The baby bump...25 weeks...and I popped!

Yep. I popped! I woke up one morning and there it was in all it's glory. A giant belly. I realize it's been a process but sometimes I look at myself and think, where did that come from?! The giant alien parasite is slowly taking over my body and transforming it into a life support for itself. I'm feeling very pregnant now! And still, 15 weeks to go. The second trimester just flew by...good thing because the first trimester took for-e-ver! I'm going to try and keep myself busy this summer to make time go by faster. Good thing we live by the beach. I'm sure we'll be going a few times a week. I'll need to be in a minimal amount of clothing if possible. I'm starting to get pregnant swollen kankles at the end of the day and pregnant face...my favorite. Oh wait, no, I take that back. My sciatica is my fav. It's really bad right now. This baby is literally a pain in the ass. Matt thinks we should name her sciatica as a punishment. I'm thinking about it. Overall, I am doing really well and starting to get excited for another cute little girl to join the fatgirl family compound. Here's wishing me luck in the third triemester. Ready or not, here it comes!

Bellylicous!

It's hard for me to be serious for very long. I had to get one of me looking as unattractive as possible.

The growth, up close!

Gotta love this one!

I remembered that face!

Max had a soccer game today and guess who we saw there?! The mystery celebrate that I couldn't figure out. His sons team was playing our team. Matt confirmed that I wasn't crazy and he is famous. His name is William Fitchner and he's in a ton of stuff. Armageddon, Crash, Prison Break, Nine lives, Pearl Harbor...just to name a few. It was nice to finally figure it out so I can get it off my mind. I'll never forget that name again. He's a great actor too.

(Just a side note for Tara. His sons name is Van. I thought of you every time he cheered for him:)

Going all brown, violin, soccer and dance

Ok, let's start this blog with a bang! Matt was going to work this week and I wouldn't let him leave the house until I took a picture of him. He came out of the bedroom and said bye to me and was wearing all brown. What? What are you wearing?! He announced that he was "going all brown" today. Whatever that means. Anyway, it was dorky enough that I had to capture the moment. I love that he let me. At least he fits in in the film industry with all the other I-could-care-less-what-my-clothes-look-like crowd. (The middle of his shirt is wet, I know, that's how he irons it.)

Max had his first violin performance today. He did very well and has been playing the violin now for two months. He played twinkle twinkle. I'll post the video footage as soon as I get a chance so grandmas and grandpas can see it. But for now, here he is looking terribly bored!


Max is playing indoor soccer. I know every parent thinks their kids are amazing but I have to say I might beat you all on this one. He rocks! He really is so good and I would like to credit myself but I think it's something he was born with. He's always been extremely coordinated. He has had two games so far and has scored 4 goals EACH game. I captured a free kick he made. (someone fouled him in the box) Sorry the images aren't that great, I had to zoom in and I don't have the best camera for catching things in action.

Before the goal. Coach telling him what to do.

Here goes!

Right in the corner! Goal keeper didn't have a chance!


And lastly, Mia just started a dance class two weeks ago. She loves it! She's in the class with her friend Grace and they can hardly contain themselves. They break out into their own routine and dance together once in awhile. They can't help it, it's too fun! We just think she's so cute in her ballet outfit.
The curse of the Fackrell posture!


What a nice big brother. She makes him dance with her all the time and he HATES IT...but still does it.

Kids don't get any cutter then this!

RED MUSIC VIDEO

So the music video for the band "RED," is finally finished. It was for Epic Records, so Nathan and I had a pretty decent budget to work with. We went all out with special effects on this and it was a pain in the butt, but totally well worth it. I have some behind the scene photos below of the production. We shot it in two days and it took a little over two weeks to do the special effects, which we're done by a team of twin brothers. It was really crazy that Nathan and I are twins, the bassist and guitarist of the band are twins, the drummer is a twin and the guys who did the visual effects are twins. Stupid twins :) Click on the photos below to see them as a larger image. It was a lot of fun to do this video. It was the first time Niki had ever been on one of my film sets and it was a lot of fun having her there and to see how it all happens.

Below is the lead singer, Michael. This is where something starts to grow on his arms. In the back you see part of the set.


Here are the producers, and the band with Nathan and I.


Me with one of the visual effects twins going over what special effects will happen during this shot.


Nathan and I talking with Micheal about the band performance. The walls are green in the background so we can add whatever we want with special effects.




This is a wide photo of the set we had built for the video. The set designers put this up in one day. It started out as 5 blank walls until they made it to what it looks like here.


This is Maria the female lead. Again, behind here is the greenscreen background which was later replaced with a white heavenly background.


Wide photo of the some of the crew filming the band.


Some of the film crew


Below is a link of a Youtube video someone put together of the filming days:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5fiaSQFeL6Q

Here are some stills taken from the actual video:






And finally here is the link to the actual video:

www.thevaultla.com

When you get to the link, click "Directors," at the top left of the page. "The Fackrell Brothers," will appear at the far right. Click on this link and it will take you to our page where you can view our recent work. Be sure to click "RED, Already Over," and you will be able to see the video. You can also go to:

http://www.thefackrellbrothers.com/videos/RED/RED_CC_CLEANLg_Prog.mov
to get a better quality version of the video.

Nathan and I are directing two more videos within the next month. We wrote two more treatments that we're waiting to hear back on. (NOTE) A music label like Epic Records or Warner Brothers will send a company (like the one were signed to, The Vault LA) a song from a band they want a music video made for. We will listen to the song, and write what's called a "treatment," or our idea of what we want to do with the video. Usually for Nathan and I the treatments we write are around four pages long. This tells the music label what our video will be like, what it will look like, feel like and make the band look like. Usually were in the running for the video with around a dozen other directors writing ideas and such. So it's great when they "award," us the video because they liked our idea the best. So anyway, we were awarded two more videos and we're waiting to hear back on two more, both with a lot of money to work with. Currently I have written a script and will be directing that episode for the television show "Yo Gabba Gabba," for Nickelodeon. The band "Mates of State," will be on the show and I have the great pleasure of directing them in a music video for the show. More info will follow within the coming weeks.

www.yogabbagabba.com

Why my kids are crazy!!!

My kids are what the average person would call "high energy." By the end of the day I feel like I've taken a sleeping pill and can't keep my eyes open. They wear me out! I captured the tail end of what I like to refer to as "why they are the way they are." So, if you too were wondering where my kids get their insanity from, let your wonders cease. This is living proof.

My scrapbooking IQ=0

So there seems to be a billion creative people out there and I'm not one of them. I have been trying to figure out how you do those cute pages on your blogs. They're all so cute. You know who you are! How do you do them? I'm so not scrapbook savvy and I don't have a lot of time to sit and work on it. My life is too busy to spend 2 hours on one page. I need to learn the digital thing. First of all, is it quick? And secondly, do I have to be computer savvy? I'm still trying to figure out how to work my blog page. Sigh! I know...it's sad!

Where is the time going?

The past few days I have been feeling a need for more time! I want everything to slow down so I can enjoy life more. I see my adorable kids growing up so fast right before my eyes and I wonder how much of it am I missing? I want to spend more time with my husband. I want my dishes and laundry to clean themselves. My bills to be magically paid. And come home every night to a warm meal on my table that some fairy made for us. I'd rather be at the park flying a kite and enjoying more family time. It's a struggle to find time to do everything I want to do and everything I need to do. I'm constantly reminding myself to try and enjoy everyday. The only explanation for dealing with all of this is to hire a maid, a cook and an accountant. That's not happening anytime soon. How do I juggle all of this? Oh no, I'm pregnant and totally nesting! Now that I think about it, all I need is a magic lamp to rub and three wishes to grant myself. Why didn't I think of that before? Problem solved! :)