was created using Gawker. It’s a free program for the Mac that’s simple to use and well worth trying out.

Parker Fighter 2

Erik — Tue, 12 Oct 2010 23:30:55 +0000

Yesterday I convinced Parker that we needed to make a movie. He was not thrilled about it. Probably because he really didn’t know what he was getting into. After some arm twisting, I got him to agree.

In my garage, I have a coin-op arcade version of Street Fighter 2 Championship Edition. I spent hours on this machine, working on combos and special moves. I love this game.

Fortunately, Parker and Kent have picked up an appreciation for it (though they haven’t quite figured out how to do the special moves yet). Anyway, I thought it would be fun to make a SF2 movie. Since Kent expressed ZERO interested in dad’s crazy idea, I decided to just use Parker.

The following video is the result of a few quick takes and a couple of hours of editing. It’s VERY rough (bad green screen, line down the middle, etc.), but I want my boys to catch a glimpse of the potential of what we can do. I want them to explore their creative sides and expose them to the creative process in general (from concept to completion). The idea is that I’ll add more elements in the future (character select screen, life bars, timer, etc.) if they want to continue with it.

Anyway, here’s our first take: Parker Fighter 2 (Round 1)

(By the way, the image attached to this post is a super-rad abstract display of the characters in the game.)

Vacation Highlights

Erik — Mon, 09 Aug 2010 03:56:51 +0000

This past week, we joined some of our extended family for a few days of vacation in Utica, IL at Starved Rock. We stayed at Grizzly Jack’s Grand Bear Resort with an indoor water and amusement parks and did a little hiking at the state parks.

We had a great time of reconnecting with family and having some fun. We got lost in the woods, saw my niece takes some of her first steps and drove each other a bit crazy at times. Check out the highlights in the video below (or watch it on our youtube page).

Vacation to Starved Rock from Erik Scottberg on Vimeo.

By the way, the song in the video is “Lisztomania” by Phoenix. You can pick up their album at amazon.com.