This is how Kindergarten ends..

Today, Aidan finished kindergarten. The last day of school.
Tomorrow will be the first day of what we hope will be a long, lazy summer..

Yesterday, he actually came home with a lot of the stuff from his classroom-- papers, workbooks mostly completed, and his work-box. I was out of town last night, so I only got to look some of this stuff over tonight and when I opened his work-box-- brimming with worked-over crayons, thick pencils, a worn eraser, glue stick.. and the name-tag he wore on Day 1, a little dog-eared and worn, but still sitting there right on top-- it really took my breath away.

Everyone expects it when you feel a little misty over the first day of school..
But no one tells you what to expect on the last day of school..

Another First: Fishing!

I've still got some pictures to post of Bryce's Big Birthday Bash last weekend.. but I want to squeeze this in before hitting the hay for the night.

Aidan and I went on a fishing trip with his kindergarten class this morning. This may not have been a first for some of Aidan's classmates, but this was definitely a new experience for Aidan and he really did great with it-- he did his Godfather Jimmy, the family outdoorsman, proud!

We got to Mr Williams' house at about 9:20. Mr. Williams has a big pond on his property and the thing is literally brimming with fish! So we setup a couple of chairs alongside our friends John and Keaton, laid out a cooler loaded with snacks and lunch, and cast our lines.

After getting the hang of casting-- and with his attention waining and waxing over the next few hours, Aidan eventually caught 3 fish-- one of those completely on his own.

To be honest, going into this morning, the prospect of 50 kindergartners armed with fishing poles and barbed hooks did not sound all that appealing. But as it turned out, it was really a great time.

Then, after lunch, the highlight of the afternoon was when Mr. Williams had all the kids sit to watch his dog, a BIG beautiful Lab named Bo, do some tricks...

... and take a plunge...

Aidan's first ballgame!

After Field Day, that evening, Grampa and Daddy took Aidan to his first real baseball game-- the Nashville Sounds, our local Triple-A minor league ball club, took on the Albuquerque Isotopes. The Sounds didn't win that night... but Aidan wasn't worried about that. He was all too happy taking in all the sights and sounds at the ballpark.

Field Day

A few quick pictures from Field Day (May 18) at Aidan's school:

Is it ready yet?

The showstopper gift of the evening though, was the play kitchen we gave Bryce. While the kids played outside, and then upstairs, as evening turned into night, Mama and Daddy worked to put that kitchen together, one plastic piece at a time.

Nothing came pre-assembled.
Just a series of sheets of interconnected plastic pieces, each with its own alphanumeric designation.

And 60 screws.

We started the project at approximately 7pm.
And although we had our doubts along the way, we actually managed to complete the whole project by a little after 9:00. The kids were delirious-- it was long past their bedtime, and all the company had gone home by then.. but the kids made it all pay off by playing with the kitchen for a good 15 minutes or so before Aidan looked at us and said "I think it's time for bed!"

And so it begins. 7:01pm-- Mama on piece selection. Daddy on assembly. Aidan mans the camera.

Grampa looks on.. doubtfully..

7:34pm-- Daddy remains optimistic.
7:51pm-- Guests have all left for the night and Aidan is thinking about calling in for reinforcements.

8:21pm-- Bryce is starting to have doubts.

9:08pm-- Project Plastic Kitchen is complete!

Pitch it to me!

One of those presents Bryce got was a Baseball set that slow-pitches soft foam balls so that little guys like Bryce can hit them. That was an immediate success out in the back yard.
Here's a neat black-and-white photo Aunt Patty took of Bryce while he was up to bat.

Bryce's Birthday Party, Part I

Even though it was a school night, we celebrated Bryce's 3rd birthday with family on the 15th. Gramma, Grampa, Aunt Patty, and Aunt Laura came by for dinner and Bryce got to open some pretty cool (and in at least one case, pretty complex to construct) presents

Who me? Sing? You must be joking.

Back on May 12, Bryce's pre-school held their annual Spring Program. And much like we saw at the Christmas program, Bryce and his cohort steadfastly refused to sing.
The boy who was singing in the car all the way to the performance dummies up when the curtain goes up..



The question is: is it stage fright? or civil disobedience??


Afterward, we snapped a couple of pictures of Aidan and Bryce on stage and hanging around back in Bryce's classroom.

Artwork Update

I need to snap some pics of a few of Aidan's and Bryce's recent artwork masterpieces, but here's one I have that I haven't posted yet-- Aidan's portrait of Humpty Dumpty:

Aidan is a Mac..

In our house right now, Aidan and Bryce are enjoying watching the
"I'm a Mac; and I'm a PC" commercials.. Aidan goes around the house
now reciting the ads, playing the role of the Mac, while Bryce
prefers to take the role of the PC...

Short Order

Aidan, playing with Bryce's new kitchen playset just now, asking his Aunt Laura for an order:

Aidan: "Hey Aunt Laura, what would you like to eat?"
Aunt Laura: "Hmmm... how about some Tiramisu."
Aidan: "Nah, we don't have that. How about some eggs?"

Happy Birthday, Bryce!

It was three years ago today that the smiling, sometimes positively strong-willed but always charming little Bryce was born.

What a wonder it has been to watch him come up these last three years, learning from, playing with, and sometimes fighting his older brother and how amazing it still is to see him do little more than smile, give the cat a pat on the head, or eat a bowl of blueberries.

It's hard to know what to do all the time as a Dad, but even for all the worry and uncertainty that creeps up sometimes, I wouldn't trade any of this (or all of what's's yet to come) for anything!

We love you, Bryce!
Happy Birthday!

Love,
Dad

Happy Mother's Day!

We celebrated Mother's day with Mama and Gramma last night!

"Let's Look Around"

Back on the 2nd, when we went to the Apple Store to pick up the computer, Aidan made himself right at home at one of the kid's stations. And when it came time for us to go, Aidan said to me "How about we look around first?"

I think he has his eye on one of the iPod Minis and a MacBook laptop...

Picture of the day

but the fun didn't end there.. when we got home from Carnival, a few hours later, we had our friend Maddy over to eat some dinner and watch some Bear & The Big Blue House...

They look miserable, don't they?

Carnival!

A few quick pictures from today's Spring Carnival at Aidan's school:

Bryce has his face painted

Bryce lets McKenna take him down the big slide

Aidan gets ready to fly on the Bungie...

...and he really likes it!

Aidan with his classmate and partner-in-crime
thru much of the Carnival

"Cha Cha Cha!"

After a birthday dinner of grilled burgers, pasta salad, and chips, we sang Happy Birthday to Aunt Laura this evening.
As has been his custom more or less since he was born, Aidan ran and hid during the celebratory singing-- and believe me, hiding in the guest room is much preferable to the screaming fits we have experienced in past years.
But something new happened this year-- as we came down to the final notes of the song, "Haaaaappy Biiiirthday, tooooo yooooooooouuuuu"-- somewhere during the "oooooouuuu" Aidan stuck his head out from the guest room and 'sang' out "Cha Cha Cha!"

The things these kids learn at school these days.

Happy Birthday, Aunt Laura!

Bryce helped to make a cake this afternoon

Soccer Updates

Well, we had our last Soccer Sunday this past week.. and now that the computer is all put back together, I can update with a few photos from the last two weeks of games..

Aidan's team wore the white (he's #19) two weeks ago, and Aidan had, once again, a great time running around, chasing the ball-- though he had a hard time being sure which goal to kick the ball toward...

The next week, he got a couple of pretty good touches on the ball and even managed to fire a shot at the right goal... then at the end of the afternoon, everyone got a little trophy for participating.. and Aidan immediately asked "When's T-Ball start?"

Quick Infirmary Update

We are back online... the iMac G5 needed another new power supply and logic board, the same pieces that were replaced back in November 2005. From reading online, it sounds like the iMacs and G5 towers have all suffered this affliction...

So the beat goes on.
Bryce is feeling much better and went back to school today, but Aidan and I stayed home today, both feeling a bit under the weather-- though we're both feeling better this afternoon.

a few quick notes

Well, as if updates weren't coming slowly enough around here, now our main home computer will be out of commission for a few days-- taking it into the shop to get the power supply replaced.

One note from the human infirmary: we took Bryce to the pediatrician yesterday-- he's got a double-ear infection; so, much as he denied that his ears were bothering him all weekend, now he's got some antibiotics and, 24 hours into the doses and after a good night's sleep last night, he seems to be feeling much better-- though the temper remains on something of a hair trigger-- this morning.