Ah the smell of a fresh blog!

It was time for a change, don't you think?

I've been putting off changing my blog template because I kept seeing comments about people losing their page elements (mostly comments saying "Don't worry! You won't lose your page elements with MY templates," but still...). But today, it was time. Out with the old, in with the new! Hope you like it.

A real post about something will be coming soon. Maybe even several posts about several somethings.

Preschool "Graduation"

Matthew's preschool "graduation" was Friday, and it was too adorable. The kids walked in to "Pomp and Circumstance," sat down on the steps of the stage, and then regaled the audience with 4 cute songs (my favorite was "Bumblebee" by Laurie Berkner). Then each class (there were 3 of them) went up on the stage in turn and the kids' names were read off as they walked across, were handed a rolled up certificate and walked through a balloon arch, where they had been instructed to stop and wave at everyone. It was too stinkin' cute.

After all the classes were done, they played a slideshow of pictures taken of the kids throughout the year. That was pretty darn cute too. Afterwards, they had refreshments and an opportunity for the kids to get pictures with their teachers or classmates. Would have been nice to do some of those shots outside, but the event itself was held in the basement of the church adjacent to the school building (the school was formerly a Catholic middle school), so going outside for pictures would have been way too chaotic.

Despite the ceremonies on Friday, the kids still have 3 days of school this week, Matt won't really be done until Wednesday. Then it's off to KINDERGARTEN!

Go here for pictures (I don't feel like futzing with Blogger's photo uploader today!)

On this date in...

1621 The Dutch West India Company received a charter for New Netherlands, present-day New York City.

1808 Jefferson Davis, the first and only president of the Confederacy, was born in Christian County, Ky.

1888 The poem "Casey at the Bat" by Ernest Lawrence Thayer was first published, in the San Francisco Daily Examiner.

1937 The Duke of Windsor married American divorcee Wallis Warfield Simpson, for whom he had abdicated the British throne.

1968 Pop artist Andy Warhol was shot and critically wounded in his New York film studio, The Factory, by actress Valerie Solanas.

1989 Chinese army troops began a sweep of Beijing to crush student-led pro-democracy demonstrations.

1989 Iran's spiritual leader, Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, died.

2001 Mel Brooks' musical comedy "The Producers" won a record 12 Tony Awards.

2001 Jonathan Michael Foster was born, proving to his parents that prayers really are answered

2003 Matthew Adam Foster was born, giving his big brother a unique birthday gift and his parents a whole new reason to smile

In addition to each other, Jonathan and Matthew share their birthday with:
Jefferson Davis, Ransom Eli Olds, Josephine Baker, Colleen Dewhurst, Tony Curtis, Chuck Barris, Larry McMurtry, Emmitt Thomas, Deniece Williams, Scott Valentine, and Travis Hafner

Happy 8th birthday to my JonaBuggy!

Happy 5th birthday to my Matty Hoo Hoo!

(Having a ball on their birthday)

Play Ball!!

Saturday was Opening Day for the boys' Little League. It's a day long festival of baseball playing, with all the teams from tee-ball on up to majors playing on the fields at Eastridge High School.

Jonathan's game was scheduled for 11:30 and Matt's for 1:30. I was sure Matt's would be rained out, based on the forecast, but thankfully the rain held off. Unfortunately, Jon's game started an hour and 10 minutes late thanks to the high school's girls modified softball team, which had a 9am game that lasted until 12:15. I was able to catch the first inning and a half before I had to take Matt to his game, which was at the other end of the athletic fields. I did get to see his first at-bat and I'm told he made an awesome catch of a foul ball while he was playing catcher.


Matthew's game was everything you'd expect from the very first game of tee-ball with a bunch of 4 and 5 year olds. I can't say I see any future All-Stars out there yet, but the kids had a great time playing, and that's the whole point for us. It was fun to watch them try out what they've been learning in practice for the last month. They only played 2 innings, but that was plenty!

More pictures of the day can be found here. I should mention that Jonathan is on the Yankees (for the 3rd year in a row) and Matthew is on the Red Sox. Insert favorite rivalry joke here.

A Mother's Day Tribute from Jonathan

My moms name is Jen foster
Oh my mom is pretty
Teaches me about me
Hold me mom hold me
Each mom is cool
Rock on mom rock

~JON

On this date in…

1507 America got its name from German cartographer Martin Waldseemueller, who first used the term on a world map to refer to the huge mass of land in the Western Hemisphere, in honor of Italian navigator Amerigo Vespucci.

1859 Ground was broken for the Suez Canal.

1898 The United States declared war on Spain.

1901 New York became the first state to require automobile license plates.

1945 U.S. and Soviet forces linked up on the Elbe River, in central Europe, a meeting that dramatized the collapse of Nazi Germany.

1959 The St. Lawrence Seaway opened to shipping.

1990 The Hubble Space Telescope was deployed from the space shuttle Discovery.

2003 Georgia lawmakers voted to scrap the Dixie cross from the state's flag.

2007 Graceanne Michelle Foster was born, to the delight of her parents and two big brothers, and the world became a brighter place.

Graceanne shares her birthday with:
Edward R. Murrow, Meadowlark Lemon, Al Pacino, Bjorn Ulvaeus, Renee Zellweger, Talia Shire, Hank Azaria, Jane Clayson, Oliver Cromwell, Peter Ilich Tchaikovsky, Guglielmo Marconi, and Ella Fitzgerald

Happy 2nd birthday my sweet baby girl!!

The Medium is the Message

I asked Matthew this morning if he would like to go to the zoo on
Saturday (we're planning to do this for Grace's birthday). He said no,
let's do something else. When I asked him why he didn't want to go to
the zoo, he said "because I can see the animals on TV."