Picture of This Day

Kiernan with Gammy at one of our favorite restaurants, celebrating Mommy's birthday.

Picture taken by Mommy.

Happy Birthday, Wendy!


March 31, 2011

Picture For This Day

Pancake Yoda. Courtesy of Nana.

Sunday, March 27, 2011

Teaching Compassion

After I picked Kiernan up from school today we stopped at the grocery store. We wanted to pick up some soup for Wendy, as she's been battling some nasty icky cold. As I drove the cart--in this case a large blue cart made to look like a race car so that your kid finds shopping less boring--to the cart parking area and prepared to take my boy and the groceries to the car, Kiernan made me stop.

A man sat in a short folding chair, a beach-type chair, next to the entrance to the store. A big old dog that looked like a golden retriever was lying down on a blanket next to him. The man held before himself a hand-lettered cardboard sign. The sign was asking for money, proclaiming that his dog had cancer. Furthermore, the sign stated that his dog was a "service" dog.

"Dad," Kiernan whispered to me. "Are you going to give him some money?"

I held my breath for a second. I never give people who panhandle outside of stores or next to the freeway money. Never. I don't believe in it. Wendy does. She buys five dollar gift cards from Subway and has them in her car and gives them out to folks like that. That's fine. That's her thing. I don't do that because I don't believe in doing that. We give a lot of money to charity every year, including charities that feed the homeless. That's how I prefer to do it.

"I wasn't planning to," I replied.

"But Dad," Kiernan said to me, his eyes wide. "His dog has cancer." He spoke so that only I could hear. My back was to the man, blocking Kiernan from his view.

The way he whispered that to me broke my heart a little. The idea of trying to lay out how we donate money to animal shelters and folks like Project Angel Food and Habitat for Humanity in that split second seemed utterly ridiculous. I have to admit, when I see a guy like that I don't believe his dog has cancer. I don't even believe his dog is a service dog. I'm cynical about stuff like that.

But what could I do in that moment. My son, looking to me, pleading with such urgency in his tiny voice. Looking to me for guidance.

"Do you want to give him some money?"

"Yes."

"Okay."

I took out my wallet and gave Kiernan a dollar, then I lifted him out of the racing car cart. He went over to the man and gave him the money. The man thanked us profusely, and we went on our way.

Was that the right thing to do? I don't know. But, at that moment, it was the best thing to do.

I learn from my son. He helps me to teach him too.

Picture For This Day

Last winter we went up to Northern Arizona to see some snow. Getting warm by the fire was fun too.


Winter, 2010

Picture of This Day

Mom/Nana sent us these Star Wars pancake molds for Valentine's Day. We tried them out this morning.

They go with my Darth Vader spatula perfectly.


March 27, 2011

Picture of This Day

A friend of his at school invited him to a birthday party. But not her birthday party. The party of her little sister, a girl who was just turning one.

I love this development. He's got a friend who is a girl. She invites him to the play place during her sister's party. He enjoys it.

I also love my recollection of taking him to these play places for toddlers just a couple of years ago. He had so much fun. Now...now he's such a big kid.

I realize this 'big kid' thing will be a recurring theme. Can't help it. I can't get over how fast time goes by.

March 26, 2011

Picture For This Day

Just felt like posting this.

November, 2008

Picture of This Day

Dentist time again. Clearly he's nervous about it.


March 24, 2011

Picture of This Day

Fundraiser at McDonald's yesterday for Kiernan's school. Here he is with his buddies, gathered around friend Matthew and Matthew's inevitable iPod Touch. Not pictured: Matt's mother Julie rolling her eyes with the regret that she bought the twins iPod Touches for Christmas.

Curse you Julie! :)

March 23, 2011

Picture of This Day

Hanging out after school again. This time I snapped the picture before one of his friends could rat me out. "Your dad's taking your picture!" Give me a break, kid.

March 22, 2011

Picture of This Day

Stopped to fill up the car and when I looked in the back seat I was just struck by how awesome my kid is. He was just sitting there not looking at me and lost in his thoughts as he finished his lunch from school (which always happens after school). So I just wanted to snap a quick picture of him. He caught me and foiled my plan.

March 21, 2011

Picture of This Day

A chill Sunday with his Mom spent working on a school project (the reason for the messy coffee table) and watching movies. He objected to Peter Pan at first because he only wanted to watch his Bionicles video for the seven thousandth time. He further claimed he would not watch Peter Pan when Mom insisted that would be the first feature, followed by the Bionicle video later. Pouting ensued.

Followed by him watching every minute of Peter Pan and loving it, of course. The sight and sound of him laughing with glee as Hook fled from the crocodile was just beautiful.

March 20, 2011

Text of This Day

Wendy took Kiernan to a playdate today, one he has been looking forward to all week. This one was at his friend Tanner's house, and was to involve pizza making. This is the text I got from Wendy when she first got there.

"Boys are throwing oranges and using light sabers. Kiernan is thrilled!"

Oranges and light sabers. Well of course. How foolish was I not to combine these things previously! No matter how good you are at playing with your kid, friends are always better.  This is as it should be. Good times.

Picture For This Day

Speaking of Aunt Amy...

Christmas 2005.

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Ah...memories of the famed Ball Pit.

Sometime in 2006.

Picture of This Day

St. Patrick's Day. The hat didn't even last to the car this year. It felt weird and too itchy. Also, he ditched the pin once we got to school. I think because it had the word 'kiss' on it. Yep...he's a boy.


March 17, 2011

Picture For This Day

Another pic from blast-from-the-past week. This from our trip to the Denver Aquarium with Aunt Amy last  year. I'm pretty sure I've posted this one before. That's okay. I love it.

Can't wait for Mommy to get back from her trip.

Picture For This Day

Sometime in 2005.

Picture of This Day

It's a Monday morning and the first thing Kiernan wants to do when he gets to school is stop by the library. Official Library Day for his class isn't until Wednesday, but he wants to turn in his book and get another one before then. He likes to maximize his value at the library.

Right now he's into graphic novels. For those of you who don't know what a graphic novel is, essentially it's a book-sized comic book. The one he's got there is an encyclopedia of X-Men characters. I just love the image of  him and his friends gathered around a book, comic or not.


March 14, 2011

Picture of This Day

Sunday spent playing with neighborhood friends. Here he is with Gustavo, one of the boys from across the street. They were so proud of how they'd gotten two of Kiernan's Bionicles to cling to our orange tree that they yelled for me to come out and see them. When I asked if I could take a picture, Kiernan uncharacteristically said yes, and called Gustavo to come back over and pose with him.

March 13, 2011

Picture For This Day

As I said a few posts ago, I'm posting some cool pictures from the past after going through many hundreds of pictures for a project.  Here's one for today.

Kiernan with Aunt Hope.


January, 2005

Picture of This Day

Working on his made-up animal during class today, with his friend Tanner providing a coloring assist. This was actually an animal Kiernan created for homework this week, for Tuesday's art assignment. I'll scan his description sheet when I get a chance, because his imagination just floors me.

I was at school today under somewhat sad circumstances. Sad and joyful. Kiernan's amazing and wonderful First Grade teacher is going on maternity leave early, so today was her last day. The kids had a picnic and a few of us had the honor of attending and then being with the class as they did mainly free choice time after lunch. "I don't want to go out giving them a math test," she told me. "So I got that stuff out of the way this morning."

We're certainly happy for her as she and her husband welcome a new member of their family in the coming week. But still, sad for ourselves. We were so lucky to have her this year.

Many of you have met her. Please keep her in your thoughts in the coming days.


March 11, 2011

Picture For This Day

A couple of years ago our friends Steve and Carlton gave us this cool book for collecting commemorative state quarters. It languished on a shelf until a couple of months ago when I looked at it and thought, Hmm. I wonder if he'll be interested in this now. The answer was yes. Now I put aside the special quarters when I get as change and we study them to see if they can fit in the book. Steve and Carlton intended this to be a father/son bonding activity, and it's turning out to be exactly that.


March 9, 2011

Regarding Rance

In doing this picture project I've been working on over the last couple of days (great googaly moogaly but a gigabite's worth of normal everyday snapshots is a lot of pictures) I'm finding so many wonderful pictures of the last few years. Going through years of photos is really quite an experience. It's like going back in time, especially if you view them from recent to not-recent. I recommend folks do this from time to time. It's a nice way to take stock.

So I'll be posting a bunch of these pictures over the next little bit, because I want to share some of this experience with you. Here's another one from today.

This is from February of 2005. Kiernan and Grance sizing each other up, back before the term 'Grance' had even been coined. By me, incidentally. Something of which I am particularly proud and for which I get very little credit. None actually. Astounding. Grandpa + Rance = Grance is on par with Reece's Peanut Butter Cups in terms of great mashups. Better than that, actually, since it is also a portmanteau! Suck it, Hershey's!

Sadly the other cousins call him things like Pop or Peepee or something. Why they do this when the term Grance is utter perfection, I cannot tell you. Nevermind. Just enjoy the picture.

Picture For This Day

I'm going through folders upon folders of pictures so I can fill a memory card for the digital picture frame I got Wendy for Christmas. I'm finding some real gems, as you can imagine.

This from a visit to the Griffith Observatory almost two years ago. Yep...it's birthday month.


March 31, 2009

Picture For This Day

I'm going through my picture folders for a project, as I am wont to do from time to time. So you're gonna be getting some older photos mixed in with current stuff for the next couple of days. There's no rhyme or reason to this. These are most often just shots that touch me. Or amuse me. As this one does.

March 16, 2009

Quote of This Day

One of Monday's homework assignments is doing brainstorming for a story we'll write later in the week. This particular week's assignment is to write a story about doing something you like, and timing it by the clock, since last week they started really working on telling time and learning to estimate how long it takes to do certain tasks. Kiernan chose to brainstorm about the steps he takes to draw a Bionicle. I'm pleased by this, as it really is a cool process. I'll post more about it later.

He was totally into the brainstorming and we had a really good time working on this assignment together. In fact, there were no complaints at all and, I don't know, it just had such a good vibe to it. I expressed this to him, telling him how proud I was. At the end of this I said, "I'm just so happy about this and can't wait to see you write the story. I might write one about how much I love your Bionicle drawings too. I just have to say, kiddo, you've done a heckuva a job on this."

He got that mischievous twinkle in his eye, smiled, and said...

"I did a heckuva a job, Brownie."

I laughed for a good thirty seconds. Once again...that's my boy. He'll be hosting The Daily Show in no time.

The Builder

Yesterday, which was Saturday, Kiernan had a playdate at his friend Tanner's house. It was good for both of us, as it was a drop-off playdate. Good for him because he got to play with friends. Good for me because I got a couple of hours to do some stuff, which I needed since Wendy was in Denver for the weekend doing a birthday visit for her sister (Happy Birthday Amy!).

When we arrived for the playdate, Tanner revealed a couple of new Hero Factory dudes still in their boxes. These are Lego characters kids put together themselves and play with, and Kiernan loves putting them together. It was particularly neat that Tanner had saved opening these new toys for the playdate and that he was cool with sharing construction duties with his friends. Kiernan loves putting these characters (and most Lego sets) together. He loves the challenge.

On the way home from the playdate he asked if we could go to a toy store. He really wanted to build something. I declined for this day, as I had to get ready for a friend's surprise party that evening, but said we could talk about it for tomorrow. No complaints from him, at all.

So, this morning we headed off to the toy store. This time he steered away from the Atlantis Lego sets and headed for the Hero Factory section. I told him I'd buy him one, and if he wanted a second he'd have to use his allowance for that. He went for that deal and we were done in short order. I really like shopping with this kid*. He takes the perfect amount of time. Short time in a store like this. Long time in the most important store: the book store. That always takes me back. Time spent in Waldenbooks with my dad when I was a kid are some pretty great memories.

*It should be noted here that this statement does NOT apply to electronics or hardware stores. In these places he can be insufferable. He lumps those places with the post office, which is to say, "most boring places on Earth".

Picture For This Day

Time for a blast from the past.

I went to a surprise birthday party for a good friend of mine tonight, and at the event I saw a couple of friends I've not seen since college. Time to show pictures of kids, which nowadays means taking out your phone. Man I've got a lot of pictures on my phone.

Here's one from Kindergarten. Kiernan reading with his friends Oliver and Daniel after school on a popsicle Tuesday.


November 10, 2009

Picture of This Day

Wacky Week ended with Pajama Day. Pajamas and cowboy boots. Well, of course.


March 4, 2011

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No picture from today, which was Wacky Backwards Day, or something. His interpretation led him to put boxers over inside out sweats. Who am I to argue with a first-grader on matters wacky?  Instead I have to go back a couple of days to Wacky Hair day.  Here he is before school on Wacky Hair day, brushing his teeth before we head out the door.


March 1, 2011

Picture of This Day

This week at Kiernan's school is Wacky Week in honor of some dude named Theodore Geisel, whoever he is. Anyway, the kids dress up in wacky stuff all week. Yesterday was Wacky Hair day. The day before was Wacky Socks. This day was Wacky Everything Day. So Kiernan went through all his costumes and decided on the above outfit. Allow me to lay it out. His baseball uniform from tee-ball. With cat ears, and his new cowboy boots.

Oh. And his cape. Mustn't forget his cape. Remember that?

His Sandi made that cape for him awhile ago, back when I was telling stories at the dinner table about the Interstellar Intergalactic Super Detectives. I don't care what anybody says, you've gotta respect a kid who wears a cape.

This day would also mark the occasion of the baby shower we all threw for his wonderful teacher. She's leaving us soon. We're happy for her, and sad for us.

March 2, 2011

Picture of This Day

An after school frozen yogurt break with his friends Sam and Oliver, thanks to an impromptu suggestion by their mom Gemma. Just the thing for all of our sanity...it's one of those weeks.  I'm especially glad we did this now that I've seen the documentary Race to Nowhere, which I did with Wendy later in the evening at a screening at Kiernan's school.

We'll never feel bad about putting playing first again.

March 1, 2011