Dispatch from the Getting-Ready-For-School Battleground this morning:
Bryce this morning, yelling in protest against having to go to school this morning:
"My job is not going to school; my job is Batman's job. Batman doesn't go to school."
So Bryce is safely delivered to school now, in his Batman pajamas and mask. Any evil-doers at the pre-school better watch out!
A few shots from Easter morning..
and hunting for Easter Eggs
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And we thought the biggest struggle we'd have today would be getting the kids to choose colors for their eggs.. or to write their names on a couple of eggs with that clear waxy crayon...
"No, I have no idea why Dye and Die sound the same."
"Yes, they do sound like the same word, but they mean very different things."
Our neighbor brought some treats over for the boys after we were done dying the eggs. Aidan's not crazy about chocolate, but Bryce didn't take long to break into his chocolate bunny and start chewing its ears off!
Aidan and Bryce were scheduled to have their first soccer matches of the season (and for Bryce, the first of his career) yesterday. Aidan's game was rained out in the morning, but Bryce and his team played on in the afternoon. The turf was a little soggy, but the 3-4 year olds were gritty and didn't let a little water stop them! Plus, they were just so darn cute in their jerseys!
Bryce has lots to learn, but he's really having fun so we're looking forward to a good season!
A few more notes on the snow..
when the boys woke up that morning, Aidan looked out the window and saw all the white stuff he said "Yes! Thank you, God!"
Bryce: "Boy, that sure is a lot of snow!"
Aidan: "Now that's what I'm talkin' about!"
Listen to this. This is the sound of spring to me.. always has been since I was little. This is the sound we waited all winter to hear... and when we heard it, we were filled with dread. This is the sound that tells you the days of snowforts are ending and the muddy season is coming. At least, back home, that's what it was.
But here, less than 24 hours after it fell, the snow was melting, and fast.
Even before we finished the snowman, I could hear that sound, and I knew our poor old Snow Cowboy wouldn't be long with us.
And just when we thought we might have seen the last of freezing Winter temperatures here, last week, we got a pretty good snowstorm. I'd guess we got 4-5 inches around our house. It started snowing here at about 6:30pm and snowed lazily through much of the night.. it was a beautiful snow to watch out the window that 
night..
Then, in the morning on Saturday, the snow kept coming down. We woke up to find this sight out our front windows.
And out the back.. you can see we're anticipating St. Paddy's Day!
So it wasn't long before Aidan and Bryce were scrambling to get dressed and get out into the snow... and I don't know who taught them to make snowballs, but they're both pretty good at it!
And I must say that eating snow seemed to come quite naturally to Bryce, as well!
Then, once the boys had tired out and wandered back inside, I was left to build a snowman... by that time, the snow was already beginning to melt (more on that in a bit), so it was good and wet and, with as much snow as we had, I was able to whip up a pretty sizable snowman-- bigger than I've made since I was a kid-- in no time. Here we are standing with our "Snow Cowboy"..
In the first week of March, now that we're all well again from that bout of the flu we suffered last month, we kicked off Soccer Season. The boys are playing in a Y League this year-- the Nashville Catholic league that Aidan played in this year doesn't seem to be running again.. and since the Y league fields teams in Bryce's age range, we figured it was a good fit for us. Bryce has really been anxious to get started with his own teams.
And so it begins. Our calendar has filled up with practices and games. But so far, both boys have really been enjoying it. The season runs into May, so we've got two good months in front of us of lots of good outdoors time, running around, (hopefully) kicking a ball occasionally. :) A good antidote to the winter-time bugs and 
blahs we've been through in Jan and Feb.
(BTW, the tall guy in this picture is Aidan's coach-- he is a man of seemingly infinite patience, I must say.)
Yes, okay, I know.. It's been ages since the last update..
So let me catch you up on what's been happening the last month or so.
February can largely be summed up with the following:
Flu!
For what seemed like, well, a month one or another of us in the house was laid low by some form of the flu. So while the weather was cold and ugly (and a little snowy, even) outside, we holed up in the house and tried our best to get (and stay) well.
But we did take a few pictures along the way.. so here's a look at what we've been up to:
Aidan and Bryce have been playing lots of WebKinz on the computer...
Bryce has been doing a little art..
We got a little dusting of snow (2/13/08)
and of course we celebrated Valentine's...
...with Transformers!
"Not me, Dad!" comes the reply, in unison, from my two sons.
The forensic evidence says someone's not being truthful..
Aidan does his best impression of Buddy Rich with his new drum kit...
Bryce opens his new Batmobile!
Aidan got a Hess Truck!
Daddy puzzles over how to free the Batmobile from its packaging.. Bryce has the greatest confidence in him...
Merrymaking and Mayhem..
Bryce (in new Titans uniform), takes a look at one of his new "No, David" books...
As if to make amends for his late-night joyride in the family van, Blinky brought the boys matching pairs of new Christmas PJs for the boys.. and it didn't take them long to get those PJs on and start getting ready for bed.... at 4:30 in the afternoon... (just kidding. It was no earlier than 5:30.)
Chief in the annals of Blink's mischief is the recently famous "Late Night Sonic Run of Blinky Sugarplum."
We woke up on Christmas Eve morning and the boys, as they usually did, scoured the house looking for Blinky, to see what he might have gotten up to the night before. Very quickly, they realized that Blinky was nowhere to be found in the house... and that's when someone noticed something odd about how the van was parked in the driveway outside...
The boys threw on their shoes and jackets and ran out through garage to see what had happened.... sure enough, the van was parked at a severe angle in the driveway. I'm afraid the neighbors must have figured we'd attended quite a Christmas party the night before.
As we got closer, things started to become clear....
And there he was, with the evidence of his fast-food excursion littered all around him... little bugger.
Well, now that Christmas is over, our visitor from the North Pole has gone back home with the elf in red, the Big SC... and the boys are a little forlorn about it. But on Christmas morning, Blinky left them a note telling them that he had a great time and that he's going to request to be assigned to our house again next year, as long as it's okay with us. Aidan has already composed a response to put in the mail letting Blinky know that we're looking forward to seeing him again next year.
Great time, indeed. The boys are enjoying looking back at the pictures and remembering all the mischief that Blinky got up to.
Aidan setting out Blinky's nightly snack of milk and crackers
One morning, we woke up to find Blinky had rolled the bathroom...
... and we came home one day to find Blinky had scaled the wall in Aidan's room using Bryce's Batman Grappling hook!
