Alex's first day of Kindergarten

Here's Alex on our front steps - ready to walk to school. Of course he's wearing the brightest pair of shorts he owns - they match a shirt that go with them - but the one he's wearing is not it. I tried to get him to change, but he wouldn't do it. So - he's striking in bright blue and red.

Here he is with his teacher - Mrs. Robbins. She's nice, but I'm sure she will have her hands full. Alex had his testing done on Wednesday - and let's just say he was less than cooperative. It went something like this:
Teacher: What's your full name?
Alex: Gus*** (in a moody voice)
Teacher: (again) What's your *full* name?
Alex: Gus*** (still in the moody voice)
Teacher: That's your last name. What's your first name?
Alex: Alex
Teacher: Can you say that together?
Alex: Yes (long pause with no hope of him saying them together - she just asked if he could say them together, didn't actually ask him to do it. She finally got him to repeat it after him.

Teacher: What's your favorite book?
Alex: I don't have one. (pause) The three little pigs.
Teacher: Can you tell it to me?
Alex: Don't you have it?
Teacher: Yes, but I want you to tell it to me.
Alex: You know it.
Teacher: But I need you to tell it to me.
Alex finally told her the story.

Teacher: Which of these shapes is the biggest
Alex: Which one would you pick?
Teacher: I need you to tell me which one you pick.

Teacher: What is this shape?
Alex: What do you think?

Well, we finally got through it. He started to cooperate a little more at the end, but I can tell she's thinking her hands will be full with him! By the way, he was also reluctant to take this picture. We started to leave, but I was able to convince him to take the picture by telling him that all his cousins will have their pics of the first day of school on the Gus Family Video, but that's OK if he doesn't want his on there with them. That finally got him. Reverse psychology is sometimes the best way to reach this kid.

Aidan's Blessing

We blessed little Aidan on Sunday, August 3rd. He was a good little guy, but started fussing near the end - which threw Jon off, so he forgot to hold him up for everyone to see. We enjoyed lunch and a nice visit afterwards with family and friends. With both Aidan's and Alex's blessing - I felt so stressed getting it ready, I vow to just do the blessing with the immediate family - but afterwards it turns out so fun that it makes it worth it.

Here's Grandma Gus and Aunt Nis with Aidan. Grandma Gus surprised us with a nice quilt for Aidan.
Here are the front and back of the quilt.



Our little family. AnnaLee took some great pics of the get-together and posted them on her site - check them out.

Aidan's Birth

Our beautiful, sweet Aidan was born on Tuesday, June 3rd at 7:54 am. Here he is enjoying (or not) his first bath. He was born with a mop's worth of hair.

The proud papa.The proud brother. Alex loves being a big brother.
Alex loves his little brother and we are so happy for the new addition to our family. Aidan is really a sweet, happy baby (he's even smiling in this picture, even though he's only a week old!). After years of waiting for him, we're so happy that he's joined our little family.