Cheering Section

I wasn't sure if I was going to cover the marathon again. Last year I ran around the city to cover as much as I could. Last year there were no 8GB cards on sale (so all I had were some 512MB cards). Last year I didn't really know what I was doing. This year, though, I knew I didn't end up doing much with the pictures I took. In fact, I did so little, I didn't even post them on this blog. I was thinking this year it might be fun for the three of us to go down to the marathon and sit and be spectators and cheer.

The weather was pretty nice. We found a sunny spot at the 4-mile area, saw the wheelchair, women's, men's, and the rest run past. On the left is the winner, on the right is Scrappy doing a dance to keep warm. We left in time to get home to see the lead women and men finish on TV.

Chuck E.

We wore our costumes again for a costume birthday party at Chuck E. Cheese. I shouldn't say "we" because adding a tiara to your street clothes isn't much of a costume. For a second day in a row, LV was Indiana Jones and Scrappy was Padme from The Clone Wars. LV suggested I wear a sweater vest and be him. Then we decided that was weird. Instead, I tried to dress like one of the archeology students in Raiders of the Lost Ark--a cute dress, Mary Janes, and "Love You" written on my eyelids. No one knew I was in a costume. Maybe I should have gone with the tiara.

Halloween

Trick-or-treating was more fun this year because we'd lived in the neighborhood for more than a week. We didn't have to worry if we were going to get lost.

Halloween in general was also more fun because I could torture the cat--dressing him as a pumpkin for Scrappy's school parade. He was a good sport.

One Big Bag

I wanted a bigger backpack to take to Boston so that I could fit everything and carry fewer bags. When trying to decide if I should get this back, I tried it on and the salesman suggested I'd be better off getting an assistant. I couldn't really see how big the bag was or that it might way more than a third grader. It's hard to say which would have been more difficult to carry around for 12 hours...

On the Wall

Scrappy had no idea her art would be displayed in an exhibit at the Brooklyn Museum until five minutes before we left for the opening gala. We had the postcard on the refrigerator and I'm sure it must have been mentioned in class, but Scrappy was still shocked to see her work displayed. Then she went looking for the chips and cookies.

Props and Sets

I can't post the pictures I took earlier in the day, but this the family enjoying the new studio prop.

Back to School

First day of a new school year? Time to break out matching sweater vests... Although Scrappy was super nervous about her first day of third grade, it seems like God and Streaky are there to shower her with support.

Can't Hardly Wait

Some might say, "Another Star Wars movie?" Not my family. They say, "Another Star Wars movie!" And then make masks to really get into the spirit.

Not Quite the Same

We went to the IMAX to see the Hannah Montana concert in 3-D, but somehow it was still a big deal to sit down and watch it again on TV at home.

Playdate

Today Scrappy had a playdate. They went to the movies and held hands and shared popcorn. It was very exciting and had to be documented.

Recital

What's a third day of shooting in a row? If anything, it makes the 4-hour long recital go a bit faster.

My picture-taking was a bit limited this year seeing as Scrappy's mom owed the dance school some money, so we didn't get tickets for the show until the only available seats were behind people like this. (We sat front and center last year, which was great for photos.)

"Marilyn" has the same expression on as most of the audience.

Museum Trip

The Murakami exhibit had a few pieces we thought were too graphic for a second grader, but we sat down for a while in the lobby of the Brooklyn Museum to let Scrappy try drawing the pieces on display there. (This is the museum tag attached to LV's shorts.) Nothing in the Utagawa exhibit, which we had gone to see, really grabbed her attention that way, but LV and I were fascinated by the wood cuttings. She just wanted to see the museum's mummies again.

The Nose

It's no work of art, but the thought behind it was too good to discard. At a baby shower for her aunt, Scrappy wondered if what she saw poking out of her aunt's tummy was the baby's nose. I mean, who has an outie belly button...?

Easter!

The Easter Bunny left a trail of candy from Scrappy's room all around the house. She didn't quite understand to follow it into the armoire where he hid her basket with more candy and a DVD and all that nonsense that goes with Second Christmas.

Yeah, I think the cup says it all.

The Bunny even looked out for the little cats, getting them a wind-up chick and a wind-up bunny. Neither was really a hit. I think I like them more than anyone else.

This is Streaky not caring about the wind-up toys and enjoying the early morning sunshine.

We actually all ate eggs this year--not just me.

March Madness

Why just color hard boiled eggs when you can really say something...?

Scrappy storms through coloring her eggs. Basketball games and intricate designs do not distract her.

How LV keeps an eye on his standings...

How Cupid keeps an eye on what we're doing...

How Titi Julie's egg looked after Scrappy dropped it on the floor and then ate it...

How we discovered I can sing "More than Words"...

Reflection of Me

The point was to get a picture of all the flour on Scrappy's face, but I noticed in editing that I actually finally got a reflection of myself in my muse's eye like Gilles. Not as nice, but I don't think he was using an Elph that's hit the floor a few times...

Models in My Backyard (cont.)

I had the rental lights from Thursday to Monday, so it seemed like a waste not to stick Scrappy out in the cold for a shoot. It only took a few frames to break through the forced smile and get to something real.

She really wanted to do a Halloween fashion show. I needed some seamless white practice. This was one that showed the dress best, which I needed as examples for a potential client. There were better portraits in the bunch.

Project: Slide

I thought it would be a fun idea to run around to every playground we could find and get a picture of Scrappy on the slide. Partly to celebrate the number of un-vandalized playgrounds in St. Charles and partly to have something to do before our late flight back to New York. I ran out of memory by the time we got to the fourth park. We didn't head out for more parks after picking up a new card. Maybe next time...