adiós amigo

Drew, Vicious Beasts 6 Comments »

We said goodbye to Oscar yesterday. As we drove Drew talked about the fun times and great memories he had. Drew wanted to make sure Oscar knew that he was still thinking about him, so we made a list of all the things Drew loved about Oscar on two balloons.

We chose a nice quiet spot and Drew let the balloons go.

Drew was just sure that Heavenly Father was going to catch the balloons and read them to Oscar.  How else do you explain death to a 5-year-old?

Up, up, and away.

Drew was pretty broken up after letting the balloons go. Daddy explained that Oscar was happy and soon he would have Drew’s balloons…

Drew marked a spot nearby where he could always go to remember Oscar, complete with parsley – Oscar’s favorite treat.

Goodbye Oscar! We love you!

ode to oscar

Vicious Beasts 5 Comments »

It’s been a tough day here at Oscar Stew. Oscar passed away yesterday…

We’re not really sure what happened. Everything appeared to be normal, and Oscar seemed to be happy & healthy. We’ll probably never know why, other than it was just Oscar’s time to move on. We will miss him, Drew especially. 

Drew had a hard time expressing his feelings. He grieved the only way he knows how: through art.

The best thing for us to do now is to remember all the great times and fun memories we have of Drew’s first pet… Merry Christmas 2006! A much younger Scoob and Osk are just getting to know each other. They were best buds right from the beginning.

At times I think Oscar was a little unsure of his new owner, who was a baby himself.

It was fun to watch their relationship bloom as they began to see eye to eye.

At the time we were living in a really small (and stinky) apartment. We needed a friendly rodent to warm up the place, make it more homey. 

Even Brinley loved the piggy. Look how small she is!

We enjoyed having Oscar share our little apartment with us, but space was pretty limited!

We still managed to find plenty of things to do where we could include him, like playing games…  

Playing dress up…

Reading books…

And watching the rain. (*no guinea pigs were harmed in the taking of this picture).

 

And let’s not forget that Drew was a very good Piggy Daddy, and maintained the first guinea garden all by himself!

Unfortunately, our limited gardening abilities gave us limited results.

Oscar appreciated his efforts all the same. Yum!

Oscar was included in anything and everything. He was loved.

It wasn’t much later that we scored the renter’s deal of the century and moved into our new palace. So much space! So much grass! munch, munch.

All new adventures to have!

Many new places to explore, although I can’t say that Oscar was thrilled with this one…

So much food to cook. Hey wait a minute!?

Even a new furry friend to show who’s boss.

Yes, Drew and Oscar were quite happy indeed.

When school started for Drew, Oscar was there to help him every step of the way… munch, scribble, munch.

If Drew didn’t get it all done there was the law to answer to. Stick ’em up! Oh sure shoot the tutor!

We even (accidentally) grew our own guinea pig food after his bowl of seeds spilled in the yard. feast!

It’s hard to believe Oscar’s gone until you go into Drew’s room and notice something’s missing. No more “weet weet” sounds every time the refrigerator opens. No more mad scramble into the purple hut when you enter the room. We had to throw away an apple core today. It was sad! (and so wasteful!)

I love you oscar. I really love you very much. I miss you a lot. You are my friend.

Drew’s doing OK. He understood that Oscar wasn’t going to live forever, and that he’s still alive & being taken care of. I think Drew was happy to find out where Oscar is, and who is in his company.  He is pretty sure that Oscar is watching him everyday. All guinea pigs go to heaven, right? We believe so…

daddy’s to-do list

Drew, Ryan, Vicious Beasts 4 Comments »

Before we left on our super cool road trip to Utah (more on that soon!), we had to make sure that everything and everyone was taken care of. Drew was pretty bummed that Oscar had to stay behind and wouldn’t get to experience the euphoria of Grandma’s house. Drew knew that Daddy would be home a couple of nights during the week (work stinks) to keep an eye on things. Even with that reassurance, Drew was still concerned that Oscar’s needs would be forgotten, so he went ahead and made a to-do list for Daddy. With pictures! And exclamation marks!!!

 

The little man is definitely on the road to literacy. Now if we could just figure out why he writes backwards, and in Spanish?! And do you think Oscar is just slightly spoiled? He’s practically got his own menu!

Drew also drafted this note. I can’t figure out what most of it says, if anyone out there is a pro at 5 year old jibberish, help would be much appreciated! The only part I can read is the fourth line “Feed my guinea pik(!?)” with a few “if,” “cat” and “dad’s” thrown in there. I was amazed that he went on to spell guinea pig almost correctly. He may have copied the letters from Oscar’s bag of food, he is smart like that.

I found it hilarious and completely adorable that he took this task upon himself. And super proud that he is sounding out words and creating his own sentences. Now that we have have to sound out his words to understand them, it gives us a perspective on what it’s like to be Drew learning how to read & write. Tough stuff!