First Movie!

Dominick went to his first movie and we went BIG with the Omnimax at the museum--Under the Sea. It was great! Last year he and Dennis tried to see Up--he freaked out during the previews and has been reluctant to see a movie in the theater ever since. So now we broke the seal in a big way--hooray. It was really cool too--6 ft. sea snakes, cuttlefish, sea dragons--fun fun fun!

It was a very fitting end to a good spring break. Dennis and Dom went to get doughnuts while Xander and I went to PT. We all met up at the museum and after some play, Dom and I went to the movie and then I went to work and Dennis took the boys home. A bit of crazy car switching but it all worked out.

Tomorrow it's back to school. Dennis' last day before Easter break and our final push to paint our main rooms.

Spring Break--1 day to go!

How fast Dom's break has gone! Honestly, I was kind of dreading a week and a half of no school--it has been pretty wonderful. Lots of time with our new friends (not the best time to make new friends right before moving, but that's how we like to do it :) enjoying the zoo and children's museum--lots of things we'll miss so I feel this need to take advantage of what we have right now, and all summer-long.

It has been nice not to have to get anywhere at any particular time and nice to include Dominick in our shopping trips and excurtions. Last night we put Xander down at 6:15 he was so exhausted--Dom and I stayed up and sorted school papers (even managing to throw some his hard work away!) I had to explain that the reason we do worksheets and works is not to have the sheet but to learn--he seemed to like this. I've just been enjoying being with him, it's a good phase we're in right now. I just introduced him to Wicked which of course he's found one song he loves and he's been playing it on repeat--poor Dennis.

Xander . . . he's been going through a bit of a rough patch. I think the fact that he's decided to give up naps makes him downright miserable by 3:30. Hopefully he starts sleeping in and catching up on the sleep he needs. He is still quite adorable and loveable, asking for hugs, thanking me for hugging him, loving him.

Good kids.

Spring Break--Day 1

We survived the first day of spring break. We did the grocery shopping and treated the boys to a trip to Target--Dominick is scouting out the next Bakugan he wants to save for. Then we came home and watched The Chronicles of Narnia. Really good movie. Dominick listened to the CDs last week so he was excited to see the movie. Xander got a bit bored but held out mostly by doing "tricks" on the couch and teaching us about "Xander."

After the movie the boys played and I caught a nap--when I woke up Dom was looking for a sword and speaking with a British accent. Perhaps I fell through some sort of wardrobe!

Moving!

It's true, it's true we're moving to Kalamazoo! I haven't posted anything here for some time, we've been playing this extremely long waiting game. Will the K job open up? if it opens will Dennis get it? if he gets it would we want it . . . so many uncertainties and now the waiting is over. Now we know, he got it and accepted it. Of course now it still feels all up in the air . . . where will we live? where will the boys go to school? will we ever sell our house? The uncertainties just keep piling up.

But we're happy. Excited to make this move. To tell the boys we made a cake, complete with 7 candles--one for each member of our family, cats and now deceased fish included. They were really excited, whew. We were really worried about Dominick especially. I'm sure we'll have some issues in the future, but for now he's excited and I'm relieved.

And I'm also sad . . . we've lived here for three years. I feel like finally I'm making some real friends . . . and then of course it's time to move. I guess now we can add Cincinnati to our list of places we have friends and can visit.

Currently we're working hard to make our house show worthy. We're aiming for an early April listing date. Today Dennis' dad came and installed a new light in the bathroom, no more old, buzzing long lights. Hooray! My brother and sister-in-law are coming this weekend--along with my darling niece :) Hopefully we can get the laundry room painted this weekend.

Getting through

It's been a crazy few weeks, or seemingly months as I feel like we've been running and going since Christmas . . . Alisha died January 14th. I'm so grateful that Dennis and I took the day and drove up to see her. She took a real turn for the worse and was moved into a beautiful hospice facility so that they could better manage her pain. But she was still coherent and Dennis was able to talk to her . . . I guess that helps a little. Still, it is all just incredibly wrong that she was so young with so many good things starting in her life.

It was the first time for the boys to go to a funeral and visitation. So hard because death is one of those things that you just want to shelter them from forever. Dominick has asked lots of questions and I'm sure lots more are to come. We've tried to answer simply and honestly but it's still hard. I think Xander also knows that something happened and he's been a bit anxious when he wakes up and I'm not there or one morning Dennis was in the shower and he freaked out a bit when I said we couldn't go down and peek at him. He went into this long explanation of how dad was asleep and wouldn't wake up . . .

But mostly we're doing ok. Dominick is now 6 and so he has taken to liking pizza. Alisha was the same way, she decided she would learn to tie her shoes when she was 5 and not a moment before. On her 5th birthday she brought down her shoes and said, now teach me. She was a difficult one! We've said from the beginning that Domincik takes after her and not so much easy going Dennis --perhaps he takes after me, I've heard some stories from my early childhood--sorry mom.

Dragon Party

Dominick is 6--he's now on two hands. We had a great party on Sunday. Dragon themed. It was a lot of fun. Amazing how much louder and more rambunctious the kids were compared to last year. On Monday Xander and I went with Dominick to school and stayed for the morning and lunch. I'm glad I got to share in his works and be there for the birthday celebration. He walked around the earth 6 times and each time around we'd talk about what he did as a baby, one year old etc. Mostly I shared where we lived--since that has changed a lot over his little life! He also got to be the line leader, a job he takes quite seriously--so cute to watch. I was really impressed with what a little leader he is in the classroom. It's really built into the montessori system. I sometimes wish more of the school Dominick came home, but I guess there is only so much self-control and most of it gets used up at school.

Xander has been doing his 5:30 am wake up thing . . . so he's just been a bit all over the place with his behavior. I think it's partially a lack of sleep and also just part of being 2.5. I remember 2.5 to 3.5 being a bit of a challenge for us with Dominick. Xander's a different creature but some of the clingyness and neediness seems familar.