Art and Gabriel's game.

Gabriel always has some sort of project going on in his life and sometimes I get to be a part of it.  A great example are the Cyrus and Kai videos, Episodes 1-3.  He did the first two while I was at work and showed them to me when I arrived home, but the third one was a collaborative effort between the two of us and we had a lot of fun doing it.
Most recently, Gabriel has been creating games.  Specifically, he's created a card game very similar to Magic the Gathering but with his own specific cards and artwork.  It's sort of got a Martial Arts theme and he needed lots of artwork for the cards.  Long ago, he'd had me and Tita draw a few, but he finally finished the set in time for this weekend's upcoming Nerd Weekend and had need of LOTS of drawings.  So, Cyrus, Kai, and I got to help him with that.  I have always loved doing art and it was something my parents fostered in both myself and my sister at a young age.
I have really really enjoyed my time drawing pictures of Gabriel's card game over this last month.  The creative effort and meditative joy that I got from starting with a blank paper and producing a beautiful picture was something I don't get to experience very often.
Even though the card game is finished, he's working on a new online game that he and Clayton are programming themselves and he's already needed artwork for those as well.  Marrying Gabriel has ensured that I will never be bored! Below I have posted some of my better artwork.
-Shirin

I ended up drawing a lot of Ninjas.  Here's one of them.  (I didn't do most of the backgrounds---those Gabriel added in with Photoshop).

This is "Ask a Ninja" from the online show.

Someone scouting.

This is one of the ones I did a long time ago.

He asked me for an Art Teacher, so this is what I drew (don't ask me how that fits in).

Exploding heart (I drew the heart).

One of Cyrus' drawings.

Another cute Cyrus drawing.

Cyrus' robot.

Kai's 3 point stance with special effects.

This is a Boxing Dummy on a Trampoline.

The eye of a tiger.

 This is Leslie from "Doraleous and Associates."

This is another character from that show named Neebs.

Fist punch.

Ryu, from Street Fighter.

Warrior monk.

Morpheus from the Matrix.

Pai Mei and Muy Thai kickboxer.

Neo from the Matrix (not my best).

"Hello.  My name is Indigo Montoya.  You killed my father.  Prepare to die."

Muay Thai kickboxer.

Net-throwing kung fu guy.

 Pai Mei (I know him from Kill Bill, but he was apparently a character in lots of other Kung Fu movies).

Jackie Chan.

Fighting dojos.

Thai clinch.

Sumo wrestler.

Praying mantis style fighter.

This one is called "Worthless Pupil."

Clayton contributed this drawing towards the card game.  He's a great artist, but he probably didn't have time for more than this.

The final version of his picture after Gabriel embellished it with a computer background picture.

These are two pictures that Anahita drew for the game.

I did lots of weapons too, like this one (I can't remember the name of it...maybe a war axe?)

These were the 18 weapons of someone.

Rope dart.

Katana sword.

Hattori Hanzo sword.

Sais.

Ancient sword.

Smoke bomb.

Some of my favorites were the fighting schools I got to draw.  Here's an Asian-looking one.

This is a Latin-style fighting school.

Another Asian one.

 And, I will leave you all with this view of a peaceful Zen Garden.

A few more pics from this month

I just downloaded some older pics from my iPhone.  Here they are.

-Shirin

My parents visited for the New Year's holiday.  Here Nama and the boys looking at all the games they'd like to play.

Snuggling with my naked little boys.

Checking out Nama's iPhone.

Cyrus dressed up for everyone and made us guess who he really was.

Gabriel dressed him up in crazy outfits and sent him out of his room to parade around in his costumes, which he loved.

The boys looked a little scared while watching a video with Baba.  They said it was a shark fighting with an octopus!  That must have been quite an octopus.

Nice costume, Kai.

My parents love the Grit as much as we do, so we went there for lunch.  Of course, we happened to go on their first day using a new computer system and waited FOREVER for our food.  Oh well...we love them anyway.

Kai's puzzle abilities have really increased in the last few months.  He's routinely putting all of these together by himself and even doing 24 piece puzzles.  Gabriel and I love puzzles too, so we do them a lot.

Gabriel and the boys have a lot of together time while I'm at work.  He likes to take them on outings while I'm working on Saturday mornings.  Here are the boys at the Mall of GA.  They brought me home the best cupcake I've ever eaten.

Speaking of cupcakes, Cyrus helped me make lemon-poppyseed muffins the other day.  He LOVES to help me cook, which I try to foster in him so he won't end up like Gabriel and refuse to do more than make toast (sorry, Bubsy, but it's true!)  He did a great job filling up all the muffin cups evenly.

Concentrating very hard on his job.  He wouldn't let me help him at all, but he didn't even need it, thankfully.

Did I already post this picture?  I can't remember.  It's one of my favs.  Brendan is beloved by my boys and I'm so glad they have him in their lives.

Who has the bigger belly?

Kai still wins!  But, both of them are just getting taller and thinner as time goes by.  Kai still has a little bit of baby fat left, which makes him super soft and squishy still.

A few weekends ago (for our anniversary), we went to the Mall of GA to walk around and eat Vietnamese food.  I had the best salad ever.  I've been craving it ever since.

Gabriel and Cyrus shared a bubble tea and Kai got too sleepy and laid his little head down on his big daddy's shoulder to nap.

The best salad ever.

The morning after, Kai and I shared the leftover Vietnamese food for breakfast.  What can I say?  I get it from my dad, I guess.

Did I post this one too?  I can't remember.  Sweet Uncle Brendan with his precious bubsy Kai.

Gabriel created an entire card game for Nerd Weekend (next weekend) and we created most of the art for it together (life with him is never boring!).  He asked Kai to do a three-point landing for his card's artwork.

So serious.

Another three-point landing.

A picture from the hospital.  I actually took the staple out of Kai's head today and it's healed great.

Ready to conquer the world!