singing in the spigot

sunday, dad and the kids and i went on a walk through duncan's place and on the way back, kendal stopped to sing into a "microphone" which happened to be a above-ground connect for the irrigation system.  he sang and sang and then holly ran to another (shorter) one and sang into that one.  unfortunately, my card was full at that point and i couldn't delete fast enough to catch more video.  it was HILAROUS!!!!

roaches

Don’t get me wrong.  I am not a fan of cockroaches.  We have those really big and long ones here in our office, and they thrive in the cold, dark file room.  And, I spend a lot of time in the file room.  Every time I go in there, I flip on the light and usually see one scurry away.  I’m used to it now.  

I’m not sure how they do it, but occasionally one will be stuck on his back, legs squirreling around trying to reach something to help him flip back over.  I just stand to see one killed them like that.  It’s kin to shooting someone in the back.

I give the helpless little roach a push-kick with my foot.  If he lands upright - well lucky him.  If not, well I guess he’ll have to keep on lying there squirming around trying to get upright.  

I guess what I’m trying to say here is that I won’t step on them either way.  They are way too big and crunchy and they leave slippery spots on the tile floor, or stains on the carpet. 

When I flip one over, I always say, “You better go and hide, little roach!  Someone is gonna kill you!” 

kendal's first person

he's a mad mad mad mad boy - serial #3!!!

these were just too good:
#1 not to take (knowing that he was getting madder each and every time i snapped the camera...)
#2 not to share (he's almost cuter mad than he is happy!)
#3 #2 is only valid because photos are silent.  if they came with sound, well, that would not be the case.  he is LOUD when he is mad!  :)

Riding in the Car

Before I took non-flash pictures of the rainy, dreary day, I took some pictures of the kids in their carseats.  First of all, I usually drive. Second, I don't typically have my camera out in the car.  But, today Nathaniel brought me a wonderful photo book about New Mexico and within about 20 minutes I was ready to fly out there just to take pictures.  Since that isn't really an option, I resorted to taking pictures of the kids (and the road, hazy as it was...).  So anyway, I thought I'd share a one of those pictures too. Still, keep in mind I'm working on the whole black and white thing.  I guess unless I practice doing it, I'll never get good at it. So, you'll probably be seeing a lot of black and white for a while.

cold rainy day

i meant to take pictures of buildings today, but i didn't want to get my camera wet.  instead, nathaniel was driving so i took pictures while in a moving car, through the front window.  not a great idea, but i was practicing with the manual mode and they actually turned out pretty interesting.  they looked as cold and dreary as the day really was.  i'm also practicing with black and white (the changing of color into... though my camera told me i was in monotone, when i went to process them, they were in color.  so, i desaturated and then adjusted the contrast and brightness and blackness to get them just right.).  i think they look pretty neat!

TheJourney of Drop

My coworker wrote a book.  It is a kid's book, and his sister illustrated it.  She is a phenomenal watercolor artist.  And, he's a wonderful writer.  Together they have made a masterpiece about Drop, a drop of water, and how he travels through the water cycle.  I love this book!  Each familial set of nieces and nephews will get an autographed copy for christmas this year.  And, we'll have one too. 

Check it out!  He's a geologist and a NCSU graduate.  We went to field camp together!