C's Blog

We went to Scott Air Force Base yesterday for their Airfest and it was awesome! Considering our little guy's attraction to flying vehicles (Isaac makes everything into an airplane - cars, stuffed animals, you name it), we thought he'd love it. And he did. Is there anything more addicting than seeing pure joy and amazement on your kid's face?

Here are some pictures: (I'll upload as many as I can before The Little wakes up from his nap.)

*** UPDATE ***
Here are some photos that I took of The Thunderbirds: (Click to enlarge)

      

   

Today is Isaac's first day at his new school. In the tradition that my family started years ago, we tried to take a picture of him in front of our house.

It didn't work out so well because he kept running away:
   

So, I held him in front of our house:
   

And Bryan held him in front of his new school:

Bryan and I were both a little nervous for him, but Isaac was as cool as a cucumber. He immediately found the box of cars and went to work. Here is a picture of him with two new buddies, Hayden and EJ:

Good luck to everyone else out there starting school today, especially Nana (aka My Mom) and Vicki!

Vicki is Isaac's former Day Care Provider and today is her first day teaching in the Special School District. Vicki: we miss you and we know you're going to be terrific! They lucked out getting you on staff! : ) I'm going to miss our lunches together. Give all of the animals a pat for me.

Bryan's mom must be going through their storage and I love it. Recently, she's been showing me items from Bryan's childhood. The one she showed me this morning is so cute, I can hardly stand it. It's an apron that he made for his mom. There is no date on it, but he can clearly write his name and his handprints are much, much bigger than Isaac's are now:

Click to enlarge:

I brought it to work to scan partially to blog, but primarily to archive it because it's fading fast. Bryan's self portrait is much more faint than it appears on the computer. (After I pieced the scanned portions together, I adjusted the colors, contrast, etc to make the drawing more prominent.) There appears to be a bit of water damage (and other remnants of rust?) and I fear that this item, as precious as it is, won't last forever; Especially on such delicate fabric.

Anyway, I can't wait to receive artwork like this from Isaac. I love the depiction of his teeth and the justification of his head. Bryan must have been a very happy kid. : )

Thursday night (early Friday morning) at 3:30 AM Isaac woke up with a 101 degree fever. (Why does that always seem to happen at 3:30 AM?)

So, Friday AM we called into day care, which made me sad because 1, I want him to feel well, and 2, because he loves it so much. On Monday, I called his day care at lunch to see how Isaac was doing on his first day and here's part of the report that Isaac's teacher gave me:

"Yeah, he's doing great. We've had to try to teach him not to kiss everybody. He and Hayden have been giving each other kisses."

I love that report. Yes, Hayden is a boy, but I'd much rather receive a report like that rather than one that he's been biting, hitting, and/or kicking other kids. My sweet little boy. I should have guessed that he'd do that because one of his new favorite things to do is make his cars kiss. He'll drive one down the couch and then another will drive down to meet it and they'll kiss. It's so cute I could eat him up.

Oh, so yeah... back on track... illness: I expected Isaac to have a sick day soon, with starting his new school, but I didn't expect it to occur within his first week. I guess that's what happens when you're not afraid of kooties.

Anyway, all day yesterday since I was at home, I had planned on blogging during Isaac's nap. However, due to his wanting to be held and snuggled (darn the luck) I spent the extra time I had working to satisfy the deadlines that were expected of me at work.

Here are some photos of Isaac's sad little sick-o eyes: (click to enlarge)
   

And here he is snuggling with blankie, his current favorite security item:

   

And here's our household Nurse Harley (who always cares for the ill):

I consider it super lucky that today Isaac is feeling well enough to not only nap alone in his room, but he fought his nap! Woo! We're on the road to recovery, folks! Yay! Normally, I'd be pulling my hair out with his persistency to avoid his nap, however this is a sign that his health is improving, so I'll take it... Oops! Did I type that too loudly... he's waking up. Time for more snuggling. Shucks. : )

After posting about Bryan's recently rediscovered preschool artwork, my parents surprised me with a nearly identical apron that I had made for my mom:

Click to enlarge:

I easily forget that Bryan and I attended the same preschool, except he was AM and I was PM, or vice versa. : ) Destiny works in interesting ways.

At any rate, I was super excited to see my version of the apron! I tend to like Bryan's rendition of himself better than mine of myself, seeing as I gave myself earmuffs for hair, a pig's nose, and fried eggs for eyes. Not to mention, I gave myself no arms, frog feet, and very round, red cheeks. (Am I being to critical of my pre-school self?) : )

The eyes remind me of a Garfield cartoon that my sisters and I watched about a bazillion times, where in the very, very end, Garfield throws a plate of food at Jon and the eggs land on his eyes, the bacon on his mouth and the plate on his head. That's good stuff, right there. I love that cartoon. : ) (I think we watched that part about 20 times each time we watched that tape.)

Speaking of family, my "little brother" John and his wife Jennie are expecting and I recently received such a cute picture of them via email from the SO EXCITED Grandma-to-be, Lynne (aka LWeff):

They are too cute. They are expecting a boy and have decided to name him Dylan. I can't wait to meet him, but I don't think anyone is as excited as LWeff! When is Jennie's due date, Lynne?

LWeff is easily one of my biggest commenters. She always has interesting insight and additional stories to share. (Check the comments of each post, and you'll see what I mean.) Thanks, LWeff. : )

And thanks to all of my other commenters. It is very nice to hear from each of you and I value your thoughts and opinions. : )

Quickly before I go, here's an update on the sick-o-head, Isaac: we kept him home on Monday and took him to the doctor. We were lucky that my dad (aka Papa) was able to stay with him on Monday while we went to work. The diagnosis: "an ear infection and a bad cold." I was expecting much worse, so I was happy to hear that statement come out of the Nurse Practitioner's mouth!

Now that he's been fever free for over 24 hours, he can return to school tomorrow. I just hope he doesn't over exert himself while playing and kissing all of the other kids. haha. : )

Yesterday, since the Betts were in town and the Rams were playing the Chiefs, we all gathered at my parents' house to bbq and hang out. This translates into chaos, followed by chowing down, followed by more chaos, and finally, post-meal fun hang out time.

The post-meal time is my most favorite part. The evening events are more relaxed and everyone is fed, so all are (usually) content and settling down for the evening. Yesterday evening brought a couple of impromptu renditions of "We are the Dinosaurs" with choreography, a Rams loss to KC (boo), a fun "Aunt Caron the Horsey" double ride, and a beautiful balad made up on the spot by Reese about butterflies (hence the title of this post). Bryan captured the Butterfly Ballad via his mobile phone and I've uploaded it here for you to enjoy: (Right mouse click and select Save Target As...)

I'd say it was a pretty fun night. : ) Not much can beat that.