Playing with my new toy.

December was filled with dentist appointments and doctor appointments as we tried to fit as much in as we could before the insurance deductibles reset on January 1st. Somehow we managed to get Christmas shopping done too. Mom and Dad came down for the extended weekend. We had a good time despite half of us being sick with a really nasty chest cold. I am on the tail end of it now and Nuan is in the middle of it. We are really hoping that the kids don't catch it. It was a Wii Christmas for the kids. They got a console, a few Wii-motes, and nunchucks and some games. They also got a Wii-Fit which we all like, despite the fact that it called us fat and clumsy within the first few minutes. Well, it called me fat and clumsy, it told Nuan and the kids they were just clumsy. For Christmas, my lovely wife gave me a flash for my camera. These are pictures I took the next day with it.

Kindergarten Christmas program.

Here are some pictures of Natasha performing in the Christmas program her teacher organized. It was a very nice treat for us parents and I really appreciate the work that Mrs. Armstrong put into it. You can click here if you want to view all 13 photos.

I Can Explain!!

Last weekend I took some more pictures of the kids holding the signs. It is funny how they can make sad faces and michievous grins really well, but once the camera is pointed at them all they can do is smile, unless of course I ask them to smile. Then they start looking at me like they are constipated.



We also took a family picture last weekend. It took me a while to balance everything out so the Christmas lights were glowing and we were visible. I think it was worth the effort. If you want to see the rest of the pictures you can click here.

Thanksgiving.

We went to Nampa for Thanksgiving this year. It was nice to see everyone. While there we played some Wii. Nuan and I had sore arms the next day. It was a lot of fun. I did a family portrait for the Trowells while I was there too. We used a king size sheet for the background and my Nikon speedlights and umbrellas for light. Could of used another flash for Alex's hair to separate it from the background but those things don't grow on trees :-)

Nemo.

Today J had a Doctor appointment. We had to wait for a long time in the lobby so I took some pictures of the fish in the aquarium. They have it stocked like the aquarium in Finding Nemo.

J's Karate tournament.

Today I took J to a karate tournament. He won the gold medal in the Kata or form competition and he won the silver in the Kumite or sparring competition. That was very good since he had to do two rounds of two fights with only one short break in between. That left him very tired for the final match. The other kid had only fought once. Most of the action shots I took were blurry because they were moving really fast and there wasn't much light in the gym. Here is a shot of J being awarded his medals.

Portrait of J and Natasha.

Today I took a portrait of the kids. It turned out about as good as I could do it with just one flash.



We also did some fun ones. J's didn't turn out, so I will have to do a re-take another day. Here are some of Natasha.

Bouncing Off The Walls.

Natasha was invited to a birthday party at Bouncing Off The Walls.  I was going to take J with me to run some errands but the birthday Mom invited J to stay and play.  I grabbed a few pictures of the kids while they were there. Click the picture to see it in actual size.

Mean ol' witch with a hat.

I bet you are glad you didn't run into this scary witch on Halloween!

J's poem.

J has been asking me to help him set up a blog for a while. He had one before when we had .mac accounts but why pay $200 for something you can get for free, right? J chose mrsmileydude for his blog name, you can read his blog at mrsmileydude.blogspot.com.

Hey J, don't spend it all in one place.

So J has been doing some babysitting for us and we paid him some money. Naturally, it was burning a hole in his pocket so he accompanied us to Wal-Mart. They were out of the toy he wanted. I told him that since Christmas is coming up they will probably have more next week so maybe he should wait until then. He just looked at me like I was crazy and decided to get a bigger one.
J isn't particularly fond of math, so I am always looking for practical applications for things he is learning. On the way home our conversation went something like this:
Me: So, J how much do you have left on your prepaid card?
J : Uh, 15.72 minus uh...
Me: Hey, you know you could use estimation to figure that out, you know what you learned in school a few weeks ago.
J : Uh-huh.
Me: What is it called when you chop off the last few digits of the numbers?
J : Front end estimation.
Me: Yeah, if you use that technique then it is easy to do in your head.
J : Uh-huh.
Me: So that leaves you with about 5 dollars right?
J : Uh-huh.
Me: See, there is a real use for math in your daily life.
J : Uh-huh.
Me: Wouldn't your teacher be so happy if she knew you are using what you learn?
J : Uh-huh.
Me: Are you even listening to me?
J : Uh-huh.
Me: Then what did I just say?
J : Uh-huh.
Me: See, you aren't even listening to me.
J : Yeah I was.
Me: Then what did I just say?
J : Oh, you said I shouldn't spend all my money at once and I should save it up for something big I want to buy.

He was so busted, Nuan and I just burst out laughing. He decided to torment his sister with his new toy.

October

So now October is in the rearview mirror.  J's big accomplishment is that he passed the test for his full greenbelt in Karate.  His Grandparents were in town that weekend so they got to see his test.  I am always impressed when I watch him, there is a noticeable difference between him and the other kids, even the ones who are higher belts than he is.  So here are a few pictures from his test.

After the Karate test we all went up the canyon and took some pictures.  Here are some of the better ones.

Of course I can't forget about Halloween.  We took the kids down to a different neighborhood where one of J's friends live.  It was nice walking around with them.  Of course the kids had a blast.  Natasha couldn't carry all of her candy so she offloaded it into our coat pockets.  Before we went out I took a few pictures, so here they are.

Natasha the painter

Sunday Natasha decided it was painting time, so she got out all the paints and made some art. It worked out OK because J cleaned up the mess. I almost threw away the paintings on Monday but paused for a moment to look at them. I asked what they were of and she gave the following descriptions: “The first one is a monster, the second one, I don’t know what it is but it was just something I needed to paint. The third one is me, and the last one is a rock.” They are proudly displayed on the closet door now which is the best I could do for a formal gallery. Yes, the outside of the cloeset!