My Son and Me

(I think Aydan looks like his Uncle Alex here...especially the mouth)

We finally told Aydan it was time to cut his hair. We've been trying to let him choose his own look, but he hasn't been taking care of it and it's been frizzy and knappy-looking, so it was time for it to go. I think everyone--including Aydan, himself--is glad that we did. He looks so much better.
And I just love this picture of the two of us.

All Asps Report to School, Please

I'm really angry with my camera for taking such crappy, washed out pictures this morning, but it was the first day of the 2010-2011 school year today.

Everyone (except me) experienced something new today: Aydan went to a new campus as a fifth grader, Brennan changed schools so he could ride to and from with Mom, and Heather started her teaching career with her first day as a fourth grade teacher. Of course it would be false to say I had nothing new, as I experienced another "first day" and the meeting of hundreds of new kids. By all accounts it was a good first day for everyone, so here's to another great year!

Will the School Year Just Hurry Up and Get Here So I Can Settle Down a Bit?

Sleep and free time have been in short supply this last week. I've been helping Heather with setting up her classroom, and since she hasn't had access to her room prior to this week, and since she can now stay until as late as 11 pm, we've had some late nights. I think we're both finally getting close to ready--just in the nick of time.

In all the mayhem, Aydan has also managed to go from a cough to pneumonia. He's been on antiboitics and seems to be responding well so there's been no hospital visits, but that was an interesting little wrinkle.

And now it's 10:30 again, and my best efforts to go to sleep early have again been thwarted.

Back in the Saddle Again

Just a quick update between frantic racing around.

Both Heather and I were at inservice today--two full-time working adults!! I've been waking and tossing in the middle of the night. Today I woke at 3:30, and after unsuccessfully trying to sleep until my alarm, hopped out of bed at 4 am. By the time I came home from working out the boys were already up and at 'em too--by 6:00 am. That early rise is taking its toll as their bodies adjust (Brennan just well apart, sobbing because he lost at a video game). Not that I'm all that tough--it's taking its toll on me too.

But I have miles to go before I sleep. Stacy got the keys to her new home today, so we'll be taking off in a second to make sure she's moved in (or out, depending on your perspective).

Things are falling into place!

The Speedster is Dead, Long Live the Speedster

Unfortunately, today Speedy, the field mouse that the boys found at Lake Grapevine, died. We are grateful, however, that he seemed to have died peacefully and in his sleep.

Please pause for a moment of silence in remembrance of this dear member of our family.

Life at the Present Moment

I stayed up last night to watch the Perseid meteor shower. Overall the experience was somewhat less thrilling than last year. To start, I only saw two shooting stars in an hour (which is above average on any other given night, but during the shower 15 a minute is sometimes common). But the real problem was braving the 93 degree heat. That is correct: at midnight it was still over 90 degrees. So it was somewhat sweaty and bug-infested, which did not add to the enjoyment level.

As a result this moment--as I listen to my son croon with an operatic vibrato, a newborn infant wail and a two-year-old loudly babble--is slightly irritating. The lack of sleep and the ridiculous, perpetual heat only add to my intense desire to flee to Alaska and not see or hear anyone for a very long time.

At this moment I am also standing between summer and school year. Inservice starts next week and so the end has begun. I am caught between a desire to relish my freedom and enjoy my family and a panicked feeling that I am vastly unprepared to start the school year and so must prepare. It happens every year, but nothing prepares me for it. It is just the reality of this moment.

As of this moment I have also made some progress on some art. Here is a picture of the skull I completed for my "Billy Goats Gruff" painting, and a shot of some art I did for our favorite--and local--band Seryn. Hopefully they'll be using it for their website or their vinyl album cover. I'm still waiting to hear what they think of it, but you can give me your impressions in the meantime.

And while we all wait, may God give us the grace to live well in this present moment.

When Artistic becomes Quirky becomes Disgusting

I was going to call this post "DI(f)Y" based on today's events, but then other things happened (more on that later).

Dear readers, today was a blood bath of house projects. Not just any projects: plumbing. Between two outdoor spigots, a shower and a bathroom sink...all leaking...it should have been a hour or two of work.

Do you know why they don't have DIY oil painting, DIY car engine repair, or DIY surgery? Because these are specialized skills. Division of labor is a great thing, but when you take no part in building your house what would make you think you could fix it? Or even if I do attempt to fix something the repairs can be so few and far between that I usually forget how to perform a task I completed a year ago. This is why I'm beginning to feel like Do It Yourself is my horrible delusion, and instead I should adpot a Do It For You attitude. I could have had a knowledgeable, experienced individual fix the leaks in roughly 47 minutes, but instead I Did It Myself and I ended up taking over 8 hours (which included 4 trips to Home Depot, lots of trial and error, and significantly more money than I wanted it to). What is worse, I actually made one leak worse in trying to fix it and added several hours (and 2 trips to Home Depot) to my labor due to my ineptitude. Needless to say it was frustrating. Thankfully all the water has finally stopped flowing.

Anyway, on one of my excursions to pick up washers or a hose or some other torture device, I passed a field. Ironically, this field was very close to a field mentioned previously in this blog. Even more ironically, the earlier discovery was also on a trip to Home Depot. And to finish an irony triology, on a third trip to Home Depot I saw the likely co-conspirator in both discoveries standing on the edge of the woods. He looked something like this.

Now this magical convergence of events seemed too good to pass up, even though I knew this taxidermy hobby is borderline bizarre. But I see very clearly now that in some eyes I have crossed the line from interesting to revolting. That being said, it's probably best I let this skull be my last. It's a bit sad in some way, but not really the giving it up, it's more the clarity of seeing how I'm perceived.

So here's to a day of clarity; of knowing that I'm not a handyman or that my quirks are not necessarily endearing. Hoorah.