Alive

Say goodbye to yet another semester. Monday, April 28, I took my last final. After finishing that last test I realized I need to develop a "finals are over" tradition. I know Ty and his friends watched a movie following each semester, other friends go out to lunch, or golfing, or some other such fun event. I need to get on the ball and figure that out.

But, in the meantime, I'm just glad to be done. I spent Tuesday, all of Tuesday mind you, with Kristin and Patten. We visited my family's Millcreek cabin (only looked at it though due to snow), ate 3 (count 'em) meals together, and Patten and I changed the headlight on Maxi (our Nissan Maxima). He played more of a minor role in the actual light change but I greatly appreciated his moral support.

I hope other folks get to experience this feeling of freedom. I've decided semesters exist simply so they can be finished.

We are excited to visit Ty and Becca in Philly next week, followed by the start of my new job and a summer full of no school (other than counter-terrorism research for my professor). Should be a good few months.

Patten's Many Faces

What a month. As you will see, our family had lots of fun in March.

First - Rolling Patten. Patten decided he was sick of laying on his back / stomach. So, he set out to roll over. Here he is following rolling from his back to his stomach. You can see him thinking, "hmm... that darned arm... what am I going to do about that."
And so Patten decides "aha! I'll shift my weight to the pelvic region and remove my arm." Unfortunately for him, but fortunately for his parents, it took him a good 20 minutes to pull out his arm. But eventually...
He did it! Victory! Rolling over is now common-place. In fact, if we put him on the floor and mind our business for 2 or 3 minutes he undoubtedly changes orientation and position by the time we return.
In addition to Patten's rolling antics, we celebrated Kristin's birthday in March. We got together with a few good friends (from left to right - Scott, Henry (or Henrizzle), Jake, Jacy, Lex, Kristin, Patten, and Mikea - I know our friends have cool names) - we played games, ate food, and had an altogether great time.
Next - Moose Stroller Patten. That moose outfit is his most expensive and prized outfit - it comes from some fancy store (naartje?) and supposedly is fine clothing for youngins.
Ahhh, Mischievous Patten. I don't quite know what to make of this picture - other than the fact that it wouldn't have been possible if it weren't for the 800 blankets Kristin stuffed in the contraption to make him fit in it. Way to go Kris!
And here we see Easter Patten. A charming young man dressed in sky blue and donning a killer smile. Disregard his dad, please.
More Easter Patten. But, luckily for him, his mother matches his beauty in this picture (unlike his dad in the last). Didn't I get lucky?
Hang with me - we're almost done. Here we see Reading Patten. I came home from meetings last night to find my adorable wife having a Read-a-thon with our beautiful son. I doubt he got much out of the reading aspect, but man he sat right up and hit that book with his fist over and over again. Perhaps he gained some knowledge of Persuasion via osmosis... either way it was about the cutest thing I have ever seen.
And finally - Smiling Patten. Patten sure loves his mom - this picture proves it.