Halloween II

I figure since there were nearly a dozen Halloween movies, I could make a sequel to my previous post on Halloween. Now I have pictures.

Here are the boys all dressed up. The Mugwump is an explorer. He has a GPS, an exploring bag and hat. Six-Pence is a cowboy, and Jaguar is a frog.
So they were all looking at Mom instead of the photographer, but that's OK. That was better than we've done in the past.
Six-Pence looked distraught that when he found his horse dead on the ground. OK, I don't know what happened here, but I think the horse looks dead and think it's a funny.

The boys went trick-or-treating at the nursing home (it's a tradition we really like). The residents love seeing kids and the boys get to do service. They also don't get gobs of candy and it's a nice protected environment. I think it works out well. After the nursing home, we had time to go up the canyon and play in the leaves and take a few pictures.

Here they are:
I just think that's a good picture of Six-Pence. My wife takes good pictures.

That is the Mugwump sliding down the hill that he had just climbed up and explored.

And that is Six-Pence making a goofy face. He's good at those.

Family pictures

We were taking some pictures and rather than just posting the good photos, I thought it would be interesting to post some sequences of photos along with the dialogue that was going on at the time.

--Hey boys, sit on the pile of corn stalks and smile!!

Mugwump, you were supposed to be on the corn stalks. Jaguar, I think you are going to need to stay for another picture and Sixpence, I think looking at the camera would be helpful
Good job Mugwump and Sixpence. You are on the cornstalks and smiling. How about if you try looking at the camera.
Thanks Mugwump, that was a valiant attempt, but somehow that wasn't exactly what I was envisioning with this photo.

How about a different background, the corn stalks look poky

Hey boys. SMILE!
Mugwump, that wasn't a smile. That was a lot like a squint. Let's try again.
Um, Everything fell apart there. Mugwump, thanks for opening your eyes, but that isn't a smile. Sixpence, that is definitely not a smile. And Sans, you were far more discrete in the first photo.
You know I think this works better with a 'less complex' subject.

We'll try a different pose of the boys.

Hey boys. SMILE! (while it is evident that the Mugwump is making faces, you cannot tell that Sixpence has his tongue going in and out constantly).
Mugwump, that's an awful face. Sixpence, stop sticking your tongue out. Good work Jaguar in the background, although a smile wouldn't be bad.
Thanks Mugwump, that's a step in the right direction. Sixpense, what are you doing? Wait, what did the backrow kid just stick in his mouth?
Mugwump, you look like you are causing mischief. Sixpense... that's not getting any better. And the Jaguar in the back is looking to put something else in his mouth.
Sixpense and Jaguar, that is looking pretty good. Mugwump, we didn't need to see your tongue.

OK, this set of photos did not have a happy ending. We never really got the boys together to cooperate on a good picture.

How about this one...

--Hey, Sixpence, smile for the camera.

No, don't pucker up, I wanted you to smile. Hey, the Mugwump is under the thing you are sitting on, Mugwump, look up!
Sixpence, I was really hoping for Mugwump to look up, not you. Let's try this again. Mugwump, look up. Sixpence, look at the camera.
You know, when all is said and done, this photo would have been better without the Mugwump.

Truth be known, we didn't get any great pictures of all of the boys together... or in pairs for that matter. We did, get a couple good pictures of the boys individually. I need to get better at photoshop if I ever want people to think that my boys sat nicely together for photos. Here are the best photos of each of the boys.

videos

The making of a mud pit (watering the tree that hadn't been watered in a long time).




Mud wrestling




Oldest boy making the new one laugh... we'll try for better lighting next time.

We've got some pictures to put in here as well. Let's see what we can find...

This is the aftermath of the mud pit.
This is what happens when the boys don't get along as well. It stopped bleeding pretty quick and we didn't even get stitches. It will be a good scar to share in later years. Sorry, it's blurry.
And here are a few cute pictures from my mom's recent visit.

Back to work, I have a dissertation to write, or something.

Pictures

We had family pictures taken recently and I thought I would post a link to them. It was great, I found a friend on facebook and found that she lived nearby and that she was now a photographer. She took some great pictures. Here is a link to the site where they are. If you are interested in her taking pictures for your family or wedding, go here. And if she likes you she will call you a 'hoty' on the URL (did you notice that?) I would have spelled it with two t's, but whatever.

Photos

I have a little time on a Sunday evening, so here are some recent pictures. The first may need a little explanation. This is my front wheel that has a significant bend in it. It seems that I may have had a little accident. No, I didn't get hit by a car, and no, I didn't just tip over (did you know that studies on bicycle accidents show that nearly 60% of bike accidents do not involve a car or any other object?). I hit a pedestrian. I don't feel real good about that, but as I reflect on the event, I don't know what I would have done differently. I was just leaving school going through town. I was approaching a stop sign so I was checking for pedestrians and cars on the street I was about to turn on, then all of a sudden a lady stepped out from behind a car about 15 yards before I got to the cross walk. I didn't even see her before we made contact. She hit the right side of my handle bars which caused the front wheel to turn sharply to the right. That bent the front wheel as I went over the bars. I landed on my back, crushing the Tupperware which had held one of my lunches (an unfortunate loss). I totally missed my head, my helmet had no indications of an accident at all. She also fell down right next to the curb. I jumped up, as did she, and she was quite apologetic and seemed to think it was her fault. I tend to agree, but I know that I have a slightly biased view and whenever I think that I ran into a pedestrian, I think there should have been something that I could have done to prevent it. I mentioned to her that if she were to walk the 15 yards to the cross walk she probably could have prevented the situation. She then stood behind the same car, poised to jump out at the next passing cyclist. She was fine, I said I was fine because I didn't want her to feel bad (although $50 to fix my wheel was a little rough, but then again that's only a tank of gas). I jammed my finger pretty bad, but it's starting to bend pretty well now (almost 2 weeks later). I didn't lose a whole lot of skin and very few bruises. So besides the wheel and the Tupperware, I think it turned out pretty well.

It's amazing how you can take a picture like that and not even notice that your shadow seems to be the focus of the photo.

Yesterday we went for a hike. I was ready for a little break after comps, so we went up to Bridal Veil Falls and did a little 'hiking' (I'm glad my kids were looking for dirt when I said we were going for a hike, but unfortunately there was no dirt on this trail).

This is my wife with the baby. I like this picture. I wonder what they are looking at.
This is the Mugwump playing in a little pond at the bottom of the falls.
And this has to be one of my all time favorite photos. This is Six-Pence giving me a flower. I did a little cropping to get my foot out of the picture, but I like the contrast of the grimy little boy (notice dried mud on face and fingers) being thoughtful with what he could find.
Look at that, it was almost like a real post. I've had several 'shorts' recently, but should be able to really get going again in a couple more weeks.

pictures

This post would be for those who like to see pictures of my family rather than reading my rants. That would probably be most of the people who visit here. I'll rant again next week, if I have any time.
The new baby is getting bigger. He's just beginning to take on facial features that are not just baby features. And it's warming up so we can take him out of his bundle of clothes and actually see his face.
Six-Pence with a stuffed animal.
Mugwump is ready for battle. He has his helmet, a shield (lid to a pot) and his spaghetti scooper. It's hard to loose if you are armed like that.
Now the Mugwump is looking through his spaghetti scooper. For whatever reason, I sort of like this picture.
There's another picture of Jaguar. He seems to scowl a lot. I often wonder if he is scowling at me or the world.

a few pictures

I don't have much to say. OK, you probably don't believe that, and you shouldn't, but I don't have time, so I'm going to post a couple of pictures and let us all move on wit our lives.
This was from a hike that we did in Zion's. Truth be known, we didn't take many pictures with the digital camera. We used the film camera so it will take a little patience to get those back.
Why is he always scowling? It looks like he's getting ready to be happy, but he seems suspicious about life, unsure of what is coming up next.
Don't ask. I don't have the answer. I do sort of like the picture though.
Someone has decided that he wants to be a cook. This was a noodle concoction that included various vegetables and bread. The bread was the only weird thing in this one. The dish with the squash and eggs wasn't very good. The soup with orange peel, raisins, rice and various other things was borderlining on disgusting... Truth be known, I didn't have any, but not even the creator would eat it.
I only hope that he never becomes a teenager. With a smile and look like that we may need a bat to keep the girls away.

Pictures

I used to be able to type around pictures. Today I can't. So there they are, you'll be able to find them.

No time

I have three questions:

1) How does the little bulb inside the toilet fill with water?

2) Why does the little bulb inside the toilet fill with water at 3 am (thereby necessitating an early morning repair)?

3) How do you convince a 2 year old that 3 am is not time to get up?

Do you know why I've had so much free time lately? It's because I didn't see any assignments due in the near future. Well, now they're do and I see why I should have been busy. We finally got a family picture and I'll post a couple others with it I think Grandma's in Hog Heavan. She gets to read with the older boys while holding the baby. Does it get any better?
I wonder if there is a point when reading to the boys gets old? 4 hours? 8 hours? 12 hours?
There it is, a family photo. I really feel old having 3 kids. I want everyone to be impressed with this photo. All but one of the family is looking at the camera. You can almost see the baby's head. And you can't tell that the parents have been pushing, pulling, and yelling to try and get everyone to look in the same direction at the same time. I think we have other photos that didn't make it on my flash drive to bring it to school. Maybe later.