Mister

Our beloved Mister passed away sometime during the night. He was a good little dog and we will miss him so much. When Disney died last November, Dave had taken her body away before AJ had seen her. AJ declared that Jesus had come and had taken Disney to Heaven. I know there are many who do not believe animals have souls and therefore do not go to Heaven, but as an animal lover it is hard to imagine Heaven without them. So, I did not tell AJ he was incorrect in his assumption of where Disney had gone. But I should have realized how literal my child's thinking is sometimes. So, I tell AJ this morning that Mister has died. Initially, he was sad and hugged me. Then he wanted to know where Mister was. I told him that he was still in the living room. He wanted to see, and when he did, AJ turned to Goldie and said, "Goldie, now you're the only dog left." Then he hugged her and said, "Please don't die Goldie." It was enough to start fresh tears for me. Then AJ got an excited expression and sat down by Mister. As it turns out, AJ thought that if he stayed by Mister, then he would get to see Jesus when He came to take Mister to Heaven. I felt a little drained after the conversation that followed. It's been a rough morning. Good bye sweet Mister. Rest easy now.

Ohio State Fair

We all had fun at the fair. I didn't get pictures of everything AJ rode because Dave and I both rode a lot of rides with him. AJ was braver than me on a few of the bigger rides!!

July visits and visitors

So, AJ has had a great summer. Early this month, he and Dave flew down to Missouri to visit Dave's grandmother and Dad. Aunt Tande and Kayleigh picked Dave and AJ up at the airport in Kansas City and drove them the rest of the way. Grandma Kay was there as well. I missed my boys, but was so glad that they had a great time. They were gone over July 4th, so AJ got to stay up late that night to watch the fire works off of the deck of Dave's grandmother. It's a beautiful daytime view and Dave said the fireworks were really pretty in person because they reflected off of the lake water down below. Grandma Kay took AJ fishing while they were there and with her help, AJ caught a few fish. When he came back and told me all about them, he even knew that he had caught Perch. Dave said that AJ and Kayleigh played well together and as always AJ was glad to get to visit Grandpa Eric, Michelle, and the kids. AJ has always really liked the boys.

Memaw came up from AR for 10 days recently and I'm terribly ashamed to admit that I did not get out my camera one time. We just seemed so busy doing stuff and having a great time that I didn't even think of it. I was really upset with myself when I didn't take my camera to The Wilds. I just discovered that The Wilds located about an hour and a half of Columbus is North America's largest animal conservation center. It was really cool. It was like going on a safari. We took a bus through 10,000 acres and saw wild animals in their conservation environments. It was cool to see a herd of Giraffe standing on the side of the road or having to stop and drive slowly behind a few camels that decided to walk on the road we were on. Almost all of the animals there are species that are endangered and the center is working to increase the population and then put them back into the real wild all over the world. And I FORGOT my camera!!! Not to mention that I missed a great chance to get pics of AJ with Memaw! AJ was sure loved having her here.

More water slide fun

Dave got a super deal on this really fun blow up climb and water slide. AJ and the twins next door had a blast this afternoon.

Bunny leash

AJ has been nagging me forever about getting a leash for the bunny. I finally gave in. Of course, you can't really walk a bunny, but AJ sure enjoyed walking along as the bunny hopped around the yard.

Kid's Day

AJ is forever saying something that makes Dave and I laugh. This week, the one of MANY things that he said to bring us laughter came after Dave was letting me know when Father's Day was. I asked Dave if he was reminding me because there was some specific gift he wanted for the occasion. While Dave and I were talking about his Father's Day gift, AJ was playing in the kitchen nearby us and not appearing to listen to our conversation, but that is deceiving, because AJ never misses much. When Dave and I finished talking, AJ piped up and reminded me what he made for me for Mother's Day and said that he would make something for Daddy for Father's Day, but he wanted to know when Kid's Day was going to be.

Pool Slide

Dave attached a slide to go into our pool. AJ will go down by himself, but also loves to have mommy or daddy go down with him.

AJ's first Dairy Queen experience

I think it safe to say that AJ likes Dairy Queen as much as his father. I'm so glad AJ is such a neat and tidy ice cream cone eater. ;)

Nice Long Weekend

Dave got a three day weekend and I got a four day weekend. Dave was super productive getting the floor in the basement finished and tearing down and then replacing the back section of our privacy fence. He also got the pool filled, though it is not quite warm enough to swim in it. AJ and I, on the other hand, did nothing but play and relax. While Dave was finishing the fence, I filled up water balloons for AJ and a neighbor kid. They had lots of fun and got nice and soaked. I think they had the most fun tormenting Goldie. She thought they were throwing balls for her to fetch, but by the time she caught up with them, they were already popped. We also took AJ to play put put golf. I was surprised by how much he enjoyed it. We played 18 holes twice and he wanted to keep playing. He was most excited when he got a hole in one. His average is like 5 or 6 per hole, so the hole in one was a thrill. Today I took AJ to the zoo. We saw a ton of animals, but AJ's also wanted to climb on things today including a dinosaur skeleton. We took AJ to see the Go Diego Go production a couple of weeks ago, and ever since then he has been playing with his Rescue Pack and pretending he is going on animal rescues. You wouldn't believe how many animal "rescues" we did today in the zoo.

Book time

AJ and I have a night time ritual after he gets PJs on and brushes teeth. AJ races me to the rocking chair and giggles waiting for me to drag him out of it so I can sit and read to him. AJ has always loved books. Aside from other times in the day when he spontaniously asks me to read to him, we read for at least 30 minutes right before bed every night. AJ's daycare had a Scholastic book order and I went a little crazy and got 28 new books. They came in today and AJ was so excited that he wanted to read them as soon as we got home from daycare. We read 17 in a row before I told him we had to break to eat dinner. Then I convinced him to play for a while. We read the other 11 before bedtime. Then before he laid down, he asked if we could read them all again tomorrow! AJ's been funny lately about words too. He has discovered rhyming words and is always letting me know what words rhyme. "Red and Bed....those are rhyming words mommy!" "Moon and Spoon....mommy, did you know those are rhyming words?"