Tooth Fairy

By the way... Aidan would like everyone to know that the Tooth Fairy fulfilled his wish and gave him a half-dollar last week!

Cross Country Meet #2

A couple of shots from today's cross country meet, the second of the year.
(We'll be missing next week's meet while we're in Louisville for our friend Tanya's wedding.)


(for more pictures, click on our Flickr badge on the sidebar)

Future Ambitions and Favorite Numbers

Aidan has been on-record for some time now with his ambition to be a father some day. (I have to smile even just typing that.)
But now he's adding to his future resume-- thanks to all the good work he sees his Mama doing:

Hey Aidan.. what do you want to be when you grow up?

I want to be a Dad.. and a 4th Grade Teacher.

A Teacher, huh? Why 4th grade?

Because 4 is my favorite number.

Cross Country Sunday.. and some Wobbly news!

Aidan had his first meet of the new Cross Country Season this afternoon.
The 1st and 2nd Grade boys ran as a group-- so it was a bit more crowded at the starting line this year. But Aidan had a great run-- despite the heat (in the low-mid 90s at midday today)-- and finished near several of the other good runners in his class.

He was really happy when he finished... so we sat in the shade for a few minutes and had some ice water to drink..
Then while Bryce was asking me if we could go to the nearby playground, Aidan looked up and said "Guess what? My tooth came out!"

After a quick, if slightly frantic search to find the tooth-- it was on the seat of his chair-- we dropped it into a ziplock bag and brought it home.

Aidan's anxious now for the tooth fairy to come. He's hoping that she'll bring him a half-dollar. Keep your fingers crossed!

A Wobbly!

It's a red-letter day around here today.
This morning at breakfast, Aidan discovered that he's got a wobbly tooth!

Halloween Costume Watch, Part I

The early results are in from the poll on which costumes the boys want to wear for Halloween this year.
So far, the breakdown looks like this:

Aidan:

• Superman: 15.2%
• Lightning McQueen Pit Crewmember: 84.8%

a stunning, late breaking development, as Superman looked previously to be running away with this one!

Bryce:

• Batman: 99%
• TMNT: 1%

After an early surprise, the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle idea has faded fast in favor of the old, reliable Caped Crusader!

A tune you can dance to..

Some of Aidan and Bryce's favorite music lately..



(thanks to Dave Delaney for the link!)

More pictures from Louisville

For a few more pictures from Louisville-- and some just generally beautiful photography-- click over here to Creighton's Flickr page.. he's got a really amazing eye. And having that incredible (and gigantic!) camera probably doesn't hurt either :)

Settling up..

Just to finish a conversation I had earlier today with my sister..

This is a picture of our friendly neighbor dog, Maisy:

And this is a picture of a Rat Terrier (w/ docked tail and ears), courtesy of the American Kennel Club:

And this is a beagle, (via wikipedia.org):

September Road Trip

We went on a short trip last weekend to Louisville-- so my wife could do a little Stamping business while the boys and I visited with some old college friends: Trace, Ben, and Creighton.

Ben and Jan have two boys almost exactly our boys' ages, and Trace and Whitney have a 1-year old little girl, and Creighton-- well, Creighton is nothing if he's not young at heart and a lot of fun for us all to spend time with-- so there were plenty of objects for the boys' interest, attention, and affection.

It was a wonderful visit-- I'd forgotten what a beautiful city Louisville is-- and a good chance, apart from the event-gatherings-- homecomings, weddings, etc-- to catch up and share a little bit about how far we've all come the last few years.

Many thanks to everyone up there for the kind hospitality.
Let's do it again sometime soon-- perhaps in Nashville!

The boys goofing around in the hotel room

Aidan takes a swing at ping-pong in Trace's basement

Aidan discovers Nintendo (uh-oh)...
this was TOTALLY not my fault!

Aidan and Sam wait for their breakfasts
at Lynns Paradise Cafe

Trace and Baby Charlotte

Bryce finds the blue cow (with the eerie green eyes) irresistable

Sam and Charlotte (wow, and she really is that tall!)

The Usual Suspects

We're thinking of you...

For all of us here in Tennessee, a note to Aunty Jean and all the family back home in Fitchburg..

We're thinking of you today.

Love,
Kieran

(photo credit: Rick Cinclair, Worcester Telegram & Gazette)


Update: here are links to the Sentinel story, "Honoring the Fallen," on the dedication. Also the Telegram story, along with an audio slideshow from the ceremony.

Never a dull moment...

Still catching up on a small backlog of pictures.
The boys playing with the neighbor kids back on 8/22.

Really, and truly, this kind of cuteness is pretty common around here... but every now and then, we manage to capture it on camera! :)

First Day of First Grade!

Aidan's starting the third full week of First Grade today, but back on August 16, it was a somewhat daunting prospect going into that new classroom for the first time. He adjusted pretty quickly though-- once he saw Fr. Breen in the hallway and that a few of his buddies from last year are in his new class, he seemed to think everything would be just fine... and after a few minutes, he was clearly more ready for us to head out than we were!

Visiting the Fire Station

We visited the Fire Station near Gramma and Grampa's house this afternoon. Aidan and Bryce delivered a patch that Cousin Jimmy sent from his fire station up in Massachusetts, and the fire fighters let the boys climb around on the two big fire engines in the station.

The boys were both a little shy-- they declined invitations to wear real fire helmets and, as you'll see, they were a little reluctant to stand too close for a picture.. but they had a really memorable time and have been talking about it all day since we got home.

The Caped Crusader

Bryce starring as Batman..

Scroll down

Hey, be sure to scroll down to check for new stuff in the month of August.. I'm making some back-dated updates with some pictures from the last few weeks..
For instance, I just uploaded some pictures from our trip to the Williamson County Fair.

Okay.. off to the pool for me and the boys now.

Sleepover success!

Just got back from picking Aidan up from his sleepover.. and it was quite a success!
Apparently the boys all stayed up until about 10:30, laughing and giggling... this after an evening of pizza, cake, and Zathura.. then woke up this morning around 7:30 for Donuts and orange juice (and a hail storm of Nerf darts being fired back and forth across Ms. Brooke's living room)..
And when we arrived and Aidan met us at the door, he was in tears.. but not for having spent the night away from home.. he was upset because we were there to pick him up.

The boy didn't want to go home.
Didn't. Want. To. Go. Home.

As my dad said this morning, the flood-gates have opened.

As for us.. last night, we went and caught the 7:10 Superbad (which was amazing!) while Bryce visited with his aunt. Then we all slept like logs.

Sleepover, the new frontier

Aidan's off at his first sleepover tonight.
It's all part of a birthday celebration with one of his good buddies he's known since way back in pre-school.

I'm so proud of him for agreeing to go.. it took a little conversation a day or two ago before he decided it was what he wanted to do. And I imagine his friends today helped embolden him to stick with it once he got there.

Of course, I'm ready to go if we should get the call to come get him.
And it is just a little weird to be here at home, shutting down everthing for the night, and realize he's not tucked up in his bed. I snuck a peek into his room just now to convince myself he's really not here.. how weird.

Heatwave

Have you heard? Temperatures here have been Crazy Eddie, INSANE!
A solid week of temps in the 100's.
Forcast for today called for 97.. but it was more like 107 downtown..

And so tempers are flaring all over the place.. well, mostly with the boys.
As I type this, they're shouting at each other about something...
[pause for this mediation break]

Okay, I can take my referee hat back off..
Bryce just told me that he had a dream last night.

Me: "A dream? really?" Bryce has never admitted to having a dream before.
Bryce: "Yeah a dream. And you know what? There was a Grinch, and he was eating me!"
And then.. just when I'd have expected him to seem upset about that, he smiled at me, shrugged his shoulders and said "Well, he wasn't a very nice Grinch"..

It's 8:30 right now.. and still 92 degrees outside...

More from the Fair

A few more pictures from our trip to the Williamson County Fair.

Aidan and his friend Jake rode with me on the Ferris Wheel
The boys take a rest after touring the farm

Aidan and Bryce on the Dumbo Racer ride

Aidan, Bryce, Jake, and Zoe all ride on the "Rockin' Tug" boat

The kids all riding on the mini-coaster