Hi all,
4 years old!
Turning Four
by Elaina Sadd
My little sister is turning four.
I hear her friends knock at the door,
To bring her presents and gifts galore.
For little sisters turning four.
Hi all, just wanted to share one of my favorite shots with you. It just won 18th place in a professional photo contest with 500 entries. Not bad considering it was shot with a disposable camera. Not a huge deal, but lots of fun!
Here's the link:
www.dpreview.com/challenges/Entry.aspx?ID=100914&View=Results&Rows=4
Andrew turned 8 on Sunday. Here are a few pics of him with one of his new presents: a Leapfrog edu-gaming device. He got a lot of "help" in the beginning from just about everyone in the family.
So, um. It's snowing at the moment. Real, honest to goodness snow. You'll have to look hard at the pics, but that's not dust on the frame, it's snow! Andrew and Molly got to catch some on their tongues even if it didn't stay on the ground. Andrew even taught Margaret how to stick out her tongue to catch some snow. Now, if we only had some long pants.
..
Dear Messrs. Milton and Bradley,
I write to call your attention to a new game being played in kitchens across the country: MEAT. It starts with a pound or so of ground beef to which some sort of spices have been added to make it a bit more tasty. A spoon and some sort of dish are also a good idea.
Both girls and boys may play, but one at a time is preferable. We will call the contestants/combatants in this particular example Noah and Dad.
Step One: Noah runs away by going out the front door or up the bunk bed ladder. While running he turns and calls over his shoulder, "MEAT!"
Step Two: Dad chases Noah to wherever he has gone, attempting to extract him from a hiding place and gently drags him, both howling with laughter, back to the kitchen both calling out, "Meat," as they go.
Step Three: Noah is placed in a chair and says again, "Meat," at which point dad takes a spoon filled with the above mentioned food and attempts to insert it into Noah's mouth. While this is taking place, Noah may block, weave, duck and dive to avoid the spoon.
Step Four: Dad eventually succeeds in inserting the spoon into Noah's mouth which is followed by Noah trying to swallow while laughing.
Step Five: Game continues until container is empty or dad collapses. Noah then be declared the winner and eat the rest of the meat on his own. Followed by strawberries as needed.
I submit this game to you for development as a whole family affair, but please do so quickly. Once this game gets out on the internet, your chances of making any profit from it will evaporate as quickly as a bowl full of meat.
Sincerely,
-dad
I know that Molly is getting a lot of press lately, but there are some choice things coming out of her mouth which are worth recording...
Molly: Hey mommy, I take my magic wand and turn you into a duck!
Molly: I turn you into a sheep. POW!
Molly: I turn you into a sheep. POW POW!
Molly: I turn you into a human. POOF!
Emily: Alright Molly, I'm your mommy again and it's time for bed!
Molly: AAAAAH! I turn you into a good human!
Here it is! The cutest picture ever taken! So cute, it's amazing, but I am risking it and putting it up online.
(update: within seconds of posting this picture, it was immediately taken down by the international internet police. Apparently they have learned from the funniest joke ever and have taken appropriate precautions. Oh well, at least I can stare at it for hours on my own computer and go "awwwwwww")
Christmas at the Sadds'
Everyone got (at least) one flashlight which will stay on for the next several hours
Noah started breakfast with the "Death Valley Chipotle" chips that were in his stocking (HOT!)
Dad's makin' the phat beats from the Kaosilator he just got
A pretty good start
Actually, Molly is just the beautiful subject. I just wanted to share some fun photo stuff:
I the flash is mounted on the camera, but pointed mostly at the ground so Molly is lit from below. I am also still experimenting with a new 50mm prime (non-zoom) 1/1.8 lens. It's amazingly sharp yet has a huge apperature (not much light needed and great background blur). I left the photo in all its 12 megapixel glory just for fun. (But, it appears that Blogger reduces the largest dimension from 4200 to 1600 pixels. oh well.)
I also made a photo of me:
TEN
Years
Old!
He doesn't even know yet. Thankfully he is still sleeping, but not for long! 6am we start the bacon cooking. He's got a special field trip with his school class just for his birthday as well. Then one of his favorite dinners.
The pic is Noah with two of his presents: A bag of gluten free pretzels and a custom made weighted blanket covered in sea turtles. It feels amazing just to throw the 9.8 lb blanket over your shoulders. I can see why he wants to sleep under it every night.
10 years old!
For immediate release:
Baby Margaret (hitherto referred to as she, Margaret, the Baby, or Squeaky), found a cup of water next to Molly's bed, picked it up and carried it, full, all the way to the other end of the house without spilling a drop. She then transferred the lidless cup to one hand and used the other to make the sign for water while saying "wa-wa." A walker, she now is.
Ingredients:
1 Dark room
1 bath tub
20 gallons warm water
1 3-year-old girl
1 glowstick
Directions:
Start with the 3-year-old girl's request for a bath (occurs aproximately every 25 minutes).
Find tub and add the warm water. Child may be mixed with water before filling is complete if desired. Make sure to keep temperature in a comfortable range.
Get child settled in tub. May add Star Wars figures as needed.
Close the door and turn off the light and crack the lightstick. (Make sure that you have the glow stick in your hands before turning off the lights or screaming may commence before stick begins to glow.)
Mix with water, child and Star Wars characters until gleeful.
Optional: get camera! (no flash)
What she said: Please give Margaret something for breakfast. Please feed it to her and make sure that she doesn't get messy.
What I heard: Fill that baby's stomach in whatever way makes her happy.
So why not spaghetti for breakfast? In a bowl? NO! Just loose on her tray for her to work on. That way others can be cared for at the same time, and Margaret loves to feed herself. Oops!
Just look at the joy on that face! And all it cost was a bath.
"Hey mom... Beah drank from the toilet again. So, we need to buy a new dog, one that doesn't drink from the toilet. One that doesn't drink from the toilet and eat dirty diapers. And, we need one that doesn't bark" (the dog only drinks when the water's clean, She eats diapers that have been left on the floor when she's left home alone about once a month, and only barks at evil people who are carrying bazookas.)
2 possible meanings: 1. everyone watch out, there's a cockroach loose. 2. my friend cockroach (yes a real one) is in danger and needs to be careful.
This morning, we were blessed with the second of these meanings. Molly and Andrew found a cockroach (also called palmetto bugs down here is SC because that makes them more palatable). It was in the bathtub and they had managed to corner it. After cornering it they captured it, and after capturing it, they made it the newest member of the family.
Cockroach was carried around in a glass for some time and showed around the house. He was given a play by play of the movie Madagascar. And, he was even given a little breakfast (although seemed only marginally interested in french toast).
After a while, the glass was replaced with just holding Cockroach and incorporating him into whatever was the game of the moment. And, finally, after most of his life had been "loved" from his poor body, he was allowed to wander free inside a doll house.
An hour and a half later, Cockroach had to go back outside to his family because he wasn't allowed to come to church with us. It was a hard good bye. Much harder for some memebers of the family than others, but we got through it.
Goodbye, Cockroach. Now, PLEASE go and wash your hands!
