Tue. 1/31/12 :: A Whole New Me

  

I needed a photo for the Lilypad newsletter announcing the start of my guest spot, and I decided to do a new one, since the one I’ve been using for these types of things is from 2007. :b I realized too late that I’d waited too long, and the decent light in the house was gone, and going outside wasn’t a good option thanks to the auto-tinting sunglasses in my new lenses. So after a few quick flash shots (which I usually try to avoid), and a whole lot of Photoshop, I finally came up with something I could use.

I tried to set it up to let you mouse over the image and see the original in all its unedited glory, but Blogger stripped out the script, so here’s much less dramatic side-by-side. :b

Hmmm… I look much younger in high-key black and white. Maybe I should see if I can figure out a way to create that illusion in real life. LOL

Mon. 1/30/12 :: Cut Flowers

Working on some designs for a Lilypad collaboration. After what felt like hours using the exacto knife, I was starting to wish I had a die cutting machine. :b

Sun. 1/29/12 :: They match!

Another photo we took for Kaylee’s math project. This time to illustrate “reflection”. :)

Sat. 1/28/12 :: Birthday Boy Part 2

Since last weekend was busy with magic, Matthew had to wait until this weekend to celebrate his birthday with his friends. He had his two best friends over for the afternoon for pizza, cake, video games, and general chaos. :)

The three of them have a lot of fun together, and they even got him laughing when he was trying to make his wish before blowing out his candles. :)

Fri. 1/27/12 :: Pestered

Matthew and Kaylee got into a bit of a squabble over laptop usage after school today. After I determined Kaylee would get the first turn, Matthew still wouldn’t leave her alone, but he dove into hiding when I pulled out the camera.

You’re welcome, Kaylee. ;)

Thur. 1/26/12 :: Paralleloraser

Kaylee is working on a math project in which she has to find images of everyday items to illustrate different math concepts. We took a picture of the side of this eraser to demonstrate ‘parallelogram’.

Wed. 1/25/12 :: Brace Yourself

Matthew has been going to the orthodontist for x-rays and such about once a year for the past 5 years, ever since his dentist noticed a cross bite on some of his back teeth. They kept an eye on things, but said he didn’t need any immediate treatment. When we went in last summer, they said he needed his last two baby teeth (upper canines) extracted, since they weren’t budging, and the adult teeth were trying to come in in front of them. So we had his dentist do that, gave those teeth some time to start coming in, and then took him back in to the ortho today. Now that all his baby teeth are gone, and things are settling in, they gave us the news that he will be ready to start braces in about 6 months, and presented us with a statement of what it will cost and our payment options. {gulp} It’s nice to have the info up front, and it gives us a chance to brace ourselves for the impact to our bank account. ;)

Tue. 1/24/12 :: Just Sweet

When I pulled out my camera tonight, Kaylee grabbed her teddy bear and went into full show mode, doing all kinds of silly, crazy, or dramatic poses, but when I let her pick which photo to use, she chose this simply sweet one. :)

Mon. 1/23/12 :: Fabled Focus

Matthew, after school tonight, intensely at work…

playing Dragon Fable.

His only homework tonight would have been sax practice, but the sax is in need of some repairs, so he and Mark ran it over and dropped it off at the music shop. Enjoy the life of leisure while it lasts…

Sun. 1/22/12 :: The Kid Came Back

For various reasons, we haven’t had a guest lecturing magician stay with us in aaaages, but this weekend we had the pleasure of hosting “The Las Vegas Kid” Chris Randall and his assistant for this tour, Adriana.

Chris is one of our “repeat customers”. He was previously here in the fall of 2007 …

Welcome back, Chris. Would you like to make a reservation for 2017? :)

Sat. 1/21/12 :: Magical Mishaps

Young Magician’s Club meeting this morning. Kaylee performed this trick that she got for Christmas. It went wrong. As did every other kids’ trick today.  They decided it was delayed bad luck from Friday the 13th. LOL

Fri. 1/20/12 :: spelling bee, S-P-E-L-L-I-N-G B-E-E, spelling bee

Kaylee’s school spelling bee was today. It was the top 15 spellers from the 4th grade and the top 16 from 5th (apparently they had a tie for the last spot). All those empty chairs are from kids who got knocked out before Kaylee. She made it to about the top 12, missing “disappearance” by one letter in the 6th round. The last rounds went on and on and ON with the last 4-5 kids, and a lot of the words I swear they were just making up. LOL

We are so super proud! Way to go, Kaylee! :)

Thur. 1/19/12 :: Lucky 13!

The boy turned 13 today! Being a school night, it was a simple family celebration, with Matthew’s favorite – apple pie.

Gifts included magic cards, a magic video, a gift certificate from Kaylee good for listening to Matthew practice his sax four times (he gets lonely practicing by himself LOL), and then his puzzled reaction to the largest gift… a helium tank.

This was then followed by a box with instructions to go turn on the TV and press play.

The TV was cued up on this video...

Matthew got the shark. Pretty awesome. It’s fairly involved to assemble and set up, so it will be a bit before we get a chance to see it in action, but Matthew was suitably impressed. :)

Happy 13, buddy! Hope it’s a fabulous year! :D

Wed. 1/18/12 :: Alexander Watching Me Watching Queen Kaylee

Just a random shot of Kaylee getting ready to start her homework. I don‘t notice that Alexander poster anymore in reality, but it’s a bit ominous in the photo. LOL

Tue. 1/17/12 :: Quiet Contemplation

Matthew, working on a new magic trick after school.

Mon. 1/16/12 :: Gotcha Scrunchie Face!

The kids have learned that one fairly effective technique for avoiding having their picture taken is to get super close to the camera, which confuses the heck out of the autofocus, and then the camera will not let me press the shutter button. Most of the time. :)

Sun. 1/15/12 :: Girl Scout Grin

Kaylee donned her Girl Scout vest this afternoon in honor of selling cookies. It’s her first year in scouts, and her fear of encountering pets has made going door to door a bit too intimidating of an option for her right now, so we’re trying to get creative with some online marketing options. :)

Sat. 1/14/12 :: Game On

Quick visit from Aunt Jill and cousin Nicole, in town for a cheer competition. Aunt Jill’s visits almost always involve Kaylee curled up on the couch with her, playing games. This time it was Phase 10 on Nicole’s new iPad.

Fri. 1/13/12 :: Downtime

The kids just chillin’ and watching a bit of TV after school. It’s been a very busy, homework/activity-heavy week. I think we’re all going to appreciate the long weekend!

Thur. 1/12/12 :: Magician at Work

Matthew had his first paying magic gig this evening! David Blaine had an event down in Dallas tonight, and they brought in three kids to do magic in the lobby before the show to entertain people while they were waiting. I stayed home with Kaylee, while Mark and the other Young Magicians Club leader took Matthew.

Looks like the spectators were enjoying themselves! :)

Matthew’s shows went great, and he had a wonderful time performing. I’m so glad it went well for him! :)

They then got to go watch Blaine’s show, which Mark and Matthew both really enjoyed, and there was a reception afterwards, where they got to meet him.

 

Pretty darn cool. Congrats, Matthew, on an awesome debut! :)

Wed. 1/11/12 :: Swinging from the Chandelier

Mark dragged me out to “Partyfest” today, a vendors’ exhibition for all things party related. There were caterers and clowns and photo booths galore. This company had crazily costumed stilt walkers, dancers, and acrobats, including  this gal who was hanging from the “chandelier”. It was pretty cool, but I don’t think my life includes parties that would involve acrobats. LOL

Tue. 1/10/12 :: The Singer/Actress

 

It was time for “Dress as your chosen career” day again at school. Kaylee’s goals have modified slightly this year. Instead of just a singer, she now also wants to act. She’s definitely got the dramatic skills for it. ;)  So today was an excuse for her to over-accessorize and for me to breakout my circa 1987 crimping iron.

Mon. 1/9/12 :: Headshot

Matthew needed a headshot for a security badge for an upcoming magic thing. Rather than dig through my photos for something appropriate, I just grabbed him and had him stand by the door for a lovely experiment in trying to keep his eyes open with the blinding flash.

After I took this, I remembered that we have a copyright release for his school photo, so I told Mark we could use that one if he thought it would be better.

Mark’s response was that Matthew obviously looks older in the snapshot, so we should probably just use that one. I hadn’t noticed, but yeah he does. After all, the school photo was taken a whole… four months ago.

Yikes.

Sun. 1/8/12 :: Space

Our house is cluttered. The “stuff” just comes in at a much greater rate than it goes out. And then it just stays. And accumulates. We’re a long way from being candidates for an episode of “Hoarders”, but we will never be mistaken for any of the homes in the glossy decorator magazines. So that being the case, any area that becomes devoid of clutter stands out in stark contrast. This space beside my desk is where the Christmas tree stood. We disassembled the 9-foot tall, 4 to 5-foot wide (I’ve never actually measured) monster of metal and green plastic yesterday and sent it back to its resting place in the attic. And so now there is this expanse of naked space.

I’m sure it will be filled back in with something soon. Prior to the holiday decorating, an extra dining table covered in dead computer monitors and random piles of paperwork sat here, but the table has been relocated to the “sitting area” of the master bedroom, and it will probably stay there indefinitely. An old glider rocker that we bought before Matthew was born, which gets shifted to various rooms, often sits here; in fact, it has rubbed the paint off the wall at the edge of the window. But the rocker is currently in Kaylee’s room, and she has decided she’d like to keep it in there for the time being.

So for now, it is just space. Barren. Distracting. Disturbingly unsettling. Space.

Sat. 1/7/12 :: Now You See It …

Matthew demonstrating a magic trick he’s been practicing. :)

Side-story about the glasses. He’d only been wearing them now and then at school when he felt he needed them. He didn’t bring them along on our holiday road trip and mentioned a couple of times during the trip that he wished he had them. A couple of days ago he was cleaning his room (trying to earn video game time) and wanted to show off the progress he’d made. When I went to check it out, I saw the glasses lying on his dresser and asked him if they shouldn’t be in his backpack so he’d have them at school. As he got them to put away, I noticed that they were pretty dirty, so I cleaned them up and then gave them back to him. He decided to put them on instead of in the backpack, and immediately gave an amazed “wow” at how much clearer everything was. Kind of a surprising reaction, given that he’s had the glasses for almost a year. I think he’s had them on every waking moment since then. Makes me wonder if his vision has gotten that much worse lately, or if it’s just such a big difference with the glasses actually being clean! ;)

Fri. 1/6/12 :: Frosting Fiend

Last year Kaylee got a bottle of hot sauce in her Christmas stocking, which was one of her favorite gifts. This year it was a can of chocolate frosting. Sometimes she puts some on a cookie or some such treat, but usually she eats about a cupcake’s worth (or a bit more) just on its own. Sometimes I wonder just what Santa is thinking. ;)

Thur. 1/5/12 :: Her Handwriting

The school semester is already in full swing. I took a few shots of the kids at the table doing their homework, and this one that captures Kaylee’s handwriting is my favorite.

Wed. 1/4/12 :: How to Annoy Your Son

Matthew, watching TV in the morning while waiting for me to drive him to school. Somewhat successfully ignoring me and the camera.

Now pretending to ignore me.

Then giving up the pretense and leaning “out of frame”…

not realizing I’d actually zoomed out.

Full annoyance achieved.