Walking Home: Mary has loved her routine of walking home (made possible by her new Gabb watch) and today she walked home with both Ammon and Clarissa!
Death & Taxes and Lily’s Pneumonia: Lily and I have loved having date night every Thursday night and tonight we went to Death & Taxes. It’s another Ashley Christenses restaurant (like Beasley’s and Poole’s Diner). We loved it, perhaps even as much as Irregardless. The beet dish was especially incredible. Unfortunately Lily wasn’t feeling the best and was feeling progressively worse throughout the evening so we didn’t linger. But we did enjoy our date together. Lily has had a lingering cough since her Asia trip. She likely has pnemonia and the doctor gave her an antibiotic. We are thinking Lily must have viral pnemonia because the antibiotic doesn’t seem to be helping much. Some days she feels better than others and today she just wasn’t feeling great from her sickness and also probably from some other things going on. We are all hoping she gets feeling better soon!
XM Day: Today was a day of service for Qualtrics, so I had the day off. Through our wonderful neighbor Tom’s coordination, my work peers and I were able to pack over 100 bags for children with food insecurity at the local Methodist Church. They even wrote about us in their church newsletter (see below). Lily was able to join at the end and she also joined us for lunch at The Yard House. It was all so fun!
Orthodontist: Today Mary went to the Orthodontist. Apparenty the Orthodontist was incredible, very engaged, and very skilled (the only Orthodontist that works directly with Invisaline). Lily said the whole experience was a bit like Disneyland, including a gift bag with a T-shirt and a giant Stanley Mug. Stanley mugs and Athleta leggings are apparently extremely popular for girls in middleschool at Raleigh. Lydia gave me that report which is why I even know what a Stanley is (although apparently “real” Stanleys have handles!) In short, Lily gushed to me about Mary’s Orthodontist. We feel very lucky!
Cuddling with Stilton: The kids are enamored with Stilton and are trying to make him feel at home and giving him a lot of love and attention:
We’ve been enjoying our new marble table, but more importantly, we’ve enjoyed having family meals where conversation flows seemingly endlessly. In our old home, the table was very long and hard to sit around since half of it required scooting down a bench to sit at. Also, with the counter island in our last home, we often just served the kids there. In our new home, with two smaller, more accessible tables, and with all the kids at great conversation ages, we are finding family meals to be our new heaven on earth. I’ve prioritized them more and now I rarely miss a family dinner when I’m in town. These meals are one of the most special things in my life right now and I actively look forward to them. Also, it turns out marble is very finnicky and stains easily. Lily picked out some table setting pieces to help protect the table, and we also love how they look.Enjoying the daybed!This was a hard day for us, the cat owners, but it was surely a harder day for Stilton. In the middle of the night, he walked into Lydia and Mary’s room, where Basil was sleeping. Basil lost his mind, barked his head off and [I am sure] tried to chase Stilton. Stilton could have run away, but he bravely stayed right put in the room, hiding under a piece of furniture, for the rest of the night. We found him in the morning in a giant puddle of his own (very stinky) pee. We had to bathe him twice, and work to get the smell out of the room, but eventually we did. We then tried to get Stilton to get used to using his litter-box (so he doesn’t have future accidents when Basil scares him), but it has been a work in process. Here he seems to think he has found his new bed, not his new potty!
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Bubbles in the park: Today after church we went on a walk at the campus at the local art museum. They have great walkways, a lot of outdoor art installments, and many other people walking their dogs. We all enjoyed being outside, and at the end Ammon and Clarissa had a blast running through the bubbles that a sweet man provides every day at the campus for free. He sure made a lot of children smile!
Family Movie Night: Back at home, we all watched Pets 2 together. Basil has been freaking out about having Stilton around (barking at him and trying to chase hime) and so it was a great opportunity to have Basil and Stilton be near each other while we all monitored. The movie is one of our favorites already, but it was even better to watch while snuggling with our animals:
New Couch: Also, we got our new couch this week and we are loving it!
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Welcome shy kitty! Today we picked up Stilton from his delightful owners. The husband cried at their parting, which was truly sad. But it did cause us to also feel that we chose a great cat. We chatted at length with the prior owners/breeders. They are wonderful and they have come to feel more like friends than vendors. We also ate again at Bojangles and loved it. When we got home, we let Stilton out of his crate and he immediately crawled under the display case. He stayed there until the next day and Basil stayed in his crate so that he and Stilton could get used to each others’ smell before meeting. Basil was seriously stressed out at the cat smell. That was especially problematic since he’s been so stressed out lately anyway. I think he hasn’t fully settled down from the new move, and also the windows in this home go much lower than the windows in the old house. That means he can now see everything in the front and back yard, so he’s constantly barking at things he sees, which he did not used to do. Lily is going to get him on anxiety medication soon because he truly is stressed out!
Stilton under the display case
Zenful Clarissa: Clarissa has been loving the yard, and today we found her meditating in it. She explained to us that she wasn’t meditating, but rather, “I was breathing deeply to be calm and to try to remember, because I’ve only remembered one and a half things from my life.” I thought that was truly sweet.
Working late: It’s 9:30 and I’m just wrapping up my work and going home. My family is beautiful and we are loving our new dining room table. I’m just sad I wasn’t there with everyone for dinner. I am very excited for my weekend with them though 🙂
Clarissa’s Helpfulness: Clarissa did the most amazing thing today. Of her own accord, she decided to clean her room, Ammon’s room, her bathroom and my and Lily’s room. Lily got this video of Clarissa showing her work, and when I got home from work, Clarissa also gave me a tour of all she had done. In both cases, she was absolutely glowing. She explained to me that she was thinking of ways that we would be proud of her. She said, “first I thought, maybe I could turn on all the lights in the house to show you they all worked, and then I thought, that is a very silly idea. Then I thought I could maybe make a really nice picture. But then I decided I could do some cleaning.” Lily and I gushed, as did Ammon. Clairissa was ten feet tall. She is so adorable and we were so touched by her helping and loviong instincts. Here is the video and the pictures that Lily captured. I love my kiddos!
Yoga with Lily: This morning Lily and I tried a hot yoga studio that is right next to my office. We loved it and the teacher, Arielle was so friendly and cheerful that she brightened our day. Afterwards, we went to the adorable and ecclectic coffee shop/grocery store called Rebus works and Lily grabbed a coffee. She took this picture there:
Carolina Pride: Lily and I have been noticing that people in Raleigh really care about being born in Raleigh. People often reference how many generations they go back in Raleigh, and there is a clear preference for people who are Raleigh stock and not new move-ins from out of state (oops!). That said, overall, everyone has been very lovely to us. It has mostly just been endearling how much Raleigh folk and Carolinean’s generally identify with their place, and how much they care about their identity as Carolinians. I’m assuming that is why Lily took this picture at a restaurant (I think this was the same restaurant where Lily overheard someone tell a waiter he lived out of state, but he was born in North Carolina, so he had to love him, haha).
Crochet and Playdate: The kids had no school today. They had a great day having a play date with the Green children while Lily spent time with our good friend Arielle. Also the kids did a lot of crocheting today.
Playdate: Today we all went to church and ate again at the Flying Biscuit Cafe. While waiting for it to be our turn at the cafe, we caught up with Soren because he had a birthday yesterday. He had a great birthday party playing sports and playing at the arcade and he had a taco bar and a cookie cake afterwards. We also caught up with Georgia. After lunch at the Flying Biscuit, Ammon had a playdate with a boy from his school and the White Memorial Presbyterian church that we go to. It was a beautiful Sunday!
The Children’s Store: After church, Lily and I mostly spent our time working on tasks. When we wrapped up our efforts, we were invited by the kids to come see their stores. We went to Lydia and Mary’s room to learn that the entire thing had been transformed into a market. The kids had been working for hours to create the crafts to sell at their stores. Lily and I had so much fun shopping.
I ran out of money, but I wanted to buy more things. The kids allowed me to put on a puppet show to earn more money, which they generously paid me. After the show, I was able to buy more things.
Then we all put on a puppet show together. while Lily recorded and watch. It promptly came to a halt when Basil started vigorously started licking my face and I was not in a position to stop him.
Take two on the puppet show. It was a great 15 minute show about a shy Cinammon Bear who is shy about going to her first day of school. The bad Fre-Shavacado principal only makes things worse by declaring that no one is allowed to use the restroom. Then Cinammon Bear makes friends with another stuffed animal who also insists she is a bowling ball. Then those two friends accidentally see the principal using a bathroom, and the principle is embarrased for his/her hypocracy and reforms. Then they all have an afterschool activity which involves befriending a tiger and almost getting eaten by a snake. It was quite the story! You can watch below!
We all had the most wonderful time. I needed the laughter. I’ve just been so focussed on tasks and problems to solve lately. I was also so amazed by our children’s creativity and ability to create beauty and play together. Lily was also very touched, stating it was one of the happiest days of her life and that she felt like she was in heaven on earth.
We then ate all together around our newly delivered dining room table. It was so nice to have a family meal altogether. We had fun and engaging conversation and then we all got ready for bed. There is lice going around the kids’ school so everyone treated their hair. Lily spent time helping Clarissa with her hair, and I just gave Ammon a haircut. Today was a truly happy day.
