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Scenes From Home:

Scenes from home:

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!

Bubbles in the Park, Family Movie Night and New Couch

Note: We are going to password protect our blog starting April 1, so please reach out if you would like the password.

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!

Welcome shy kitty! And Zenful Clarissa

Note: We are going to password protect our blog starting April 1, so please reach out if you would like the password.

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

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, Date with Lily, and Carolina Pride:

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).

Playdate and The Children’s Store.

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.

Stilton!

Stilton! Today we traveled to meet some cats. Lily has been researching Siberian cats because we saw mouse droppings in the house and we want to ensure there is never a mouse in the house. She has targeted Siberians because they produce less of the protien that causes typical cat allergies. Lily found a delightful breeder, and they (Morgana and Jessie) met us in Lumberton which was about an hour and a half from our house. We arrived before they did, so I had fun on the playground with Ammon and Clarissa, and then, when they arrived, the excitement really began. We came mostly to see a grown female cat, but they also brought a kitten and large male named Stilton. Clarissa promptly fell in love with the kitten, and everone else fell in love with Stilton. The breeders told us all about him: how he is not aggresive and never causes problems, how he is so cuddly and lazy, how he cries if he is not fed on-time, how he hangs out on the fridge and taps people as they go by, and how he just loves to be loved. His blue eyes are breathtaking. They called him the amorphous blob. He is big, gorgeous, and sheds a ton. He’s shedding his Spring coat so clumps of his hair were litterally flying off in the chilly wind as we stood and talked. We could tell the breeders had also fallen in love with him because Jessie said he was dredding the day they would introduce Stilton to potential buyers, and when we were falling in love with Stilton, he made a genuine plug for the kitten, “she’s very cute too!”. Lily and I decided on Stilton. We are concerned about his shedding, but Lily thinks she will find joy in brushing him every day. Because he is a male, we are also concerned he might spray, but that seems like a low likelihood since Stilton is getting neutered next week before he’s fully sexually mature (the breeders say he’s old enough to be impregnating other cats, but he’s a late bloomer and “barely knows he’s a male”). Also, Mary assures us that Stilton is so lazy, the effort involved in spraying would surely dissuade him from ever doing it. He may or may not have the energy to catch a mouse, but his scent will be everywhere and the exterminator assured us that would be enough to scare any and all mice away. We are also a bit nervouse about a cat harming our furniture and drapes, but again, that’s another positive for Stilton as it just doesn’t seem like he will be up to much mischief as he likely wont be up to much of anything at all, ever. We don’t get him quite yet because the breeders need to give him his rabies shot and get him neutered, but we will get him a week from now. We love you Stilton and we are so excited for you! Ok, admittedly, there is one person that is not perfectly excited about Stilton. As we were driving home, we heard Clarissa quietly crying in the back seat with her head tucked into her knees. She had said earlier that she wanted Stilton, but she did that to be agreeable since that is who everyone else wanted. But she had actually fallen in love with the kitten she was holding. When we asked her to share her feelings, Clarissa said, “my life is changing and I want that change to be a kitten.” She was not tantruming or manipulating at all, just meekly processesing her grief. And we were all so struck and touched by it that we genuinely almost changed our minds to get the kitten. We ultimately decided Stilton was the right choice, but our hearts truly ached for Clarissa who really wanted the kitten! We ate at BoJangles on the way home and decided it was some of the best fast food we have ever had. Yay Southern food!

  • This is the kitten Clarissa fell in love with

Celebrating Valentine’s Day with Lily

Today I got off of work early and Lily and I both went to a Bikram yoga class together. No one else showed up to the class, so we got a private class from the delightful instructor, Nina. Afterwards, we came home and showered and then we went to dinner at Poole’s Diner. We really enjoyed the date together, although we were not wowed by the food. At home, we were going to play Wingspan, but we both were too tired and we went to bed. Before falling asleep, however, I gave Lily an Atlas of North Carolina, as well as a poem I wrote for her about her being my Atlas. She truely is my Atlas in so many ways. She shows me the world, guides me, comforts me, gives me adventure and makes me happy. It was so fun to have so much time with my Valentine today!