Awe

For some bizarro reason, Mason decided to call A&W, Awe. We just went with it. He kept bugging to take him to A&W and I finally broke. He has a freebie for a drink and he wanted to redeem the ticket. Off on an adventure he and I went. I asked him what did he do earn such a reward. He said nothing, he found it. My first thought was there is so child in Visalia is filled with grief for losing their free drink ticket. I asked him where he found it. He said at home. His mom was cleaning house and gave it to him. So we drank root beer and and ate fries. When we get home, Evan reminiscences he once had a ticket to A&W.

On the Road Again

I get to take Abby to school in the mornings. A benefit of working 2nd shift. When you work early mornings, you don't see these kind of benefits.
Abby is a joy to have as a riding partner because she loves a lot of the same music I do and she loves it loud like I do.
If you see a red bug thumping the tunes, It might just be me and my daughter rocking out.
I snapped this photo as a last minute, oh crap I need a picture of one of you kids to post.
I think she looks kinda sleepy.

Bring out the GIMP

What I miss using a real camera and not a camera phone is depth of field. Every stinking picture is set to infinity. That's cool if you are Buzz Lightyear but I'm not.
I use GIMP for all my photo manipulation. I started with Photo Shop and that is awesome but it ain't free and GIMP is. The newest version can be made Photo Shopish to help with the transition. It isn't perfect but pretty dang good for free.
What is did here was create a duplicate layer on top. Give it a Gaussian blur and an alpha channel for transparency. I then erased what I didn't want to be blurred and this is what you see. I also enhanced the colors, brightness, contrast and all that jazz too.
Give GIMP a try

View Askew

I know very well what it is like to be my son. He reminds me of myself. A struggle to fit in. A fight to be counted as everyone else. He is blessed to have a school that specializes in educating children who are special. They challenge him and hold him accountable. He will succeed in life, He may start out like me but he will not end up like me.

Red Headed Princess

We have a Princess amongst us. From day one I treated Sophie special or did she just demand to be treated different. One or the other. I don't know. I do know that she's too tiny to be asked to do too much.

Super Girl

If The Doctor was to take Abby away on adventures, I would not be surprised. It a show me and my girls love. I hope to take them to a Doctor Who convention some day. Abby is so lively, curious and boisterous, she would make a great companion. It is a fun to watch her grow into her own person. A person I had a hand in raising. She has a great mix of me and her mother. Two great people, if I may say so myself. How could we go wrong? We didn't. We went so very well and Abby is the evidence.

My Fourth Child

Mason is the last in a long line of Avila children. Right now he is know to argue about everything. Luckily, that is not all that he is known for. He is sweet as cream and just as white. He is nearly transparent.
He loves to play games. It frustrates me to play him because he is not competitive. He won't try to win but play to extend the game because he loves the interaction. He is sweet like that.

My Second Child

This is Evan. If you notice closely he has a hint of a smile. Sometimes that's the best I can get out of him. He seems so serious but he is so funny. But he's a private comic. Soft, quiet zingers that gets everyone laughing. He is super smart too. Hates to prove it at school. Don't ask him to show his work. Won't do it. But that is changing. He is growing and learning to adapt to the rest of the world who isn't as brilliant as he is.

My Third Child

This is Sophie. I wanted to name her Sophia. Marriage is full of compromises.
When she was born, she had a full head of red hair. RED. Not redish or auburn but red like a bonfire. Her hair has calmed down since but she is still as fiery.

My First Born

This is Abby. She is my first born. I've seen her dead once. I never want that to happen again in my life time.
When she was born there were problems. It took too long or it happen too fast. The cord wrapped around her neck. She was not breathing when she birthed. She was purple and lifeless. Not a damn thing I could do about it either. I didn't need to do anything. We had incredible nurses who knew exactly what to do. They cleared her lungs and gave her CPR. It was heartwrenching to see all your hopes, dreams and future on a tiny little table fade away with every compression on her chest.
That when my life changed. That is when I learned what really mattered to me.