I'm still working on catching the blog up, but wanted to post this picture from tonight's 4th of July Fireworks display over downtown Nashville. This is one of the few pictures I was able to snap before the really big downpour rolled in and we all had to head inside. But it was a great show, all the same-- and a nice cap to a great day of food and family!
Hope everyone had a wonderful 4th!
Today was the last day of school for Aidan and Bryce.
Amanda met them at pick-up with these cool leis, sunglasses, and squirt guns! (in case you didn't know, she's just the *coolest* mom!)
The boys had a great year at school-- it's always a little sad to see the end of a grade-- especially for Bryce who's graduated from Miss Michelle's *amazing* Pre-K program-- but the boys are sure happy to have some time off to enjoy the sun and spend some time at the pool!
Grieve not,
nor speak of me with tears
but laugh and talk of me
as if I were beside you...
I loved you so...
'twas Heaven here with you
I still can't believe what I'm about to write. We lost Mom-- the boys' Gramma-- early on the morning of March 27.
I don't have what it takes to write anything worthy of her memory right now-- if I can muster it at all, it'll have to wait a while-- but I did put together a slideshow of these pictures collected over the years. For anyone who knew her, I hope you find a few images here that make you smile and remember her for the warm, loving-- and *so* strong!-- person she was. We miss her dearly.
The songs are by our friend, Geoff Smith.
Updates, updates!
We've now updated thru September 21, 2008, Grampa's 80th Birthday party!.. go scroll down and have a look at what we've added!
Also, you'll notice we've finally updated the title of the blog to accurately reflect the *two* distinct childhood voices in our house. No change to the web address or anything so no need to update the bookmarks or RSS subscriptions.
In case you were wondering, there has actually been lots happening around here, but I've just been doing a terrible job of keeping up with updates about all of it for close to six months now..
I'll do it chronologically with back-dated postings so keep your eyes open for new entries going all the way back to the summer time 2008-- starting with pictures (finally) of our summer trip up to the Smoky Mountains.
If you've got questions or think something's missing, feel free to post a comment here (or on any posting on the blog) or shoot me an email.
Blinky is still up to his old tricks.. over the last couple of nights, he's snapped this picture with the Boss..
.. and made a mess out of Aidan's dresser drawers!
The boys received some Christmas gifts from Aunt Eileen today.. some cool play clothes and a couple of vests.. perfect for this mild winter weather we've been having..
and of course, the kittens had a ball playing with the discarded wrapping paper, tissue and boxes..
and then Bryce put on that vest and went all "Han Solo" on us! It was inevitable, really.
Bryce helped Gramma to make some Christmas cookies this morning.. he's learning from the master!
Our neighbors threw a great Christmas party this evening. I was only able to attend for the first hour or so, but when I got home later that night, the boys told me that SANTA visited the party!! And they managed to snap these pictures of him-- he gave each of the kids at the party a little present and told them to remember to be good between now and Christmas. Bryce was a little freaked out at first, from what I'm told, but eventually he warmed up to old St. Nick.
I can't believe I missed such a big moment!
The last couple of days, we've been doing some serious cooking around here... getting ready for the holidays..
You might remember Blinky from last year. He's an elf from the North Pole who came to join us for a few weeks before Christmas. His stated mission was to keep an eye on the boys and report back to Santa if any last minute changes in plans regarding present delivery needed to be made based on behavior and so forth. But as we saw last year, Blinky seems intent on mischief as anything else while he's here.
When he left us last Christmas Eve, the boys begged us to tell Santa that we'd allow him to come back if he wanted. We made him promise that there would be no more grand theft auto..
So he's back.. and he's back up to his old tricks..
I have a bad feeling about this...The boys get a kick out of reading stories at bed time.. and Aidan really enjoys playing up all the funny bits.
The cats clearly really like having the Christmas tree in the house...
I think they like it a little too much...
Bryce is a big helper.. he helped us trim the Christmas tree today.. and then he help to rescue some kitty cats from the tree too!
