Where's The Time Gone?

A.J. just had his 11th birthday. Since his draft baseball team, his MC team, and his all star team doesn't give him enough time on the baseball field.... he wanted to go see a game with his friend for his big day!

Love this kid.

Don't always "get" this kid... but I love him more than anything in the world!
Nana and grandpa kicked down with some cool gifts... like always!

Enjoyed having a few friends over before the game...

11 best things about AJ:

1. Has a heart for worship

2. Loving and fun to be with

3. Always has a smile on his face

4. Can always count on him to find whatever I've lost... anything from my keys to work materials!

5. loves to help

6. has great manners

7. kind heart

8. my baseball boy

9. works hard

10. good friend, and always something nice to say

11. only son who puts away his dad's and my clothes the right way

AJ,

I'm proud of the person you are becoming. I look forward to seeing what God has in store for you! There is no doubt in my mind that, with your servant's heart... and love of worship, you will continue to bless everyone you come in contact with. I feel especially blessed to be your mommy, because I get to experience that fabulous smile every day! I love you son!

Family Fun

On the off chance that my parents ever leave town, my sister usually takes care of driving out to their house to take care of all the things that need to be done. Yesterday, she was too busy to go, so as a LAST resort, they had AJ and I drive out there to take care of the dogs.

My parents still live WAY out in the boon-docks where I grew up; and while some people view things as "being much smaller" than they used to be ... I happen to think everything seems MUCH bigger than when I was a kid (and unfortunately it's not because I am any smaller).


Look how huge those sunflowers are...
Don't let the cute face fool you; she's a hummmmdinger... as is her brother "Mr. York."

AND then, there's Ethel and Lucy... the outside 'puppies.' And they really are still puppies! Unlike the "little" ferocious dogs... they are very sweet and...

BIG!!!

AJ just HAD to go give them a bone, or 2 or 5....
They seem much bigger than the ROTs that I grew up with.

ummm... excuse me girls...

"Are you happy to see us, because we brought you a snack?"

NOOOOOOOO.... not him!!!
He's not the snack...

His HAT is not the snack!!!
"MOM.... Stop taking pictures and HELP ME!"
(Note to self: we really need to work on his tone !!)

Anyway...I did help him... finally.

I frantically called them, from the other side of the fence! (I'm no dummy) That's 300+ pounds of puppy. They'd never bite anyone... but they get excited to see him and try to lick him to death.

As I'm attempting to "save" my poor son; they ran out of the yard! So then I had to chase them around to try and "drag" them back into the yard.... for over an hour! URGGGGGGGGG.

They FINALLY got thirsty enough to let me drag them back into the yard (because there was NO WAY I could get them to do anything on my own), I drove straight to see my sister at work . I reminded her that our "sisters" all like her and her kids more than me... so she needs to make sure she's available (in the unlikely event that our parents ever trust us again with their precious pets) from now on.

And being the good aunt she is... she gave him some scrap booking supplies from http://ohforthememories.com/ to make sure he went home to do some actual school WORK.

so he did...
right after he called daddy to tell him about all the scratches on his back...
while I sat down to try to put my heart back in my chest!