doggy dog visitor and other reflections

we had a visit from meg last week while gram and pap went w/ corrie and mamaw to washington d.c. i have to admit, it is nice to have a dog around again. i think we'll get another dog eventually, but we need to save up some money for it. there are some great sites for orphaned dogs and i think we'll probably find a pup from one of the rescue sites.














emma enjoyed having meg around, and brought out books to "read" to her. it was too funny. she did get rather upset when meg ate her cereal bar. of course, emma put the darn thing right infront of her nose.














our little girl is growing so quickly. it's hard to imagine the time when all she did was gurgle and coo at you. now she talks all the time. we're trying to work on forming 2-word phrases with her, but she hasn't quite mastered that except for thank you. she is fairly independent, so we've had to quickly start forming boundaries and rules in order to keep her safe. once they're set, she does pretty well adhering to them...it's defining them that's hard.

tyler just finished learning a little bit about the holocaust and hitler at school. they're focusing on historical fiction books at school right now, and he's currently reading one based on the french-indian war (or maybe it was the revolutionary war? one of those.). he's participating in a boy's club at school which meets every tues. during lunch and recess. it was strange that he wanted to do it, because the counselor's intention on forming the club was to teach the particularly aggressive/difficult boys how to practice self-control, anger management and working together. but i think he was drawn to the idea of being a part of an all boys club.

this summer, aaron and i will have been together for 7 years. i am amazed at how much life changes during that time, and how fast the kids grow (don't i just sound like my parents?). looking back, most of it was like a blur, but all of it was awesome. thinking forward another 7 years, tyler will be in his last year of high school...ack! i don't want to think about it anymore.