Sitting in his Christmas (Eve) Church clothes.
Opening a gift with Mama and Grandma.
After opening a gift from Grandma and Grandpa, he enjoyed playing on the box with Grandpa.Well it's almost Christmas and its been a while since I posted so here you go.
Yea, Christmas is almost here!
I was just about to send out some Christmas emails...
Why does daddy make me help with the vacuuming?
All these preparations really wear me out.I present for you a comparison of 3 different video uploading services: blogger's own service, Google Video, and YouTube. Ok its more for me than for you. But you can watch the videos. Samuel has started clapping and saying the word "wow," which is currently our favorite word that he says.
Next up, Google Video. It's what I used to use.
Finally, YouTube. Perhaps the standard. I didn't like it until Google bought them, so I would now consider using them.
Any comments on the winner? As I compare to the original file, all of the uploads are darker. If you would like the original to compare, it is here (3.7mb).
UPDATE: Vote for your favorite on the sidebar!I've added an album to my Picasa account with pictures taken by Matt Elasivich (who very kindly gave me access to the files). Matt does terrific work and if you need pictures for a wedding/senior picture/whatever, he's your man. Let me know and I can hook you up with him.
Samuel did well at the photo shoot. These are twelve of the best shots (of about 80 total).
The album can be found here.
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| Christmas Proofs |
Dark apparently. Its interesting, as the videos are perfectly viewable before they are uploaded, and once I'm viewing them from the website, the brightness is noticeably less, even on our same computer. Kind of annoying really.
Don't know how I'll fix the problem. I'll start by offering up some more pictures of Samuel. In the next post.
And I'll stop making movies after 6pm.
So I've been posting videos for sometime, and using mainly our digital camera (not a video camera per say) because of how easy it is to go straight from camera to blog. The video is not perfect quality, but it mostly works. When I show other residents our blog and play a video for them, I generally do it from a computer at the hospital, and oftentimes the same computer, which I've known has a pretty poor quality monitor, resulting in most images looking very dark. Recently however I watched a movie I posted on someone's laptop and it also appeared dark?
I expect the videos not to be the best of brightness - they're usually indoors and in the evening when there is no more natural light to light the shot. But the videos look fine on my computer before they are uploaded.
So my question is: are the videos really dark? Please comment.
Thanksgiving for us was at our house this year, with Grandparents on the Bira side, Grandma Irene, Aunt Karina, and Uncle Ryan in attendance. We had a gourmet turkey prepared by Hannah, which was wonderful. Samuel had pureed turkey with yams and cranberry sauce.
Samuel has taken to smiling after he sees the flash of a camera. So if you use the red eye reduction mode and take it just right, you can catch the squint.
Hannah made Samuel some scrubs out of an old pair of mine. He wore them to the residency halloween party.
Samuel enjoyed playing with one of Uncle Chad's drum stools. The hardwood floors took some getting used to, but he did pretty well.
Another Great-Grandparent shot.
Samuel poses with some mums. Good autumn picture.
On Friday we left St. Louis and spent the night just south of Chicago with the VanNoord's. Jared and Seth are above. Seth is the shorter of the two.
Saturday evening found us back in Michigan, back in Hudsonville. Uncle Ryan and Aunt Karina posed for this picture. We headed for home on Sunday afternoon.
Thursday morning we went to the Magic House, a children's museum in St. Louis. It made for some cute pictures and Samuel had a ball. Literally. They had a bin for recently slobbered-on toys (to be cleaned). We filled it.
That afternoon Hannah's parents arrived and we were all treated to a BBQ dinner by her grandparents. Satisfying. 
Wednesday was a rainy day spent at Grant's Farm. Samuel didn't mind though. He was all smiles during the tram ride.
Uncle Chad came along as well.
That afternoon some of Samuel's Great Grandparents arrived. Hidden there behind Samuel is Hartley. Samuel was very excited.
We went to the St. Louis Zoo, a great, free zoo in Forest Park in St. Louis. It was actually kind of chilly so he's wearing his jacket.
The penguins didn't mind the chill. Nasty things. Don't believe the movies. They go for distance when they poop.
Tuesday we went to Concordia Seminary to visit some old friends and co-workers. This is Hannah and Samuel under Luther Statue.
Samuel actually did very good on the way down. We spend the first night at Grandma Irene's and then drove the 8.5 hrs to St. Louis. This was about 2hours more than it usually takes Hannah and I by ourselves so we thought that was pretty good time.
We went to the Crave after dropping off our stuff at Uncle Chad and Aunt Bethany's house. Samuel and I (Marcos) spent the sermon outside in these excellent Adirondack chairs. 
At home the next day, Uncle Chad introduced Samuel to the drums, which he enjoyed immensely.
It was great to be able to stay with Chad and Bethany and apparently they didn't mind so much, even when Samuel woke them up earlier than they really wanted.
We arrived back home uneventfully this afternoon. We had a good trip, saw lots of friends and family, visited our old stomping grounds and took a lot of pictures. Its been interesting traveling with an 8 month old and we've learned a lot. Hopefully sometime this week I'll post the wrap up from the week, with pictures. I don't think I'm gonna do it all in one post, so you'll forgive me if I make it drag on through the week.
Ok, he doesn't really sit here spontaneously (and without a toy in his hand, he quickly tries to leave), but someday...
He has taken his first crawling steps today. He kinda hobbles like some sort of crippled baby, but it gets the job done.
I did not sit him there - he got there from lying down. This is how I found him after his morning nap. I'm glad we put the mattress down lower a week ago. You never know when they're going to figure something out.
Gee, thanks. The resemblance is uncanny.
