Wednesday, April 07, 2010

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:

Saturday, March 20, 2010

Wednesday, February 24, 2010

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...

Thursday, January 14, 2010

Meet Thunder

This is Thunder. Well, Thunder is kinda in the shot. He's the horse. Hard to see, but the photographer wasn't much interested in the horse until he decided to make Thunder the central topic in this post. He must have been distracted by the riders.

Anyway, Thunder lives in our living room, eats gluten free oats, and doesn't make a sound. His riders, on the other hand, seem to be everywhere, also eat gluten free oats and make a terriffic racket: "Hyaa!" "Giddyup, Thunder!" "Don't pull my hair!"

Poor Thunder. Although he's a mean, spring loaded, running machine, he never manages to go very far. Even with an hour of hard riding each day, he only moves a few inches one way or the other, and he works so hard for those few inches. His tyrannical riders never seem to give him a break and shout incessantly while riding. On occasion, his load lightens and a doll or stuffed animal hops into the saddle. But, mostly he's being driven by the little girls.

However, he doesn't complain; his new life must be better than living in that thrift store where no one yelled at him or spurred him to achieve all the wild inching he has accomplished in the last few weeks. And, he's now valued far above the $6 that we paid for him.

Friday, January 08, 2010

Sled Ridin'!

We have the greatest yard for sled riding! It's steep at the top to get you started, has a long straight stretch where you can build up speed, a tree at the bottom just to keep things interesting and a solid fence at the bottom to catch you. What more could you want?

Saturday, June 27, 2009

MOVING to PITTSBURGH

Hi all,

It's been a while since I posted anything, but things have been a bit on the busy side. Here's a brief summary:
  • Our time at St. Christopher Camp and Conference Center has drawn to a close. We will miss everyone there tremendously.
  • We have sensed God calling us back to our roots in Pittsburgh and have moved in order to follow that call.
  • We are living with my brother in Bellevue for a month while job and house hunting.
  • We are quite happy and at peace.
More as we know it...

Wednesday, April 22, 2009

Happy Birthday Molly!

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.


Monday, March 09, 2009

18th place!

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

Sunday, March 01, 2009

Wednesday, February 04, 2009

Happy Birthday Andrew!

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.

Tuesday, January 20, 2009

SNOW!!!













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...

Wednesday, January 14, 2009

MEAT! the game

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

Sunday, January 11, 2009

More Molly Saying

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!

Thursday, January 08, 2009

Cutest Picture in the World!!!

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")

Thursday, December 25, 2008

Merry Christmas!

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

Wednesday, December 17, 2008

It's MOLLY!

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:

Tuesday, December 16, 2008

Happy Birthday NOAH!!!






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!

Saturday, December 13, 2008

Wa-wa

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.