Andrew's Business Trip

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Location:Williams St,Tustin,United States

I think Sarah needs a purse!

I think Sarah needs a purse!, originally uploaded by leslie_capron.

Sarah was having a ball walking around with this bucket at Andrew's baseball practice last week. So cute.

My Photoshop class is over, so my Flickr stream will start to have new pictures again. The class used flickr to host all of our homework we posted to the class forum.

Sarah

Sarah bed final master, originally uploaded by leslie_capron.

Do not be fooled! She isn't this peaceful or angelic, but she is wonderful.

Sarah Slide

Sarah Slide, originally uploaded by leslie_capron.

Monday was an awesome day. We played at the park for almost three hours, I took tons of pictures, had some impromptu baseball practice with Andrew and played 7 games of Candy Land. (I think I deserve an award for that last one!). The best part? The kids were wiped out and fell asleep at 8. Good day.

Here's a picture of Sarah that I tried to fix in Photoshop. She was really blue from all the reflected light from the blue slide - she looks better but still a little grey? We're learning how to fix skin tones this week in my class and I'm having fun practicing.

Halloween Wrap up

Better late than never right?

Halloween weekend was a blast. We started off Friday night at our church's annual Harvest Carnival. Note to event organizers, what's with the mimes and big scarecrows on giant stilts? Andrew nearly had a heart attack!



Note the "relaxed" expression. He was ready to go five minutes after the mime.

Thank goodness there were other fun things to distract him. I wasn't sure how this rollercoaster was going to go.



But it went great!




Sarah realizing that her brother's were on the rollercoaster and she was not.



Glow in the dark necklaces were had



And good food




On Sunday we went to our neighborhood's Halloween pot luck. There are no pictures, we were too busy keeping track of the kids, but we got a few shots of them in their costumes before.










Sarah was a bold trick or treater, she wanted to keep up with her brothers. I have a feeling this is going to be an ongoing trend with her.

Now we've got tons of candy in the house. We're doling it out a few pieces a day. What do you do? Let the kids gorge and be done with it fast, or ration it out so the sugar-high stays manageable?

How can it be November 2 already?!

Owen hears a who

Owen hears a who, originally uploaded by leslie_capron.

This was a fun moment on the way to school this morning. The dandelions were blooming big in the parking lot islands and the boys couldn't resist.

On the list of things I'm thankful for: time not to rush through the morning routine. Look at what I might have missed.

Small World

So I'm in a another hotel - again. This time in Portland, OR. And while I don't usually read the hotel magazines, this time I thought I'd flip through and check out Oregon wine country. And what did I find on page 45? My great uncle Ralph. Put a smile on my face. Check it out!






Nice to see family unexpectedly while I'm on the road.

/Eric

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Location:NW Flanders St,Portland,United States

My new time suck!

I've finally cleared enough mental space to start playing around in Photoshop. Here are a few shots of the kids I've tried to improve with sharpening and boosting color. Thanks mostly to the Pioneer Woman's Photoshop actions. I'll sign up for a Photoshop class soon too.

Another thing I've done is switch to continuous focus and back button focus. I think these have really helped me get clearer shots of my moving targets. I've still got a way to go. Lots of my shots still have sharp shoulders and blurry eyes. But I'm seeing some improvement and that is so encouraging!










Update - just signed up for a Photoshop class!

Splash!

Splash!, originally uploaded by leslie_capron.

Another hot day in the OC! Owen had some fun in the back 40 with the hose. We almost melted at Andrew's baseball game today. I'm ready for some sweater weather!

Sunshine

The sun was out today and we got some fun in at the park this morning. Just like her brothers, Sarah knows how to find the puddles.

Cookie Monster

Andrew and I made chocolate chip cookies today. Sarah though they were very good.

My new motto

My new motto, originally uploaded by leslie_capron.

This is my new mantra.

Having fun at baseball practice

Having fun at baseball practice, originally uploaded by leslie_capron.

Sarah's EEG results came back on Thursday completely normal. Good news.

Scooting with style

Owen loves to scoot. He's even got his own scootin' style. Love the leg lift!

Sarah at the playground

Sarah at the playground, originally uploaded by leslie_capron.

We think Sarah is having Absence Seizures and this week she had an EEG to look at her brainwave activity.

Sarah was trooper during the hour long test. The test required Sarah to be still while awake, then fall asleep so the transition from awake to sleep could be recorded. I thought this was going to be impossible: have her fall asleep in a strange place, wearing a hat with 25 wires sticking out of it, and surrounded by strangers. But after about 10 minutes of resistance, she calmed down and did fall asleep. Getting up at 4am helped - fun!

We'll know the results of the test in about a week. If the diagnosis is confirmed, more than likely she'll outgrow them. She is not bothered by them at all, and is her happy busy self.

Flights to Vegas

Just returned to gate and four police offers yanked two people off the plane. How hard is it to sit still and be quiet on a plane?


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Owen Having Fun

Hanging out with Dad on a Saturday!









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Guess Where Dad Took Us

$20 bucks for the first right guess


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Location:Pacific Coast Hwy,Central Coast,United States

Scooters!

We hit the sporting goods store yesterday to pick up new baseball gear for Andrew and somehow we left with two Razor scooters too.

I wasn't sure how the boys would do, but as you can see, they had no problem scootin' around the ally!

Andrew calls it "scootering".

Rachel, Andrew can't wait to go scootering with Oliver!

Home Ideas

So, we have three kids and need more space in our house. However, I happen to be a pretty conservative accountant / financial analyst / consultant / tight-wad and can't comfortably recommend picking up a new house with an extra bedroom for a measly $500,000 in incremental expense. Instead we are going to embrace our small carbon footprint, be happy with what we have, take some killer vacations (Napa, Oktoberfest anyone?), and make our house (which is in just about the best location in SoCal you could ask for) work for us.

And with that, we're kicking off "Mildly Extreme Homemakeover: SoCal Caprons Edition" - and when I say "mild" I mean slow, low budget and perhaps a bit more "aspirational" than the much more popular ABC equivalent.

So to start, we're seeking input on some minor tweaks we might make. Here's my initial vision. Open to suggestions. The manlier the better. Let us know what you think - or if you have some money-saving alternatives we could slap into place quickly. Only rules are that recommendations cannot include the words, "cinder block," "two by four," "milk crate," "particle board," or "bean bag." Other than that, sky's the limit. Let the games begin.

Walker!

Proof! We've got another walker in the house!

Walker!
Originally uploaded by leslie_capron

Lessons Learned

8 things mom learned during our first school project

1) Andrew loves spray paint

2) Spray paint is very hard to get off from skin (see item 1). I recommend not spray painting before having to go anywhere, like church for example.

3) Do not leave projects outside to dry and forget about the sprinklers

4) Start projects early (see item 3)

5) The size of the mess is directly proportional to the amount of fun

6) He liked it when I just sat next to him and watched him do it

7) Let the kid do the project!

8) It's best not freak out when you arrive at school and see another kid's project and it looks like a Rembrandt (see item 7). I am going to have to work on this one.





I think he really liked the project.

Milestone

Yesterday was HUGE at the Capron house. Andrew started Kindergarten! OMG the excitement was sky high around here. Mostly mine, and the family, Andrew was pretty calm about it.

Vista Verde Elementary does the first day of school a little differently than I remember. There's no dropping your baby off at the curb with a wave. I got to go with Andrew to class and stay. It was a really short day, just an hour and a half.

Mrs. Anderson (Andrew's teacher) spoke to the parents about the kids' daily schedule, homework, daily penny jar, share days, snack (no nut products), volunteering, pick up/drop off procedures (do NOT get this wrong), short days (every Wednesday), sneaker days (every Wednesday), picture day, parent/teacher conferences, no cupcakes for birthdays, cooking class, label everything...phew! I had to take notes! The kids went off in another room for an activity.

Before we knew it it was all over and time for lunch.

Andrew is so ready for Kindergarten. I know he's going to thrive this year.

Get the flash player here: http://www.adobe.com/flashplayer

Happy First Day of School Andrew

Hard to believe Andrew's first day of kindergarten is today. Good luck from Dad and friends in Singapore.






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Location:E Coast Pkwy,,Singapore

What Most of Singapore Looks Like

Here's the great view I had of Singapore during the last few days. So different than what I am used to - suffering from culture shock.






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Location:Singapore,Singapore

Morning Walking Tour

Decided to wander around a bit before having to do some work (and before it gets hot).

Hopped the subway:






Stopped by the office



Walked over the river



Saw a few museums



Strolled through Fort Canning Park









Grabbed some Prata with curry and a Chendol(sp?) at the Tekka market in Little India.



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Location:Singapore