The Joy of Birthday Presents

Eily has been having a great time with all the things that she got for her birthday. She locked herself away for 2 hours after Dad put her new castle in her room. Cavan is no longer allowed in her room!!! We played some of the board games that I got her...the first board games she's ever played...our current score on Candyland: Eily 6, Daddy 1. But today she was running around and I just had to take some pictures that show just how fun birthday presents can really be...

Look at me...I'm stylin' now!!




Yup, I'm 5 now...see.




Eily fashions presents her new spring line-up...Bunny glasses in the bracelet style

Eily is 5!!!!

Well another year has come and gone and my Eily has just turned 5. I can't believe it...she's getting so big. In the last few weeks we registered her for kindergarten and now she turns 5..crazyness. The best part was through the wonders of modern technology, grandma and grandpa were able to watch the procedeings on the computer via webcam.

But that's enough of Dad's blather...on to the pictures.

Presents!!!






The joys of wrapping paper




More presents!!!








Now that's a castle!!!






Every castle needs a dragon...this one is as big as Cav!!!


Anyway, Eily would like to thank everyone who sent her cards, presents or wished her well for her birthday

Eily in the Hood

Eily was channeling her inner Detroit ghetto rat today. Pulled out the hoody and started running around with the hood pulled up. It was so comical, I just had to get pictures...luckily she was in a mood to happily oblige the request.

Spring is Coming

The weather is crazy here...while most of you in the midwest and on the east coast have been getting battered by a snow barrage, those of us in the Pacific Northwest have been enjoying a month and a half of spring already. It's been crazy...temperatures in the 50's some days almost 60. Lot's of clear, sunny days (normally a rarity at this time of year)...it's been magnificent. And the capper of it all...the cherry trees are already starting to bloom...almost before they even have leaves!!! No Kidding...look at the pics below.







The kids are doing well. We're dealing with some coughs and colds brought on by the unseasonably strange weather, but other than that they are doing magnificent.

Eilish is learning away, getting ready to start kindergarten this fall! We're going to register her for school on Monday!!! I can't believe it...she's getting so big. We've been working hard on letter/number recognition, phoenetics and listening, listening, listening. Let's just say Eily has a tendency to act before she listens to everything someone is saying to her.

Also coming up in a few short months is her big year end dance recital...Her class is during the day on Friday's, so I don't get to see them practice...but I've been catching her busting out some new dance moves when the music is on at home...can't wait.







Cavan is...well...Cavan. He's 2, he's crazy, he's destructive, he's stubborn and he's strong as an ox. But most of all he is cute and sweet and loving...when you can pin him down long enough. The big surprise with him lately is his cognitive development. I mean you expect all the crazy things (ripping his diaper off in bed, climbing the changing table, trying to tear down the blind, finding him on the kitchen table, etc.) from a 2 year old boy...but his cognitive development astounds me. While he has been happily coloring or working on puzzles and we've been working with his sister on stuff, he has managed to pick up almost the entire alphabet!!! No kidding, show him a letter and he can pretty much tell you what it is. At 27 months old...I'm so proud of him!

It's the Holidays...and that means...dance recital!

First off, I want to apologize for breaking a short running tradition and not bringing the kids back to Michigan this year for Christmas. In case you haven't heard...three years of hard work has finally paid off. The historic first flight of the brand new 787-8 is tenativly scheduled for Tuesday, December 15th, 2009 at 10:30am (Pacific Time). I say tentativly, because it is dependent on the weather, which is not exactly predictable here this time of year. That of course means that there is a tremendous amount of work to get the design of the first derivative aircraft (787-9) under way. So I have several major design presentations to upper management (I'm designing several new parts based off of new and updated technologies that are unique to the aircraft) before and after the holidays, so it isn't possible for me to come home.

BTW: if you want to watch the 787 first flight, it will be webast live at www.newairplane.com.

Anyway...now that that is out of the way...on to the real point of this post...

Yesterday Eilish had her holiday recital!!! Her first recital since she joined her dance class. She did great!!! She was poised, unaffected by the large crowd, did her best and smiled the whole time...Daddy couldn't ask for more. I have a bunch of pictures, unfortuatly they are a little fuzzy due to the fact that I was pretty far away and we were asked not to use the flash on the camera.

Getting ready!!!




The Dance (Song: Here comes Santa Claus) - Eilish is the one on the far right








Doing Circles...




Now she is the 2nd one from the right






After the dance...back at home






Cav just couldn't stand that she was getting all the attention, so he jumped in front of one of the pictures...


She had a great time and told me that she wasn't scared in front of 500+ people. She's getting so big!!!

I wish everyone a safe and happy holiday!!!!