Our Ethnically Diverse Little Family

Last night before bed I ran across the Perception Laboratory's Face Transformer, which basically uses face recognition algorithms to transform your race, age, or even species. Well, pretty soon, what with Andrea being tired and my mind being half-twisted anyway, we were getting pretty crazy. A little Photoshopping thrown in the mix and you've got genuine Twilight Zone stuff. But I'll let the pictures speak for themselves...

I think we all look pretty convincing as Asians...

To quote Borat, "Genuine chocolate face. No make up!"

Andrea says we're really mean as parents to do this to our poor children. "Danged dirty apes!"

This one gives me the willies. We're like a family of Crypt Keepers. Either that or we looked into the ark.

You can view the whole mess here. And, of course, you can try for yourself.

las fotos

Although I did both of these photo shoots a while ago, I thought I'd post a couple of highlights now anyway.


The first picture is of Melissa, my brother-in-law's good friend. I've never shot senior pictures in January before (the lack of a studio usually prevents that), but Melissa's mom needed the pictures in time for the yearbook's deadline for senior ads. So we braved the sub-freezing temperatures at Sportsman's Park and got some really nice shots. Melissa has a very pretty, natural smile, so it didn't take any work to make her look good. This is one of my favorite shots, and I think it was about the fourth frame.

The second picture is (obviously) a collage of engagement pictures I shot for Lauralynn and Douglas in February. Laur and I grew up across the street from each other, so we were pretty much inseparable as kids, so I was excited when she called and asked me to take her engagement photos. We took lots and lots of pictures during the shoot, and there happened to be so many cute, sweet shots (a lot of them candid) that I thought the best way to exhibit them would be to mash them all together into one final product.

update: all your prize are NOT belong to us

Analee's entry into the Post Register's annual Baby Parade.

In case you missed the earlier post with a similar title:

Months ago Seth and I dressed up Ana for a grossly cute photo shoot: diaper, pearls, huge flower on the head. That's it. Our hearts were set on winning May's cutest baby in the Post Register's annual Baby Parade insert.

As the title of the post indicates, Analee did not win. We were trumped! May's cutest baby is wearing absolutely nothing!

Anyway, Analee will remain the cutest May baby in our hearts. And maybe the next time we enter a baby into the Baby Parade, we'll follow suit (or rather, the lack thereof) and have our number three child bare all.

cuteness

I've wanted to have family pictures taken for ... well, since Ana was born last May. We tried after Ana's baby blessing, but Bekah was suffering from lack of nap, so what we ended up with were quite comical (Seth trying to keep Bekah on his lap, Bekah screaming/crying/fidgeting/squirming/pulling away).

So I thought we'd do it in October when the leaves in our yard are pretty fall shades. And then I thought we could squeeze it in during November before all the leaves were gone. And then I thought we'd do it before Christmas so we could include a copy in our Christmas cards. And then I thought we'd wait until after Christmas so the girls could wear their matching Nemo dresses my mom made them.

And after Christmas it is! Don't pay attention to the fact that it's nearly spring.

Dad was kind enough to take time out of his schedule to set up the backdrop, lights, camera and tripod (and shoot the pictures, of course), and Mom was kind enough to take time out of her schedule to keep the girls happy and looking at the camera and to feed us afterward. Thank you!

Here's the final product:

To view our other favorites, go here.

mixing things up

It's amazing what one night of totally uninterrupted sleep can do for a person.

It's not unusual for Seth and/or I to hear Rebekah climb out of her bed in the night and try to join us in ours (She can't tell time! She doesn't realize it's not morning!), but the night before last we got a glorious eight hours of continuous sleep.

So yesterday, feeling particularly refreshed and ambitious, I took it upon myself to rearrange the furniture in three rooms: the living room, the extra bedroom/study downstairs, and Rebekah's room. The little imp (Rebekah) had figured out that, when she's SUPPOSED to be napping, she could climb up into the cubby hole at the head of her bed and get into the photographic equipment I store up there. More than once I would peek my head in to see if she had fallen asleep to find her "jumping rope" with one of the longer cords.

But she has been thwarted!

I moved her bed under the window and slid the dresser over where the bed used to be. The dresser is not as long as the bed is, so there is now a gap between the end of the dresser and the edge of the cubby hole, which is in the same wall as the door.

Rebekah's room's "new look." (You can see the poster of Jesus mentioned in a previous post.)

I was feeling very pleased with myself, and Bekah was excited as well ("Thank you, Mommy, for my new room!"). But the jumble caused an unforeseen problem.

Last night, I woke up to see Seth getting out of bed and going into Bekah's room. I heard her crying and him consoling her, and then he dragged himself back into bed.

"What time is it?" I asked.

"Two."

"I didn't even hear her. What was wrong?"

"I heard her whimpering, so I went into her room. I couldn't see Bekah anywhere, but it was dark. Then I found her behind the curtain in the closet. She was just standing in there crying."

She got lost! I moved things around on her, and when she tried to come find us in the night, she got confused and ended up in the closet. Poor girl.

I asked Seth if I should put the room back the way it was, but we decided against it. It might take her a few more nights of finding herself amongst the shoes, books and clothes in the closet, but it beats her messing around with expensive lights and cords.