Halloween Tribute

Just wanted to share this shortened version of a 1980's classic MJ with everyone. WARNING: NOT FOR YOUNG CHILDREN!!! I made the mistake of opening this link with Jace in the room and the ghouls were a little too creepy for him! I hope he isn't scarred for life! So make sure your kids are not in the room! But this has to be one of coolest music videos ever made!! LOVE it!!! (And I still secretly want to learn this dance...)


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9J5kY2ggzLQ


Happy Halloween everyone!!!

Suckers

It rained here all last week so out of pure boredom after being holed up in the house we resorted to what else? Photos, of course! It was really dark, so I decided to get a little creative with my light. So, I shut all the blinds and drapes in the house to get it nice and dark, then opened up the front door to light the boys. And since I knew Ethan would try to crawl out the door, I pulled out the dum-dums to keep him occupied. Yes, I like to start my kids on dum-dums early. Recent studies have shown that the sugar in dum-dums is great for promoting brain development in infants. I am kidding of course- but I like to pretend it is true so I don't feel so guilty! I know this will make my dad (he's a dentist) cringe though, watching Ethan chew on this dental death stick with his one new baby tooth. Yikes- sorry dad! I promise I brushed his teeth(no, tooth) when we were all done!

I love these though- especially those first three shots! It is tough getting a shot of the two of them together so I was proud of myself! And I love the shot of Jace's eyelashes- don't kids always have the most amazing lashes? Especially boys- it is so unfair! These were all taken with my 35mm lens, with me sitting on the first step of our porch while the rain from our gutters dripped down the back of my shirt. I got soaked, but it was worth it!

If I don't post again before then, have a Happy Halloween everyone! And be sure to check out the contest over on my business blog! You can all enter this one!

"Look, Mommy!"

"I'm a moose!"

Yes, that is what Jace told me one day while holding these 'antlers' up to his head- clever little guy! I would totally run with this idea and let him be a moose for Halloween if only these antlers weren't potentially hazardous to other trick-or-treaters! Too bad; it would save me the trouble of making a costume for him!

Halloween Countdown...

I posted these pics yesterday, but blogger was having issues so I didn't get to finish my post! Nothing spectacular here- just some snapshots of Jace helping me decorate for Halloween last week. That second shot is Jace's contribution to our decorations- faux web-spreading is just a little to advanced for him. Jace is so excited for Halloween this year! Every day he asks "Mom, is it Halloween yet?" or he will just blurt out "HAPPY HALLOWEEN" (no doubt in hopes that if he says it enough he might actually convince us that it really IS Halloween and maybe we will give him some candy!) We even made a paper chain to help us countdown, but gosh that chain still looks pretty long! Poor kid! I am glad he is excited though- maybe all those scary masks won't scare him this year. A couple weeks ago (I think it was the first day of October actually) we were in Waynesboro at the superwalmart there and they had these Halloween ads in the cart. They have every Halloween item imaginable in there. Jace saved it and now carries it around every day, scouring through the pages again and again looking at all the stuff! He is so careful with it, too- If I bend a corner or don't put it away safely, I never hear the end of it! I can't even count how many times he has come up to me and said, pointing to the picture of a big pumpkin bowl filled with candy, "Mommy, that candy looks Deee-LICIOUS!" Funny kid!

I am excited for Halloween too! I have always loved Halloween and I am really a kid at heart- I love Halloween parties and still think it is fun to go trick or treating (good thing I have kids now, as I am a bit too old to go by myself!) And I love candy! Last year we went to the UVA Lawn and every door Jace went to he wanted to pick out the dum-dums, and it took every ounce of strength to restrain myself from telling him to put that dang sucker back and get the Snickers instead! But, as much as I love Halloween, I hate the week after. All that sugar in Jace just spells disaster(disaster as in T-A-N-T-R-U-M-S!)! And some days I just can't decide if I would rather spend the whole day saying "No, Jace, you can't have any more candy" or just letting him have it so it will be gone faster and just deal with the hyperactivity.

Anyways, Jace says he wants to be a scary monster for Halloween, but I just don't think that is going to happen. He would be too afraid of himself! Plus, I got some things to make a pirate costume, so we checked out Peter Pan from the library again and I am going to spend the next few weeks convincing him that he 'wants' to be Captain Hook.

Well, that is all for now folks! Yesterday Ethan turned 9 months so I took some bare bum pictures of him out by our wood pile. He will soon grow out of the it's-not-entirely-inappropriate-to-take-pictures-of-bare-bum stage, so I thought I would take advantage of that! So watch for those coming up!

Take care everyone and Happy 21-more-days-'till-Halloween!

Out and about...

Last week we went out to Pleasant Grove to take the kids to the park out there and get some new self portraits of me for my website. I have to say, I felt like a moron while Tim took pictures of me. When I was a teen, I loved being in front of a camera, but now I just feel ridiculous! We were right off the road to the ball fields at Pleasant Grove and anytime a car would drive by I felt so STUPID!! I would tell Tim "Quick- put the camera down!", and try to act natural, like we were just hanging out by the hay bales with a big old yellow chair. Duh- I am sure it was totally obvious what we were doing. But eventually (once those dang cars stopped driving by! How dare they!) I loosened up a little and Tim got some cool shots of me for my new website. Oh yeah, I am thinking of getting a new and improved website, but it probably won't be until this winter. We'll see. Anyways, I'll show those pics later, but these are just a few snapshots of us from that night.

That first shot of Ethan is my new favorite- I did some funky processing on it! I love how I can see my shadow in the second shot. And I love the shot of Tim- he is such a kid at heart- I love it! The last two shots were taken by Tim- didn't he do a great job? Back lighting too, which is tricky!(I must say, I am exceedingly impressed with Tim's quickly developing photography skills!) And I love how Ethan is grabbing Jace's face in that shot- something he does a lot of lately (gotta keep those nails cut!)

That's all for now. More to pics to come...