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I’m guessing these photos are by Charles.

Unrelated dialog with Sydney:

SYDNEY: I want to be a movie star.
BARRY: Really? Why do you want to do that?
SYDNEY: Because movie stars have fancy dogs with ribbons.
BARRY: Oh. I guess that’s true.
SYDNEY: Some of the dogs wear glasses!
BARRY: They do?
SYDNEY: Fancy movie star glasses!

When I posted a photo of Sydney at work on a drawing, a couple of people requested that I actually post one of her drawings. So here, with Sydney’s rather eager permission, is her drawing of Bride of Frankenstein (also her current choice for this year’s Halloween costume). {As you can see, she signed her name, as she does with a lot of her drawings.)  Enjoy!

Longtime “Alas” readers will recall a long-ago co-blogger, my friend and housemate Bean, who still posts a very occasional comment here, plus I often use Bean’s photos for kid blogging.

Sydney and Maddox were recently flower girls at the wedding of Bean to a lovely, quirky guy named Dan.

Many more pictures — not only of the girls, but also of a few other folks of interest to the “Alas” community — below the fold.

I love Maddox’s expression in this pic. “Why is Sydney holding hands with that boy?”

I’ve always found Sydney extremely easy to take nice pictures of; Sydney has a tendency to arrange herself well and to have camera-friendly expressions. Maddox looks almost exactly like Sydney did two years ago, but is mysteriously harder to take good photos of; her eyes are always closed, or she’s making a face that doesn’t look like herself, or she’s just moving too fast to get anything but a blur. (Bean says that you can capture Sydney with a photo, but it takes a video to get Maddox.)

I’ve taken nice photos of Maddox over the years, but it’s more effort. With Sydney you just point the camera in her direction and nice photos appear. The photos Bean got from the pro wedding photographer seem to prove that it’s not just me; there are tons of nice photos of Sydney, but not that many of Maddox.

Another pretty picture of Sydney.

Sydney explains to Bean that she (Sydney) is a spy. When Bean later repeated this to me, Sydney got quite annoyed, since she had been a secret spy.

The entrance of the flower girls. As far as Sydney and Maddox are concerned, this moment is what the whole wedding was about.¹

Of course, the girls weren’t the only “Alas” related folks present at Bean’s wedding….

The newly married couple of Bean and Dan. Huzzah! And in the background, the officient is me, Ampersand. I’m happy to report that I didn’t have to moderate Bean or Dan even once during the wedding ceremony. But I wish I had straightened my tie.

“Alas” co-moderator and frequent comment-writer Charles, wearing what I always think of as his puffy poet shirt, contemplates a flower girl bouquet.

Frequent “Alas” comment-writer Jake Squid, puffing on that newfangled e-cigarette of his.

Kevin Moore, whose political cartoons I’ve occasionally linked to, and who has occasionally left comments here. Looking at this photo, you may think Kevin is drunk. And for all I know, he was drunk. But the sad truth is, he always looks like that.

When I checked with Kev that it was okay for me to post his photo, he replied:

Here are my restrictions: It’s okay to publish my photo, unless I am naked. But if by some random chance/miracle a pic of me naked looks good and/or hot, then publish it. However, no photoshopping in bestiality. Unless the animal in question is really hot, then go ahead.

Another shot of me, because face it, I look sweet in a suit.

And one last shot of Bean and Dan. Sydney and Maddox, whenever they see photos of Dan and Bean kissing, will scream and cover their eyes, and Sydney will cry out “it burns, it burns!” (We’re not sure where she picked that up from, but it’s awesome.) In fact, Maddox in particular so enjoys this process, she specifically seeks out photos of Bean and Dan kissing, so she can object to having seen them.

Maziltov, Bean and Dan!

1. ”There are no small roles, only small actors.”

Here’s Maddox holding the new arrival, Pumpkin Sweetiebell. (The name was a collaborative effort of Sydney and Maddox.)

Pumpkin is very patient with this sort of treatment. Fortunately.

A closer photo of Pumpkin below the fold.

A real geek in the making! Sydney found Zombies! lying around and became interested in playing it. She lines up the Zombies into groups, usually dividing them by sex. They she’ll play with them; sometimes speaking their dialog, sometimes singing made-up zombie songs.

Sample dialog:

BARRY: “Is this zombie holding a severed head?”
SYDNEY (with a “Barry you’re thick” tone): “No, those are brains.”

The photo below the fold shows the little zombie figures better, in case anyone’s interested. This is from when Sydney announced the zombies were having a ballroom dance and so paired them up by sex.

I didn’t realize that they had graduations. Or gowns. Shows what I know. Anyhow, Sydney graduated from nursery school this past Friday. Next up: Kindergarten!

Another photo (also featuring our very messy upstairs hallway!) under the fold.

Unrelated quote: “Killing animals for meat is kind of goth…goth for kids.” –Sydney Quinn, age 5

Both Sydney and Maddox love dresses and sparkly things and all things princess-y. Photos by Bean.

And Sydney is below the cut…. Click on the photos to see a bigger version.