Merry Christmas (Post Robot Apocalypse) 2008!

Merry Christmas from the Gomm family!

We decided that this year we would perform our favorite Post Robot Apocalypse Christmas song as our holiday greetings! Turn up your volume, press play, and start cringing!




This is a song by our family's favorite artist Jonathan Coultan. Click here for the lyrics.
You can download the mp3 of the OreGomm version of this timeless Christmas classic here.

We wish everyone a:

Merry Christmas,
Happy Hanukkah,
Killer Kwanzaa,
Super Sweet Solstice, and
Happy New Year!

Happy Birthday Yesterday!

My Dad's birthday was yesterday and so here are the Oregomms performing their rendition of Happy Birthday Grandpa. Only the cute Gomms were featured in the video portion but we're all singing (in other words, if you turn on the volume, you've been warned).





Due to me being technically challenged when it comes to internal usb issues on our linux machine I'm a day late. Due to the economy I'm also a dollar short but then again, aren't we all? Happy Belated Birthday Dad!

Picture Day!

When Random was born we looked at our brand new baby boy with his giant blue hands, gorilla shaped head and male-pattern baldness and had the following conversation: "Holy smokes." "Well, hopefully he'll have a great personality."

Not even a day had gone by, while we were still in shock at the wonder of new parenthood, when we received our first order form for professional pictures. It even had a note addressed to Mommy and Daddy from our brand new baby. "I know you want to share your joy with grandma and grandpa, aunts and uncles, doctors and postmen. Please buy some pictures so that I know you love me. If you really really love me I know you'll buy the photo sweatshirt and keyring as well. -Your Baby"

So we bought the photos. They put our child on top of a frightening background, laid an even more frightening vest atop him and snapped pictures while he laid there stunned and bruised.

Here we are, 10 years and 2 kids later. Luckily, they have cutened up a bit since day 2. And, not so luckily, we still get the forms home with the same plea--you love your child and surely want to capture this moment forever. We still get the same frightening background--although now we can choose between a variety of unflattering colors. We still get the same weird scrunched up face--Scout said, "Don't worry Mommy. I smiled my biggest. Like a pirate."

And yet, I still buy them because-- Yes. I love my crazy pirate faced kids and I do want to capture every moment forever. Even the moments with the abnormal head tilt, magenta background and creepy hair slicked down by the overeager PTA volunteers.

Another one of those things to put in the category with double sided wrapping paper, heelies (you know, those wheeled shoes that cost a bajillion bucks that you bought for your kid after all the begging but that he grew out of before he got over his irrational fear of wheeled shoes--feel free to substitute skateboard, blendypens, MioPup, Moon Sand or any other thing that cost a fortune, was imperative that they have and was discarded five minutes later) and ballet classes. In twenty years it probably won't matter but for now you just do the best you can.

The activist inside of me wants to lobby against picture day as an unfair practice of preying on the guilt of parents. The capitalist inside of me wants to figure out how I can hop on this gravy train...if you love your child you would certainly take advantage of this once in a lifetime business opportunity.

Random's Birthday Bash!

Random turned 10 on May 2nd but we just had his birthday party on Friday. He's a Legend of Zelda freak (video game first released in 1986 but frequently sequeled. Most recently reincarnated as The Legend of Zelda: Phantom Hourglass for the Nintendo DS in 2007) so we thought we'd center his party on that theme.

For the invitations I printed up these covers, made game inserts that restated all the information (time, place, rsvp etc) and put together an official party soundtrack (music from all the past Zelda games in orchestral form, techno remix and original midi glory). There was a big stir when Rand showed up at school with a big pile of Wii games and started handing them out. The case is modeled after the most recent Zelda game for the Wii...Twilight Princess.

Troy and I (also big Zelda fans) reviewed what we knew about Link (the hero) and modeled the party games after a Hero of Hyrule Training Session. We shot nerf arrows through targets (thanks to my Dad for holding them...and taking more than a few arrows to various body regions), threw boomerangs to see how far they could go (marking spots with pieces of the triforce with the boys names on them), used slingshots to take out the gold skulltulas (taped to balloons of different heights), fought deku babas with swords (blue & purple balloons of different heights with chompy mouths taped onto them...thanks to my mom for jumping in and blowing up more when they started popping) and broke pots (carried waterballoons over our heads and popped them on the ground).

We gave the kids rupees based on how well they did at the games and then they were able to buy prizes at the Hyrule Market (boxes of dollar store junk on the middle table). They were all excited to have their chance to buy but I realized I should have gotten more squirt guns and potty putty (you don't want to know).

We ate hoagies & chips, drank soda and ate cake (Hylian Shield shaped...that's the shield Link uses). We opened presents and then let the kids run around, replay whatever games they wanted to (bow & arrow was the biggest hit) and play with their prizes.

We hit a few snags along the way (100 degree weather, extra friends, razor sharp unmowed grass that kept popping the balloons, my inability to yell louder than 14 8-10 year olds) but with all the hard work from my mom & dad (thank heavens they were there!), Savannah & Scout (I owe them an ice cream cone!), Shannon & Wyatt's Moms (I can't remember their names but they were GREAT!), and the back breaking labor of Troy I think the kids all had a good time.

For Posterity: Bubbles and Showers

I've decided that there are a couple of things I need to make sure are recorded...you know...for posterity...and lots of laughs/blackmail fodder once the kids are parents.

I suspect this will be a recurring topic. :-)

Scout: When will we be able to blow bubbles inside the house?
Amanda: Umm...Hmm...Never.
Scout: When I'm a grown up and I have my own house my kids can blow bubbles inside all the time.

Random: I'm never going to make my kids take showers on their birthday.

He's TEN!

Random finally hit double digits. Much to our chagrin. It gets harder and harder to convince ourselves we're still 22 when he keeps getting older!

Random had a spectacular day. He requested scrambled eggs, sausage, muffins and chocolate milk for breakfast. We brought donuts and rootbeer to his classroom for a special treat. Troy kidnapped him and took him to lunch at Chili's and then out to see Nim's Island. They went over to the Lego Store, picked up their first Lego Mindstorm's kit and wandered for a little bit around Oregon Scientific before coming home.

We went to the store and had a hotly contested scavenger hunt/race to pick up the last few items for our picnic dinner. We drove out to Champoeg park for some flame-broiled burgers, potato salad and a few presents. While we were there we were harassed by a couple of squirrels and had a lot of fun chasing them off. Random got a nerf gun, a scooter and of course, a helmet. Champoeg was the perfect place for skooter-izing with its paved pathways and huge empty parking lots. After dinner and clean-up we went back home for the last few presents and Triforce cake (that's from The Legend of Zelda for you video game noobs). Troy and Random spent a little time building a basic robot with their Mindstorm kit and Random got to play a little of his new Pokemon DS game before bed.

When we were out at the park Random took the camera around and shot a lot of really great pictures. The images in the slideshow (without him in it) are mostly his work. Troy and I were impressed with his natural sense of composition.

Yo-Yo Gomm Strikes Back

After Random's Fall Concert he was promoted to advanced strings. We were so proud! His rehearsal schedule was switched from Tuesdays and Wednesdays at 7:15 to Wednesdays and Thursdays at 7:15. You can see how that would be quite an adjustment to our lives. :-P

He has been practicing regularly and seems to enjoy his 'jam sessions'. One of these days we might get him to practice his assignments but for now watching him having so much fun and explore the joy of musical expression is good enough for me.

His Spring Concert was last night at 7:30. All of the elementary students and beginning strings from the middle schools for the entire district played together. It was an army of string players and was given even more bulk with the teachers playing piano, drum set and guitar. It really was a phenomenal sight and an even more phenomenal sound. You haven't lived until you've heard 100 beginning string players wail out Twinkle Variations with drum set accompaniment.

They also performed a version of Beethoven's Ode To Joy. I've heard this tune plenty of times voiced in many different ways. This is the one that makes me smile the biggest. Not only is Random sawing away in the front row with great feeling and gusto, it's got a rockin' drum beat! Beethoven and high-hat...does it get any better?

We had to get home and get our kids to bed so we were unable to see the rest of the groups play but next time we'll try to plan better so Random can stay and hear the older kids. There was a huge improvement between Fall and Spring and I'm sure the High Schools would have been inspirational for him.

In lieu of hearing the high schools perform, Troy loaded up our computer with buckets of Yo-Yo Ma and we've been rocking out to his tangos all day. The cello is really a gorgeous instrument...too bad it doesn't have a double reed. hehe

Pinewood Derby - Resistance is FUTILE!

Wow, Pinewood Derby. What an intense, agonizing roller coaster of excitement, despair, and 2nd degree burns.

Last year, Random had a very cool Lego Brick car. It was very authentic-looking and very slow. This year Random's goal was to have a car that didn't finish last in every race! Physics time! I sat down with Random, and we talked about what could make the car accelerate, what would make it slow down, and what would keep it going. We picked where the center of gravity should go, and how to get it there - we also picked the best spot for the wheels. Last, Random listed out everything we needed to do to finish the car:



So, we worked hard on a car, only to discover at the last minute that it had been ASSIMILATED!!!!

Random's been watching a lot of Star Trek: Voyager lately, and he decided that his Pinewood Derby car needed to be a Borg cube. This normally wouldn't be a problem, but ALL of our tools are in Michigan! How do you build a Borg Cube wooden car with only a drill and plastic picnic cutlery?!

Xerox to the rescue! My job is tight! ... off the hook! ... "money!" (as the cool kids are apparently saying now). We have an amazing prototype shop and the engineers can use it for personal projects. So I took the Pinewood Derby kit to work on Saturday, and carved it up on a 3-axis mill. I cut it to shape, drilled new axle holes, bored out some pockets for weights and electronics, cut up some scrap sheet steel for weights, and cut a scrap circuit board to fit on top.

Here's all the bits:


We all decided that any Borg Cube worth its salt needs a creepy green glow. So I sat down with the kids and we talked about circuits, batteries, parallel vs. series, etc. Random and Savannah drew up a circuit diagram and I soldered together some thin batteries, a high-intensity green LED, and a switch to give the car "Sweetest Ground Effects." We assembled everything and glued it together with some major adhesive.


We ground all the axles and wheels (to reduce friction), and Amanda glued them in. Amanda and Random did some great painting and dry-brushing and we had our intimidating Borg Cube!


So it looks good, but can it race? Here's the first race of the evening:

So Random won nearly all of his races and he had a great time!

One more Pinewood Derby down. I wonder what we'll do for next year?!

Valiant

Yesterday Rand came running back home in tears. He had been playing with friends outside after school and I thought he had been hurt. I met him on the stairs and he broke out in loud sobs as he hugged me. "My feelings are hurt," was all he said.

I took him inside and we sat in my bedroom for a few minutes to talk about what happened. The thing that was the most painful for me to hear were his first words. "It was Tyler and Kyle," was all he said but the look of betrayal on his face was clear. These two boys are his buddies, his pals, his chums. They're the boys he plays with at home when he's not forced to play with kids in his own class, his sisters or someone else I've brought over. His voice was strained and he sounded like even he couldn't believe that those two had done whatever it was to him.

I asked what they did and his tears renewed. After a few moments he was calm enough to talk and told me the story.

Our family has really clear media guidelines. Random isn't allowed to watch PG-13 movies (or Rated R movies), the shows he watches on TV have to be seen by Troy or I and approved and he isn't allowed to play Rated T or M video games. He's said before that he's the only kid ALIVE (yes he can be dramatic) that doesn't think South Park, Family Guy and the Simpsons aren't meant for kids. His friends know about these rules mostly because they've invited him over for some PG-13 fun and Rand has told them he won't participate.

So Random was out playing with Kyle and Tyler. They play rowdy boy games all the time. Most of the time it's a mix between Star Wars and "War." Yesterday they were playing as usual and Kyle invited Rand over to play a Rated M video game. Random told him no and they started to tease him. They called him names and didn't relent until he finally left in tears.

It would have been so easy...and so much easier...if he had just gone over to Kyle's house and played the game but he didn't. I was so impressed with his determination to obey and how unyielding he was in the face of some pretty aggressive peer pressure.

Not everyone shares our standards for media and that's fine. I think everyone understands the principle of drawing a line in the sand. That's what we've done with our family. We've simply said, here is where we will not go. We talk about it as a family a lot and use this as a metaphor for teaching our children to have integrity and make firm moral decisions in all areas of life.

In our church, the youngest children's classes are named CTR and then have a number corresponding to the childrens' ages. The CTR stands for 'Choose The Right' and here they learn basic principles of faith, who Jesus Christ is and God's plan for us. After they have been baptized, the names of the classes change. Now instead of being a "CTR" they are called Valiant. Valiant is a word I associate with warriors and people much older than Rand. People who stand against mighty trials and come off conqueror despite overwhelming discouragement.

For a 9 year old, or even a 39 year old, what can be more discouraging than standing before people you respect and have them point and laugh at you for your beliefs? Imagine trying to explain, then trying to change the subject, then just trying to get away all while the taunts and the jeers are getting louder and more bold.

I associate the word Valiant with warriors. Now I associate it with Random. I know as he gets older, the battles will get more intense and his enemies more subtle but after yesterday, I'm confident that he'll be ok.

Christmas at the Gomms'

Merry Christmas!

This year we're living the college lifestyle -- we're in a small 2-bedroom apartment furnished in an eclectic hand-me-down style (we call it vagrant-chic). Due to the lack of floor space, we decided to go with 2D decorating! The whole family had a lot of fun coloring and cutting out the Christmas tree as well as decorating it.

Savannah and Scout sculpted the star out of salt dough and painted it gold.

Since Santa needed a way to deliver presents, we had to make a fireplace too:Amanda hooked up a couple of strings of flashing lights to make the fire look ever so cozy.

We had a lot of fun during the vacation. We made lots of candy (fudge, caramels, divinity, and lots of cookies). I totally recommend this caramel recipe if you need a reason to gain a few delicious pounds.

We also tried making snowmen out of marshmallows, melted almond bark, and cocktail stirrers. They ended up looking nice but tasting a little too almond barky.


Now that we're in Oregon we've made a new tradition of having a Christmas hike! It rained during most of the week of Christmas, so we finally just went and hiked in the rain. It was a lot of fun! We went to Hebb Memorial Park (pretty close to where we live). Part of the park was flooded, but we were the only ones there and had a BLAST hiking through the woods! Yay Oregon!

One last thing, my brother David sent us a really cool stained glass snowflake for Christmas! He has his own stained glass studio here.


We put it up in the window and I think it brought us some luck - it snowed for a few hours on Christmas (our first snow of the year)!

Yo-Yo Gomm

Random has been playing the cello now for 3 months. He has rehearsals every Tuesday and Thursday mornings at 7:20 which is quite early for all of us. He practices regularly and loves to whip out his cello for all the people who come to visit.

Last week we finally got to see him perform! As you can see from this picture he's the Principal Cellist of the Boeckman Creek Primary School Beginning Orchestra. WOOHOO!

The concert was combined with the Middle School and High school orchestras. The Middle School sounded a lot like the elementary school but without the muting power of parental pride. The High School was pretty impressive although Troy and I were confronted with our age when the boy we thought was some polite and helpful student when we saw him in the hallway turned out to be the director.

Random did really great and Troy and I gained a new appreciation for our parents who sat through years and years and years...and years of these fine performances. All I can say is, Mom, Dad, thank you and I'm sorry. :)

Halloween 2007

Now that it's December I think it's finally time to take the lid off of the closely guarded Gomm Halloween photos!

This was our first Halloween in Oregon and it was great! Last year (in Michigan) we had to all wear thick coats and drive around trick-or-treating in a nice warm car. The temperature here was GREAT and there were plenty of autumn leaves swirling around to make it very spooky.


Scout dressed as a fairy princess, Savannah was an über-goth vampire, and Random was Link. The fabulous Link costume was tailored by Grandma Bryan!

I wore my warmest shirt which doubled as my costume. In case you're curious I'm a Totoro from Tonari no Totoro - a great Japanese movie. (By the way, I highly recommend all films by Hayao Miyazaki).

At the first door, Scout came running back to Amanda with wide eyes saying, "Mommy! They gave us CANDY!!" The kids all had a lot of fun and scored about 13 tons of candy. By the end of the evening, Scout was so tired she couldn't hold her bucket anymore. All the sugar lasted them until mid-November.

Happy Halloween!

Our Trip to the Pacific Ocean

Gomms Go Pacific

Saturday, September 8, 2007

Saturday morning Troy and I decided we probably ought to get out the ocean before it got too late in the year and the weather went south for the winter. It turned out to be a lot of fun and pretty memorable for our family.

The water was FREEZING cold but we had fun running from the waves, flying kites and finding smelly things on the beach.

One thing we realized as we plunged our feet into the water...aside from what an ice cream headache in your toes feels like...is that Random and Savannah are now Coast-to-Coast travelers!

Next time we'll try to remember our thermal wet suits and hot cocoa ^^