Worthington Family Photoblog

We went on our first scouting trip this weekend.  We camped with our troop at Bovay Scout Ranch, which is about 6 miles south of Navasota.  The kids hadn't ever been camping that they could remember (Korben went once when he was two) so it was an adventure.  We heard coyotes howling in the night, running up and down the woods that bordered the campsite, and the kids saw and caught lots of bugs.

They were not so impressed by the SHAC Jam, but I think that was more due to the fact that it was hot and crowded and they had slept in a tent outdoors for the first time ever the night before, with coyotes howling and 50 degree temperatures, so they were tired!  They sure had fun running around the campsite with the other kids, though. 

We look forward to many other camping trips in the future!  I need to just start scheduling some for us to do as a family.  It was a lot of fun!

We stopped by Froberg's farm a few weeks ago, and took a few photos on the old oaks out there that hang just above the ground.

We had Sophie's party at Acrosports Swim Center, and the kids all had a total blast. I didn't get any pictures of the water part of the party, because I didn't want to risk getting my camera wet, but here are a few of the party-room part. :)


Birthday Girl! It's hard to believe she's already 5.

Download and Print a
"Vote For Star" Flyer!

 
My mom has been going to see "Let's Make A Deal" at the Tropicana, and me and the kids have a fun time trying to pick her out of the crowd. Here's a photo of her in the audience.

We all managed to get two weeks off together for the Christmas holidays this year by some miracle. So we've got a lot of projects on deck - the first of which is to get the clutterfest that the house has become in shape and cleaned up again. We paid off some bills, got a new fridge, and we're working on cleaning and organizing now. I'm looking forward to being able to spend more time together as a family, even though I know that by the end of these two weeks, we'll be sick to death of each other. ;) I finished preparing most of the Christmas cards today and they'll go out in the mail tomorrow. This year's card is based on the art of Meg Lyman, who seems to share our fascination with the cephalopod.


The cards turned out so cute, and I am so grateful that Meg decided to let us use her artwork at no charge. We've been fortunate to find people who are willing to share their art in such a generous way, so I hope you'll all go check out her stuff, and if you see something you like, buy it! :D Or at least tell her how much you like it.

For those not on the Christmas card list, here's the annual family newsletter:

s always at this time of year, I find myself approaching the prospect of writing this letter with a mix of excitement and dread. I know how much I love to read the letters we receive from friends and family, but at the same time, I never know quite what to write. Well, they say the longest journey begins with a single step, so I’ll put my left foot in and put it back out, and then back in and I’ll shake it all about. I bet you didn’t know we were doing the Hokey Pokey today, did you?

It seems like time passes faster every year. An older woman told me recently that life is like a roll of toilet paper – it seems to take forever to get all the way around at the beginning, but by the time you get close to the end it seems to spin out of control. I can understand that feeling completely! We are so busy that sometimes it’s hard to remember to slow down and enjoy life.

Sophie is 4-and-a-half-going-on-14. She still attends preschool at St. Bernadette’s, and is learning the hard way that her whining isn’t just unpopular at home – her classmates don’t like it either. She is turning out to be very artistically inclined, both in music and in fine arts. She started piano lessons this year, and continues to do Kindermusik with me, but she really loves to sing. She recently informed me that she is going to marry both of the boys in her class named Jack and have two husbands. I thought that 4 was too young to be boy crazy, but boy was I wrong! It’s hard to believe that next year my baby will be starting Kindergarten. This year, she’s decided that when she grows up, she wants to be “a fashion.”

Korben turned 7 this year, and is enjoying 1^st grade. He struggled to find his balance in the beginning of the year, so we had to work on some behavioral issues at school, but he’s come around since then. He’s still studying piano and singing. In May, he once again was able to participate in the All-State Music Festival in San Marcos, Texas. This year, he was eligible to compete in both piano and voice. He worked so hard, and did such a great job. This year, he was chosen to be the All-State Musician for singing “Yankee Doodle Boy” at the competition. That means that he beat all the other entrants in his age group and was named the best singer in Texas for that group! There’s a video of him singing it at the winner’s recital posted on YouTube. We are so proud of him!

Also in May, we flew to Las Vegas to be in my little sister’s wedding. It was a beautiful affair, and it was so wonderful to see so many family and friends. Here’s a photo of me and the kids with Grandma Wynn.

I am still teaching music at Harmony Music not too far from home. It sure is nice not to have a long commute! My Kindermusik classes continue to grow and the kids are a constant source of joy for me. No matter how bad a day is, seeing their little faces light up when they get to play with their favorite instruments or hear their favorite song make it all just melt awayI like to keep busy, but I’m also looking forward to simplifying things a bit for the spring so I will have more time to devote to the family. I’ve been working on brushing up my skills on the guitar and have been using it to accompany some of my students during their lessons, which is a lot of fun. I also have been more involved in drawing and painting again. My friend Andy from college published a book and asked me to illustrate it. It’s called “What Do You Say To The DJ?” and I drew all the interior art. Apparently it worked out well, because he’s commissioned me to illustrate a novel he wrote as well, but it’s not published yet. This has inspired me to get back into art a lot more, so I’ve been painting and drawing a lot.

Ryan is also still with Impact Weather making sure that nothing breaks on their network. He is getting to be pretty good on the guitar after taking lessons for over a year now. He is still very serious about his photography and is working on a new photo studio website to promote himself as a photographer.

We hope you and yours have had a successful year, and that 2010 will be even better than the last.

Sincerely,

The Worthingtons

I got a new camera for Christmas (early) and took a bunch of test shots last night. The new camera is a Nikon D50 Digital SLR and it has more bells and whistles than you can shake a stick at. I just unloaded my first batch of photos from the camera, and I wanted to show how awesome the photos are. On the bottom is the picture as it came out of the camera with no adjustments. On the top is the same picture after I ran it through Picasa and did an "I Feel Lucky" run on it to color-correct, adjust lighting, etc.

So you can look forward to better quality photos of the kids and stuff here soon!

Well, I did my best to save her, but on Monday night, sometime during the night, Judy gave up the ghost and died of her injuries. I am very sad, but I'm glad that I got to enjoy her, Scarecrow, and Roses as pets during the brief time that I did.

I find it absolutely fascinating that even reptiles have distinct individual mannerisms within the normal behavior for their species. Judy and Scarecrow were much more tolerant of handling than Liza is, but I am hoping I can change that with time. Liza seems very content all alone in her enclosure, now.