11-2, Fall Snowstorm

Blizzard, yes, we had a blizzard last night.  It's amazing how much snow can accumulate while you're sleeping.  Today's a lazy, winter-like kind of day.  It's pretty nice.  And, since Sven has been working weekends and school was cancelled today, we all get to be together to enjoy it.  Take a look at our winter wonderland!

No picnic on the patio today!

My favorite reading chair looks lonely...and cold!

11-1, 2nd White Stripe

Another month of training and progress.  Nikolas earned his 2nd stripe for his white belt yesterday.  We're so proud of him!  He attended 11 classes this past month (8 are required to earn the stripe) and improved tremendously!  The first video shows Nikolas, chosen by the Shihan, to demonstrate some of the moves-- his first time in front of the class.  He did great!  The second video is of him receiving his stripe.  Way to go, Nikolas!!

10-31, Silly Kitty

I haven't posted a picture of our silly kitty in a while, so what better day to capture a black cat than on Halloween?  Next year we really should dress her up.....

10-22, Ready for Halloween

Sven and Nikolas love to decorate....Halloween, Thanksgiving, Christmas....you name it.  Me, not so much.  I love leaving the decorating to them and seeing what they come up with.  They found our scrub oak patch out front to be the perfect place for our Halloween decorations.  I wish I would have gotten a photo right before last week's snowfall.  They had bagged up (some of) the leaves and decorated the bags with white spray paint-- very creative!  It looked great!  (I guess you'll have to trust me on this.)  Here's a photo in the intermediate stage before the bags.

As I was taking the photo above, this is the company I had in the yard with me.

I won't dare admit (ok, I just did) that I didn't take a single photo on Halloween night.  For the first time ever, I simply enjoyed the trick-or-treating live instead of in Photoshop later!

10-19, Pikes Peak Portrait

We never order school pictures.  It's usually my job to to take Nikolas' portrait each year.  Well, needless to say, my studio lights and backdrops haven't seen the light of day since moving to Colorado.  I'll get there....eventually.  Luckily, with an abundance of sunny days and backdrops like this, I'm not feeling too guilty about it.  Here is Nikolas in October 2011 at the age of 9.....so soon to be 10!