What did you do on Halloween?

Halloween was probably one of the craziest days I or my family has had in a while. Here's how it went down:

3:30am Texas Time (1:30 am Cali time) - Woke up in Azle, TX and packed rental car with suitcases, strollers, and babies.

4:45am - Dropped off Rental car, shuttled to Dallas Love Field to check in, make it through security, eat breakfast and board plane.

6:30 am - Take off from DLF. Short stop in New Mexico. Crazy flying with 2 babies! (they were good though)

9:40 am - Land at LAX. Get luggage, (2 suitcases, 2 carseats, 2 babies, two carry on bags) and board shuttle for our car.

10:15 am - Get our car, load the luggage and babies, drive down the congested 405 towards home.

10:45 am - Get In-and-Out, go home, unload car and put Z down for a nap.

11:30 am - NAP TIME!

1:30 pm - Wake up, feed babies, start getting ready for Halloween!

2:00 pm - Decide we are going to go to that Halloween party, so we find a babysitter. Start making costumes

3:00 pm - Get out of the house for some last minute costume shopping.

5:00 pm - Arrive at Z's little boyfriends house for some trick or treating. Still putting last minute touches on costumes for everyone. Eat pizza.

6:30 pm - Trick or treat! We were all exhausted, so we didn't make it too far...but we still did it!

7:00 pm - Take girls home, bathe them, attempt to put them to bed in the middle of a 2 year old major melt down.

7:20 pm - Pick up babysitters. Give them the run down.

7:45 pm - Arrive at "adult" Halloween party and make a drink.

8:45 pm - Finish drink. Decide we're too old for the party and head home!

9:30 pm - Pass out.

:)

What did you do for Halloween?

Cheers,
-marc

Embracing the Apron

Being a stay at home dad comes with a lot of responsibility. One of the responsibilities you give up is being the main provider of income. That's hard for a lot of fathers, especially me.

Granted, I've never made a lot of money and have never been the soul provider for our family due to our situation but I know how tough it is. Being a freelancer means I have the opportunity to work whenever I want, or whenever work comes. Not every SAHD is the same way. Some really do have to put in 8 hours a day, at night, after mom comes home and the kids go to bed, just to make it.

Sometimes you have to stop worrying about work, and worry about dinner. Sometimes you have to embrace your role and clean the house. Sometimes you have to accept the fact that all those dad books you read, YOU are the mom, and your wife is the dad.. And it's tough! 

To The Bloggers...

How do you do it? What is the trick? WHY are you blogging?

I have to remind myself that the original goal when Stacey went back to work a second time was to blog consistently in order to create enough material for a book. I feel I am in a unique position to be staying at home with my babes. Not that it's uncommon for fathers to be staying at home with their kids these days, but I have enough talent to write good, (*wink*) and take photos, I might as well use this experience to help others.

But blogging plaques me. It always has, and it always will. It plaques me like Facebook and Google + plaque me. I love it, and I hate it. I'm totally into it, and then I'm not.

Forgive me while I question my sanity for a second...

Why would I want to share with the world what's going on in my life? The whole world isn't watching.
Why do I want to be consistant and blog every day? There's no need! Blog as often or as little as you want, it's not your job.
Do I just blog to blog or is there real meaning behind it? This is almost a journal, one my children and I can look back on and reflect about the good times.
Can I be real? As real as I want to be.
Who's reading? Who cares?

I'm not going to get rid of the blog. I'm still going to post on Facebook, Twitter and Google+ for now. Each avenue is a different platform to express myself. As often as I want to move to the country, sell my phone and shoot with film and develop in a darkroom, I'm still plugged in. In today's world you should be. At least a little bit.

It always comes back to what my wife preaches on a daily basis ... balance. Just like everything I can not let social media consume my life. It is a part of it. It can ENHANCE my life, but it should not be my life.

That's all. :)

-marc

OMG OWS

Love this picture, found it here.

What do you think of the Occupy Wall Street movement? I've been staying semi-close to the subject but I haven't burnt my BOA Debit Card just yet. After many videos, articles, and crazy conversations this infographic sums up what I think is going on.

Before I talk about it more, I'd like to hear your thoughts. Yes... You!

The comparison of the Occupy Wall Street movement and the Tea Party is very close. I think, and this is just an internet based assumption, that both sides are correct.

More questions; do you think OWS will solve/resolve anything? Do you think Obama has noticed/talked about/cares about OWS? When will the protests end?

Cheers!
-marc

p.s. I know this is a political subject, and my peeps in Missouri are going to have different thoughts than my peeps on the coasts. Let's keep it civil here people and have a healthy debate!

Thank Yous

One of the many, many, MANY things I never thought of before I was a Stay At Home Dad (or Swag At Home Dad, as some like to call it) is/are Thank You cards.

Z had a big ole birthday bash, with a boat load of presents! All those peeps get ... a thank you card! Now, we're doing it special this year ... cuz that's how we roll and it's no small task. I won't reveal our secret, only those who were so so generous enough to get Z a gift will be getting this special thank you cards. I may have already said too much ... Stacey might kill me for posting the picture I did above.

If I don't blog anymore, you all know why. Stacey got mad that I revealed the Thank You cards to the world before we actually sent them out! But this is secret enough ... isn't it? ;)

Cheers! And thank you, in advance, to everyone. Not only for your kind generous gifts, but your loving caring time giving souls.

-marc

A Monday Night Walk + Google Plus Project!

A walk with Marc and the girls!

Google Plus Profile: https://plus.google.com/101367799604091052665

A Life in Los Angeles Photo Series: https://plus.google.com/photos/101367799604091052665/albums/5659067508329442337?hl=en

Please don't mind the sniffles, coughs, and horrible hair... ;) I'm getting over being sick ... remember?

Cheers,

-marc

Being Sick Sucks!

This is chicken noodle soup from my awesome wife. I had tried posting a photo and blog via my phone, but it didn't copy the text over. 2nd attempt at this failed. Bummer. So I'll "re-write" it as best as I can remember.

Z caught something (at her party?) and I finally have come down with it. It's just a stupid head cold where the rest of my body feels fine but my sinuses suck! Ah. It'll pass. Hopefully by tomorrow.

One thing I hate about coming down with something is having to reschedule clients. We had to reschedule 3 photoshoots today because I wasn't feeling well. Bummer. I always wish I knew that the client understands, I just don't want to get them sick too! That aint cool.

Alright, I hope you'll don't get this or something similar but maybe it's my 1 time to get sick this fall/winter. I'll take that.

Cheers,

-marc