What's Going On

Matthew and Connor on Halloween

Here is Matthew the race car driver (takes after his Grandpa Allen!) and Connor the cutest frog ever:

Busy day today.  Jeff and Chris spent all day at the baseball and soccer fields.  Luckily they are both in the same location next to each other.  Jeff is working with some other people on the Little League board to build a new field.  So they were off early this morning staking out the field and were done just in time for Chris' double header soccer game on the next field over.  

Chris' team won both games and are currently in 2nd place in their league with a chance to take first place if they win tomorrow!

Steph had soccer practice this morning, then I ran her over to gymnastics practice and I headed off to photograph the Discovery Festival at the Middle School.  It is a science festival with many fun activities for the kids.  Unfortunately Chris and Steph didn't get to go, but Derek and Dilynn were there.   Here they are:

Derek launched a soda bottle rocket:

Derek built a cool huge structure out of spagetti and marshmallows.

Dilynn did surgery on a banana:

More soccer tomorrow.  Steph's game was cancelled because too many kids are sick on our team!

So, the good news is that Steph and I get to go to Chris' game with Jeff and Chris and I get to see Chris play socer which hasn't happened in a while!

Have a great Sunday!

 
 
 
 
 

Vincent's Halloween Costume

He's dressed as a graduate from High School.  Only it's not a costume, YIKES!   Can you believe is he going to graduate from High school?  Here he is the hansome devil:

(for those who don't know, this is Regina and Bill's oldest)

Field Trip and Color Guard

Today I went on a field trip with Steph's class.  We went to a site in Rhinebeck, way, way back behind our rec. center and through a huge farm.  It is a site where they recently dug up some old bones and tools that they believe date back to the Mohican Indians.   The kids had made fishing nets in class last week and they used the nets in the stream to try to ...

we interrupt this story about the field trip to inform you that it is currently 9:15 pm and Chris just puked..   more on this later.

.. so they used the nets to try to catch fish like the Mohican's did.  But as you will see in the photo, the holes in the net are a bit large.  They also learned to crack nuts with rocks and they dug in the dirt and sifted it to see if they could find any rocks that might have been used as tools by the Native Americans.  This was all run by the Archeology group at Bard College, so they took the potential Native American tools back to Bard to study them.  The kids had a blast.  I was actually the official photographer for the Rhinebeck Science Foundation who I believe sponsored the event.  It was a beautiful day for the kids to be outside fishing!  Here are a few pics:

One of my favorite photos..

 
 OK, so back to Chris.  The boys scout troops in both Red Hook and Rhinebeck were having a recognition dinner for a local family who runs a local business and who give a lot back to the community.  Chris was asked to be one of the 4 color guard guys.. (not the techical term I'm sure).  He got a really nice dinner out of it, although he said he only had 2 slices of meat (prime rib he thinks) and some bread, because everything else was "salad kind of stuff".  He loved doing the color guard and was given a color guard badge for his uniform. 

After the dinner, he went right to religion.  I picked him up after religion at 8:45 (yes, very late!) and he said his stomach was not feeling well..  so he went right to bed.  But.. well.. at 9:15.. you know the rest of the story.  Poor kid.  Not sure if he's sick or it was something he ate.. we'll find out in the morning.

Well, I finally finished processing all the photos I took at the 6th grade circus.  There are a LOT of them!  If you are brave enough, you can look here:  (click on Galleries -->  School Events --> BMS events).   Look at the clown photos, they are cute  www.kcasssens.smugmug.com

Have a great Thursday!

 

Rory

Here is Rory on Halloween.  What a cutie!

 

Laura Funke (Rory's mom) was my roommate for many years while I was a co-op and then a new hire at IBM.  Now Laura lives up in Vermont   We get to see each other from time to time, definitely not enough!

Back to photos.. I'm trying to get these circus photos finished tonight!

More tomorrow.   Hey Gina, Chris, Rob, Chrissy, waiting for photos of your cute ghosts and goblins!

Monday

Here are the Cobb kids on Halloween:

Jillian is a hobo clown.  Johnny is a clock, or a reminder to set your clocks back!  ha!

Keep sending Halloween photos!!

I've been doing a lot of photos shoots lately.   I did graduating senior photos for a neighbor.   Here is one shot:  You can see the rest here: http://kcassens.smugmug.com/Portraits/Graduating-Seniors/Julia/9970716_euSGq#681230354_yhwiS

I did a photo shoot at a dress rehearsal for Hamlet.. I was able to go down to the dressing rooms before the shoot to get the cast getting ready.. that was fun.  They were all very nice.  Here are a few shots below, you can go here for the rest:

http://kcassens.smugmug.com/Theater/Hamlet/10013431_m8WPs#685842681_kVFQx

Then I did a photoshoot of Derek's tennis tournament.. More Derek tennis photos here (you may have seen them already).

http://kcassens.smugmug.com/Sports/Tennis/Derek-Oct-2/9933054_S5As5#680805108_2wMA7

  

   Today Chris had an interesting assembly at school.  The father of a teenage boy who committed suicide came to tell the kids about the effects of cyber bullying.  His son was being bullied so badly online that he took his own life.  We talked to Chris about it ahead of time; not surprisingly it is a very emotional presentation.  Let's hope it hits home with the kids..

Here is the website if you want to read the story:

www.ryanpatrickhalligan.org

Tomorrow the kids have off from school, we're going to have friends over to keep them busy all day. 

More tomorrow, have a great Tuesday!

 
 

Trick or Treating

 
Went trick or treating last night with 15 boys and 3 girls... doesn't seem to bother the girls at all.

Here are some pics.

If you want to see all of them, go here: http://tinyurl.com/y85hdae

 

Dilynn is a yip yip martian from Sesame Street.  She is the orange one.  This photo is from last week at the middle school Halloween dance.   The pink one is Dilynn's friend Addie.

 
  
 
 

 

 

 

Happy Halloween!

This has nothing to do with Halloween but it made me laugh!

Ryan kids on Halloween:

Kelly won the best fire prevention poster of her grade!  She got an award at the local fire department:

This is my favorite photo from the circus last night.  It was the finale, these kids were doing the "diablo".   For the last trick, Chris' friend Tony was going to launch the diablo over 18 kids who were down on their hands and knees in a line.   Chris' friend Avi was supposed to catch it.  They had a near miss on the first try, but with the entire gym chanting "Tony!  Tony!  Tony!...", they did it!   I love the people in the background waiting in suspense to see if he catches it.  It was very fun :-)

  We went trick or treating tonight with about 20 kids and 20 adults.   Had pre-trick or treat festivities across the street at our neighbors house.. makes trick or treating less painless that way :-)  It poured before and after we went, but didn't rain on us!  Very lucky...    I will post our photos tomorrow.

Have a great Sunday!

 
 

Circus

Just got home from the 6th grade circus.  We were there most of the afternoon helping to set up, but once the circus started, it was camera time!

Chris was a juggler.  It's amazing what they teach those kids in a week and a half!    Besides jugglers, there were clowns, kids walking on stilts, riding unicycles, using balance boards, acrobats, and a bunch of other things.   Chris was a happy camper, he said it was the first time he and his juggling partner performed without one drop.  Steph watched the acrobats do back handsprings and dreamed of what she is going to do when she's in 6th grade :-)

Here he is:

Before the circus with friends:

A good friend of Chris' moved to NYC after 3rd grade, his name is Sam.  Sam comes up to visit another mutual friend, Avi, every once in a while.  Sam is just the nicest kid you'll ever meet.  Sam came up for the circus.  Sam is on the left, Avi in the middle:

 

A bunch of Stephanie's friends also have 6th grade siblings.. here is the cheering section:

 

 I'll be waiting for those Halloween photos on Sunday!!! :-)

Have a great time Trick or Treating!
 
 
 

Anybody out there?

Remember me?  I'm back.. things are almost starting to slow down a bit.  Winding down with the last two fundraisers at school... phew!

Is this picture too cute??  For those who don't know, this is my cousin Chris and his wife Beth's little guy:

Mikey has been doing karate for about 6 weeks and loves it.. too funny.

Thanks to those who have emailed me to inquire as to whether I've fallen off the face of the earth :-)

Let's see it will take a while to get caught up on all the big stuff. 

Well tomorrow Christopher will be in a circus.  Every year the 6th grade puts on a circus.  They hire some professionals to come to the school for a week and train the kids.  Chris is a juggler.. I'm impressed with what they taught him.  He juggles cones, balls, scaves, frisbees.. not sure what else!

Hey Richie, if you had gone to clown college, you could be here training the kids in Rhinebeck,  ha!

In case you haven't heard the GREAT news, Uncle Bob is home from the hospital and doing much better!

Just looked at the last time I blogged.. it was over 20 days ago, yikes!  Just before walk or bike to school day.. Here are a few of my favorite photos from walk or bike to school day:

  
 
 

Lots of things to blog about in the past 20 days, but let's take it slow :-) Soon I'll post about some photo shoots I've done, soccer, gymnastics, tennis, baseball, field trips.. all kinds of stories and photos to come, ha!  Have a great Friday!

Hey, anyone who is out there reading, send me photos of your kids (or yourselves!) in  your Halloween costumes!!!
 
 

The difference between boys and girls..

For two years now, when I have reminded Chris to go practice his french horn, he usually grabs the timer, grabs his french horn, finds and empty room, and practices.   I do usually have to go close the door to the room he is in, but other than that and maybe stopping to drain the spit out of the horn (yes, gross), he just practices and comes out when he's done.

Steph started playing the clarinet a few weeks ago.  For Steph, practicing her clarinet is an interactive social event involving anyone within ear shot.   In between each of her (30 second) songs that she plays, she will come into the kitchen with clarinet in hand and either critique her own playing, tell me some story about music lessons, ask me to listen to the song (that I just heard because she was 5 feet away in the other room when she played it), or tell me some long story that has absolutely nothing to do with music at all.  Then I remind her to go back to practicing, which she does, for 30 seconds, and then there she is again in the kitchen telling me about something or another.  

Today I went into Steph's class with some other moms to help them make flour-salt maps of NY State:

Tomorrow is walk or bike to school day.   Of course it's supposed to rain, ugh.  I'm official photograper.  Should be fun.  There are several "bus stops" where kids who do not live close can be dropped off so they can walk to school.   A bunch of mom's volunteered to be the "bus drivers"  and walk the kids to school.   They're thinking we might get 100 kids to walk, that would be neat.  Steph is walking with a friend of hers who's mom is a "bus driver" of walkers.

Should have pics tomorrow.

Have a great Wed!