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The following is shared with permission from our eldest son, Paul, still in Officer's Training in Quantico, VA...

(Here's my son.  Can you spot him?)

Hey everybody!

Here is some Marine Corps cammie paint.  It's a little different from what I normally use, but it should work just fine.  Here are some things to remember when you apply it:

-The protruding parts of your face should be painted dark, and places like your eye sockets should be kept lighter.

- The idea behind cammie paint is to break up the outline of a human face, so you want any lines you have to not match the lines of your face - i.e., your jaw line.

- There are several basic methods:

     * Tiger Striping (where you literally imitate the stripes of a tiger)

     * Blotching (where you use large color patterns on your fac.)

     * Splotching (where you put a bunch of different colors randomly on your face.  This is easy to do, but hard to do right)

In the picture, I'm using a mixture of striping and blotching.  you can use whatever you want, though. :)

Love Paul,

P.S. Make sure I see some pictures on Mom's blog or something.

** OK, Paul, here ya go!

Dominic, working on Catherine.  (This is at the "Fall People Birthdays"
celebration, Paul, where you and Nicole were greatly missed, by the way.)

The finished product.

Jon working on Theresa (Note the concentration there...)

The finished product.



Now, Uncle Steve gets in on the fun... 
This is what he came up with for Gabe...



And here's what he thought worked for William.

Needless to say, Paul, everyone had a very good time with the cammie paint.  I recommend it for a prop at social gatherings of all ages.  (Not like this group needs props to loosen up at parties, of course...  But it was a great addition to a fun time.)  Now you have to tell us: who did the best job?  Can you leave a comment for us?

What does everyone think?  Who followed Paul's directions best?

Fall Birthday People in our family:

* My big brother (by 11 mos and 22 days), Steve (at right, in red; you can't miss him.  And trust me, you wouldn't want to, as he's a truly great guy...)

* Me, 46 on the 11th

* Niece, Paula (Steve's daughter), twenty on the 17th

* Son #4, Dominic, 17 on the 28th of September





(Blurry images due to vibration from noise...)



* Son #1, Paul, will be 23 on October 5th

* Daughter #3, Cathy, will be double digits (10) on October 6th.

* * And Paul and Nicole's First Anniversary will be on the 10th of October!

We LOVE autumn around here.