Sony Alpha Nex

As an early anniversary present, Bjorn got me a new camera, the Sony Alpha Nex-3. This is the new kind of camera that is small but has almost the same shutter speed and capabilities as a big DSLR but at a fraction of the cost and size. I've been taking pictures like crazy, partly because it's so easy to take 10 all at once and delete the bad ones. Here are some of the ones that made the cut.

Andy and Barrett playing Bakery Story.

These kids are fascinated with putting their bikes upside down and "fixing" them. It seems very familiar.

She's quite intense when scooting. Plus, shoes are for the Suri Cruise's of the world.

He does this funny thing when he's chilling, he spins in circles.

Andy's school obsession, a game called First in Math that we have a log in through the school. He's so proud as he's the second highest in the class consistently. He's definitely got Bjorn's math skillz.

Seriously? Look how pretty this kid is? The skin, lips and eyelashes just blow me away. And look what a great shot it is? Love this camera. And obviously I'm a gifted photographer.

See how gifted I am?

Andy really wanted to do the rock climbing wall at school during the fall festival. It was pretty cool. The whole rock climbing wall folds up onto a trailer to take away at the end. It was a little more advanced for him but I know we'll be back to do this kind of thing again.

She is totally the Ghostest with the Mostest.

I love the hair! And the dancing.

Mommy's little axe murdered, I mean, firefighter.

Bjorn and Fafa. We were scouting out Grapevine Mills for the Big Bennett Family Christmas this December. I totally want to take the kids to Legoland. It looks awesome.

Andy loved this spinning teacup.

Obi-Wan at Book Character Day at school. We don't call it Halloween here. Some of the Religious Right are very against pagan holidays like this.

Margaret and Fafa reading. Meg was so happy to have her grandmother to read her this book. She's also wearing her other Halloween shirt, "Out of Candy: Need Refill."

One very happy Batman (Batwoman?) with her loot.

School pictures

The kids' school pictures turned out much better. My scanning skills, obviously, need a lot of work.

More backlog

This is our master bathtub. Sure, I haven't actually taken a bath in it yet, but all the kids love it!

Doesn't this look like an album cover?

This is the kids with Miss Ayesha on Meg's last day with her. We were all in tears. She was a huge part of our lives and we miss her!

Flowers Bjorn sent me for my birthday, you know, in June. Note the "Happy Birthday Princess" balloon my equally sarcastic colleagues got me.

This is just a pretty picture from the top of the stairs looking at the entry. Looks like we have a grown up house now.

I know! How cute is she? I also love her pajama shirt "Dancing Makes Me Happy."

I miss this jokers a lot, too. These is a group of us getting some fine inexpensive beer after an indoor soccer game.

I miss these guys from outdoor soccer, too. What I don't miss? All that pesky running around outside without the promise of beer afterwards.

The guest room is finally furnished with a bed. When are you coming to visit?

See? An even better reason to come visit!

Backlog

For the first time since we moved in, oh, August, I hooked up my camera and downloaded all my pictures. As you can see, I've been a little behind. Here are a few. I'll be adding more as time and interest allows.

Here's Andy on his first day of school.

Megan and Andy at Balmorhea, the largest natural outdoor pool where all the water is a balmy 62 degrees all year round.

Elizabeth and I somewhat by accident climbed a mountain at Ft. Davis with this crew. Everyone did surprisingly well, including the grown ups.

All four Deans at Ft. Davis.

We drove to see the Marfa Lights. I am so glad to see it. It was interesting but sort of a waste of time. I was expecting something very different, like a star show. Instead it was twinkling lights in the distance.

Big Tex! I managed to get to the Texas State Fair for the first time in 20 years.

Rebecca is a champion at "flipping chicks" where you hit a mallet into a frying pan to win prizes at the Fair. Elizabeth and I were champions at watching and drinking beer.  

Andy has been taking swimming lessons at Emler since we arrived. I am impressed with the program and his progress. Here he shows off his ribbon for being able to jump, look and turn.

Andy here is Spiderman at his school's "Book Character Day" (nee Halloween). Lots of girls in his class were Fancy Nancy. It was too adorable.

Meg also had to be Spiderman. Note -- she was SpiderMAN. She refused to be Spidergirl or Spiderwoman. She sort of like Spider Meg, but in the end, Spiderman won.

Both of my Spidermen.

"Shisha" Jennifer came to visit!

The worst school photographs ever

The kids got the school pictures back. And they are both terrible. Poor Andy was in the throws of Fifth's Disease, also called Slapped Cheek Disease, so his cheeks look like he's got bad acne.

Meg's, well, wow those are just bad. Her hair looks greasy and messy (messier than usual even) and the black background doesn't do her any favors. It's too bad, too, since I purposely put her in a green dress thinking it could be Christmasey enough.

Sure, I went ahead and bought some. Even bad pictures are a chronicle of their youth that I want to preserve, possibly in the form of Christmas ornaments. I doubt either kid is going to thank me in 10 years for saving these though!

Fifth's Disease

So Andy has Fifths Disease. It sounds a lot more awful than it is, it's basically just a viral infection that causes his cheeks to get all red with a little spread on his arms and legs. What is notable about it, it's also called "Slapped Cheek" disease. I find that somewhat hilarious as it apparently hearkens back to a time when people would slap the cheeks of five year olds. The other notable thing is that Fifths Disease is harmful to unborn babies, but only when it's contagious which was before he broke out. So all last week he was contagious, which makes me feel terrible since there are several pregnant teachers in the kindergarten wing. Hopefully they've had it before and have immunity (most likely as all these random illnesses are a work hazard, but still). There is no treatment for it, it doesn't hurt and it doesn't itch -- it's just red and icky. It gets better when cool (like in the pool) and worse when hot (like when he's running around outside). Bizarre.

Naturally, the peak of his face AIDS, as Mark would call it, happened yesterday which was picture day. He will be thrilled to see those popping up on Facebook the rest of his life wondering why he had bad acne at five.

Oh, and the other picture? Today is silly mismatched dress day so he's wearing a striped shirt, too small, plaid shorts and green socks. Adorable!

Beach trip

With all my need to tell the story of getting the baby locked in the car, I forgot to mention we still went to beach and had a grand old time. I want a beach house now. How awesome would that be? Now to just have an extra $500,000 laying around. Maybe next year, right?

Easter pictures

Meg loves this slide that was donated "freecycle" from a neighbor a couple of years ago when her girls outgrew it. She and Andy were bouncing on it when we had friends over on Saturday as captured below.

Good friends. I normally would say "old" friends, but present company would have assaulted me for saying so.

We had an Easter egg hunt first thing this morning. I, er, the Easter bunny put out the eggs last night. Turns out that was a mistake as they were covered in ants this morning. Fortunately for Mark and Jennifer, they didn't want anything to do with the lottery tickets. We won $3 on a $10 investment.  Andy and I met some friends for church. It was a Presbyterian church that we've been to a couple of times. Cool thing though, they handed out bells and everyone rang them whenever they say "Christ is Risen." I liked it. Andy looked dapper in his blue blazer, but it was a little warm for it. At Bjorn's mom's house for Easter dinner, we had a second egg hunt. We had a great time hunting and playing ball in the yard in addition to a fabulous dinner. Luckily, the weather cooperated. It was 70 and mostly sunny all weekend. Just gorgeous.