Kids and Reunions

I was looking for a picture to put up for my Facebook profile and I found myself lost in the pictures of my children. They are both so beautiful and amazing that it takes my breath away frequently.

"They're based off of a part of me. I can't believe it."

The feeling of being a parent is so overwhelming. All becomes secondary to the emotion generated by their simple existence.

Tonight I had to pick them both up from daycare solo (not really a big deal) as Sasha was doing volunteer work at the end of the day. That first hug I get from Alya I cherish every time. Marcus is so happy when he sees me and is so elated to be held by Daddy. These times are very precious and I love it all.

[music background is the theme song from the new - and quite cool - game Mirror's Edge on repeat loop. It fits the mood rather well right now.]

So you want to hear about crazy? How about over 30 adults and children in the BSer basement watching the Packers whomp the Bears. That was a crazy scene indeed. That is a fantastic way to give a boy a first birthday party.

As you can see from the photos (link here) that kid made the best of his day. Eating hot dogs, playing with the smash cake, and showered with generosity from family that drove two hours or more to be here. Thank you all for coming up to Wisconsin.

Instead of going into all the details, I'm going to relate the story of the smash cake.

His daycare teacher, Miss Debbie, made a football cake for everyone else and a green and gold smash cake in the shape of a number one for Marcus. So we loaded the boy up in a booster chair, put the cake in front of him, and stared waiting for him to dig in.

Naturally, nothing happened.

After all, he had 30 pairs of eyes trained on his face and cake. Slightly uncomfortable, I believe.

So Mama stepped in and got his spoon into the cake, to transfer some of that yummy frosting into Marcus's mouth. And that was the trigger to a sweet feast for the little man. He dug in with the gusto that he has with nearly all food. Scoops of green on the shirt, the face and into the mouth.

However, he didn't take his eyes off the crowd. I think Marcus wanted to make sure no one tried to make off with his prize. No worries though and he had a grand time with the smashing and the smearing.

Such a cutie.

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On a different note, some of you may know that I often call Alya "Squirrel". When Marcus came I wanted to nickname him "Moose" because I could put on my worst Russian accent and ask, "What about Moose and Squirrel?".

But he was such a cute little baby that there was no way I could give him that nickname.

Well, Marcus isn't so small now. And when my Mom brought over a new pair of overalls for him that had a moose embroidered on the front, the nickname came back and feels okay now.

The questions is: Will it stick?

Time will tell, my friends. Time will tell.

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Speaking of time, I forgot to mention that next weekend I'm going to an informal high school reunion. The big worry used the be that question "What have you made of yourself?" And at one point, I wasn't comfortable with answering that question. But now things are much different and I'm doing pretty freakin' well, thank you very much.

However, I still need to get a "brag book" together with pictures of the kids. Oops.

Be seeing you,

Jon

Mirror's Edge - http://www.mirrorsedge.com/ls/us/index.asp