More Swimming Pictures

Gettng ready for swim lessons!

Listening to Miss Kayla... (This is one of my all time favorite pictures!)

Arms out!

He loves Miss Kayla!(She's a very sweet young swim teacher. She's GREAT with all the boys and makes AJ feel so comfortable!)

First Swim Lessons!!!

AJ had his first real swim lesson today and he was AWESOME! Yes, he has done a Mommy & Me class when he was 6 months old and he's been in the pool hundreds of times- but this was his first class without me and with a teacher.

He started out a bit hesistant- which I expected because it typically takes a bit for him to warm up to new situations- but then, with the help of his best buddy, Dax, he got right in there with all the other boys! Since this was the first lesson, the instructor just wanted the kids to get familiar with her and the water. So, they didn't "learn" much today, but did some kicking and floating. He had a great time and I loved watching him :) I can't wait to see him on Wednesday! And I'll try not to forget my good camera- keep an eye out for better pictures :)






Swim Team!



Swim Buddies!

June Update

I've been pretty bad at blogging lately- sorry! There's been a lot going on and I realize that the more time that goes by, the more I have to write, and the less I want to because it becomes overwhelming. However, I don't want to forget this stuff and I love to share it :)

So....

AJ and I have started going to church. We began going a few months ago, but since I don’t have him every Sunday, he’s probably been 6-7 times, on and off. Finally, he’s gone enough times that he doesn’t cry anymore- he still tells me he doesn’t want to go each time, but then after, he tells me how much fun he had. Also, Miss Callie- the nice woman who runs it- tells me he does well and has fun. I actually started volunteering in the “Jungle Jam” area- where AJ goes- so that I can help out, but also I get to see what AJ does for an hour.


The church we go to is called Plum Creek Community Church. The services are actually held in the Castle Rock movie theatre, which I think is kind of funny, but it works. The people that attend are mostly my age – give or take 10 years- and what I love about it is its very casual and low key. I wear flip flops most weeks and I don’t feel judged- which is huge to me. There’s always a great message or lesson about something relevant in my life. It’s a great start to the week.

Because we’ve been going to church, AJ and I have started saying our prayers each night before bed. It’s the cutest thing listening to his prayers. This is how they go:

“Alright… so…. Deeeeaaar God. Thank you for….. our house. And thank you for our food. Thank you for Daddy” and the list goes on and on…. He thanks God for EVERYONE he knows… :) He also thanks God for Buster. He says he misses and loves Buster. Then, he wants me to do my prayers. And then we do it all over again- a few times each night. The other night, he was feeling quite spunky and thanked God for his “nose and boogers”. UGH- boys!

Here’s a few random things from AJ:

* The other night we went to the Jacuzzi to hang out and there was this adorable 12 year old boy in there too. He and AJ hit it off! This kid was so caring and nice- I wouldn’t have expected him to like playing with an almost 3 year old, but AJ cracked him up! Kenneth was practicing holding his breath under water so he’d go under and then come back and tell us how long he could hold it. He came up one time and said, “40 seconds!” AJ’s response was “40 Seconds?!! You’re killing me Kenneth!” (Maybe not the best thing for him to be saying, but it was seriously funny)

****EDIT*** going forward "killing" is a bad word in our house. It's up there with "stupid". It was funny the first time, but now he is "killing" everything. Obviously, he doesn't know what that really means, but I don't like it.
* June is going to be a BUSY month for AJ. He started My Gym on this morning with my mom. It’s a little gymnastics class that he’ll do each Monday at the rec center. Then, tonight he starts swim lessons- and I don’t have to get in the water! He’ll do that Monday and Wednesday’s for the entire month. I hope he likes it!

Zoo Day!

Happy Memorial Day Weekend!

Today, AJ and I went to the Denver Zoo- we love this place! It's big enough, but not TOO big. They've got great animals and a train and carousel. And it's not too far away either. The weather was perfect- sunny and mid-60's.

We got to see 2 polar bears. One was having a great time swimming and playing with his toys.

And he rode the carousel...twice!

He loved it!

And then, ice cream.. lucky boy!

It was a lot of fun :)

Grandmas Birthday

Last week we celebrated Grandmas birthday! It was on Monday, the regular day that she watches AJ, so she took him to Boulder- her favorite place. They were there for hours and AJ got to play at the park, climb on all the toys and have a great, fun filled day with Grandma :)

 Someone isn't into taking pictures these days...

I am 99% sure he's saying, "Don't take my picture!"

Unless of course, you give him ice cream...

He helped Papa bring out Grandmas birthday cake!

And he sang :)

Us 3 :)

Chocolate kisses!



So Long, Pal...

Buster. Buster Brown. Sweet Brown. Brownie. Brown dog. B. Toots McGee. Mr.Tooterson. These are all the nicknames for our sweet, sweet boy who went to doggie heaven today. It breaks my heart knowing that Buster will no longer greet us at the door with a wagging butt (his tail was so short that he wagged his butt :-) or let out a silent but deadly fart while were relaxing in front of the tv, or trying to burst into my room each morning much earlier than I'd like because he just wants to be the first to wish me a good morning.


Buster was the best dog. Just the best. I can't say a bad thing about him. (Well, the farts were sometimes unbearable, but...) He was almost 8 years old. I'll never forget the day he joined our little family. Jason and I were dating, living in Colorado Springs with Harley- our beagle. Harley was about a year or so old and one weekend afternoon, Jason and I decided to go to the mall. We walked into the pet store and we both saw this ADORABLE little boxer puppy in one of the little kennels. I was able to talk Jason into bringing him out of the kennel and into the little room where people meet the dogs and eventually decide if they’re going to buy them. Jason told me there was NO WAY we were buying this dog. First off, he cost an arm and a leg. Secondly, we already had a young dog, why did we need another? But this dog was just so darn cute and sweet! I remember, Jason held his ground and we didn't end up getting the dog (yet). I was incredibly disappointed when we walked out of the pet store and I'm not proud of this, but I pouted for hours because of it. We went to Costco and walked around, and I just remember being mad and sad and giving Jason the silent treatment. (Let's all remember this was 8 years ago and I like to think I've grown up a little since then). Finally, after a few hours, Jason asked me if I'd stop acting like this if he gave in and let me get the dog. Of course I quickly changed my attitude and we headed back to the pet store. I realize what a spoiled brat I was- but I REALLY wanted this dog!

So, we got him and headed back to our house and invited Joel and Holly and their 1 year old twins over to meet our new guy- Buster Brown. I remember us all romping around the backyard playing with the dogs, just having a good time.

Fast forward a few years and we added a new baby to the mix. AJ and Buster have always had a very special bond. Buster never- not ONCE- growled at AJ or showed any aggression. Not when he pulled his ears, poked his eyes, laid on him, hugged him tightly around the neck, hit him (he was young and didn't know better), or did anything that would have probably warranted a warning growl or nip. One time, when AJ was just a baby, my Dad and Cory came out to visit and while AJ was napping, we all were out front working in the yard. AJ started to cry upstairs and Buster ran to the front door to let us know that AJ needed us. That's the kind of dog Buster was. So caring.



Buster never asked for much at all. All he wanted was food, water and some love. He was never aggressive with other dogs. In fact, he loved to box with them- that wasn’t always good with little dogs because he could throw them across the room with one swing! The only problem with Buster is that he was a boxer. And boxers are known for health problems. I knew this when we got him, but again, he was too cute to pass up. Boxers are known for having a short life span because they are prone to cancer and as I recently learned- ulcers in their eyes. Thankfully, he never had cancer (that we know of) but over the past few years, he had pretty bad thyroid problems causing weight gain and loss of hair, he had 2 torn ACL’s which made it difficult and painful for him to walk much. He wanted to play and run, but he paid dearly for it minutes later. He also had some problems with his teeth. Over the past few years, his gums grew over his bottom teeth, which made it tough to eat. We could have gotten that fixed by going to an oral surgeon, but honestly, I couldn’t do that. We just put water in his food so he could eat easier and all dealt with his horrible breath that was caused by this.

Most recently, Buster developed an ulcer in his eye. It started out kind of goopy and just not looking right and eventually turned into a cloudy eye that turned painful. I took him to the vet and they did all kinds of test and gave us medication to try, but warned me that it may not fix the problem and if not, surgery would be necessary. Not to mention, there was a good chance he would eventually develop an ulcer in his other eye.

The medication didn’t work. I was left with a terrible decision. Spend $800 for surgery (knowing he’d be in pain and that this wouldn’t fix any of the other many problems he had) or put him out of his misery. It was an agonizing decision. It would be an easier decision if he wasn’t such a wonderful, loving, sweet, gentle dog.

Finally, I made the decision that we would have to put him down. I haven't ever had to make this decision before. We have had wonderful family dogs that have been put down and that was painful enough. But this was my dog. And AJ's dog. I am so sad knowing he wont be with us anymore, but it makes me smile to think of him playing with all the other dogs in doggie heaven, pain free and loving it. I tried to prepare AJ for this, knowing he wouldn't quite get it. I told him a few days ago that Buster was really sick- he had a bad owie in his eye and his legs hurt him a lot. I explained that he wouldn't be with us much longer; that we wouldn't see him. I told him that Buster would be in doggie heaven. He asked where that was, and I told him "waaaay up in the sky". He looked up in the sky and said to me, "I don't see it Mom!" :)

I am thankful that we got to spend some quality time with Buster over the past week or so. AJ and I took him for many short walks and I took him for a few longer ones alone. He got extra treats and shared a lot of my food with me too.

AJ made this drawing for Buster...

We love you Buster. You will be missed greatly.

Roller Coaster!

Last night, for my birthday, we went to Chuck E Cheese. Yes, you read that right. It was for my birthday :) My thought was, if AJ is happy, we are all happy. Well, AJ was very happy and had a great time. He played every game in the place and sat still only long enough to eat one slice of pizza. I'm not sure what he liked more, actually playing the games, or putting the token in ;)

Here's a great video of AJ and Papa on the roller coaster ride. He is such a dare devil!