172. Shortcake

Desert for tonight!

Anthony and Christina have been asking for strawberry shortcake for a while...

But the strawberries didn't look very good at the store.

The blueberries, however, looked delicious!

171. Good News

Still very busy! But took Nicholas to see a dermatologist about his "lump" on the right upper thigh; She said it is not a cyst but a lipoma ( a fatty cyst), and that if it doesn't hurt, we should just let it be. That was a relief!
I took this shot of Christina this evening, at O'Melveny Park, in Granada Hills. She came with me to a photo shoot and I used her as a model to test the light before the actual shoot. She is at this awkward age where she doesn't know how to smile... But I managed to capture some decent shots anyways. :)

170. Original

Anthony had a concert today... He played two songs: an original guitar song and a Beethoven song at the piano.  He likes to compose music and today, he presented his latest composition. It was great! The song was upbeat and fun and you could tell he was enjoying performing. Who knows? Maybe he'll become a famous composer or a famous musician! In any case, Allan and I are very proud of him! Stay tuned for the actual video, in tomorrow's post!

169. Busy!

Last few days have been pretty busy! Between work, taking the kids to their dentist appointments, laundry, cooking, etc. I also went to Glendale Thursday night to photograph a baseball game for a friend of mine. The Glendale Angelinos is a Premiere Collegiate Summer Baseball team and a friend from my days at COC is doing an internship there. He asked if I could come by and take some photos during one of there home games to publish on their Facebook page.
Last night, Christina and I waited almost 1 1/2 hour to sign her up for the next session of Escape Theater. She almost didn't make it... There was only one spot left, in her age group, after I signed her up! We also saw "Annie", at PAC. After discussing it with the kids and Allan, we all agreed that this was one of the best Escape Theater production we have seen so far. The performance was wonderful and the little girl who played "Annie" was simply fantastic!
Finally, today, it was all about soccer; Christina had her second tryout for AYSO EXTRA. Her first one was last Tuesday night and she didn't do so good. Allan was worried that she wouldn't make the team. But today, she had a great tryout and really showed her "stuff".  Nicholas also had a scrimmage this afternoon, and we are now getting ready to watch the Gold Cup finals. Soccer, soccer, and more soccer!
Tomorrow should be a little better... But still busy!

168. Snowy Egret

I took this picture at the beach on Wednesday. I had never seen this kind of bird at the beach before. I have seen many seagulls, crows, and other scavengers. But not this one. After a little research, I believe it to be a snowy egret. It was interesting to watch him go after small fish in the shallow water. And this one wasn't too shy either! He let me get pretty close before flying away...
I wish I had more time and patience to photograph wild birds and animals. Maybe when the kids are older and I don't have to worry about them all the time. But by then, I might be just too old to sit there and wait for the perfect moment to capture! In the meantime, I'll just keep making these simple images of birds and animals that cross my path.

167. Beach

We went to the beach, yesterday; it was mine and Christina's first time this year. Last time the boys went, over Memorial Day weekend, Christina was still in a cast and couldn't go. So we stayed home. But yesterday was such a hot day in Santa Clarita that we decided to go to the beach. And it was great!
It was overcast, but the temperature was still nice enough that we didn't get cold. The kids had no problem going in the water for surfing, skimboarding and boogie boarding. Although Christina was a little mad because I wouldn't let her skimboard... The doctor told her to take it easy for 2 weeks after she got her cast off. So next week, she should be OK to skimboard again.
Anthony got a little frustrated with surfing; their was a pretty good current that was making it hard to catch good waves. He did get up a few times, but got tired very quickly.
And I reminded Nicholas to stretch before going skimboarding to avoid another pulled muscle or some kind of injury. He did and he came home unhurt!

Let's home that the weather will cooperate this year and that we can have many more fun days at the beach this Summer.

166. Pool Party

As promised, here are a few images from the pool party we went to on Saturday:

165. Bugs and Daffy

I took the kids to Six Flags today; We arrived around 11:30 AM and left at 4:00 PM. It was a beautiful day and we all had a great time. I even went on a few rides I normally don't go on, such as Gold Rusher. Christina wasn't very patient though and didn't want to wait in line too long. So she didn't get to go on her favorite ride: Goliath! Anthony was also not in the mood to go on a lot of extreme coasters and Nicholas was a little tired from his soccer practice this morning. But overall, they went on plenty of rides and had fun! This photo was taken just as we were walking out of the park. I was surprised that both Christina and Nicholas wanted to stop and take a photo. They are not into taking pictures with all the characters anymore... But they decided that Bugs and Daffy were cool enough! And it didn't take much to convince Anthony to join them. And after exchanging "High Fives" with Bugs and Daffy, they all posed for me!

164. Happy Father's Day!

Happy Father's Day!

163. My Little Ham

What a fun filled afternoon, Christina and the Green & White Dynamites had! They had their team party at Jacqueline's house. It was a pool party and all the girls had a great time. (See more pictures of the pool party later this week.)

After a pizza dinner, it was time for the Awards; each girl received a plaque, a medal, a soccer bag and a ball.

The Referees and the Coaches were also recognized for their time and effort. Christina had the honor of giving her dad, Coach Allan, his Thank You gift. Being the shy little girl that she is, (wink! wink!) it was a very difficult task! No, really, Christina, shy? She had no problems coming up with nice things to say about her dad and even came up with a few jokes right on the spot! Everyone had a good laugh! As you can see from this photograph, she is quite a little "ham"!

162. No More Cast!

No More Cast!

161. Dragon

Anthony's latest creation...

160. Here we go again!

The first post I wrote for this Blog was about how Nicholas had grown and how he was now taller than me. Well, here we go again... Anthony has grown a lot in the past few months and he is now as tall as I am (maybe even a little taller). I am 5'7". This means that my 12 year old son is also 5'7"!
I always new he would be taller than me, but I thought I would have at least a few more years before it happened!
By the way, the photo was taken by Nicholas who does not have a very steady hand and is not very comfortable with the camera. And of course, Anthony had to be a goofball, hence the tongue sticking out!

159. Full Moon

Full Moon

From my backyard...

158. Photobooks

This is the cover of the photobook I made for Father's Day!

Father's Day is almost here; 

Every year, I try and make a special photobook for Allan, and Grandpa Borge.

I am a little late, but I finally got a chance to shoot some portraits of

Nicholas, Anthony and Christina.

And yesterday, I created a photobook 

which should be delivered in time for Allan to receive it on Father's Day.

Grandpa Borge will receive his a little late, unfortunately.

But I guess it's better late than never!

157. Sneaky

I have to be sneaky, these days, because my oldest doesn't want to be photographed anymore! So I took this shot this morning at the soccer field, during the last game of the SCV Magic Tournament. Nicholas' team lost there first game yesterday morning, but won the second game in the afternoon and the third game this morning. Still... It wasn't enough to advance to the Finals.
Nicholas wasn't playing in this tournament as he pull his quad over a week ago and he is still not feeling 100% better. Rather than playing at 80% and taking a chance to re-injure himself, we decided that he should sit this one out.
Hopefully, he will be back to normal this week and can resume attending soccer practices. However, despite the injury, he was still able to jog/run and stayed in shape by running everyday! Way to go son!

156. USYVL

Anthony and I had our last volleyball game with USYVL this morning. It was a fun season and as a coach, I am proud of my team and how much they all improved. I am especially proud of the fact that all 7 members of the "White Outs" learned how to serve overhand! It was fun to watch each player grow and improve throughout the season.
I also got to play a little on Thursday night during practice and this morning. We had a BYE this morning so we asked parents to join us and we all played. It was fun to be out there and be involved; I really miss playing volleyball. Maybe in a couple of years, when our life is not so hectic, I might join an adult recreational volleyball league. But right now, we are just too busy!

Anyways, USYVL is a great organization, and it was the perfect way to introduce Anthony to volleyball. But I am glad it's over. I'll be happy to have my Saturday mornings to relax and enjoy the Summer!

155. self confidence

School is finally over for Christina and Anthony. Today was their last day and even though he didn't need to go, Anthony decided to attend his last day of school. He was also invited to a Graduation Party tonight. So I dropped him off earlier this evening and got a chance to talk to the friend's mom. She stated: "I love your son! He is so self confident! He was so funny yesterday when he got up to get his Diploma... He just stood there nodding at everyone, kind of saying: Ya! That's me!"
Yes, Anthony has plenty of self confidence; He doesn't care what people thinks of him! I think he is a little shy but compensates by showing off! He is somewhat Goofy, and clumsy and doesn't think of the consequences; He is a man of action! Often time I wonder how a boy who is so smart like him, can do dumb things like he often does. But I love him... Life can certainly be a surprise with Anthony around!

154. Graduation

Went to Anthony's 6th Grade Promotion today. He is officially a 7th grader... Good by Elementary School, hello Junior High School! Both Allan and myself are very proud of him!
His graduation ceremony was short and sweet. It was a private ceremony just for his class. They sang a couple of songs, including "The Time of my Life" where Anthony accompanied his classmates on the piano.
Anthony was also recognized for having perfect attendance; Only two students out of 31 showed up for school every single day. And Anthony was one of them!
He was also awarded the President's Education Award for Outstanding Academic Excellence! To qualify for this prestigious award, Anthony had to have had at least a 2 in all subjects from 4th grade until today. He also had to have performed at the Advanced Proficiency level in both Mathematics and Language Arts on all State Test! That is quite an achievement! Anthony was particularly impressed that the Certificate was signed by President Obama!
So all in all, it was a very good year for Anthony and I hope he continues to make us proud!

153. Lend A Paw visit

 These days, I am volunteering for the Lend A Paw program. This dog therapy program visits people of all ages and provide stress relief and socialization. There were three pet teams for today's visit:

Liz and Cooper!

Sweet little Daisy and her owner/handler Henry!

And Lisa and the big brown bear Ash!




It was amazing to see how much the people love the dogs! And it was a fun event to photograph!

152. Stephen Colbert

Yesterday, after Allan's birthday dinner, we sat down to watch John Stewart's Daily Show and the Colbert Report. Of course, both comedian/journalist made fun of Representative Anthony Weiner who apparently posted indecent photos of himself on twitter and Facebook. But what was even more funny was the part about Sarah Palin and her own version of Paul Revere's Midnight Ride. Colbert attempted to demonstrate how Revere could have (according to Palin) rang bells and fired "warning shots" while riding his horse.  I found myself laughing out loud with my three boys: Allan, Nicholas and Anthony! If you want a good laugh, check out this video clip: Paul Revere's Famous Ride.

151. Happy Birthday Allan!

Today was Allan's 47th Birthday! 

As is the tradition, we had a family dinner and homemade cake.

Then Allan opened up his presents:

Adidas Tracksuit for soccer from Christina

Tron Blue Ray DVD

I Am America by Stephen Colbert from Anthony

And a gift card from me!

But it was Anthony's present that stole the show!

Both Allan and Anthony love watching the "Colbert Report" together

and his book, at first glance, appears to be just as funny as the show!

It was a great birthday dinner... Good job kids!

150. Slow

Time goes by so fast that sometimes it's good to just slow down,

take a break, relax and do something you enjoy doing without feeling guilty.

That's exactly what I did today!

After breakfast and walking the dogs, I took Anthony for his haircut and then I spent the afternoon watching t.v. and making friendship bracelet with Christina.

149. Watermelon Face

I cut up a watermelon this afternoon and the inside reminded me of a Pokemon face!

I think it's a Wobbuffet!

148. Rabbit

Came home from volleyball practice with Anthony 

and found this rabbit in our front yard.

He wasn't very nervous... 

He stayed there even as he heard the garage door open.

He continued to graze in the grass as I captured this photograph.

It was only when I tired to get a little closer that he ran away!

I'm sure he is back by now... 

eating our front lawn away and leaving little "bunny poop" all over the front yard!

147. Talent Show

Yesterday, was Valley View's 6th Grade Talent Show.

Anthony was participating with an untitled piano piece that he composed himself.

Unfortunately, I was unable to attend but I asked him to play the piece this morning so I could record it.

So, here it is:

Song: Untitled

Composed and Played by: Anthony Devantier