In the interest of trying to catch up, here’s another entry… I’ll do another tonight before I go to bed. Again, these are images pulled from the archives, so some of them are a bit older. Next entry we’ll be back to November 2010 again, I promise.

June 8th, 2010. Doctor’s visit for Nina, likely. See this image larger.

Melissa said Ian sat right down on this thing, picked up the controller and had at it like he was born to do so. See this image larger.

I’m not sure where he would have acquired such skills, but I will have a stern discussion with daycare to find out. 😉 See this image larger.

June 11th, 2010, I think he might be at the zoo. See this image larger.

Same. See this image larger.

August 11th, 2010. After a bad dream Ian spent the night in our bed and apparently used me as a pillow. See this image larger.

August 13th, 2010. Sleep like an egyptian. See this image larger.

August 15th, 2010. Nina looks like a little bucket of cute! See this image larger.

Same, but with Grandma Barb! See this image larger.

September 3rd, 2010, now we’re starting to catch up! See this image larger.

September 3rd, 2010, back at home! Cute imitates cute! See this image larger.

November 2nd, 2010, Nina’s first trip to the local Library! See this image larger.

Hey. I turned 40. I get to celebrate it with a blog entry dedicated to that, right? We’re all cool with that? If you aren’t please feel free to write and ask for administrative access so that you can delete this. 😉

So November 2nd showed up on my calendar and I kissed my thirties goodbye. I then kissed my wife and kids, and had a good day.

Mommy, Ian and Nina got me some really nice presents and cards, as did many other people, thank you all for your kindness! Just so you know, if you sent me a gift I used it towards the gift mentioned below. So thank you!

Here’s a video of a quick dance!

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BONUS VIDEO!!! Click here to see Ian and I dancing all the way until one of my birthday presents arrived! This video was taken with my iPhone.
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What new present did I get that I dropped everything when the doorbell rang? A new LENS and a new CAMERA.

I had to wait a few hours for the new camera battery to charge up, so in the meanwhile I tried out my new “glass.” (That’s photographer slang for lens.) I knew immediately I had not wasted my money. She’s worth looking at in a larger image if you don’t mind clicking. -> See this image larger.

This shot wasn’t as good, but I had to get used to it. See this image larger.

Finally I got the battery in place and it was time to test out the camera. Some of these are the new lens, some are not — it isn’t a good lens for all situations. I took a picture of the cat as my first real picture to keep with tradition. After all, there was a point where he was probably our most photographed child. See this image larger.

Self portraits, ahoy! See this image larger.

Maybe a bit too much detail on this one. Guess I should grabbed a wipe. See this image larger.

This one’s a beaut, look at it large by clicking here -> See this image larger.

Yup, not bad…. See this image larger.

Pretty good smile, maybe a little too much cheese, kiddo! See this image larger.

Nina gets bashful! See this image larger.

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BONUS VIDEO!!! — One of the nicer aspects of this new camera is that it takes video. So no more lugging two cameras around. They are also high-definition videos and most important of all, whatever lens is on the camera is what ends up recording the video. So a fish-eye lens video is possible, wide-angle, whatever you can come up with. Click here to see a video from the new camera and compare with the video I shot earlier with my phone! A beautiful video of our little girl!
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So, Halloween night! A lot of work led up to this evening, so if this sounds a little self-congratulatory, I apologize. There’s certainly a little pride showing through. If you click here you can see an image from a little bit ago, when Ian was peeling apples. In the foreground is a plastic package that contains a food Nina eats called “puffs.”

I traced out lines using a stack of books and a marker, then used scissors to cut the puff containers to size. See this image larger.

I grabbed an LED “road flare” style flashlight and pressed it through loops that I cut into one of the puff containers… this made an almost complete “laser” armband for Buzz’s right arm. For his left I took the other puff container and put it inside of yet another. I cut open a door and added some shiny stickers for Buzz’s left armband, where he has a communicator. When I found neon lime-green duct tape, I knew we were pretty much there. I ended up putting two “bracelets” of bubble wrap on each arm so that the armbands easily fit his skinny forearms. See this image larger.

Seeing as I had plenty of duct tape to spare, I added some highlights to Ian’s ordinary sneakers. I did this quietly downstairs in my office and when I was done put them by the front door without any of the other bits I had created. I knew something went right there as well as soon as I heard Ian exclaim “BUZZ LIGHTYEAR SHOES!!!” from halfway across the house. See this image larger.

Ian’s inflatable wings looked great, but I thought they needed something a little more… a couple LED lights on watch batteries stuffed into water resistant gumball machine toy capsules did the trick. (I kept the dinosaur toy for myself until it is less of a choking hazard for Nina.) Add a little velcro and boom, done.

All I need now for Buzz Lightyear to be complete is a cute kid in his cousin’s costume. See this image larger.

And where’s my other cute kid? Hey! Halloween for creepy, no for sleepy! See this image larger.

The full costume! Hard to get a good pic, unfortunately… See this image larger.

Perhaps it would be best to include a brief video! See this image larger.

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BONUS VIDEO!!!! – Click here to see a brief video of Ian in his Buzz Lightyear costume!!!
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Alright, everybody have costumes on? Look at that cute little kitty back there! See this image larger.

Ian was very proud of his costume, and I was proud to tell anybody who gave me a chance how the armbands were made… the range of comments went from “Good Dad!” to “Sounds like you’ve got too much time on your hands!” See this image larger.

We discovered very quickly that our new neighborhood was just too popular for us to be able to trick or treat as a family. Melissa was kind enough to man the door and bowl back at home while I paraded Ian around. Next year I promise to realize that I’m being selfish, and trade spots… sorry! See this image larger.

Back at home from a long walk, everybody was pretty exhausted. Buzz took off his wings and was pretty much ready for a treat and bedtime — I pushed for one more picture, thus I have this one of two miserable kids. Which reminds me, we actually ran out of treats! Next year we’ll be more prepared! Happy Halloween everybody! See this image larger.

From my notes:

Ian – Where is the book the one with the cars not the real cars but the one with the wheels that don’t go round and round.

Ian and I started our jack-o-lantern design with a pumpkin and the latest in hyper expensive computer-aided drafting to create a face compelling and haunting at the same time. See this image larger.

Usually I try to do a little better than this, but so much effort went into Ian’s costume that I ran out of time. It was nice to let Ian do a lot of the work though, he loved it. See this image larger.

You’d think between this smile and having permission to make a great big mess that Ian would love doing every aspect… See this image larger.

…but he did not like the gushy insides! See this image larger.

He still had fun though… See this image larger.

…Nina had a lot less. See this image larger.

Mommy wanted to dry out the pumpkin seeds, so she had Ian help her. See this image larger.

Look at him go! He looks like a little pro! See this image larger.

But the best was yet to come… Halloween night, next blog entry! See this image larger.