Quote of the day:

When asked to find a particular Lego in and amongst Gus' thousands, literally thousands, of little Lego pieces, I complied and found the dang piece, to which Gus said, "Wow, you found it so quickly!  Usually you're as slow as a snail."

And now it's time for our Annual Age Progression in Photos, take five...

Gus, age 1

Gus, age 2

Gus, age 3

Gus, age 4

Gus, age 5

HINT:  Click on any photo for a zoomed look!

Easter '13!

Well, despite the contents of the post below, our boy here decided to write a note to the Easter Bunny just to let him/her know that we will be celebrating Easter on Saturday rather than Sunday this year.  The above note says:

"To Easter Bunny,
Please come tomorrow! 
The eggs are in the fridge."

Easter, 2013

"You know what, Mom?  I think the Easter Bunny is a myth.  I'm sure there isn't really a bunny that goes around.  It's just a person.  Someone in a costume.  A person brings gifts - that's for sure.  I know that." -- Gus, age 4

"Mom!"  Gus said out of the blue.  "I finally figured out why they call hotdogs "hotdogs" - Sometimes they put hotdogs on sticks, and sometimes when dogs are on their leashes they pull them so tightly that the leashes look like sticks.  Hotdogs!"

First day of school

This is Gus' first day of school picture from LAST year, and...

Here he is today!

What a difference a year makes!!!

without further ado...

Age Progression: in four phases

 Gus, age 1

 Gus, age 2

 Gus, age 3

Gus, age 4

Before we unveil the 4th Annual Age Progression Photo Essay (if you will), here are a few outtakes from this year's photo shoot:

king for the day!

Gus, sitting proudly as he's crowned Birthday Boy (a little early) on his last day of school.
(You gotta click to enlarge that smile - you just gotta!!!)

Dear Grandpa Mike,

Your grandson has inherited your mechanical aptitude and dexterity.  Some might say it skipped a generation (shhh...  don't tell his papa):

Here he is putting back together the little circuit board he dismantled minutes earlier.  Only 9 little screws the size of pinheads stood between him and discovery - so of course, they didn't even slow him down.

egg hunter!

"It's up here somewhere..."

 "Got one!"

"Could it be?  Another egg up in the tree?!  Doesn't the Easter Bunny know that I'm not that tall?"

a little note on our loss...

I sure have been thinking about Gus' great-grandpa, Dop, lately.  He passed away in late February, and although it wasn't completely surprising, it was completely crushing.  I'm not sure that Easter time was necessarily Dop's most beloved holiday, but for some reason my mind is flooded with memories of him in this season over the years:  Lot's of one-liners and limericks (which I ought not to repeat here) and old photos of him with bunny ears are bouncing around in my head.

Very unfortunately, Gus never met my grandmother, Nom.  One of my favorite memories of Nom and Dop is of an event that happened quite often, as often as the family was together:  We would all be gathered around and Dop would hold Nom's hand and say to her, "Would you look at this - We did this..." and then, of course, "I don't care what they say, you're not as bad as everyone says you are [wink, wink]!"    

gus and the girls

For about two months now, we have been raising four little chicks.  We decided to leave the naming of them up to Gus (with only a tad bit of steering by Mama and Papa).  Their names are:  Stick-the-Chick, Marvi, Suds, and Polly Jean.  They've been in the brooder box in the garage all this time, everyday being looked after by their new family.  While I feverishly worked on building the coop and run (pun fully intended), those girls worked on growing and growing.

Well, today was their first day of freedom!  We had a ton of fun just hanging out with them in their run.  Gus is a natural chicken farmer.  (He's also a natural lawn-mower.)

(click on any photo to enter full-screen - it's hard to get a feel for just how cute these girls are with such tiny pictures)

Gus' first school play!

Gus' preschool presented the loveliest play ever!!!

 On stage

 Backstage

Cool-down, post-show