Zig's birthday and our new dog

On Ziggy's birthday, we went to a puppy store near us to play with the puppies, because Ziggy likes dogs. We did NOT intend to come home with one!…And we didn't. Ha ha. But we are trying desperately to convince Malachi that we did! It's very difficult, because he is a terribly suspicious person by nature, not to mention the fact that HE had the idea of trying to convince Abe that we got a dog when Abe was on his mission. Nevertheless, we are doing our best, and perhaps if we just keep it up for long enough he will eventually believe us. (Right now it is mostly just making him annoyed with us and say things like "Stop trying to fool me! I KNOW you didn't get a dog!…or if you did, show him to me!"—at which point we have Teddy walk by the videochat with a stuffed animal in his arms making whimpering sounds—which makes Malachi even more annoyed…which is kind of the point, I suppose!)

(Our current plan is to greet Malachi at the airport crying when he comes home and tell him that the dog died that morning.)

Anyway, if any of you who know Malachi could please write to him and casually drop in a few comments about our new dog (Rusty), that'd be great. I don't know where that boy comes by his suspicious nature (very unbecoming in one so young), but it persists to the point that he impugned even this heartwarming picture:

Tsk tsk. What is this world coming to?

At any rate, we DID have a fun time seeing and playing with the puppies. How could we not? They're so small and cute.

This is Rusty. Ziggy loved him because he looked just like a mini fox cub (and foxes are Zig's other favorite animal!).

We really did all like him! Such a cute little guy!

Rusty seemed to like Ziggy best. I hope he wasn't too sad when we didn't take him home (Rusty, not Ziggy; we did take Ziggy home). Someone MUCH more willing to own a dog will get him soon, I'm sure!

We had a good birthday dinner. Someone, in a festive spirit, wrote "Ziggy" on top of the cake before it was frosted.

Daisy spent ALL DAY making Zig this amazing Iron Man costume. (Zig doesn't even really know anything about Iron Man except that he's cool, but that's enough for him to love him.) I don't know how she managed it. The helmet is all cardboard and the gloves are…two left gloves, but that's okay! Zig loves it!

Even Malachi had a present for Zig from beyond the grave…I mean from beyond Utah. (Ky gave me a bunch of stuff to put away in my gift cupboard and bring out for the kids' birthdays while he's gone.)