ZOOM ZOOM

Christopher says "Get out of my way, I'm rolling". He even has the "vroom, vroom" engine sounds down. Talk about a handful......geeesh! You know what? I wouldn't trade it for the world. There are few things in life as satisfying as watching your child learn to walk. Keep on trucking buddy.

William

MCMXLIX-MMVIII=PRIME TIME

For this auspicious occasion the finest masterpieces were prepared to convey just how special Nana is to our fine little artists and their parents. Christopher was unable to participate in the actual production of the masterpiece although he was trying to eat it during the photo shoot. No babies were harmed during the making of this picture although a certain 5 year old was threatened when trying to go down the street.

On a more serious note I just want to wish my Mom a very happy birthday!! We all wish that we were together celebrating your birthday today, but I know that having Aidan's cousins, Jackson & Wyatt there will help to liven up the festivities. You are a beautiful and loving person and we could not ask for a better Mom. Thanks for all of your patience, love, encouragement, and general zest for life. You are definitely in your prime and getting stronger every day and no I am not putting the Rocky theme into this email. Well only in the exclusion sense any way. We are all proud of you and hope that you have a fantastic birthday!

Happy Birthday!

Love,

Your Brown Eyed Girl

Mobile Menace

Aidan has now left the land of children's bikes, and graduated to a 20" mountain bike. He is growing up too fast. Here is a picture of the boy sitting on his new "wheels".

William

The Paterfamilias and His Brood

The men of the Thornton Clan.


William

Bittersweet

I have been blessed to be able to find the love of my life and with her create a wonderful loving family. Every day to me feels like Father's day. My children are healthy and beautiful, and I am, and always will be eternally grateful for all of the love and happiness they have brought into my world. I probably do not deserve all of the joy and elation that I am provided, but in return I try extra hard each and every day to let the people in my life know that I love them unconditionally. In the most simplistic terms......their existence makes me a better person.

I would like think that today is perfect, but if I did, I would be lying. You see, even with all of the joy associated with this day, the very essence of my being, there is still a void that cannot be filled. Father's Day is more than just a saying, and for those of us whom have lost a parent, nothing can ever quench the longing for their company. Time truly does heals all wounds, but the longing never fully stops. Most of the time it gets tucked away in a far corner of the mind, and only sneaks out to make it's appearance on days like today. Suddenly distant memories ease back into view like a long lost friend and once again you feel the hurt of days past. I know that my Dad would love our children, and he would be proud of the father I am to my kids. Knowing this helps to relieve the pain of his loss, and allows me to not dwell on the past. Gone yes, but never forgotten.

There you have it. I love my wife and children immensely, and I still miss and love my Dad.

William

Thanks Dad!!

I lack the eloquence and the ease that William possesses when he sits down and types our family blog. That being said I feel compelled to blog this Father's Day weekend about William. Especially after the last two days he has been taking care of the boys a lot without a single complaint and he has had to use a lot of patience.

Today for instance, William stayed home with Aidan to take care of him since he has strep throat while I was able to go out and about with my sister, mom, and Christopher. Although they missed out on the fun that we were having, William made sure that he made Aidan feel better and tried to do fun things at home to distract Aidan. This of course may seem like no big deal but it is just a small example of the Dad that William is to the boys. He truly holds Aidan and Chrisopher and myself included as the center of his world and always goes out of his way to let all of us know how important we are to him. We are the lucky ones to have William as a husband and a father. His patience extends mine for a lot of different things and he loves to teach the boys any and everything about life.

I know that he loved and cherished the special moments he had with his Dad and that he grew up having his Dad as his hero. He has definitely impressed that onto Aidan as I see Aidan look at William as his super hero Dad that he is. I am sure that Christopher will follow in his brother's footsteps only too soon. I know that his Dad would be all too proud to watch him playing with the boys and teaching them everyday about life. I am very proud of him too!

So in celebration of Father's Day I am typing a little letter from Aidan to William as part of the blog.

Dear Dad,

I love you. Thanks for playing with me. Thanks for taking care of me. Thanks for being my Dad. Happy Father's Day!

Love, Aidan

I think Christopher's letter would be something like Daaaaaddddaaaaa.

Happy Father's Day!

Lori

Parental Gasconade

As many of you know, we have been trying to get Aidan enrolled into public school for quite some time. With his birthday being after September 1st, he has always been "too young" to attend public school. Because of this, we were forced to enroll him in Private Kindergarten last year. We were told by FISD this spring that he was still too young to attend 1st grade at public school, and he would have to go to Kindergarten. We asked if there was any way around this rule, and were told that they would offer a Kindergarten Assessment test to all the children that wanted to try to enter 1st grade early. They told every parent up front that the test would be very difficult, and was basically set up for the vast majority of the kids to fail. In fact, we were told that on average, only 5% of the children that took the test actually scored high enough to be allowed to attend 1st grade early.

Monday morning was the first day of the test. Those children that made a 90% or above on the initial test would be invited back the next day to take the second round of test. Of the 30+ students that took the test on Monday, 3 were invited back for the second round of test on Tuesday. Aidan was one of the students invited back, so Tuesday he took the second day's test. The test consisted of 40 math problems, and the reading and comprehension of two short books. When Aidan finished his exam, I was called to come pick him up, and the first thing he said to me was " man dad, that was a really hard test".

Aidan went on to tell me that he thought that he did "pretty good" and was happy to not have to take any more exams for a while. We of course told him how proud we were of him, and just making it to the second round of test was really quite an accomplishment.

The anticipation that was building over the last few days was almost unbearable for me and his mother. Aidan on the other hand was no worse for wear. Oh to be young and naive again. We finally got the call this morning that we had been waiting for, and when we were told the results, we were ecstatic. Aidan scored a 100 on his math test, and scored in the 90's on his reading test. HE DID IT.............he would be allowed early into the 1st. grade! Wooo Hooo!!!!! Wow, what a rush.

As I sit here and type this, pride is seeping no oozing out of every pore in my body. Aidan has done many wonderful things in his young life to make his mother and I absolutely beam with pride, but none of his other accomplishments have been quite as satisfying as the one that he earned today.

Aidan is quite a boy, and we are so very lucky to have such a wonderful son.

William

A "String" of Events

Yesterday was certainly a long day, filled with lots of fun and excitement, and topped off with a silly fight. It started very early Saturday morning as Lori left the house about 6:45 am, picked up her sister Cricket, and they went to run in the 5K "Race for the Cure" being held in Plano. I stayed home with Christopher and Aidan, and we made the most of our "man time" by watching TV, playing video games, and getting things ready for the day's festivities.

Lori got home from the race about 10:00 am, which left us about an hour to get everybody ready to leave for Aidan's last Spring 2008 baseball game of the season. Like I said in my last blog, it's really hard to believe how quickly time has flown by and this baseball season passed. It seems like just a couple of weeks ago that I was blogging about Aidan's first game. Aidan had another really good game, and although he will be playing "Fall ball" come September, I must admit I was a bit sad seeing his first season come to an end. Aidan on the other hand was happy. Happy you ask? Yep, he was happy.....because that meant that he got to go to his "end of the season" party, where he would eat and drink, and most importantly wrap his hands around this baby.Yep, Aidan's first baseball trophy, and another trophy to add to his growing collection. We are already looking forward to "Fall ball" starting in September, for Aidan will no longer have to hit from a tee, but instead will be hitting live pitching. Wooo Hooo!!!! He will now be old enough to be in the "coach pitch" league. It should be a lot of fun, and to be honest, I think Aidan is more comfortable hitting a moving pitch, than he is hitting off a tee.

After getting awful service from the waitstaff at Aidan's baseball soiree we arrived home about 2:40 pm and prepared for the rest of the afternoon. Normally "the rest of the afternoon" would involve lots of rest and relaxation, but not yesterday. Yesterday was Aidan's cousin Wyatt's birthday, and Wyatt was having a 4:00 pm shindig at the local bowl-a-rama. When I say bowl-a-rama it's only in jest, for the bowling alleys of yesteryear are a thing of the past, and the new one's have the glitz and flair of a modern day nightclub. Lots of rocking music, black lights, video screens, neon balls, lazer tag, video games, and just about anything else you can imagine. By the end, the boys had a blast.....the parents were tired, everyone left happy. Here are a few pictures from the party, and pay particular attention to the beautiful Pokemon "Pichacu" cupcakes the Cricket and Lori made, for they worked long and hard into the night to perfect their culinary creations.
We got home from the bowling party, just in time to start preparing for the evening birthday get together. Yeah baby, another party. We went over to Cricket's house for more fun times, and Cricket (I can only assume that the strobe lights at the alley rendered her temporarily insane) decided to allow Aidan to stay for a SLEEPOVER. Talk about a glutton for punishment.....WOW. I stayed until about 8:30 pm, until I was just about worn out, and I called it a night. I did however stay long enough to capture most of the evening's wildness, which was topped off with a fight for the ages. A fight you ask? Oh yeah, a silly string fight of epic proportions. We're talking a 4 can fight, complete with two crazy canines going toe to toe in the middle of the action. The stuff that legends are made from. Now I can't declare a winner, but I can say that no dogs were harmed in the shooting of the following footage. Those with weak constitution's should turn away........you were warned.
All in all a very fun, exciting, and tiring day. As I sit here in peaceful solitude, Lori has taken Christopher down to Cricket's house to retrieve monkeyboy number 1 and make sure that every one and everything survived intact. Wow it's quiet right now.......feels strange.

William

Smell The Roses

Well, this last week went by in a blur. It's funny, when I was a child, days seemed like they lasted forever. Weeks, months, years.......forget about it....an eternity it seemed. Now that I am getting older, it seems like one day stands right on top of the next in a blink of an eye. I'm sure that I am not the only one with this incongruent perception of time. On one hand it's nice to see the kids growing up so fast and understanding more of our complex world each and every day. Their wonder and amazement provides a perpetual stream of joy for both me and Lori. But with that joy comes a double edged sword, for each day passed is gone forever, and with it's passing another fraction of their innocence is lost. The old saying "they will be grown up before you know it" is unfortunately all too true, as each new day seems to race by at breakneck speed. I guess it's that way for everybody, but it sure gains momentum as the years accumulate, and it's much more noticeable when you have kids to use as your barometer. We all wish we could fool Time's incisive pestilence, but as sure as the sun rises in the East tomorrow, that's not going to happen. So make the most your time and use it's fleeting existence as your foundation for building great memories. Hopefully in doing so, it will allow you to enjoy the all too brief ride.

William