McConnells Mill

Chocolate Cake!

Determination

Occasionally I get to see Andrew really go after something. Sometimes a video game or a new skill.
On Sunday, we got to play a game of pool at the church. After only a little encouragement and some hesitancy he sunk his first ball, and he decided to go for it. Out came one of his oft hidden sides: one of focus, determination and occasional fits of joy and frustration. We didn't follow the rules, just took turns shooting. But, it was such a glorious game I think I will remember it as my favorite ever: "The game where Andrew won". Won in every sense of the word. Another game will soon follow...

Beauty

sometimes

there

just

are

no

words

Mini Planets

One of my new favorite things in Photoshop is taking panorama shots and turning them into mini planets with the Polar Coordinates command. It takes a bit more work than that, but the results are sooo much fun! Here are a few...

Monet and the Children

Here is Monet's "The Water Lilies Pond" with three beautiful ladies in front of it. Thanks to my dad for exposing them all to this work so that the instant they saw it in the gallery they exclaimed "It's the Monet we know!"

The actual image is 40 megapixels and 17" x 40" in size which I have not uploaded here. This is just a taste. The photo was stitched from four vertical shots and then corrected in Photoshop.

Molly's first tooth... MISSING!

Molly Turns 6

Cake for breakfast. Donut cake. Does life get any better?

Only with a trip to the zoo...

The first days of spring

Ah, warm weather and sun! It's been a long winter. Here's a great shot that actually has me in it.

SNOW DAY!

No School;
time to romp
and sled
and crash
and laugh
and build
and avoid whiplash!

Happy Birthday, Margaret!

Margaret turns three years old today. While we already threw her the first of her parties, she is looking forward to having a very long lasting birthday indeed!

a mother and her last baby

Our baby, Margaret, turns three in a few days. Emily found a sling that we had used with our children when they were infants. Margaret takes after her mommy and is tiny for her age so we decided to see if she still fit into the sling. Turns out she not only fit, but fit well.

Good bye, baby. Hello little girl. We will miss your infancy, but love who you are turning out to be.

Beautiful Girls

But is it art?

I called Margaret for dinner last night which usually results in her tearing down the stairs. Nothing.

In a few minutes I called again and got this response: "I can't come right now, I'm stuck."

Hmmm. "Do you need help?" (asked only because we are trying to get Margaret to tell us what she needs)

"Nope." Ok. I'll give her a few minutes...

A visit from a Butterfly

When we got home the other night a Monarch Butterfly came in the back door with us. We all gathered in the kitchen and watched it flying around. We had learned all about butterflies and the kids had been trying to catch one for several days on the wonderful "butterfly bush" we have in the back yard. But, they hadn't been successful.

After a little while fluttering around it landed right in front of Emily and allowed her to pick it up. Even with an open hand it stayed on her for quite a while. It went back to flitting around the room only to land on Molly's shirt. It stayed, flapping slowly and crawling up towards her face.

Margaret even got to give it a very gentle kiss before it left the kitchen and landed on the ceiling of the living room where it stayed until the next morning when we sent it back outside.

More pics here.

A Birthday and a Creek Walk!

For Elaina's 13th birthday party (the first celebration), Oma and Opa prepared a great picnic and we all went for a long walk in Little Sewickley Creek. Here are a few shots with a bunch more in the album here.

Happy Birthday Boof!

Here second celebration was a day with mom and dad at Kennywood, the amazing Pittsburgh amusement park. Aunt Rachel and Uncle Jonathan joined us at the very end for some wooden roller coaster action. Sweet!

Don't trust the photographer

Flying Lessons

Do you ever have one of those days where you are convinced you aren't communicating very well with your soon-to-be teenager? You're pretty sure that what she's saying isn't what you are hearing and visa versa? Days like this:

"Hey, dad. Can I have flying lessons?"
"Um. Why do you want them?"
"Well, I just think that while I have the basics down, I am not sure my technique is as good as it should be."
"Um. What? The basics? What?"
"Yeah, I've got lift off and stable flight, but think I could be a lot smoother"
"What? Are you talking about a video game? I am so confused."
"Oh, nevermind."

Then one of the automated sentry cams comes back with this:

More Margaret

Yes, we let her out of the house looking like this...

Margaret's Outfits

Margaret (not quite 2½) changes clothes about every 17 minutes throughout the day. At least that's what it seems like. Here's one of her latest creations...