The Graduate

My... how time flies! Janai recently graduated from kindergarten at Silverline Montessori School. Now the real work begins in the first grade. Here are a few shots from the big day.

Janai during the pomp and circumstance (check out the hair!)

Janai and classmates after the ceremony (remember Princess Hilary?)

Janai at home after the ceremony posing with tulips from daddy.

Lights... Camera... Wait!

As many of you know, I have been traveling quite a bit over the last month. I've spent the weeks in Midland, MI and Spring House, PA only to come home for 36-48 hours, unpack, repack, and head back out. As much as I hate to admit it, Mr. Mom has done quite well without me. The kids seem to have enjoyed "daddy time". There was only one minor issue while I was gone. The school randomly decided to schedule pictures. I came in on a Friday night, was scheduled to head out on a Sunday, and pictures were for Tuesday. Grrrreaat! Rather than rely on James to make sure the pictures were decent, I simply negotiated with Janai to not take the pictures (like all of other friends at school) and promised to take her for pictures once I returned. Or so I thought...

At least the pictures were not hideous, but clearly Daddy forgot to rehearse the diva smile before dropping Janai off at school. And... where's the little sweater that matches that dress? Argh! At least one of the teachers brushed down the fuzz so that her 10-day old braids looked presentable.

Then there's Jay with a winning smile! But, nobody thought to brush his little beeddy balls on top. If the photographer was smart, he would have ducked! A big cunning smile and a throwable object in hand??? Uh Oh!

Travel Season

Hello to my friends in the blogosphere. My apologies for the delays in blogging. I've tried to make up for it tonight by posting a few updates. It is quite a busy season for me. On April 1st, Dow officially closed on its acquisition of Rohm and Haas Company to become the world's largest specialty materials company. That has set into motion quite a bit of travel. Please pray for traveling grace. I'm heading to Michigan for the week on Monday. Back for a day and a half, and then out to Philly for the following week. I'll see you on the other side!

Toodles.

Chicken Little

One of the kids' favorite places to eat is Golden Corral's Buffet. Mommy actually likes it to - especially at the end of a long week, on a night when daddy has a track meet, and there are no good ideas as to what the kids will eat for dinner. It's quite an ambitious undertaking to roll solo to a restaurant with the kids by myself. But it helps that Golden Corral has really cool high chairs on wheels. So I can push Jay and still have hands free to carry plates for all.

On the last visit, Janai passed on the second chicken leg she had on her plate. While taking her back up to the buffet for dessert (and pushing Jay along), I noticed that people were cracking up as we rolled through the restaurant. Jay had apparently jacked Janai's plate for both chicken legs (the bare and the spare). It was a sight to see this little kid putting down chicken like a grown man. He was even biting into the bone.

I couldn't help but snap this shot. I guess my little man is living up to the stereotype of black folks and fried chicken!

Suburban America, Part II

Perhaps, you read the recent post from me about the pressures of suburban america. And... you've also heard about Janai's obsession with nails. Well, what happens when you put the two of those together? See the photo below. Enough said.

WWF

So it seems that our little ones have taken a liking to wrestling. Now, we obviously don't expose them to the real (or... not so real) WWF. But it seems that the kiddos have created a league of their own. Click on the video below to take a look at a typical Williams' Wrestling Federation pre-bedtime match. One might think that this is an unfair, inter-weight-class-match-up. But... watch the near 17-month old hold his own against the 5-year old.

Easter 2009

Here are a few shots of the kids from Easter Sunday 2009.