Andy, Woody, Jack, and four not-so-little munchkins: The secret life of dogs, toys and little kids

Here is a recap of recent events and a few of thoughts:

Today we went for a stroll in a great little park in nearby Dover. From friends' comments, we imagined that Dover was a town without, gasp, a town newspaper, and inhabited by yokels. While we did not meet anyone from Dover on the trails today, we passed miles of McMansions situated on acres of gently rolling hills and surrounded by forests.

Earlier today, Ainsley made a comment today about how I went to high school back in the 1970s. I laughed and later decided that we needed to get those math workbooks out to practice for school sooner rather than later.

As we sat down for lunch today, Zach, with tears in his eyes, and a sad little frown on his face, asked if he could rescue his stuffies (Read: Stuffed Animals) if our house ever caught on fire. When the girls asked if he was crying, he wiped his eyes and replied that his eyes were sweating. He picked that up on Disney's Phineas and Ferb. I asked him if he would like to give his stuffies a hug before he ate his lunch. When he returned to the table I had to explain to him that while we could replace his stuffies, we could not replace him. That meant that if there ever was a fire, he would not be allowed to run back for his buddies-he would have to get out of the house and help his little sister to do the same.

While we were "hiking," Audrey ran out of energy. She began calling for Jackie, our yellow lab, for help. She decided that she would marry him so that he could make her feel better for forever. He is her best friend; when she feels sad, he stands next to her so that she can lay her head down on his shoulder and hug him. When Audrey plays with my iPhone Mini-Me app, she always includes a dog with her mini-me. During lunch, Audrey started telling stories about way back when she was a dog and the pet hotel caught on fire. Zach was adamant that, not only did humans not start out life as dogs, but that she could not marry a dog because he would get dog fur in her bed. Ainsley was adamant, that if Audrey did indeed marry Jack, that she would have puppies. We tried to explain that little four year olds did not think like that.

After our trip to the park, we took the kids to see Toy Story 3. I will admit to crying through the beginning and end of the movie. I thought of my nephew, Tyler, and our new friend, Gage, who both loved Toy Story when they were preschoolers. I thought how they were just like Andy, growing up so fast, leaving behind all the fun things they loved to do as little boys, for the world of men. One of my favorite movies of all times is Johnny Depp, of course, in "Finding Neverland." I cannot watch that movie too often because I do not particularly care for movies that make me cry, but I love, love the line about how little boys should never be put to bed. One day they will wake up and they will not be a little boy any longer. In all honesty, that thought has been at the back of my mind since Zach was born. So much of how we raise Zach has been influenced by that premise, and that fear.

We enjoyed watching the US soccer game this week, and we screamed and cried when the US made their goal. We hope tomorrow goes as well. Near the end of the game, Sydney went into her room because she was sure that all was lost. She told us that she said a prayer that the US would win, and then she heard us celebrating. She felt certain that she helped the US win their game. Later that afternoon I overheard Neil telling Sydney that when you pray for one team to win, you are, in effect, praying for someone else to lose.

We miss our friends in North Carolina and continue to miss our friends and family in Texas. Zach still talks about moving to Texas so that we can have Taco Cabana. We do not miss the weather in either place. We have used our AC this week due to the 90F weather, but I have heard this heat wave will not last.