Perspective

This picture makes Arthur look huge...not that he isn't.

Sturm und Drang

We were pretty lucky with the storm; I posted some pictures on our Flickr site. And the best thing is that our power is back on.

Good Job, Daddy

Sometimes it is a great feeling when Henry tells us, "Good job, Mommy" or "Good job, Daddy," like when we are drawing a picture with him. Sometimes it is just hilarious, like when we are sitting on the potty. Other times it comes across a bit sarcastic:

Pink House. Henry's favorite color is pink. He has discovered that if he dips sidewalk chalk in water he can get better coverage when he is "painting." I came around the corner the other day only to discover that he had "painted" several rows of siding pink on the back of the house. I explained to Henry that he was not to "paint" the house. I spent the next 30 minutes scrubbing the siding with water (and solvent in some parts). When I was all done, Henry said, "Good job, Daddy."

Locked In. We have a crazy garage door opener. Sometimes the button gets stuck and opens or closes the garage door at random. Henry and I were in the garage when the opener in the house shut the door on us. When the button is stuck on the opener, it cancels out the button in the garage. So we were stuck in the garage, and I was trying to figure out how to pop the pin before the automatic light went out. I finally found a pair of pliers and a hammer and got the door open. On cue, Henry said, "Good job, Daddy."

Diaper Disaster. Arthur considers a diaper change to be a wrestling match. He throws his head back, arches his back, and flips over like a wrestler not wanting to be pinned. Henry came in while I was in the thick of a nasty change/wrestling match. There was poop everywhere, and everything in the vicinity needed washed including much of what I was wearing. A half a box of wipes later, Henry said, "Good job, Daddy."

"Thanks, Henry."

Mowing

The lawn mower. Thanks Tracy and Matt. You'll get what you know you have coming (a really, really annoying toy for James) one of these days.

Tracy and Matt gave Henry a toy lawn mower for his 2nd birthday. It blows bubbles. As soon as I saw it, I hid it...in the basement. When we moved, it made it on to the truck and has resurfaced in the living room.

Now Henry and Arthur are obsessed with mowing. So much so, that we now have mowing rules, e.g., no mowing in the kitchen, no mowing before Arthur wakes up or after he goes to bed, no mowing the dog, no mowing Arthur. You get the idea.

Sorry about the song (not really); I just thought it was funny that I could get my extended family to listen to an annoying song (some of you may listen to it more than once).

Arthur

Paul asked how Arthur likes the new house. Well, he doesn't seem to agree with how we have arranged things.

Not Tiger'd

Babysitting Conner

Who said Conner was a handful?

Uprooting

Our move was pretty exhausting, physically and emotionally. We found it hard to say goodbye to our home. When we bought the house we honestly thought, "Next stop, assisted living." When we moved to Newark, we thought we were there to stay. We made emotional investments in our home and the city of Newark, which made both very hard to leave. We will miss the great people we came to know and see everyday.

A change in career goals and rising gas prices prompted us to put the house on the market. We listed just before the bursting of the housing market bubble was felt on the local level in Newark. A long year on and off the market lulled us into an acceptance that the house was not going to sell anytime soon and that we really didn't have to think about moving very seriously.

Then a last-minute showing turned into an offer with a tight time line. And then we held our breath during the inspections, appraisals, and clearing of the newly erected hurdles for the buyers' financing. And we held our breath during a few hiccups that seemed as if they were going to dismantle the whole deal.

Then we closed. We looked at each other in disbelief. I could see in Erin's welling eyes that this wasn't what she signed up for. We had talked about it, but now we were really packing up and pulling out. We were selling our home: the place where Henry learned to walk and ride a balance bike, the place where Arthur first sat in a high chair, the place where Xola chewed through the drywall and ate insulation as a pup, the place where we celebrated with friends and family, the place where we mourned lost loved ones in private, the place where I came home for lunch everyday, the place where Erin's flowers grow and her goldfish swim, the place we still think of as home.



And the next day, we moved. With the help of family and some very special friends, we packed up a truck and moved to Columbus. We are renting a house: a house that will help us accomplish our goals, a house that will move us a step closer to finding a new place to call home.

Last weekend we passed through Newark on the way back from our friends' wedding, and it was very hard to look in the windows of our home and see the new family painting the walls and making our house their home.

Paula's 'Did You Ever!' List

I was sorting through some papers after our move, and I ran across this list written by my Grandma Rish. It's a photo copy, but it's in her handwriting.

Did You Ever! by Paula Rish

1. Did your father die when you were 3 days old?
2. Did you set the curtains on fire when you were 5?
3. Did you raise a brother when you were five?
4. Did you go to school in a covered wagon with horses?
5. Did you ever warm an iron on a wood stove?
6. Did you ever start a wood stove?
7. Did you ever start school at seven and speak no English?
8. Did you ever do your homework on the back of wallpaper?
9. Did you ever go to school with an outhouse and 2 rooms downstairs and 2 up?
10. Did you ever have a kerosene lamp you carried from room to room?
11. Did you ever milk cows and watch them eat grass, then they would chase you?
12. Did you ever hoe 5 acres of corn and chop snakes heads off?
13. Did you ever live in furnished rooms on the 5th floor with cockroaches?
14. Did you ever win a dance contest to Glenn Millers Band?
15. Did you ever work for $3.00 a week?
16. Did your family want you to leave when you got out of school?
17. Did you ever die twice, once with 2 blood clots, another when the hospital broke my intestines?
18. Did you ever have colitis 25 years and be pregnant?
19. Did you ever stay home for 30 years because your husband wouldn't go out?
20. Did you ever raise 2 sons and have no problems?
21. Did you ever have $100,000 and go downtown?
22. Did you ever feed people that can't use their hands?
23. Did you ever feed bums and bag ladies and get a 5 cent tip?
24. Did you ever to go to Florida 20 times?
25. Did you ever go to Europe twice?
26. Did you ever have an -ostomy?
27. Did you ever sue three Doctors at a hospital?

Grandma was a character for sure. I continue to draw on the example she set...her selfless giving and her belief that everyone deserves a fair shake regardless of who they are or where they come from.

We Moved