Lack of color but not a lack of lighting

Tonight I took pictures for the Christmas cards that we are sending out. I borrowed some flashes and radio transmitters from Corey to help with the lighting (wanna give it the P-R-O feel) and they came out "technically" good. Garrett's mood sort of shit the bed when the camera would come out, so we have an interesting offering for the family. If it isn't one thing, it is another. At least the flashes fired.

So since I had the set up, I decided to play a little. The Nikon has some nice in-camera settings for black and white shots, so I gave it a try. I think they came out okay!

The SFA is always down to be photographed...




Then I wrapped it up by blinding myself!


My ribs hurt.

Fake plastic trees

Thanksgiving came and went. This was not my year with my little ones, but we still had the biggest little one (Pho) so there was at least a modicum of child like wonder. Mica made a delicious spread...I mean she took it out of the park (to borrow some baseball) and I am still fat because of it.

She made this awesome apple/raspberry pie that, due to the coloring from the raspberries, fooled her mom into thinking that it was a pie made from ham. Her parents spent some time in Alaska, so maybe the same magic that gifts Sarah Palin at times rubbed off on Mrs. Johnson. Maybe not.

The offending and delicious pie...


I took this picture of Mica a last week and noticed that she looked like a "Real Doll". All kinds of jokes in this...


I had to go meet Garrett's mom last night to pick him up. The drive was atrocious, the weather was wild and Tennessee was losing to Gonzaga. Once Garrett got home and into his jammies, he found joy in looking at himself on a Mac iSight camera.

After this, there was a comedy of errors involving Star Wars Episode 2 and the Spanish language. Eventually Lilo and Stitch saved the night and Garrett got some sleep.

The house is nearly finished with its Christmas decor. As soon as the weather lets up, I am venturing out to the roof to play with lights and electricity. We have a massive fake tree, but this little guy caught my eye...

Stockings were hung by the...uh...wall with care.


The brothers bedlam seem to enjoy the tree...


Anna made it back from Mississippi in one piece and decided to carb load since I can only assume that she ate nothing other than slaughtered pig product in the deep south.


Finally, the end. I got a haircut, by the way. And I got an A on my last English paper. None of this keeps me from making internet religious extremists mad at me, so I am toying with the idea of making my own message board. More to come on this at a later date...

More BMX on the next go.

Embrace the chaos.

It's 5 against 1. The one has given up trying to bend the world to his ways and has instead chosen to flow with the world's ways. I think this is going to net a much better result.

I took Pho to the skatepark. He dropped in first try...like it was nothing! So proud of that guy. He struggles with life sometimes, but I think he is just looking for something to anchor himself with.


Garrett learned to pedal a bike the other day. Saturday to be precise. This is not a picture of that event. This is him playing with a doll house. We pick our spots...


Ocean sticks his tongue out of his mouth so much that he gave himself a raw spot on his lip.


Anna is going to Mississippi for Thanksgiving. I will miss her dearly. For the record, Jackson, MS is a poop hole.


We got a new table. Well, actually it is a really old table, but new to me. Yay for retro styling. All I need now are some chunky plastic glasses, a scraggly beard and a fixie and I am the bane of bmxboard.


I do really like the table, though.

Wonderful pic of Mica. Very early. We got awakened by kids too early on Saturday. Damn it.

Kidsplosion.

Eras are ending. Though the economic crisis continues to draw breath, I am oddly calm. I think things are very much on the verge of getting a lot better. I imagine this is what it was kind of like for people in concentration camps that could hear the Allies getting closer...

Kind of. I know that is a pretty dramatic comparison, but these are dramatic times. We had been led quite astray as a nation.

Though polar bears are cannibalizing themselves, it is very cold here in Tennessee. One of the things about global warming that people (and by people I mean conservative retards) fail to understand is that it doesn't mean that it will warm up everywhere. Just because it is cold here doesn't mean it is cold there. And global warming will cause the weather to get a little wonky. But what do I know? I am not even a college graduate.

Speaking of cold and here...Corey and I braved the elements and slight flurry activity to ride the park on Sunday morning. That did not last long.


Kidsplosion.

There are many children scattered about in my family.

My son...who ironically uses my bike as a fingerboard obstacle...


My daughter...who because she is my daughter is doomed to look like a muppet. At least she looks like one of the cool ones...


My niece Ella, who has apparently removed my son from first place on the list of "kids with eyes so blue, Superman weeps".


Aidan, who just showed up to the party and has no idea what in the hell he has stepped into...


Not pictured, Grace, who was crying because water is made from hydrogen and two oxygen molecules; Phoenix who was sitting in his underwear someplace; Ocean, who was probably telling anyone who would listen that he can jump into outer space and Madison, who got too close to the lens for it to focus properly.

I like this picture of Mica. She is my little "LillyAllenMegRyanPaigeDavis" funball and I love her...


This is a horrible picture of me. Do I need a haircut?

The photographer's curse...

I find that I am not seen in many of the events of my family's life...because I am usually the one documenting it. This is okay with me, it's part of the job, I suppose. I guess in the end, I have the master copies of the memories that I capture. Take that!

Aidan William joined the party yesterday. 8 pounds 1 oz. of pure baby awesome. He reminded me of my great grandmother...



Dad's don't get enough pop on days like this. So props to my brother-in-law who helped make the little guy...


Aidan joins a family festooned with women. He will undoubtedly seek solace in his uncle Stephen...


Planets aligned?


And for Mica...my Christmas list...

50mm goodness
black pedals please
cranks in black
vans size 12
T shirts. I trust your judgement. (Terrible One)
A belt.
Because you love me

HOPE FLOATS.

Rather impressive evening.

Pho went as a victim for Halloween...


Mica was Medusa...and I would totally risk turning to stone...


I worked a lot this past weekend. The new job has a lot of different challenges to it, but I enjoy the work. I like making dialtone happen. I did manage to ride Sunday, despite working until 4 am Sunday morning. I am pretty sure I rode like garbage, but I still had a good time. The sensor on the camera is dirty as the back of a Mandarin House...so much so that I am not sure that there is enough spot removal power in Photoshop to fix it. I'd like a new camera.

John blasting in the bowl...

Boo for Boo at the Zoo.

It sucked. It gets worse and worse every year. I wanted to take the kids to something Halloween related since this is not my year for tricks and treats. Garrett was a dragon, though he insisted that he was, in fact, a dinosaur. Anna was Fonzie's date and Ocean was Crystal Lake's favorite son.

Shit for candy.

Garrett screamed like a demon.

I got stuck in a child play obstacle and wanted to kill Mica.

Other than that, it was a blast.

Ocean looking to carve a backwards "O" on someone's face. Oops!


Garrett and Ocean seem like they are meeting to discuss how the neighborhood will be divided under their regime...


Shout! Shout! Shout! Shout at the shitty candy!


Kids...