OK, first of all, news of the family since last post:
[CLICK on any pictures to embiggen!]
Maddy and Joel started school—Maddy in 4th Grade, Joel in 1st. Here are their school pictures:
Cute, huh? I mean, really, compare them to some of the school pictures of their aunts and uncles:
OK, or compare them to me at their age:
Abe and Amanda had their birthdays on October 10th. Abe got a lot of Pirate-themed presents, as well as an Indiana Jones whip that makes sounds and plays Indiana Jones music when you press a button on the handle. Here’s Amanda’s Ding Dong cake:
And then there was Halloween. Now me, I am not a big fan of Halloween. I like the imagery of Jack O’Lanterns, ghosts, etc. But the whole dressing up and trick-or-treating thing…I’m not a fan. But Amanda and the kids love it, so what can you do, really? Sit around eating candy, that’s what!
Maddy was a 50’s girl:
Joel was an eyeball (sorry about the blurred eye picture):
And Abe was Captain Jack Sparrow:
Joel’s costume was totally his idea. He’s hilarious. I’m looking forward to see what he comes up with next year. It was tough for Amanda to figure out how to make the costume. She ended up using a pattern for some other costume—a bumblebee or something…
Abe was going to be Buzz Lightyear, thanks to the costume we got on clearance last year, but a few weeks before Halloween, he got out of his Toy Story phase and into his Pirates phase (meaning he started watching Pirates of the Caribbean 1 and 2 every day instead of Toy Story 1 and 2 every day). Not long before Halloween, we worried that he was going into his Indiana Jones or Iron Man phases, thanks to us getting Those on Blu-Ray. (Yes, we got a Blu-Ray player—and I LOVE it.)
Maddy WAS going to be Tinkerbell, but changed her mind at the last minute, leaving her Tinkerbell phase as she heads into the…ugh…pop star/Hannah Montana phase…Of course she’s still a Harry Potter fan, too. Which leads to the next news—Amanda painted the kids’ rooms. Maddy’s is Harry Potter themed with Gryffindor colors: Red and Gold:
Joel’s is blue, and we’ll soon be adding stars and planets for a space theme:
Amanda was an awesome painting maniac, and come Christmas, you’ll be able to see the awesome quilts she’s making for each of them that match their room themes.
Hmmm, what’s next?
Amanda’s working a lot at the Disney Store now that the Christmas season is kicking into high gear. On the plus side, she’s got 4 one-day park passes, and should be getting 4 or 5 more in the next month or so. Now, if we could just figure out when to take a trip to Disneyland. We’ve had on-again, off-again plans for a trip to Disney World or Disneyland. Currently, we’re thinking Disney World is going to have to wait until we’re in a better financial situation and when the kids are a little older (and if we wait til 2010, we can visit Universal Studios Florida and see the new Harry Potter land there, in addition to a big ol’ Disney World trip). Our smaller dream is for a Christmastime Disneyland trip, but this year is out, with me working so intensely on the Watchmen Motion Comic.
Speaking of that, Chapter 4 of the Motion Comic is now on iTunes. I worked on about ¼ of the episode. I also did some revisions to Chapter 5 which comes out in a week or so. The animation has been a lot of fun, and it’s been nice to see people enjoying the videos.
I also just quit my job at 8fish, for a number of reasons, most importantly that I’m wanting to focus more on animation-focused work. While 8fish was an o.k. job (much better than a lot, even), and definitely provided for my family, I felt like I was moving further and further from the kind of work I want to do. This was a big and somewhat scary decision to make (especially in today’s economy), but Amanda and I both feel like it’s the right thing to do right now.
Well, that about catches us up. Joel’s birthday was this week—we got him a star wars Lightsaber Duels video game, which he’s been enjoying, and we’re having a birthday party with nieces and nephews and other relatives on Friday.
We’re also gearing up for Thanksgiving and Christmas. Abe’s currently in a Home Videos phase, which means he enjoys watching the Christmas sections of our home videos OVER and OVER and OVER—he LOVES watching people dump out stockings and open presents. Then he keeps wanting to wrap up his toys and open them; or, he likes to dump a pile of toys in the middle of the room and cover them with a tote and blankets for a BIG present...he’s cute, but wears me out.
We’ll end with a song. Most of you should know the song “The Girl from Ipanema”
Well, this is a parody of that song called “The Boy From…” (the ellipses are short for Tacarembo La Tumbe Del Fuego Santa Malipas Zacatecas La Junta Del Sol Y Cruz)
Lyrics by Stephen Sondheim, music by Mary Rodgers.
It’s probably also the only song that mentions the Welsh town of Llanfairpwllgwyngyllgogerychwyrndrobwllllantysiliogogogoch
