Rainy Day Birthday for a young man

Of course I had to test out the new Flip video camera on the kids!

My, how quickly children age nowadays!
It's Saturday, so it must be time for another birthday party for one of the niece and nephew tribe. All kids love mustaches right? Well, take a look for yourself:

I bought a package of costume mustaches for the goody bags, and they supplied the kids with a lot of fun. What was even more fun was torturing the innocent toddlers and infants with the mustaches:

Since the party was at the pizza parlor, the usual begging for quarters to feed their unsavory gambling habits started up right away:

Then it was time for a bit of pizza:

some people were distracted by the gambling mecca across the room:

Others not so much:

A little tomfoolery while awaiting the present dive:

and then it was on...oh which one should the boy tear into first?

This kid is the only one I've ever seen that actually READS the card that comes with the gift! This tended to annoy the other children, who got tired of waiting for the boy to shred into his gifts as they do.

Some more tomfoolery while awaiting the next activity:

Once the kids realized that we adults really WERE completely out of quarters (purses HAD been searched, after all), they demanded we become tattoo parlor slaves and presented their various body parts for instant application of their hard won prizes:

Then it was time to dig into the cake! Designed AND baked by the parents, it was a sight to behold...some kind of wheel track thingy having to do with Super Mario Brothers:Of course, a little adult tomfoolery was in the works via "trick candles":

The kid has a great sense of humor and laughed it off, then prepared to divvy up the cake...fairly of course:

And here is a singing group not quite ready for American Idol, but good enough to sing some Happy Birthday wishes to the birthday boy:

Finally succumbing to digital video...

Yes, I finally purchased one of those Flip cameras. If you thought seeing all those PHOTOS of the kids and the animals was bad....wait until they show up on video!

Here's a preview!

Ingrate Bastard finally learns a trick:

more to come...no doubt!

The Dark Side of Photography

I'd like to take a moment to introduce you to the photos you never get to see. For every great photo of the kids I've gotten over the years...there are these..hanging around the edges of my photo file folders, refusing to go away:

I give you...disgusted infant:

Sibling tomfoolery:
"smiling" for the camera:

The "go ahead, take my photo, see if I care" shot:

I give you sibling love in all it's glory:

The "look what I can do" moment:

The, uh, "look what I can do" moment:

When posing goes horribly wrong:

Little girls are made of sugar and spice and everything...what...again?

The "I can't help it if your child looks like the devil" photo:

The whole "not again!" look:

Sometimes the camera can get just a tad too close:

The "tasting the air" photos:

The "chuckie doll" look (in christening dress, no less):

The "too cool for photos" look:

and the sequel photo..."wait, one more, auntie!":

Here's a look she's sure to use again:

I'll let you guess what was going on here:

The "cheesy" cheeseball photo:

The "I got your smile right here" look:

Here we have the "I can't hear the camera, so it isn't there" look:

followed by the "This IS my best angle" photo:

and the awkwardly posed Christmas photo:

The "how dare you call me cute" reaction:

More best angles:

Here's what I like to call the "yes, I totally think we could be supermodels" look:

The crazy baby look:

The "Gene Simmons" approach to having one's photo taken:

and here is a kid who thinks I can't see him behind the cotton candy cone:

Here's that girl, "smiling" for the camera again:

This photo I like to call the "Christmas Candy Aftershocks" look:

The "rock on, sister woman, rock on" photo:

A Christmas "ending" photo:

and finally, the "mistaken lighting causing the bad photo" effect:

I can't say the lighting caused the kid to look that though!