Nui Organics

From a random conversation on a freezing cold Friday morning run with my usual Friday running pals, we ended up at an audition for an ad for this great little organic kids clothing company called Nui Organics.

My friend Liz had a friend Lauren who is a Freelance Copywriter/Creative Director, looking for kids to audition for the spot for Nui. Liz took a snap shot from her phone of my Instagram feed and sent it to her friend who added it to the pile of pictures she was taking and was meeting with the client (Nui) an hour from then.
Within the hour, I had head back from Lauren that the client loved the boys and were we available to come in for an audition the next Tuesday and if it worked out, were we also available on November 18 for the entire day to shoot?!?!?

.......yes??!!!?!?!

Tuesday morning we all got dressed and headed to the Arts + Labor office for the audition. I had no idea what to expect.

The office was really cool and hip, I felt totally out of place.  We were lead into this conference room with a handful of other people who I was briefly introduced to, and a camera.  They went over the piece with us quickly and introduced us to the woman who was auditioning to be the boys mother.
The idea was that Nui clothing is for little kids who don't stay that way for long, and natural clothing that grows with you.  They were hoping to show the passage of time through the different ages of each boy, but wearing the same top. Essentially, they were supposed to be the same child growing up.

It was weird, and awkward, and I was sweating like a man on fire.  It took some time for the boys to warm up to all the new faces and the new environment, not to mention the camera 3 feet from their faces.  They then brought in another mom for the part and she brought her 2 year old son to try out the part of the 2 year old as well.  Eli and Owen did OK.  It was extremely unnatural, and Eli was doing this weird thing with his face he does when he knows he is doing something silly, but it just looked weird considering where we were and considering that he actually was not doing anything silly.  Owen refused to smile and had the most serious face you could ask of him.  Cash started off doing great and being cute, but as soon as he realized what was happening he ran back to me and refused to do anything.  It was not until he saw the other 2 year old and must have known that they were "competing" for the part, and he ran up to the fake mom, gave her a big hug, his cutest smile and then pranced back over to me.

Right before we were going to leave they asked if I would try the part for the mom to see how natural the boys would be with their own mom. Sweat fest. I am no actress. I said 'ok' and got in the hot seat.

We were sent home with the outfit that was being used in the piece and told they would be in touch.

I honestly left thinking "well, that was a cool experience, that obviously did not go so well. But it was a random thing that kinda worked out for us to be there and not something we had all been dreaming of so it is totally OK that it isn't going to work out."

I literally walked in the door from the audition, and got a message saying that "the audition went really well", the boys did good and would I play the mother?

OK......we are actually doing this!

There was a lot of communication during the week leading up to the shoot.  Someone came to our house to take pictures to see if it would be a good set (it was not, thankfully), I talked with the wardrobe/set designer about all my clothes, they found a house we would be using for the day to shoot, I was in touch with the director, Yen, who also came out to our house to hang out with the boys so they would feel more comfortable around him, and I went over and over the script.
There was a lot of e-mails sent back and forth and I found myself getting really nervous.  Nervous about me having to act (I turn really shy in front of others and all the personality seems to drain out of my body when I am nervous), and about the boys doing what they were asked to do over and over again, and especially about Cash and them getting the shots of him and him cooperating.  He is really too young to get it, so I could try and explain it to him until I was blue in the face, but it would not have made any difference.

We talked to the boys about it a lot, and got them geared up for it.  We went over each of their scenes, and Blaine took them to the Lego store to pick out their set of choice they would get after it was all done if they were well behaved and did everything that was asked of them. I am not above bribery.  It was going to be a loooooong day and a lot asked of them.

They sent us home with the thermal set that was going to be used for the shoot, and for whatever reason, Cash was OBSESSED with this outfit and wore it every single day the entire week.  He slept in it, when he went to school, he wore his clothes over it, when it was time to wash it, he refused to wear anything else and ran around in his birthday suit until it was dry.  Her clothes are very high quality and soft, and 100% wool, not to mention adorable!

The day was finally here.  We took Eli to school as normal (he was shooting last) and I headed to the house with Owen and Cash.  My mom met us there to help me out while Blaine was not there and while I had Cash.  Blaine took off that day so he could pick Eli up early from school, bring him to the house, and then take Cash back home to nap and be with him the rest of the day.  We were scheduled for 9-5:30 that day.

As soon we got there, we were introduced to the whole crew. Everyone was scrambling around getting the house set up, the clothes steamed and ready to wear and getting the kids comfortable.  Everyone was so nice and accommodating and patient the entire day. As the morning rolled on before shooting, it seemed like more and more people kept coming in the the house and I was getting really nervous (3 camera guys, hair/make-up, set designer/wardrobe, the director, the creative director, Amanda the owner of Nui, Susan from Arts + Labor, the intern, and about 5 others who I have no idea what their job was).

This is Yen, the director, and Lauren, the amazing creative director.

We were able to hang out and get settled in before everyone was ready to start shooting. The house was amazing!  A little boy lived there so there was plenty to keep everyone entertained already there for us!

We decided it was best to do Cash's scene first before he became sleepy and ready for a nap. Thank goodness my mom was there. It was really hard to get him to sit in the bed by himself as the scene opened and waited for me to come into his room.  My mom stayed in the room with him and the camera guys and used some pretty slick ways to get him to stay in the bed and to look happy--hiding toys and fruit snacks in the covers, promising snacks "in just a minute," and acting silly.  It would not have happened without her help.  We had to do it over, and over and over again.  The director would promise "just ONE more time"---about 5 times its was the last time.  And then, he would want to do the whole thing from a different angle, just one time....yeah right.

Finally, Cash had had it! He started pointing to the door and saying "home, home, home, home." He eventually started crying when we tried again and he nuzzled into my neck when I picked him up. He was toast. So we let him go run around, and have some snacks and be done.  Finally Blaine got there, dropped off Eli, and took Cash home.  He texted me a picture of Cash passed out in his car seat 5 minutes after they left.

Owen was amazing the whole time we were filming Cash's scene. He hung out close by the cameras, played with Lauren,  and watched us.

He did awesome when it was his turn to shoot.  He got a little goofy and restless doing the same thing over and over again, but he rocked it!

When it was Owen's turn, Eli got to hang around and play, and came in to sneak a peak of us filming too.

 There really were no breaks the entire day that lasted more than a few minutes.  If we weren't filming, I was changing clothes or getting make-up fixed up. There was a set designer/wardrobe girl, and a make-up and hair person, Lucy, to take care of me.

Around 3:30 it was Eli's turn to shoot his scene.  While I was getting changed and ready, he already started filming the first part of his scene all by himself with the crew. You will have to excuse the pictures, I did not take a single picture the entire day, so these are all pictures I got from others.

Eli did awesome!  The outfit he wore was beyond adorable, and his scene was the most fun to shoot I thought.  I warmed up as the day went on and stopped being nervous.  We were all having so much fun the entire day that it really flew by.  There were a few times when the director would ask me to make a face that was bittersweet  or something like that and I would try and he would tell me,  "that was too happy, or you looked too sad, try it again." Lauren was amazing and I would ask her for examples, which was really helpful.  She also was amazing at entertaining the kids and helping out with the scenes when I was having to be in a different shot.
At the end of the day, we were all so happy to have spent the day with some really awesome people!

The commercial probably wont come out for a few months, but it was an amazing experience, and if anything else, we will have a cool video of me and the boys!

Owen passed out on the way home at 6pm, and Eli just barely kept his eyes open to make it home.  He knew that when he got home, Blaine was going to have his Lego set all ready for him.  Blaine stayed up late the night before putting together their sets so they would be ready to be played with.  Often, they do it together, but there was a special request that they be ready for them when they got home. They both chose Lego Movie sets.

Cash LOVES his Uncle Effie

When Rachel asked Cash to smile so she could get a picture him and Ethan, he put his arm around Ethan's neck and said "Eeeeeeeeese."

  I just can not get over those little fingers on Ethan's neck.

We are all so happy Ethan is in town for Thanksgiving!!!! He is the best!

Halloween Weekend

Halloween weekend was a wonderfully fun weekend!!!  The excitement leading up to it was uncanny!!!  Everyone was so, super excited.  We counted down the days, we played with our plastic pumpkins for the whole week leading up to it.....threw them down the stairs over and over, filled them with toys, fought over them, hit each other with them and cleaned them up too many times.
Friday morning Cash and I stuck around Owen's school (Cash stays home with me on Fridays) for their Costume Caper and little Halloween performance. I did not get a whole lot of pictures, just some video, so here are a few pictures the school took.
After the performance, all the classes went to each room and "trick-or-treated" for different little things with Halloween bags that had made in class earlier in the week. I was in charge of Owen's classroom.

That afternoon, I headed up to Kiker for Eli's class Fall Centers Party.  It was so fun to see all the kids interact with each other and to get to know more of the kids in his class.  This is Lyla with Eli, who he sits next to him in class.  She is precious and a little firecracker.

After school we went and picked up Jonah to spend the rest of the afternoon at our house because Becca had thrown her neck out and I wanted to give her a break and a chance to relax before Halloween. After all we do consider ourselves "Sister Wives" and love her kids like my own.

Later that afternoon, a few of our friends came over to play around in costumes, and eat an early dinner before we all headed out.

We tried, we really did, to get a picture of all the kids, this was the best we got.

Cash was supposed to be a UPS man but with his very specific sense of fashion, he was determined to be another superhero like his brothers.  At two years old, he always knows what he wants to wear (usually its swim trunks), and is extremely picky about everything he puts on.

When everyone had gotten their fair share of trick or treating we headed back to our house and everyone sorted through their candy. We went around to a ton of houses, ran into some friends and neighbors, and saw lots of scary decorations. It was really happening in our neighborhood.

Everyone left to head home just in the knick of time for the meltdowns!

Saturday morning I was up bright and early for a run, and then rushed back home to get ready for Eli's soccer game.  My mom and dad came to watch too, it was a great surprise!

I joked with my mom that she needs to be a poster child for hip replacements because she was up playing with the boys, kicking the ball back and forth with them and standing a ton just a few weeks after surgery!

After a crazy fun and long Friday night, and a fun soccer game, they came home and had a major post-Halloween crash!!!

On Sunday morning, (yes, Eli is still wearing his jersey, he insisted), we went to go visit my grandmother and grandfathers headstones.  They ask about Maw a lot, and still want to go to her house on the weekend, like we did a lot for the last 5 years.  We also pass the cemetery that is on the side of Mopac going to my parents house and they have been asking about it a lot lately.  I did my best to explain a cemetery in kid terms, but even that sounded weird when it actually came out of my mouth.....the whole thing about putting you in a box and buying you....it sounds weird, right? Eli was very curious about what happens to your bones after you die, he thought maybe everyone was dug up and their bones were sent to a museum! I tried to be as vague as possible while answering their questions.

The boys picked out special rocks from our yard and decorated them for us to take to leave on the headstones.  Eli also drew a little picture of him and Maw to take with him. In the Jewish religion, we take rocks and leave them there to show that we were there. Instead of flowers that will eventually die, the rock will always remain and symbolize permanance of memory and legacy. It was wonderful to see all the rocks around us.