Chris & Naomi Hathaway Home

Lincoln started preschool last week. We've been really wanting him to have more social interaction (he doesn't need the education part; he's already doing addition :) ), so we asked around, and found a really nice school called "Bible Bears" that he goes to Tuesdays and Thursdays from 9 to 2. It's at a local baptist church, so he gets a bit of "chapel time" as well, where he learns Bible stories and songs. He asked us if his school was at the church with the big "t" (the cross). He was a bit nervous at first, but did just fine and is very excited to go back. And we're excited he gets some time out of the house with kids his age.

Here are some pictures of his first day:

Oh, and he started primary this year. He's a sunbeam, and on his very first day he gave the scripture and a talk (there weren't many there from his class). He had no fear and has been doing wonderfully every week.

Lincoln turned three last Saturday! Happy Birthday Lincoln!

To celebrate, we had party at our house, very similar to last year's party. It even had an almost identical guest list (we're not that creative on short notice). Everyone played in the backyard for the first while, and Lincoln was able to show off his mad soccer and baseball skills to the other kids and parents. And, we got some decent use out of the plane we got him last year, since there were actually a lot of kids there:

After play we went in and had food and cake. One novelty about the party was our food. I was inspired by my new job's cafeteria, and we did a build-your-own-quesadilla bar. You could add cheese, meat, peppers, onions, mushrooms, olives, etc, and then grill it up (okay, fry it). It was very popular with the kids and adults, but then some of the kids went back outside and started dumping flower pots. We had cupcakes, and Lincoln actually successfully blew out one of the candles. Mom had to help with the other two, because he was starting to spit on them.

Lincoln got lots of great presents, but his favorite was definitely the lightsaber. Not necessarily our favorite...

For a slideshow of photos of the party, click here.
For some video, click here.

Just in case you didn't believe me when I said I was going to graduate school, they mailed me some proof today (it's a Masters of Science in Computer Science, if you can't quite read it):

It's very relieving to finally be finished with school, but at the same time, it's a rather new feeling. All my life, I've had this huge goal of graduating from college that kind of guided my life at a very high level. Now that's over, and I don't have a good concrete goal in clear vision. I'm just working and growing a family and paying off a house; it's enjoyable, but I fear it will get stagnant too quickly.

Okay, enough babbling. I think my next great personal mission in life (excluding family or spiritual goals, those come first by default) is to really turn some of my projects into serious ventures that could possibly take over as our main source of income. I really feel they have the potential (especially AggData, which now gets almost 15,000 visits a month), but I just need to give them the proper attention. Good thing I have such helpful sisters-in-law!

Lincoln turned two on Friday, and yesterday we had a birthday party for him. I think he got a little overwhelmed at all the people and attention, but everyone seemed to have a good time. I believe there were 9 little kids running around in total, and amazingly, we didn't have any spills or stains, and very few tears. Cupcakes turned out to be a lot easier to handle than regular cake. Anyway, we're very excited for Lincoln, but a bit sad that he's growing up so quickly:

The big present was a combined gift from Lincoln's parents and grandparents, an airplane teeter totter than can handle up to 7 kids at a time:

It took a good 2-3 hours to put together (thanks Chris F. and Kevin for your help), but it seemed to be a big hit with everyone. Unfortunately, it got cold really quickly, so people stayed inside for the most part.

Click here to see the full gallery. And for those that attended and want pictures, just hover over the picture(s) you want and you'll see a link that says "Save Photo".