Halloween

AJ's birthday and party

catching up

It's been so long since I posted, so much has been going on with us over the past few months. In September, I celebrated my 33rd birthday with a quick, but fun trip back to Kansas. I got to eat at my favorite restaurant in Junction City. Nine days after my birthday, we went to Michigan to celebrate my nephew, Josh's 6th birthday. He had a party at Build A Bear and AJ got to make a Dog which he then dressed in a Spider Man costume and calls Spider Dog. Exactly one month after my birthday, we celebrated AJ's 3rd birthday. Uncle Greg from Arkansas and Grandma and Papa from Kansas flew up to celebrate with us. The day after his birthday, AJ had a birthday party at the gymnastics academy where he takes his tumbling classes. A few friends from his daycare came, including AJ's best friend, Javon. AJ was thrilled! He had such fun that day. AJ decided to sport his Halloween costume one day for Uncle Greg. AJ had asked to be Curious George. A monkey costume was the best I could do. On Halloween, we had planned to take AJ trick or treating to a few houses around us, but when he knew one of us was planning to stay behind to pass out candy to other kids, he wanted to stay and do that. He took his job of passing out candy very seriously until one group of scary looking costumes came around. Then, he was perfectly willing to let me give the candy to those kids.

In November, we had an awesome week at my mom's house in Arkansas. My cousin Dana, hosted Thanksgiving at her house. I got to see my aunt Kathy from California. AJ had the most fun with Dana's dog, which is an adorable thing white with black and gray spots. When AJ saw the dog, he called it a cow because of the spotting, then proceeded to chase the dog for most of the time.

For Christmas, we went to Kansas. We had planned to visit old friends while we were there, but the weather did not cooperate with us and make driving conditions the best. We did, however, enjoy visiting our families. On my side of the family, AJ is the youngest cousin. Ellie and Josh who are 6 and 7 years old are always great with him. On Dave's side of the family, AJ is the oldest cousin. His brother has two boys Dean (2 1/2 years and Dylan (6 mos.). His sisters has one girl, Kayleigh (1 yr). This was the first time AJ has visited with Dean that Dean was as interested in playing with him as AJ was. AJ had a blast with Dean. They played like frolicking puppies. They were so cute. AJ also loved the two youngest cousins and tried real hard to convince me that we should take one of them home with us so he could have a brother or sister. I was game, but unfortunately, their parents seemed to want to keep them.

A few days after Christmas, we drove to Missouri to spend some time with Dave's grandma Hilda. We made a special trip to Missouri to visit and celebrate with Dave's dad, Michelle, and his brothers Nathanial and Logan and his newest little sister, Cayci. Cayci has been part of the family through foster care since she was a day old, but was just formally adopted and is forever family now as of November. At the adoption party, we got the chance to visit Dave's grandma Lentz and his aunt and uncle Janice and Bill and their kids Will and Tory. We stayed in Missouri until New Year's Eve, then drove back to Kansas City, spent the night in a hotel and flew back home. AJ was such a trooper. He was a great little traveler for the most part and seemed to adjust fairly well to the back and forth of all our visiting. Okay, I think that pretty much catches us up to speed. e