Hanging out with the Parsons

After Sydney's birthday party, we stayed at Kelly & Chris's house to have pizza and hang out for a bit. Evan volunteered to take some photos of us girls - how cute are we! And, as Kelly posted on FB, they've been friends since "the womb".

September 2007 (Kelly's photo):

January 2013

 

 We then wanted to get some photos of all of the kids together. What we didn't realize while the kids were getting in position was that Chase had picked up these clippers I was using....I had to grab a shot. His face in this photo is either hysterical, or terrifying depending on your state of mind! What's even funnier is how Natalie was in no way paying attention.

 Luckily, Chase did not at all mind having the clippers taken away...Natalie continued to be oblivious :)

Henry did not want to get in for photos, so I got some cute ones of the other four. This was my favorite!

 The only way Henry would get in the photo was if I joined him - hence my presence below.

Evan grabbed this shot of Henry and I solo...too cute!

I found this fuzzy headband and had stuck it on my head and Evan grabbed this shot. Given the craziness in my hair above, I should've kept the headband on!

Sydney's 5th birthday

Despite having a few other posts to get through from over the past few weeks, I spent this evening editing some photos from a party we went to on Saturday, so I thought I'd post them up here while they are fresh in my head! The party was for our friends Chris & Kelly's daughter Sydney's 5th birthday (did you follow that?). Last year we attended Sydney's 4th birthday (wow, looking back at those photos makes me realize 1) how much our kids have grown in a year, and 2) how much better my photography has gotten since then), which was one of the first times we'd gotten all of our kids together. We stayed after the party to have dinner with them, and it was so much fun we did the same thing this year - party then pizza!

The theme was "Pinkalicious" - the color was certainly well represented, as you'll see in photos below!

While we prepared the basement downstairs and the kids got ready (how adorable is Natalie?!), Evan and Henry relaxed in the living room, having a snack and watching the UVA basketball game. 

 

The first thing was reading the story of "Pinkalicious", as not all of the girls knew it.

 Then it was time to play "Pin the cherry on the cupcake". Up first was the birthday girl, and this photo cracks me up!

 Then time to run around like crazy for a bit (true of any kid birthday party, I think!)

Then it was time for "Decorate your own cupcake"

 

 

Henry didn't want any icing (he did enjoy putting on some sprinkles)...mostly he just wanted to eat it!

The last game was Bingo, as it's one of Sydney's favorites - Natalie was the first to get Bingo! The kids did keep playing though until all cards were full, as they were enjoying placing their candy markers on the paper.

I'm not great at taking photos of food, but I was happy with how these photos of the cake came out (it was a cake shaped like a giant cupcake).

 I love this shot of the birthday girl, just before blowing out her candles!

 And, with Evan's help at entertaining the kids behind me, we did get a photo of all of the attendees (minus Henry, who didn't want to be in the picture).

A great party...I've got more photos of us hanging out afterwards, but this post is already kind of ridiculously long, so I'll put those in a second post later this week.

Inaugural Ball 2013

On Sunday night, Evan and I attended the Virginia Democrats Inaugural Ball with our friends Beth, Jason, Kathy, and Eric. As Beth termed it - it was basically adult prom! Dressed up with a ton of people, dancing, heavy hors d'oevres...but unlike prom, alcohol is approved and included.

The process of getting ready was tons of fun - Essie came over and did my hair, and wow did it look beautiful! It was actually a lot of fun to have her doing my hair while I sat at my vanity mirror (which I hardly ever use) and did my makeup. And it all went so well with my dress!


Speaking of my dress...I want to wear it all the time! As I posted on FB the next day, my regular clothes are so much less awesome than my ball gown. I love it so much!!

Despite this photo being taken on a cell phone, it's one of my two favorites of Evan and I from the night (the other favorite is below)

I didn't bring my "good" camera to the event, as there just wouldn't have been anywhere to keep it (except carrying it all night, and that certainly did not go with my dress!). So, the photos taken at the ball are a combo of my Canon point-and-shoot and cell phones. I apologize for the quality! And in this group photo below, I apologize for Eric's eyes being closed. The only other group shot taken with my camera cut off his head (way to go, chic I asked to take photos), so this was the best I could show. But I think we clean up pretty darn well!

 What's adult prom without grabbing some more photos?!

 

 Including the standard prom pose photo! Despite our attempt at being cheesy, I actually like this photo. Note: Evan has that expression on his face because I had told him to look nervous and awkward, like a high schooler at prom. Yeah, that's why :)

 While inside the ball room, I didn't have my camera (Evan had it in his pocket, and was repeatedly wandering off to talk to people he knew), so I these next two were from my phone, but I think came out quite well despite the low lighting!

After a couple of hours of dancing, eating hors d'oeveurs, and drinking, we bugged out about 45 minutes early to get some real food. That's right - it was diner time!

Overall, a fantastic night with good friends, dressed up like we haven't been in a very long time. Wish we had the opportunity to do it again (and this time with everyone who is supposed to be there, as our friend Rachel couldn't make it).

It's official...I'm coming out

Today on Facebook, a friend posited the question of whether it was easier to come out in this country as a gay person, or an atheist. Comments seemed relatively evenly split, but it made me think a bit. Then, as I was heading from Princeton to Philadelphia tonight, I was driving into the most beautiful sunset (which I was of course frustrated about not being able to photograph, being behind the wheel), and a feeling of calm came over me. I realized that not only was I traveling at 60 miles per hour, on a man-made highway, in a man-made vehicle, but I also got to look at a beautiful display of nature, and I distinctly thought "I am so happy to be alive at this time". Not only can I take the time to appreciate that beautiful sunset, but I KNOW WHY that sunset looks so gorgeous (ok, not all of the details, but I know it has to do with light refraction). Scientific curiosity has provided us with the knowledge of physics necessary to understand the sunset, and we currently live in a time where it is standard practice to teach continue investigating the world around us, and teach that knowledge to our children. It isn't hundreds of years ago when science and knowledge of the world around us was shunned; worse, those who wished to gather scientific knowledge were ostracized and/or executed. Living in this age of scientific inquiry, even with the attacks on science currently, makes me happy.

Having time on my hands while driving, and pondering these two seemingly unrelated events (the Facebook discussion and the sunset) led me to the realization and my official coming out: I'm an atheist. An agnostic atheist, but one all the same. The definition of an agnostic atheist is someone who does not believe in the existence of a deity, but can neither prove nor disprove said deity's existence. I think that sums up my beliefs rather succinctly.

There are many who would frown at me for saying this out loud, or look down on me for it, or assume that this makes me worse of a person. At the very least, the assumption is that I have no beliefs. This could not be farther from the truth:
  I believe in respect for all living creatures.
  I believe in respecting and treating others as I would wish to be treated.
  I believe in respecting other people's property, and treating it as good or better than I would my own.
  I believe in love.
  I believe in putting the needs of those I love ahead of my own whenever possible.
  I believe in always trying to see the best in others.
  I believe in trying to put myself in someone else's shoes to better understand him/her.
  I believe in teaching my children to follow these lessons.
  I believe in happiness.

There are some who may read this and think that my lack of belief in a God makes us different. I disagree. If you read what I believe in, I think it's not very different from what most religious people are taught and believe; I just came to these ideas without God. I have yet to be presented with any evidence that would convince me to the contrary, and it's just not in me to take something on blind faith.

We know that atheism (on many levels) works for a pretty significant portion of the population; recent data (from a quick study of wikipedia) indicates that approximately 15% percent of the US population does not ascribe to any religion. However, I think that many non-religious people are afraid to "come out" due to possible backlash. Every day I see postings from my friends on Facebook involving God, Jesus, and religion and I don't say a word; I read it and move on. All I ask is the same consideration; the same understanding that we can believe differently while still loving one another.

Miscellaneous fun from January

I've been going through and organizing photos between my  iPad, iPhone and computer - it's not as difficult of a process as I thought, but it still takes a somewhat annoying amount of time that I would rather be spending editing the many photo shoots/portraits that I have to work on. However, it's a necessary task, and it means I come across some "hidden" gems from those places that I forgot about until now.

First up: Natalie at her 5 year checkup! Wait, did I post this photo already? I may have. Oh well, you get to see it again. Isn't she adorable in her Dr. Seuss gown?

 Second: Natalie at a Build-a-Bear birthday party for a friend of hers from preschool. The kids each got to keep the bear they made; the party was a ton of fun!

Third: Natalie has recently become a bit obsessive about brides and wearing the bridal dress up set she got for Christmas. She went through a bride period well over a year ago, and then seemed to grow out of it some, but I think between Essie's wedding and receiving this dress up set the interest in brides has reemerged! I think it's adorable...particularly when she also carries around some of my fake flowers as a bouquet. 

And finally: last night I took the kids out for FroYo at Sweet Frog in Leesburg and after getting a bit of sugar in them (having just about finished their dessert), they were being pretty adorable so I nabbed a video. Enjoy the cuteness!

Kid photographers Part 4..ish

I don't remember exactly how many posts I've done highlighting the photos taken by Natalie and/or Henry, but I know of at least 3 off the top of my head that I've posted, so I'm calling this part 4. I may be wrong, but we'll go for it and start the "official" count from here. This first batch was from January 2, when life finally started getting back to normal after the holidays!

This is a project that Natalie made at school in December; I guess she wanted to take a photo of it!

This next batch was taken on Saturday morning while Henry and I were hanging out with Kathy and Katie (those pics coming soon). Very artistic, I thought!

I have absolutely no idea what this is a photo of. Evan and I cannot figure it out.

Katie's 1st birthday

The second birthday party for us last Saturday was for Evan's goddaughter, Katie! I can't believe she's 1 already...the year has gone by so quickly! We had such a great time at her party - there's nothing like watching a 1 year old get to enjoy his/her first taste of cake. And to celebrate with all of our friends...nothing could be better.

Kathy did such a beautiful job decorating, and the food was delicious! Can't beat Wegmans

I loved how her entry table was set up!

 The birthday girl! I am in love with this photo of Katie...she looks so beautiful!

 Natalie loves Katie so much...it was the only reason why she was ok with having to leave her friend Caroline's birthday party early. For anyone else I think there would've been tears, but she was very excited to celebrate Katie!

These cupcakes were deliciously good. In fact, we brought a couple home with us after the party and still had them last night when I wrote this post...we do not any longer.

Katie's 1st cupcake...and she deemed it to be good!

Henry agreed that the cupcakes were delicious. He particularly liked the icing dots on top.

 Natalie was very interested in Katie's presents. She certainly knew they were Katie's, and didn't want them for herself...but she kept asking about opening them. Kathy agreed to let Katie open the present from us when the party was wrapping up...and next thing we knew, all of the presents were open! No, Natalie did not open them herself or anything, but she did push for opening them. So, Kathy & Eric - thank you for dealing with my daughter's pushiness with the presents. We tried to rein her in, I promise :)