what treasures

On Easter Sunday we had dinner at big A's mother's house. While there, A was charged with the task of rummaging through boxes of old belongings to see what he wanted to keep and what could be thrown away. Among the assorted treasures were a collection of old photos. Many of these were of such a nature that sharing them with the blogospheres would likely result in my prompt dismissal from girlfriend status and the finding of my belongings out on the curb, but some of them are just too cute to keep to myself.

To our left we see an early version of li'l big A. Note the conservative gray shirt combo, the fiery red hair and the cute button nose. Evidently this picture was taken long before he instated his "Dress shirts must be plaid or some kind of checkered-like pattern" rule.

Now if you look to the right, you'll see li'l gap-toothed big A all jazzed up in a dashing red ensemble he no doubt picked out himself for this special occasion. We can see that he has really come into his own in the freckle department at this point, and he seems really happy about something; I'm guessing it's the amazing faux forest backdrop he gets for his school picture. Also observe the shorter hair at this age; could this become a trend?

This one's pretty good too, li'l hockey-A decked out in his equipment. Who knew this little guy would grow up to abandon traditional projectile-based sports to become an Ironman-doing, Boston marathon-running, leg-shaving, gel-eating Labatt employee? Not me. Mostly because I wasn't born at the time this picture was taken.

In addition to the pictures there were a few memorable keepsakes. This beloved toy mouse was pretty adorable, and everyone loves a good E.T. keychain.

Enjoy this post while it exists; I'm guessing it has a high likelihood of deletion due to censorship.

***EDIT: I've been informed that the snazzy red shirt combo that childhood-big A has on is velour, and possibly a one-piece.  I thought this should be known.  Also, the mouse is apparently a Womble, Orinoco the Womble to be precise.  He was a little distraught that I failed to acknowledge this.