School's out--for the summer!

And Zach is officially a 3rd grader now. Wow. I can so vividly remember days from my own 3rd grade year, it's hard to fathom I have a child old enough. Time surely is speeding past...

Anyway, to celebrate we met up with friends for dinner and a movie--Star Trek. It was really good, I always sort of hem and haw about going to action style movies, but I usually end up liking them. This one had an enjoyable story line :)

And I got Kathy to take a pic of me and my boy, who is growing up way too fast.

Basil gone wild

So it's been raining cats and dogs lately. Great for the garden and herbs. Although not great in that I haven't really been out to trim/weed/etc. The basil is once again getting too big for the pot. I'd put it in the ground, but it's doing so well now and I don't want to risk destroying it with our crappy soil. Nematodes, etc. No, they aren't toads. Although the first time I heard the word I thought they were.

Anyone need pesto? Basil free for the taking here! I'm going to let some of it go completely to seed, but I do need to get my butt out there today and trim it back before it overwhelms itself.

May 27

Another 'oh crap, I need a photo' photo. Don't play with knives! Very cool in that I noticed a huge difference in the aperture effects on such a close up image vs. those taken further away.

May 25

As I was wandering around the house, camera in hand, wondering what to photograph, I came upon Zach playing with daddy's glasses. I think he's just too cute in them. Although he may not need them for many, many years. Unless, of course, his fictitious vision problems return.

m,kkkkkkkkkkkkk

Ok, I think I'll leave the title as it is. Misha decided to WALK ACROSS MY COMPUTER just as I began to post this blog and dagnabbit (trying not to curse) that cat knows better. But cats are experts at doing what they shouldn't, right?

Anyway, today is May 24. I have no photos for May 22 or May 23. There has just been too much sadness, with Zach crying every day and just when I think we are over the hump, he breaks down again. Yesterday evening we were watching a movie when he suddenly got up and went outside. I paused the movie and waited for him to return. When he came back in, he was a little sniffly and his eyes were glassy. He told me he'd been petting Elmo - the tree. I just about lost it. I can't stand to see him hurting so much, and beyond that, he doesn't seem to be getting past it. However, he does fine until he comes home...school, Grammy's, etc. Not a problem.

But today...no tears. He has been holding his replacement Elmo, a stuffed dog with silky golden hair, quite a lot, but no tears. We went to the inlaws for a cookout and he had a lot of fun jumping in the pool. So finally, I have happy photos.

May 21

We are still dealing with the loss of Elmo. Zach's first words this morning were to ask if Elmo was home yet. Dh had to leave his body at the vet overnight due to his work schedule and I didn't want to pick him up since I couldn't lift him out of the car, and I still had to pick Zach up from school.

Dh brought him home this morning after taking Zach to school and buried him in the back yard. Zach started bawling again as soon as he got home. It's been a very rough afternoon. However, we did make his memory stone, we even had his dog tag that he's been wearing since he was a pup. Then we went out and bought a tree to plant over his grave. Zach picked out a Red Navel Orange. Please cross your fingers that this tree grows. We'll put the stone down once it's completely dried/set. Zach wants to name the tree "Elmo" and for now, Elmo's collar is wrapped around its trunk.

May 20 = Elmo Day

We lost Elmo today. Dh took him to the vet again this morning since he's not eating at all and has vomited up the little we could get into him. Which means no meds, we wanted to see if the vet could give them IV, I'm sure he needed fluids as well. However, once there they discovered that he now has a palpable mass in the abdomen. It was just the last straw...poor boy, he couldn't even get up on his legs. Dh had to carry him to the car.

It has been a heartbreaking day. Zach is a wreck. I didn't anticipate this level of emotion, it wasn't as if they were buddy buddy boy and his dog of the movies or anything. But he has cried and cried and cried. He went outside in the rain and sat down on his swing, just leaning his head against the chain and bawling. He was such a picture of a completely distraught and broken-hearted boy, I almost grabbed my camera but it was too personal and I couldn't intrude on his grief, exploiting it. And I really don't think I could stand to look at his face so sad over and over. Not to mention I was crying myself.

Over the course of the evening the tears would come and go. He did decide, however, that we should have "Elmo Day" every year, to remember and celebrate the sweetest dog who ever lived. A dog whose life was just too damned short.

My photo for today is a photo almost 7 years old, when we'd had Elmo for about 2 months, he would have been about 5 months old here. It's pure Elmo, taking whatever we or the boys would dish out, no resistance, just gently tolerating it all. And Zach...omg. What a little guy he was. I can't believe he's so big now.

May 19

Nothing much photo-wise today. Lots of mental strain over Elmo, he's really been declining. He can barely hold himself up with his front legs and they keep slipping on the floor. Trying to get meds into him, but he has no interest in eating and has even been vomiting some.

So here's all you get. Just a quick messing-around type of photo.

May 18

Today I got Owen some fingerpaints. I used to do this with Zach by spreading some freezer paper or brown paper on a roll over the entire coffee table and letting him just go. This time I waited to see how he'd react, as thus far he hasn't been too fond of gooey mushy things.

He did ok, although he wasn't thrilled. I had to help get him going and it wasn't long before he was done. And then, he was pretty upset about the blue paint on his leg. I will say, these are some odd paints. They are a bit translucent and gel-like, not the fingerpaints I remember from the past.

Here is my little Picasso's work.

It's all a balancing act - May 17

And I think Owen does it much better than I do.