All of the First Days

 Last week marked the start of Lucas's final year in high school. To mark the occasion, I decided to take a trip back in time to get an idea of how he has changed over the years. For your viewing pleasure, the "first day of school" from 2011 to 2024.

2011 - Junior Kindergarten

2012 - Senior Kindergarten

2013 - 1st Grade

2014 - 2nd Grade

2015 - Third Grade

2016 - Fourth Grade

2017 - Fifth Grade

2018 - Sixth Grade

2019 - Seventh Grade

2020 - Eighth Grade (note the mask...what a fun year)

2021 - Ninth Grade

2022 - Tenth Grade

2023 - Eleventh Grade

2024 - Twelfth Grade

Next year, I guess we will probably get a picture of him heading off to university or whatever it is he ends up deciding to do in life, but for the "official" school pics, it's the end of an era. Looking through these does make me nostalgic for that cute little kid, but I'm also glad to know he has grown into such a fine young man (when he isn't getting under my skin).

Hope you enjoyed this photographic journey! 

First Day of School - 10th grade

 It’s hard to believe it’s been 15 years since Lucas was born and that I started this blog, but here we are with him beginning 10th grade today. I’m going to attempt to post this completely from my phone so we will see how this goes.

My first day of 10th grade was a nervous one as I was starting at a new school in a new town. It all turned out well though since I ended up meeting one of my best friends that day (and Lucas’s godfather). No such butterflies in the stomach for Lucas today as he was raring to go. Something about 2 years of lock-ins make school a much more palatable place to be than it used to be for most of us.

Enjoy the photos!

15!

Hard to believe, but Lucas is 15 years old today! Seems like just yesterday that I started this blog (not really). Here he is earlier with his "cake," a strawberry rhubarb pie that he requested. 

Afterwards, I brought him over to the outlet mall so he could spend some of his birthday money on a new pair of sunglasses. He's going in style with Raybans. Next time I get a picture of him in them, I'll post it here.

First Day (9th grade edition) and some late lacrosse photos

 At the risk of bodily harm from my mother if I don't post these ASAP, here are Lucas's first day of 9th grade pictures (and Marilu's return to work as well). You'll note that this is the first year that Lucas is taller than Marilu.

Marilu with no heels...

...and with heels.

According to Lucas, the day went well. I think this is the first back to school where almost all kids were happy to be going back, given the last 2 years that we have had. 

Because of the pandemic, the schedule is revised so that kids are only in two classes each "quadmester," a period that lasts about 2 1/2 months, I think. It makes for some weird combinations. In Lucas's case, he will be taking gym and drama. Crazy, huh? Another kid we know has math and science. In the end, they will all be taking pretty much the same schedule over the whole year, but it's just amusing how polar opposite those two examples are.

Hockey will be starting up soon so maybe there will be some actual games this year, which will give me a good excuse to post more picture. I'll keep you updated!

Speaking of sports, here are the entirety of photos I took from this year's lacross season. I say season, but it was just practices and some 2v2 or 3v3 scrimmages during practice. My camera didn't do a wonderful job, but this is a warm-up drill where Lucas is basically just throwing the ball againts the wall and catching it.

That's all for now!

Lucas's 14th Birthday

Some pictures from Lucas's 14th birthday. Once again, thanks to Covid, he didn't have any sort of party though he did go mini-golfing with a few of his friends since those opened back up recently. 

For breakfast, Marilu got him som Tim Horton's by request.

I bought Marilu a personalized apron for Christmas, and Lucas has used it enough that we decided to get him one of his own.

He didn't want a cake or cupcakes this year. Instead, he wanted douughnuts. So Marilu bought him 14 doughnuts and made a cake out of them.

Happy birthday, Lucas!

Let's Get Physical!

Didn't forget! I just didn't get have much to write about on Saturday. Truth be told, I don't have much to talk about today either. I will point out that this weekend was BY FAR the most physical activity Lucas has had in a long time.

With the easing of the lockdown, not only did his hockey resume, but the winter lacrosse sections were able to start. It's only 5 weeks, but considering he hasn't played lacrosse since March of last year, it's a welcome return.

So he ended up having two hockey practices--one each Friday and Saturday night--and then an early morning seeion of lacrosse today (Sunday). On top of that, he and his friends spent 1 1/2 to 2 hours on bothe Saturday and Sunday at the outdoor rink, playing pick-up hockey. Suffice to say that after months of just playing video games, his legs are likely going to feel it tomorrow. That said, he really enjoyed it so I'm glad to see hin getting back outside.

I don't have any new photos this week, unfortunately, so that will have to be it for now. See you next weekend!

Long Time!

 This blog has been badly neglected in recent years, and it didn't get any better during the pandemic. As a result, I've decided to return some sense of normalcy back to it. My plan is to update once a week, each Saturday, with some news or pictures or *something*. I've even set an alarm on my phone so that I can't blame the usual excuse of forgetting.

That said, before I really get into it, I want to look into possibly moving the blog or changing the name. Obviously, "babydeal" doesn't really fit anymore as Lucas is approaching his 14th birthday. My, how time flies! It may be as simple as simply clicking a button to rename the blog, but that will be my homework for the week. In next week's update, I will either post here or give you a link for the location of the new blog.

In the meantime, here's a picture of the two ladies in my life snuggling.

First Day of 8th Grade

 Going back to school in a Covid-19 world...

A New Era

It seems impossible, but our little baby...who becane a toddler...who become a kid...who became a pre-teen...is now a teenager. Where the hell has the time gone?

Last night, before he went to bed, I got a picture of Lucas on his last day as a 12-year-old. I can't get the "cheese" smile out of him like I once did so I had to settle for this.

I think his birthday already would have been a little different than past ones, but in the age of Covid, it was doubly so. I've been working from home during the pandemic, using our main computer. A couple of weeks ago, Lucas asked if he could use the computer during the day on his birthday. At first I was going to just use a laptop, but in the end, I decided to go into the office since it was easier that way. 

As for a party, he didn't have anything like in yesteryear. We had takeout from an Italian restaurant he requested, and then we told him his main gift was that we would pay for a data plan on his phone. That's how you know he is a teenager! At one point, I did ask him if there is anything physical he would want as a gift that isn't electronic related. Nothing came to mind, and he was very happy with getting data on his phone so successful birthday, I guess!

Here are a couple of photos I took of the birthday cake celebration (key lime pie, by request). His friend Parker and his mom are part of our "bubble family," and they joined in on the singing so it wasn't super lonely.

I planned to upload the birthday cake video, but unfortunately, I need for the video to be on the computer. It can't pull from the phone like the photos. Oh well, I'll try and post it in a follow-up post when I upload the video from my camera.

Hope you enjoyed, We sure did!

(FYI, I just noticed he didn't change his shirt from 12 to 13 so some things never change.)

By request

Here you go, mom. This was from mid-April. Lucas was trying to work on schoolwork, and Beatrix was having none of that, apparently.

It's a Whole New World

As you've probably guessed, things have come to a standstill up here, along with the rest of the world. The remainder of Lucas's hockey season was cancelled so I have elected to believe that they would have gone on to win the rest of their playoff games and become the House B Peewee Champions of 2020. Go Cows!

This is March break so Lucas and Marilu were already scheduled to be off, and the schools announced they would be off at least an additional two weeks so they won't be back until the end of March at the very earliest. Though I guess we will see how things play out.

On Monday, my company finally told us to work from home so I started that yesterday (Tuesday). Once again, it's hard to say how long this will last, but I'll make the best of it even though working from home is not the easiest way to be productive. I've made it through two days so far so thumbs up for that. I'll probably go in tomorrow or Friday for a few hours just to get a break from Lucas asking if he can use the computer. God forbid he not be able to play Fortnite over vacation.

In case you missed it, Beatrix came home early from the breeder since Marilu and Lucas will be home to watch her. Along with her came her 6 puppies. There were 7, but once accidentally died the first night after they were born. The breeder thinks B might have rolled over on the pup.

Nevertheless, the remaining ones are as cute as can be. There is one beige one, one dark brown one, and the rest look like B. One even has a big white patch on its chest, similar to B's, though much more prominent on the puppy. Here's a shot of the pile of puppies having a nap, which is something they do 90% of the day, lucky little buggers.

Cows Update

As I've alluded to in the past, it hasn't been a good year for hockey. There were several kids who probably shouldn't have been playing at the House B level, and it made for a tough time. The season ended two weekends ago, and they had a whopping 2 wins and ended up in 7th (last) place.

However, this past weekend was the start of the playoffs, and the Cows managed a strong win over the 5th place team, 4-2. I guess this is as good a time as any to have a hot streak! Their work is cut out for them as they still have to play the 1st and 3rd place teams, but one win puts them into the next round of the playoffs. On top of that, even though they didn't have many wins, they did tie a lot, and their last game against the #1 team was a tie so anything is possible.

Their next game is this weekend, then the following two weekends are off due to March break, and then they will finish up the round robin toward the end of the month. I'll update as soon as the games happen.

Speaking of spring break, we will be heading down to Long Island for a couple of days since Lucas is finally getting his certificate of U.S. citizenship. It's taken the government 2 years to process his paperwork (insert joke here), but it's finally here. I will definitely have some pictures from that trip.

One more "speaking of." Speaking of pictures, I haven't taken many lately hence the lack of photos, but I wanted to mention that we bought a new desktop computer this past Sunday. As a result, I have a much more powerful (FASTER) computer to work with now so I will be uploading and organizing all my photos on here and should have some new stuff soon.

Hello January

I didn't get much picture organizing done over the holidays since Lucas had the computer in his room most of the time. Then, work has been so busy in January that when I get home I just want to relax. So, my apologies. I'll get there eventually.

However, I didn't want to go through an entire month without an update so here you go!

Incidentally, Beatrix had her ultrasound tonight, and it turns out she will be having 7 puppies. The due date is February 25. Should be interesting!

Christmas Eve 2019

This year's picture of the crazy kids on Christmas Eve...

My major goal for my holiday vacation is to organize the photos folder on my PC since it has gotten so confusing that it is hard to figure out what to post. Once that is done, I will start updating regularly again.

Halloween 2019

Better late than never! I was finally able to get the cord to attach my phone to the laptop so I have all of my October photos accessible now. As such, here is our Halloween!

We were a little late in getting a pumpkin this year, but we made up for it by getting the biggest one we've ever had. It weighed in at about 54 pounds. You can see the sheer size of it compared to Lucas as he cleans it out.

Because of the size, and more specifically, the thickness, of the pumpkin, we had to keep the design relatively simple. Even so, I think it came out pretty well. Lucas did a good amount of the carving for the first time. I think the only part I did was the mouth.

As the name of the blog implies, Lucas will always be our baby. Though I didn't realize he'd take it literally this Halloween!

Baby got back.

Now that I have uploaded all my pictures, I am going to be focusing on organizing them, which will make posting a lot easier. There are a LOT of unposted photos so expect to see a bunch of stuff before the end of the year.

Gretzky!

I guess there is truth to the saying "when it rains, it pours." Lucas continued his great season by scoring yet again in the Cows' 4th game of the season. He took it from the point, and although it looked like it might go over the goal, it somehow took a weird bounce and ended up dropping in behind the goalie. We're still not sure exactly how it happened, but a goal is a goal!

Believe it or not, that ties him with another kid on the team for leading goal scorer. Crazy, considering he went four years without a goal. I was talking to his coach, and he is encouraging the defensemen to play offensively if they can, and it is apparently paying off.

On top of that, he was a +2 in the latest game, bringing his season plus/minus to +4. Once again, his defensive line prevented any goals so he has yet to be scored on this season. Having said that, his goalie had some fantastic saves in the game.

Oh, I suppose I should also mention that the Cows finally won their first game, 3-1. So they are now 1-2-1. All the games have been close so it's been a good season to watch so far.

On the opposite side of the coin is basketball. I'm a tad biased since I hate the sport of basketball and find it tedious to watch. I'd rather watch Lucas play baseball, and that's saying a lot.

Anyway, his basketball team won their first two games, termed exhibition games, and then the teams were reorganized based on their play. Now this is what I don't get. Both of his games were close--within 4-5 points--so you wouldn't expect the team to change much. However, they ended up gutting the team, moving the three best players. So that's why before halftime in his latest game, his team was down 18-4 at one point.

The final score was a little better, as they pulled within 11-12 points, but it was still a blowout. I didn't need much to push me away from basketball, and this was the straw that broke the camel's back. I've decided I will walk Beatrix during his games, and Marilu can sit and watch the games since she doesn't feel the same way as I do about basketball.

Ok, gotta be up early tomorrow. Until next time...

Finally!

The drought is officially over! This past Sunday, Lucas scored his first hockey goal in what feels like forever. It was actually his second year of Novice, which would put that goal in either winter 2015 or spring 2016, but that's still a long damn time.

Not only did he score, but it was probably the best-looking goal in a game that had a lot of ugly bounce goals. Lucas got the puck in his zone, didn't see anyone to pass to so he headed up the ice. He got around 2 or 3 opponents and after entering their zone, he blasted a wrist shot over the goalie's shoulder. To say I was excited is a massive understatement.

Unfortunately, his team lost 5-3, but he played great. Not only did he get the goal, but he was a +1. The only goal scored for either team while he was on the ice was his own. I knew he would play well since he is in House B for a second year, and he's definitely meeting my expectations, possibly even exceeding them.

Lacrosse wraps up this weekend, and he's entering his second weekend of basketball (they won their first game by 5 points on Sunday) so it will be a busy sports weekend. Marilu and I are heading down to New York to see a concert on Saturday so it'll be my mom experiencing all the fun.

Oh, in non-sports news, Lucas got a 97 on a math test this week. I think that may be his highest mark on a test in his school career so it's been an all-around good week for him.

That's all for now.

Cows First Game

Real quick hockey update. Lucas's team, the Cows, had their first game this past Sunday morning. They lost 2-0, but it wasn't a worrisome loss. The teams were matched up pretty well, and both goals came by the same kid on the same shift so I think it was just a momentary lapse of concentration. Lucas wasn't on for either goal so his plus/minus for the year is even. I'm actually planning to keep track of that this season since I always talk about it, and it would be interesting to know what his season total is.

He also had at least a few shots on goal. He and his defensive partner Cameron play a lot of Fortnite together, and I think they came up with a few designed plays during their online gaming. On each faceoff in the opposing zone, as soon as one of them got it, they would pass across to the other, who would then take a shot from the point. None of them went in, unfortunately, but the plays looked good.

He has another game this weekend, at which point I will update again. Hopefully, I'll stay healthy as I have been hit with just about everything over the last couple of weeks, culminating in a return of my shingles from 2016 today. Yeehaw.

Hair Donation

As promised, photos from Lucas and Marilu's hair donation. First up, the before shots!

The various stages of Lucas's hair being prepped.

Lucas said he felt like Medusa here.

Argh, a rat tail! Kill it!

Holding their bags of donations. I believe Marilu had one 7" braid while Lucas had a bunch of 6 inchers.

And finally, the after photos!

Really proud of them, and thanks to everyone who donated to the Children's Hospital!