Spring...No Winter...No Wait...Spring....

Ahh.......Spring is in the Air

Wow, Spring "already". Well, after this winter we've had, it's really hard to say "already". In reality, it seemes like it took forever to get here. If it's spring, that can only mean one thing......SPRING BREAK BABY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! LOUD WILD PARTIES - TRIPS TO THE BEACH - NO RULES.........oh wait....never mind.....I was thinking of the old meaning of "Spring Break". Please excuse me, for I lost my train of thought for a minute. What I meant to say was "kids out of school for a week" Spring Break. Alright!!!WooHoo!!!!Yeah!!!! See, I am just as enthused.

We decided that we would take a trip to East Tennessee to see Nana and PawPaw for this spring break, so we packed our bags and set off for the airport bright and early last Monday morning. As you know from past trips, Christopher can be quite the handful on an enclosed plane. So much a handful in fact, that for a while I simple refused to fly with that little monkey. I was hoping that this time would be the beginning of a new and improved Christopher, and lucky for all of us (especially me) I was correct. Our smallest monkey did very well on the two hour flight, and my stress level stayed around defcon 2. (It's never defcon 1 when you have kids....it simply can't happen).

After landing in Knoxville and making the 1 1/2 hour drive to the farm, we were ready for some serious country life. When you find yourself in the middle of nowhere, it's not very hard to find "the country life". Soon after we arrived at the farm, Christopher and Aidan and Lori were ready to feed the chickens and gather the eggs.


Me, nope no chickens for me, just relaxing at the piano.


We spent the next day indoors due to the rainy weather. Of course, the boys still had chicken and cow duty, for rain does not stop those farm time activities. Nope, but it does stop the photographer from getting his camera wet, so no pictures from Tuesday.

Wednesday we got up early, took care of the chores, and drove to Sevierville to visit the local Bass Pro Shops. Aidan loves going here, and Christopher also got a kick out of all of the fish and animals they saw. Here is a picture of the bears.


Here is Aidan and Christopher ready for some mischief.


We made the journey home mid afternoon, and settled in for some R&R. They don't call them the Great Smokey Mountains for nothing.


We all sat around relaxing except Christopher who was feeling a little standoffish.


While he was feeling froggy, I sat in one of the comfy chairs, and snapped this photo of the fireplace.


Doesn't that look cozy and inviting?

We finally did get out and about on the farm, and Lori snapped a picture of one of the last trees still showing the signs of fall/winter.

Me, well I concentrated more on the beautiful views,


and one powerful majestic sunset.


One thing we found out while we were there: Christopher is a natural with the chickens, showing absolutely no fear.


The horses in the pasture wandered over to see what was going on.

Nana and Aidan made the horses' day when they both climbed in the hay loft and got the horses some vittles.


Later that day, Aidan and dad decided to go "cruzin",


while Christopher did his own "cruzing" low and slow.


We had a wonderful time while we were there, and Friday came around too soon. Christopher made the defcon meter rise to 3 on the way home, but all in all I was very happy with his behavior. Nana and PawPaw were great host, and we were all sad to go. We made it home just in time to pick up Mystic from Doggie Day Care, and after getting home, we all made it to bed pretty early.

When we woke up the next morning, we were greeted with this.


Are you kidding me? Snow? Snow on the first official day of spring? Come on.......give us a little break here. Have some compassion Mother Nature. Quit messing around and bring on the flowers and the 70-80 degree temperatures. It's time......let's get it on.

William

P.S. Today it's 75 and beautiful. Maybe she was listening after all.

Confessions of a Lucky Man

12 years? 12 years? How is that even possible? It just seems like yesterday that we were exchanging our "I Do's" and starting our wonderful journey together. The years are sailing past so quickly, and the water is more calm and smooth on our journey than I could have ever wished for.

Very few people in this world actually find their soulmate, and I am truly blessed have found mine wrapped in such a beautiful package. I still pinch myself every day, and will continue to do so throughout or lives together.

Thanks Lori for being a great wife, a wonderful mom, and my best friend. I can't wait for lucky 13 to roll around next.

Happy Anniversary

Love,

William

An Assorted Dozen Memories

On a rainy day 12 years ago today we were preparing for the night's festivities with our families and friends at the Dallas Arboretum. What was going to be a picturesque outdoor wedding became a quaint indoor ceremony with the threat of rain from El Nino much to my Mom's chagrin. We did not know or imagine what our lives together would hold at that moment but we were married and ready for our adventure together. It is hard to fathom that we were married 12 years ago today, and yet sometimes it seems a lifetime away from our current life with our two monkeys! I know that every day is not always as romantic and exciting as it could be, but I treasure every day that we spend together. We have grown up in so many ways and reinvented ourselves a few times along the way.

Thank you for always giving so much of yourself to make sure that the boys and I are happy. Thank you William for being my best friend and wonderful husband. You always know how to make me laugh when I need it most and you always support me with all of my dreams and endeavors no matter how crazy they might seem. Thank you for giving me the freedom to run (literally) even though it means that you will be flying solo with Aidan and Christopher while I am gone. Thank you especially for letting me race today, the morning of our Anniversary (since it is a special race), even though it would have been easy to suggest that I stay home for a family morning.

We have had an assortment of wonderful memories, craziness, and love most of all over the last 12 years and I wouldn't trade a moment. I am blessed to have you as my husband and best friend. I love you very much! I will celebrate you and our marriage by running a mile for every year that we have been married plus that additional 1.1 mileage thinking about our wonderful life together!

Happy 12th Anniversary William!

Love,

Lori

HOO-RAY!!!!!

My beautiful wife ran a 5K this morning, and walked away with this little piece of hardware.


Alright Momma! You go girl. We are so very proud of you.

William

Sands Through the Hourglass

You know, when Christopher is not being a terrorizing little menace, he is actually pretty sweet. Now, these "sweet" times are currently few and far between (Thanks a bunch terrible 2s), but when they do happen, all is right with the world. Here is a snapshot of Christopher taken just before we left for school yesterday morning.


Notice the fresh haircut? People were starting to say the he was looking like Christopher Atkins from the Blue Lagoon, so we figured it was time to get his ears lowered. He sure looks handsome, and......ummm.......older. What happen to our little baby boy? They transform so fast.

Aidan is doing really well in school, and we are very proud of him. His homework for this week, was to create a timeline of his life, and chronicle each year. We had to go back and find a picture of him at each year of age, and include them with the assignment. It was really cool going through all of the old photographs of the family, and seeing how Aidan has matured. (It was not nearly as cool to see how I have "matured" during this same time.....grrrrrrr) This trip down memory lane also allowed me to see my favorite picture I took of Aidan when he was a little baby. (Well technically speaking, Aidan was never a little baby...having entered this world at 8 lbs 12 ozs, but you know what I mean,) Here he is a 5 months old, fresh out of the tub, sporting a very cool curly blond mohawk.


Wow it's hard to believe its already been 7 years since that was taken. That just doesn't seem possible. They grow up too fast.................... :-(

Hug them every chance you get.


William

big....Big......BIG NEWS!

Christopher, our 2 1/2 year old menace, did something today that has us grinning ear to ear. Our youngest monkey has gone the entire day, from 8:00am this morning until I am typing this now, wearing the same pair of underwear and pants. Yep, that's right.......a whole day diaper and accident free. What a big boy. Whoooooooo Hooooooooo!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! You da MAN!!!!!

William

The Power of the Music of the Night

Saturday night offered a rare opportunity for Lori and me. You see, when you have young Monkeys at home, it's really difficult to align the stars to enable you to have a "date night". It had been what seemed like forever since the last time Lori and I went out on the town. Well, thanks to my wonderful wife, that all changed on Saturday.

Lori was very kind, and purchased tickets to The Phantom of the Opera that was playing at the Fair park Music Hall. It was my Valentines present from her. She made arrangements for Cricket to watch the kiddos, and we had the night to ourselves. Wow, it was great. I have been a fan of The Phantom of the Opera music for years, having owned the CD for almost 20 years. I know most of the songs by heart, but I had never had the opportunity to see the Musical performed live. Seeing it live was great, and we had a fantastic time.

Here is a picture of Lori and me taken by Aidan just before we left.


Lori looked stunning in her evening gown, and it felt good to play "dress up" for a change. Hopefully, we won't wait as long before our next "date night", and we'll have just as much fun as we did Saturday.

If you ever get a chance to see The Phantom of the Opera live, I highly recommend it.

William

PS. Thank you so much Cricket for taking care of our little Monkeys. I know it can be a chore, and we really appreciate your help.

SnowMonkeys

That was a whole lot of snow and a whole lot of fun. 11.2 inches officially. That's the most snow I've seen at one time in my life. I think I had just as much fun playing in the snow as the boys did. Here are a few photos that I snapped during the day.





















Great fun. In Texas, those opportunities will be few and far between. We made the most of it, and stay outside much of the day. The snow's all gone now, but not the memories. I will cherish those for years and years to come.

William

Winter's Last Stand

Winter is putting up a valiant fight in it's quest to defeat spring. 11.2 inches of snow yesterday and last night. If we lived in Juno that might not be such a big deal, but here.........it's huge news!

Wow, looking out the window it's just beautiful. Deep white pillowy snow covers everything. I will have plenty of pictures up later, but for now just know this.......school's canceled and I will have two really happy snowball throwing, snowman building, frost covered boys to enjoy the day with.

Woo Hoo.....................I can't wait.

Angelic Subterfuge

Cold, wet and dreary. That's about all you can say about today. It makes you want to crawl into bed and just sleep. Hopefully, there's sunshine forecast for the near future. Spring cannot get here fast enough.

We've been kind of busy lately, but we got a chance to go down to see my mom and brother last weekend. We had a good time, and it was nice to give mom a great big hug. Her treatments are hard on her, but she is doing well. Like I've said in the past, she is one tough cookie.

It was hard to see mom without any hair. I guess seeing her for 44 years with hair made it a bit tougher. I did not want her to feel alone, so I shaved my head before we went down. Yep I got out the shaver, popped on the ol' number 2 attachment, and off it came. I've got to tell you, now that's it's done, I really like it. I might just have to keep it this way for good. I'm pretty certain mom has other plans for hers.

The kids are all doing great and Lori is as wonderful as ever. Baseball starts back up in one week. Woo Hoo we're looking forward to that. Hopefully it will warm up a bit in the next week. It's much too cold for baseball right now.

Well, got to go, got some things to get done. I will leave you with a picture of our youngest money laying on his inflatable fort. This picture shows you how looks can be deceivable. How you ask? Well, he looks like a little innocent precious angel here, that's how.


William

A is for Apple

I just wanted to take a second to brag about our oldest monkey again. 2nd nine weeks are up, and the verdict is in........Strait A's again BABY!!!!!!!! Way to go Aidan, we are so proud of you. You da man!

William

Lifting The Block

No need to panic.....calm down.........that is not smoke you are seeing,....nope, that's just the dust cloud I created when I blew off the keyboard. That's right.....I'm blogging again!!!!! Woohoo!!!

Wow, it's been a long time. I'm not sure I remember how to so some of this stuff. There has been so much that happened since my last blog, but I don't feel like writing a James Michener equivalent right now, so we will pretend that the last 6 weeks never happened, and we will start off with this last week.

We woke up early on Friday morning with eager anticipation. The kids had a holiday both last Friday and Monday, so everything worked out great for our trip. The boys were ready, I was ready, and most importantly, Lori was ready. Ready for what you ask? Well, a trip to Houston for Lori's 3rd Marathon (I know...I know....completely insane....but I love her anyway), and a chance to visit great friends.

Anyway, back to Friday morning. I walked outside to load the CX-9 and what did I see?


A beautiful sunrise, and a fantastic start to the weekend.

We made it to Houston in time for Lori to pick up her race packet, and get to our friends house before terrible traffic started. Anytime you can avoid terrible traffic in Houston, you feel like you accomplished something. We spent the rest of the day and evening visiting with our friends Ken & Hailey, while Aidan and Christopher played with their daughter Carley, and all her wonderful toys. Ken and Hailey were very nice in letting us stay with them while we were down, and we made early use of the beds. Everyone was pretty tired, and it did not take long for anyone to fall asleep.

Saturday was spent in the same way........just visiting and relaxing. Kenny grilled burgers for dinner, and everyone got stuffed......that is everyone except the girl that was running 26.2 miles the next morning. No, she had some grilled chicken and brown rice for dinner. Protein and Carbs baby....Protein and Carbs. We were all in bed by 10:30pm, for the alarm was going to sound at 4:30am. Uhhhhhhghhhhhh!

Sunday morning came in a flash. Lori and Christopher and I woke bright and early, while Aidan slept in. I had to take Lori and drop her off in downtown Houston by 5:45am. She was meeting with friends from her running group in Plano, who were also participating in the race. Here she is with a look of nervousness combined with a "wow it's cold out here" sheen.


You would think that there would be absolutely no traffic on the road at 5:00am on Sunday morning. You would be wrong. Where was all this traffic coming from? I soon found out as a followed a convoy of other insane runners making the trek downtown.

After dropping her off and wishing her luck, we went back to the house to get cleaned up and make our way to the runners route. We parked at mile 19 and waited for Lori to arrive. We did not wait long, actually about 20 seconds after we got there (whew), she strode into sight.


She stopped for a quick hug...


...and off she went.

We loaded back up in the car, and headed back down town for the finish. Here is a picture of Christopher asking "where's Momma"?


Here is Aidan playing with rocks and doing his very best to control his "what's taking so long" attitude.


Lori finished the race in 4:00 hrs, witch happened to also be her goal. How awesome is that? We are all so very proud of her. She has taken almost 40 minutes off her race time since her first one last year. That is amazing. We had to wait a bit to meet up with her, for she began cramping after crossing the finish line. After getting something to drink and eat, taking off her shoes, and resting a bit, we finally got to see her. Here are the boys telling momma how proud they are of her.


Congratulation Lori. You really are something special.

William

PS. Thanks Ken and Hailey, for letting us stay with you this weekend. You were great host.

Lame

I'm embarrassed. I will have a new blog up soon.

I've been real lazy ummmm....busy lately!

I'll do better.

William

Benediction

First let me start by saying thank you for each person who sent prayers for my mother. She had her surgery on Friday morning, and everything went very well. The doctor was able to remove all of the cancerous tissue, and the three lympnodes they removed all tested negative for cancerous cells. A good beginning to a long fight. Mom will now have a 3 week recovery time, and then will start her Chemo treatments. Please keep her in your prayers as she continues her battle.

Mom turned 70 years young yesterday. Having breasts cancer surgery 4 days before your 70th birthday is certainly not what you hope for, but I could not be any more proud of the way that she has handled this difficult roadblock. Her resolve continues to amaze me.

I was very, very under the weather as Lori and I went down for her surgery. I hardly ever get sick, but when I do, it's normally pretty severe. As soon as mom found out how I was feeling, she was more concerned with my health issues than her own. That's how she is, and for me it's very humbling. Since I was contagious, I had to quarantine myself from her for several days while we were there. It was very difficult to talk from across the room, but I did not want to risk her health. I wanted nothing more than to give her a great big hug, but knew that her immune system would already be taxed to the limit. When we go back down for Thanksgiving, I can get my great big hug then.

Lastly, I wanted to thank Lori. Lori is the most unselfish, compassionate person that I have ever met. She helped mom and the rest of us so much, I honestly do not know how we could have gotten through the weekend without her. Simply an Angel. Thank you so much for everything, and I continue to be the luckiest husband on earth.

William

P.S. Thanks NANA for all of your help. It was really great of you to fly down to take care of the Monkeys. We really appreciate all you do for us.

P.S.S. I should have some new pictures online in the next few days. They are interesting to say the least. Until then, God Bless.

3 Day's Salvation

Thousands of feet lightly touch the ground,
tiny heartbeats echo off the pavement
Solitude amidst the purposeful commotion,
hopeful silhouettes pass each mind's eye
Binding friendship tightly grasp,
strength and compassion a natural rudder
Buoyant hope impels the masses,
silent prayers elucidated in redundant strides
Trust and faith rest within,
heart's open


William

Twick Tweet

As I am typing this, sweat is pouring down my forehead. It's sad really, seeing how I have been home from my walk/run for over 20 minutes. Why does getting in, and staying in shape have to be so stinking hard? I am ready for some miracle pill to hit the market that will reveal my hidden Adonis physique. Ok, quit laughing, it's there, it's just.....ummmm.....protected by a few insulating layers right now. I've got 6 months until I have to be shirtless on a beach once again, so here we go. Hopefully, if I stick with it a while, it won't continue to feel like I have a U-haul attached to my _ss while I run. I'm ready to be athletic again.

On a brighter note, last weekend was Halloween. It's pretty sad when a dark holiday like Halloween is considered a "brighter note", but if you saw how I was struggling earlier while dipping my fat toe back in the proverbial "fitness pool", you would understand. Anyway....

Saturday started off with a 9:00am baseball game. It was Aidan's last regular season baseball game of the year. While Aidan has been his outstanding self this season, the team as a whole has struggled. The boys have only won 2 of 8 games, and some of the losses have been.....uh......extreme. Regardless, they have all had a good time, and that is really what matters at this stage.

After tying the other team in their morning game, we came home for a little rest. Aidan's end of the season team party was being held at the coaches' house at 12:30pm that afternoon, so we had some last minute prep to do. I was a real trooper, and got up at 5:00am Saturday morning, and put 20lbs of baby back pork ribs on the smoker. I marinated them for 12 hours the night before, and seasoned them to perfection before placing them on the grill. After two hours of smoke, I sprayed each rack with Apple juice, and wrapped each in foil. I then smoked them for another 3 hours. They turned out perfect.....I'm talking juicy fall of the bone perfect. Yummy! Lori, meanwhile baked some awesome brownies for the party. Both items were a big hit, and all of the boys had a blast.

We finally left the party about 3:00. I must say that I was really happy with the way Christopher acted while he was there. Normally, Christopher takes a nap at noon. He lasted 3 hours past that time without losing it, or throwing a fit. He finally fell asleep on Lori's shoulder, and we knew it was time to go. Getting home was a good thing, for Christopher was not the only tired person in the family. Nope, we each found a comfy spot to rest, and soon the entire house was engulfed in peaceful somber.

Whew, we needed that nap, and now everybody was ready for a night of trick or treating. We started getting the boys ready about 6:00pm, and finished about 6:30pm. As I have stated in the past, Aidan is a Harry Potter nut. He loves the books, the movies, and even has a couple of the computer games. So, you have probably guessed what he wanted to be for Halloween. Yes, the blond haired blue eyed boy wanted to be the black haired green eyed Harry Potter. Well, if Aidan was going to be Harry Potter, there was only one thing that Christopher could be..........


Yep, Harry Potter's pet owl named Hedwig.

Here is a close up of each of the boys.


"Chicks dig scars"


"An Owl?" "Really?" "Of all the cool things I could be in the world, I'm a freaking owl?" "Are you kidding me?"

Of course, they were as cute as a button, and a big hit. They both made out like bandits. I was exceptionally proud of Christopher. He took his embarrassing costume like a man, and did fantastic trick-or-treating. He walked all by himself, carried his own pumpkin, and said "twick..tweet" at each house. He was adorable.

Even Cricket's dog Sammy got into the Halloween festivities.


"Argh...or Arffff.....me Hardies.......give me some of those tasty treasures"

We all had a wonderful time. Kids are only young for a limited time, and it sure is fun to share things like this with them. I can't wait for next year.

William

PS. When those hair color spray bottles say "easily washes out" do not believe them. Uhhh....

The Little Things

We all piled in the CX9 last weekend and drove down south to see Grandma and Uncle Jim. We left after Aidan's 9:00am baseball game (he played awesome!) last Saturday. We made great time, and we were at her house by 1:30pm.

It was great to see both of them. It's been too long since our last visit. There always seems to be something going on, but that's just a bad excuse. We've got to make time, and will do a better job in the future.

We spent most of our time there playing in the backyard with the kids. The weather was fantastic, and Christopher and Aidan had a blast. It was nice to see mom, and give her a great big hug. I think she enjoyed seeing us, and especially liked seeing her grand children. They are growing up so fast. She cooked some wonderful meals for us while we were down, and we all stuffed ourselves.

Time went by way too fast, and we heading home on Sunday evening. A quick trip indeed, but worth every second.

William

Strength and Faith

As those of you who keep up with the blog have probably noticed, it's been a while since I last wrote something on this page. It's not as if things have not been happening in our lives, for you simply cannot have a 7 year old and a 2 year old in the same family and not have something to write about. No, my lack of print has more to do with my state of mind, and my need to understand fairness in our universe.

My mother, who 23 years ago battled cancer and seemingly won, has once again been diagnosed with this terrible disease. I am almost at a loss for words to describe the thunder clapping shock I received when I was told the news. How does someone who sacrificed so much 23 years ago, get called upon again? It just doesn't seem fair.

I realize that we all have test in our lives. We all face decisions that shape, mold, or alter our paths of existence. Mom faced her last cancer battle with dignity and showed courage beyond reproach. It was a tough fight, and although cancer took one of her breasts and all of the lymph nodes on one side of her body, it did not take her spirit, her will, or her fight. I was just a stupid 20 year old kid at the time this happened, and did not fully understand the gravity of the situation, nor the brevity of human life. I am much older and wiser, and now fully understand both with emphatic clarity.

Mom is brave, and I am deeply proud of the way in which she carries herself in times of great adversity. I know this new bout with cancer will be approached with the same determination and moxie that she displayed in the past. It will require another mastectomy, and chemo-therapy. Difficult to say the least, and her strength will once again be tested. Needless to say, we will all continue to do everything in our power to insure that she can overcome her latest setback, and resume a normal life.

As you have read on this page in the past, Lori is actively involved in breast cancer charities. It's a very noble cause, and I am very proud of her desire, persistence, and compassion. Her commitment to this cause is very personal, even more so now, and for this reason she is participating in this year's Komen 3 day walk. On November 6th-8th, she and two of her friends, will join the thousands of other walkers, and set off on their 3 day, 60 mile journey. Her web site can be found on the entry just below this blog. Please visit her site to read about her commitment, and if you know of anyone who would like to donate to a very personal cause, please forward her website to them.


Fair or not, mom is faced with a tough challenge. It will take every ounce of her strength to persevere. Please keep my mother in all of your prayers, and ask for her strength to remain undaunted. With all of our help, she can win this fight.

I love you mom.

William

Welcome to the Dallas/Ft. Worth Breast Cancer 3-Day:

Welcome to the Dallas/Ft. Worth Breast Cancer 3-Day:

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Woo Pig Sooie

Well.....it's going to be a GREAT Saturday!!! Aidan's got a 3:30pm baseball game, and my Aggies play the Hogs at Jerry's world at 6:30pm this evening. This will be the Aggies first televised game. In addition to that stellar line up, we will also mix in some yard work (in very comfortable mid 60s low 70s weather), hang all of our Halloween decorations, do some shopping, and take a nice long family bike ride. Top that off with some outside grilling and boy howdy.............you got yourself one fine day.

I can't wait.

William

Three R's and Then Some!

Hello....Proud Papa here again. Aidan brought home his very first progress report today that contained actual grades. I am pleased as the dickens to report that our wonderful son made........STRAIGHT A's BABY!!!!!!!!!!! The look on his face as he was telling us about his grades is one of those things that I'll never forget. He had an overall average of 97 in the following subjects:

Math
Reading
Science
Language Arts (Grammar/Composition - Writing/Spelling)
Social Studies

We are so very proud of you.

Congratulations big guy, keep up the great work.

William

Everybody Clap Your Hands

Please excuse my tardiness with the blog. I have been busy with a sick child, a busted dishwasher, and one heck of a migraine over the last few days. I seem to have gotten better. Christopher is back to his last nerve working manipulative self, and the dishwasher is fixed thanks to two hours of knuckle busting effort. Ahhhh....all is right with the world once more......Ok maybe that's a bit too much, but the fact remains that I am certainly less stressed, and I've finally gotten my big butt in front of the computer to type this blog.

As most of you know, this past Sunday was Aidan's birthday. In order to properly prepare ourselves for the beating that we were going to take at Aidan's party on Sunday, Lori and I decided to have a sparring session on Saturday night in the form of a sleepover at our house with Aidan's cousins Wyatt and Jackson. We figured it's never a good idea to go into a fight without having a least a few rounds under our belt, so we conjured up our best intestinal fortitude, and said "BRING IT ON!!"

Well, "BRING IT ON" they did. Having four screaming boys running around the house at one time is normally like slapping a bear. It's gonna get loud, and somebody's probably getting hurt. Well, the loud part was continuous, but luckily nobody got permanently damaged. I would like to say that our supreme parenting skills combined with Aunt Crickets was the main reason for a relatively uneventful evening, but that would be a lie. The real reason was the early opening of one of his Nana and PawPaw's birthday gifts. Here is a picture of Aidan with his cousin's about to embark on a wondrous journey into the world of Business and Investing.


Yep, Monopoly on XBOX360. Talk about a time eater. Once they got that disc into the player, they were pretty riveted the rest of the evening. No complaints here. Christopher even found time to enjoy a pre-birthday cupcake.


The boys finally drifted of to dreamland about 11:30, and Lori and I followed their lead about and hour later. Before I went to bed, I drew Aidan a good mooring welcoming picture with two of his favorite characters, Dumbledore and Harry Potter staring into the Pensive.


Aidan is a Harry Potter nut right now, and he really enjoyed my elementary effort.

About 6:00am Sunday morning Lori and I woke to a rhythmic thumping bass permeating our room from above. Yes, those monkey's upstairs were already up playing video games again. Uhhhhh.........need.......more.......sleep. I think their shrew like metabolism finally got the better of them, and they decided to come downstairs in search of sustenance. Me being a glutton for punishment, went to the local donut store to purchase sugary bliss. After I arrived home with the booty, I opened the box and ran. It was like lions to a kill. The resulting carnage was devastating.

After stuffing their bellies, a little relaxation was in order. SuperBoy found a nice comfortable place to rest next to Jackson.


After letting their gluttony dissipate for a while, it was time to open presents. Here is Aidan with his new bean bag chair.


Here is a picture of Aidan's super cool new scooter.


Over the next couple of hours, the boys played with Aidan's new gifts, and finally started to unwind about noon. Cricket who had come by over earlier, took her tired boys home, and after a small lunch, we all settled down for a much needed rest. Can you guess who is more tired?


We got the boys all cleaned up, and waited for 4:00pm to roll around.


We scheduled a party at Strikz (bowling alley, laser tag, and video game center) from 4-6:00pm. 8 of Aidan's closest friends were joining us for Pizza and good times. Here is most of the crew as they were bowling.


Here is a shot of birthday boy sending his florescent green ball screaming down the lane.


After seeing that, Christopher wanted a piece of the action.

After everyone had their fun bowling, it was dance time. Yeah baby......look at the moves on young Christopher.....you go boy!!!!!



Everybody was winding down as we retreated to a party room to partake in more sweet goodness. Here is a picture of Aidan' cake.


Make a wish buddy.....I hope they always come true.


We left the fun center about 6:15 and reflected on the day. It was loads of fun, and it's hard to believe our first born is another year older. These first 7 years have gone by in a flash. Good thing I take lots of pictures.

Aidan, you are a great kid, and we are immensely proud to call you our son. Cheers to our sharing many more wonderful birthdays together.

William

Light Out Of Darkness

Uhhhh.......nothing but a gloomy Friday morning to greet me when I look out the window. Rain, rain, and more rain forecast for Aidan's birthday weekend. Grrrrrrrrr.......that probably means no baseball pictures tomorrow morning, and no baseball game to follow at noon. Sadness.........

On the bright side, our oldest boy is turning 7 on Sunday. I know, it's crazy...he's growing up too fast. I know I complain on occasion about his rambunctiousness and selective hearing and obeying, but in general he really is one fantastic kid. I do not know how we got so lucky.

We have a full day planned for Sunday, capping the day off with a birthday party at Strikz.(really cool bowling alley...laser tag....and video game place) We have 8 of Aidan's closest friends joining us for two hours of fun and excitement. It should be great, and of course, I will be there with camera in hand, ready to capture each memory in digital excellence.

Ahhhh......maybe things aren't so gloomy after all. Cheers!

William

Smell That?

That smells like GAMEDAY BABY!!!!! WHOOP!!!!!!


Gig'em Aggies

William