3 months

I wonder how long it will be before I can breeze by the 14th and 15th of each month without remembering Sasha and Ivan. Well, not that I want to forget, but you know what I mean. Anyway, today marks 3 months since we lost Sasha and Ivan. I've been working on this entry for a while now, and kept putting it aside, partly because it was simply too long to write all at once, and partly because it was just too hard to write sometimes. But I want to share with you the stories of how Sasha and Ivan joined our family, and a little bit about what they were like. This is a really long read, just so you're warned. But there are pictures...

Sasha

I remember the first day we saw her. It was 2000; we were living in Florida, and planning to move to Connecticut in just a few weeks. We decided to wander into that pet store, just to browse. All my life I'd wanted a dog, and Tony was a dog-lover, too, so I knew someday we'd have a dog. I just didn't know it would be that soon.

It was a pet store, yes, but the animals they sold were not the pricey purebreds in a lot of pet stores. They were rescues, and when you bought them, all you had to pay was a $100 adoption fee to cover their basic shots and such. There was a whole litter of black puppies, some with white markings, that had been rescued, each of them in separate cages. And Sasha... she caught our eyes immediately. I don't even know why. But we were both in love. We managed to talk ourselves out of it on that first visit, and did that whole "well, if she's still here next time we come, then maybe" game, feeling sure that a cutie like her would be snatched up immediately. But the next time we came (I don't know how many days later it was), she was still there, and according to Tony, we played this little game a few times, our resistance wearing thinner each time. And somehow we got the crazy idea to adopt a puppy less than a week before moving over 1,000 miles away.

I remember those first few nights--trying to keep her quiet because we weren't supposed to have dogs in our apartment, trying to crate-train her and failing miserably. I remember her nipping me constantly and me finally breaking down and crying one day because I was sure she hated me. She was my first dog, and though I had bought and read a few books about raising a puppy, I really had no idea how puppies acted, and couldn't help taking it all a little personally.

And then came the day we were going to leave. The truck we rented had a little sliding door in the cab that opened into the back of the truck, and Tony somehow managed to magically pack the truck to create a little space for Sasha. There was a couple feet of floor space, and then our armchair, so she had a soft place to hop onto. And surrounding all that were various bookcases and dressers and such (I think our mattress was on top) to keep her from getting anywhere else in the back of the truck. We laid newspaper on the floor and hoped for the best. And to our complete surprise, she only peed one time in the truck.

I should mention, too, that we didn't drive straight from Florida to Connecticut. Our first stop was New Orleans (to visit friends); then Atlanta, Georgia (again, friends); then Pennsylvania/Maryland (to visit Tony's family); and then finally Connecticut. And we were in Connecticut less than a week before making a 12-hour road trip to Prince Edward Island to vacation with my family. Poor pup probably had no clue where her true home was for a while.

Us with Sasha, Prince Edward Island, 2000

It didn't take us long to settle on a name for Sasha, though I'm not entirely sure what led us to that name. But I later found out it means "defender of mankind" and thought that was pretty cool.

I don't remember a lot of details of Sasha's puppyhood. She was your typical puppy, though... nippy and always destroying something, etc. She especially loved to dig holes, but we did a little reading and learned that if you put cayenne pepper on the edge of a hole, the dog won't keep digging there. Of course, that didn't stop her from just making new holes.

When we potty-trained her, we trained her to ring a set of jingle bells by the door, which was a "trick" that always impressed visitors. It wasn't my idea--I read it in a dog book--but it was brilliant, and easy to implement. All we had to do was ring the bells like crazy every time we took her out, talk excitedly about going potty, and soon she put it all together and realized that ringing the bells meant it was potty time. Because of the way our first apartment was situated, you couldn't see the door from anywhere in the apartment (it was kind of in its own hallway), so it was a great way to know she had to go out. She caught on so quickly, too... she was always a smart dog.

We did take her to obedience school, and though we struggled at first (especially when I had her), she did beautifully. People were always impressed by how well she listened to us and obeyed commands.

Sasha's first home, our apartment, late 2000 or early 2001

It wasn't all good times when she was a pup, though. She and I had quite a few power struggles and I tried to teach her that I was above her in the pack. She never had any issues with Tony, and I'm sure the fact that he is a guy with a deep, commanding voice, is the reason. But me... we had our moments. But once she learned her place in the pack, things were beautiful. But we always had to be careful with her around other dogs. She was never one to back down, and wouldn't take any other dog trying to dominate her. She put Ivan in his place more than once after we got him...

Ivan

I don't know when exactly we decided we wanted a second dog. Probably because it wasn't some big "decision" we wrestled with. We just adored Sasha, and kids were nowhere in the plans, and we knew we wanted another dog. A perfect opportunity presented itself when Tony's sister's dogs had a litter of puppies. The mother was a black lab and the dad was a chocolate lab (both purebred), so the litter was a mix of both kinds. Before we ever met the puppies, we both "agreed" that we'd get a chocolate one, and a male, just for variety's sake.

I don't remember if we decided on a name before or after we met the puppies (I'm thinking after), but we knew we wanted a name that "went" with Sasha's name, so I started researching Russian names. Most felt too long and complicated for a dog, and I leaned toward "Boris" for a while (mostly because I found it amusing), but we eventually agreed on Ivan.

When we met the puppies, during a visit in Christmas 2004, we did find a male chocolate one that we both liked. But then there was this scruffy little black one with wavy fur that just loved me. He would come to me when I called him, struggle to get to me when the other pups were scrambling all over my lap. I remember looking across the room at Tony one time, and Tony just smiled at me. We both just knew. So much for our chocolate lab. Ivan had picked us (me, specifically), and that was that. We figured his extra playfulness would be a good match for Sasha... little did we know that he would NEVER calm down.

He wasn't quite old enough to leave his mother yet, so Tony drove back down about a month later (January 2005) to pick him up. I remember Tony texting me a picture of Ivan, hunkered down on the front seat of the car, looking scared. Tony had a crate in the backseat, but said Ivan just kept whining, so he finally brought him to the front seat.

Ivan in his first home with us, our apartment, 2005

We quickly learned that Ivan was a big chicken. In all fairness, I know, he was a puppy, so the whole world was new to him. So maybe it's unfair to call him a chicken. But even as he got older, he was still afraid of a lot of random things.

Ivan had lived in a one-story apartment and was paper-trained, so our two biggest obstacles were getting him to pee outside (and once snow covered the ground, we had a new challenge--teaching him that it was OK to pee on the snow... Tony even scraped snow away to reveal the grass, to prove to Ivan that it was fine to pee there) and teaching him to manage the stairs (he was terrified of them at first, then learned to go up but was scared to go down, and finally got the hang of them).

One of the first pictures of them together, 2005

As for how he and Sasha got along... well... I mentioned that Sasha is a pretty dominant dog. And based on "pack mentality" she was obviously the alpha. And Ivan was just a dumb puppy. She had to put him in his place many times, resulting one time in a gash on his nose that left a permanent scar, and resulting another time in him losing a baby tooth because she knocked it loose. And we knew all this scuffling was to be expected, and that we had to let them work it out. And they did. Though we often got the feeling, through the years, that Sasha was merely tolerating Ivan. But Ivan adored her. He adored everyone, actually.

You can see a couple marks on his nose here, from scuffles with Sasha, 2005

You would be hard-pressed to find a more loving dog than Ivan. I don't think I ever once saw him be mean. Oh, sure, he'd bark up a storm when someone came to the door (and being a huge, male dog, he had quite an impressive bark), but as soon as the door was opened, his tail was wagging and he was eager to make a new friend. We always joked that if someone ever broke into our house, he would love them to death.

As for his fur... like I said, both his parents were purebred labs. But as he grew, his wavy coat turned into longish, wavy and almost curly fur. I really don't know how to explain that... recessive gene? I don't know enough about genetics to wager a guess. I never wanted a long-haired dog because I knew grooming would be a pain (and it was), but I had to admit his coat was gorgeous. Everyone always commented on it. We used to joke that he was a "dumb jock"... pretty to look at, but totally stupid. We said that lovingly, of course.

When we decided to have a baby, of course the dogs were a concern, as far as how they would adjust to this new creature, how we could prepare them, etc. We did all we could do, but ultimately, we knew time would tell. We were more worried about Sasha, since we knew she had an aggressive streak, and less worried about Ivan, since he was just a big dumb lovebug. Sasha was great, though. Again, it seemed like she "tolerated" Ari in the same way she tolerated Ivan, but we never had any "scares" with the 2 of them. And of course we taught Ari how to behave with the dogs and kept them supervised, so we weren't putting all the responsibility on Sasha.

But Ivan, he was fantastic with Ari. She could do ANYthing to him (and I have pictures to prove it), and he wouldn't mind. He was almost desperate for affection... we joked that you could beat him, and he would still nuzzle you and beg for more. Again, we taught Ari how to handle him, and would scold her if she pulled his fur or sat on him or anything like that, but it didn't matter to Ivan. It was almost like he was thrilled to have a playmate who adored him as much as he adored her, since Sasha wasn't quite that into him. He really was Ari's dog, and the perfect dog for a kid to have.

My favorite picture of Ivan and Ari together, November 2008

I could go on and on about the 2 of them, but this is plenty long enough, and like I said, I just wanted to tell the basic stories of how they joined our family. I'll end with a couple more pictures...

Fall 2009

The last picture I have of them together, July 2010

A workshop, a party, and a parade (and more)

Saturday morning, we went to our second Home Depot Kids' Workshop. This month's project was a picture frame, which you can kind of see in this picture. I guess Ari was more excited about the certificate.

After that, we ran a few errands, including picking out a birthday gift for Ari's friend Molly, whose party was that afternoon. The party was small, but the kids had a great time playing together, and we ended up hanging out for a while after the "official" party end-time.

Sunday evening, I somehow got talked into taking Ari to the town's "torchlight parade" by a few friends... which, as you might guess by the name, doesn't start until after dark. I guess they do this every year, where they dress up all the firetrucks in Christmas lights and put on a little parade. I wasn't too thrilled about the idea of going out in the cold weather, but these are the things you do when you're a parent, so I bundled us both up and off we went. The parade wasn't all that long, which was fine, because it was plenty cold. Even Ari was complaining about it at the end.

Funny side story... some of the firefighters who were marching in the parade were handing out mini candy canes. When one of them handed one to Ari, I prompted her with "What do you say?" She immediately said, "I don't like this." Wrong answer, monkey.

Steelers won last night, so woo hoo for that.

One last thing before I go... Ari's latest artistic creation. That's her in the middle, with our house on the left and an apple tree on the right.

Weekend highlights and pictures

That title is so boring, blah. But at least you know what this entry is about.

OK, so a quick recap of the long, long weekend. Thanksgiving Day was good... plenty of food, good company, etc. I didn't take any pictures, but my mom did, so I'm stealing these from her Facebook page...

Me and Tony...

Our spread. Toward the bottom of the pic, you can see the "placecards" my SIL Jess made... they're supposed to be little Mayflowers, with a pretzel-stick mast and candy corn inside the cup. She's so crafty.

I think Mom caught Ari by surprise. Or, maybe, caught her being up to no good.

Friday, we spent most of the day shopping. We didn't go out ridiculously early, but we still managed to find some good deals, and made a dent in our Christmas shopping list. Highlight of the day for Tony was finding the Polamalu jersey he wanted. He's been wanting a Steelers jersey, and he found a great deal at a store in the mall a few weeks ago, but all they had was Roethlisberger. He went ahead and got it anyway, and asked them to call him if they got a Polamalu in. This past Friday, since we were at the mall anyway, he decided to check the store again, and lo and behold, there was his Polamalu jersey. He got a great deal on both jerseys. And I guess this means I'm done Christmas shopping for him, so I'm happy too.

Later on, we were in another store, a gift and collectibles type of store. The owner came over to us and was telling us about their sales. When he was done, Ari said to me, "I wish I could buy something." She had 3 pennies in her hand--change from another store that we'd given to her.

I gently told her, "Well, sweetie, I don't think there's anything in this store you can buy for 3 pennies."

The shop owner looked down at Ari and said, "Wanna prove Mommy wrong?" Then he picked a rooster Beanie Baby off the shelf and handed it to her. "How about I sell this to you for 3 pennies?"

She nodded slowly, while I just blurted, "Are you serious?" And he was. So my little rascal got herself a $5.99 Beanie Baby for 3 cents. I'm pretty sure that was the highlight of her day... she hasn't let that rooster out of her sight since then.

And the highlight of my day? Discovering these in Wal-Mart...

Yes, they taste just like the Girl Scout cookies. So, so good.

Saturday, we decorated for Christmas--mainly, putting up the tree. We're going to do outdoor lights this year, but we need to take some measurements and then buy some before we can make that happen. Ari was even more excited about the tree than she was last year.

Ari putting the very first ornament on the tree--her new Barbie ornament. (Every year, we buy her a new ornament, and now that she's a little older, she helps pick it out.)

It lights up... I think that's the reason she likes it so much.

Wearing one of our Santa hats...

Since she didn't smile in the first shot, I tried to coax her into smiling for the next one, and this was the response I got...

Well, Merry Christmas to you, too, Miss Sulky.

Sunday was a fairly normal day... church, then lunch. And then the satellite receiver on the TV in the living room died on us. The receivers on the other TVs work fine, so it seems like some wiring went bad or something? Tony got on the phone with tech support and they had him try a bunch of stuff, none of which worked. So they're sending a technician out--but the soonest he can get here is Wednesday. Tony was bummed that he didn't get to watch his Steelers win.

And now, 'tis Monday... should be a fairly quiet, normal week. Probably the last one for a while, because it's going to be December by the end of the week, and then the holiday madness really starts. Bring it on!

Spice rack shelf type thing

Saturday morning, I took Ari to Home Depot for one of their Kids' Workshops. I'd heard of these workshops before, and finally decided to look into them. Their website says they are for ages 5-12, but I figured she was close enough. And there were definitely a couple kids that were younger than her, so I didn't feel bad.

The project was a spice rack (though if you ask Ari what it is, she'll tell you it's a shelf). Here she is, hard at work.

And the final product. We'll leave out the part where I tell you that I put it together the wrong way the first time around.

I caught her right between smiles here.

The best thing about this was that it was entirely free. Not only did she get to do the project, but she got an apron and a pin, and will get a pin each time she completes a project. They also gave her a sticker sheet and 2 coloring pages. She was in heaven.

I went on a little baking binge last night. (Did I mention we went apple picking on Saturday? Because, you know, we needed more apples.) I made brownies, another apple pie, and something called "apple crunch dessert." It reminds me of a cobbler, except the topping is a bit crunchy instead of being soft. It tasted good, so that's all that matters.

You want thingamabobs? I've got 20.

Or, at least, I have Halloween pictures.

Saturday evening, we finally got around to carving our pumpkins. Ari chose Minnie Mouse for her pumpkin, and I got tasked with carving it. It occurred to me... I think this might be the first pumpkin I've ever carved. It was certainly the most intricate. I had to "freehand" a few spots because I wasn't able to trace the pattern correctly, but all in all, I think it came out well. Ari liked it, so that's all that matters.

Tony carved the bigger pumpkin, using 2 different patterns--a spiderweb with some added ghosts.

And here are both the pumpkins, lit up on our doorstep on Halloween night.

And another shot of the pumpkins, using the flash. We set out a basket of candy since we wouldn't be home.

In the evening, we headed to a friend's house for trick-or-treating... it's become a tradition to go trick-or-treating in their neighborhood with a group of friends, and it seems our group grows a little every year. It's a lot of fun because it gives us grown-ups plenty of company as we wander around.

I got a couple shots of Ari, as Ariel, before we got going. Excuse the bizarre "smile."

Oops, forgot her magic wand.

A closer shot of her hair. I think it came out really good. It was definitely the perfect Ariel color. The only problem was that even after it dried, it rubbed off on her clothes and on the seat of the car. But it washed right out of her hair with no problem later on, so I'm sure it will come out of everything else just as easily.

And the whole gang. We've got a vampire, a knight, a mummy, and a hippie in the back row... Super Girl, Ariel, and Barbie in the next row down... and then little Joey, who wanted to be "an egg" (his mom made the costume).

And then off we went. All the kids seemed to have a great time, and in true princess style, Ari got tired out pretty quickly and insisted on riding in the wagon the rest of the time. She even skipped several houses because she didn't feel like getting out from under the blanket we brought. Can't say that I blame her, though--I was pretty chilly myself about an hour or so into it.

And now it's Monday, and it's November... where has this year gone?

Indulge me

Indulge me for a moment, will you? Just a few favorites of mine...

Ari was about 4 months old in this picture...

Ivan was always her dog...

I have no idea what the three of them were looking at, but this picture amuses me.

Ari's 2nd birthday party...

She could do anything to him, and he wouldn't care.

This may be an all-time favorite… I love the look on Ivan's face.

My sleepy Sasha...

Ivan and Sasha...

As far as I know, this is the last picture I have of them, taken on the morning of Ari's 4th birthday party. She insisted on having her picture taken with her "doggies" even though they weren't being too cooperative.

I'm OK tonight. I just miss them.

Sasha and Ivan

I let the dogs out on Tuesday night, not knowing that the 2 doors on the porch were both wide open. I let them out from the basement hatchway and then was busy getting Ari to bed. Tony was out on an errand. It wasn't until after he got home (and then a few minutes after that) that we realized the dogs were gone. I didn't know the doors were open, hadn't even thought to check for that.

He started off walking, and then went to driving, searching for both of them, while I stood at the end of the driveway like a helpless idiot, staring up and down the street, hoping to catch sight of them. Tony would circle back now and then, and ask if I'd seen anything.

And then, on one of his trips back, he pulled into the driveway. "Did Ivan come back?" he asked.

"No," I replied, wondering if that meant he had Sasha with him.

"Sasha is dead," he said grimly, getting out of the car.

"What?" I replied, hoping I'd heard him wrong, but he repeated himself, and I wailed, "No..."

And then we both started crying. He was searching for some heavy-duty trash bags so he could go retrieve her body. A couple cops got a call about a dog being hit and pulled her off to the side of the road. As Tony was driving around, he saw those cops and stopped to ask if they'd seen 2 dogs... and then realized what happened.

I called Wayne, sobbing, asking if he could come over and stay with Ari so I could go with Tony to get Sasha. Tony tried, half-heartedly, to talk me out of it, but I insisted on going. And I didn't want him to have to do it alone.

When we got there, I knelt beside Sasha, and touched her fur for the last time. She looked somewhat normal--not badly mangled or anything--but there was blood coming out of her mouth. The cops were so nice--told me to take whatever time I needed. They were the ones that put her in the bag--and that was the part I couldn't watch.

Tony and I drove around for almost an hour after that, searching for Ivan, but there was no sign of him. Later, Tony even went out alone, again for another hour. Nothing. We left the lights on and doors open all night, in case he found his way home.

Ari didn't know anything yet. She was asleep when all this happened, and I took her to the babysitter's on Wednesday like normal. I stayed home from work.

Tony made calls all morning on Wednesday, to the police, the pound, the nearby school, friends, animal hospitals, etc.--no one had seen Ivan at all, but all those people were keeping an eye out for him.

We had some errands to do that day, but before that, Tony wanted to search for Ivan one more time, in daylight and on foot. And we found Ivan. He was right across the street from where Sasha got hit, huddled under a tree. We must have driven by that spot 2 or 3 times the night before, calling for him. But I guess he was too hurt and/or scared to come out. I was the first one to spot him, and he wagged his tail for me. But we had to coax him out, and he came out slowly, carefully. Obviously injured.

We took him to the vet, and he was just too badly injured... we chose to put him down. We had some alone time with him. We both said our goodbyes. He just lay there, looking so sad and weak. So not like himself.

Tony rented a machine from a nearby company--something like a miniature backhoe, I think--to dig the grave for Sasha and Ivan. Pastor, Greg and Wayne all came over to help and offer support. When he was finished digging the hole, we got the dogs ready. The animal hospital put Ivan in a white cardboard box, and before we left, Tony asked them if we could have an empty one for Sasha. So we had to transfer her into that box, which was... it was hard. Tony kept asking if I was sure I wanted to help him do it, and I insisted I was, though I honestly tried not to look too closely at her. We made a print of one of her paws (because the animal hospital did that with Ivan) and then wrapped her in one of her favorite blankets).

I helped Tony carry the boxes from the shed to where we were going to bury them, but then Greg helped him get them down into the hole. Tony and I stood there for a few moments with our arms around each other. He asked if I wanted to say anything and I said no--I'd said what I needed to say already. Tony whispered a quiet goodbye. Tony and I threw the first shovelfuls of dirt in, and then the guys helped us with the rest.

Ari's babysitter agreed to keep her later than normal, since we didn't want Ari to have to watch the burial process. We were originally planning to tell her as soon as she got home, but then we realized she would be getting home close to bedtime, and it didn't seem fair to tell her something like that and then send her off to bed, so we decided to wait until this morning.

After we buried the dogs, we had some free time before the babysitter was going to bring Ari home, so we went to a nearby craft store and bought some fake flowers--basically, a set from each of the 3 of us--to put on the dogs' grave.

When Ari woke up Thursday morning, she crawled into bed with us like usual. I got her breakfast and then dozed off a little longer while she watched TV. Eventually, though, she woke us both up. She lost interest in her TV show and began burrowing under the covers, goofing off and playing. And then suddenly she was saying, "I'm a dog, woof woof!" and Tony and I looked at each other across the top of her head and knew that this was the time.

And so... we told her. We told her the truth, as carefully and simply as we could. We didn't want to tell her they "took a trip" or "went to sleep and will never wake up" or anything that might confuse or scare her more than necessary. As we told her, I watched her face fall and her voice get sad, and I... I don't think I thought she would understand it so well. I was glad to have Tony to "tag team" with--to take over talking when I was too emotional, and for me to be able to do the same for him. We talked for a little while, answering her questions, and then talked to her about how we buried them in the yard and if she wanted to, we would take her to see it. She agreed, so we all got up to get dressed. She went to go potty while I found clothes for her, and no sooner had she gotten in the bathroom than I heard her crying. I ran in to her and just held her. "I'm crying because I miss Sasha and Ivan," she said, and I cried with her and told her I missed them too, and that it was OK to cry.

When we got to their grave, we talked to Ari a little more, and told her which dog was in which spot. Ari chose to place her flowers in the middle, between the 2 dogs, and I placed mine near Sasha and Tony placed his near Ivan. Ari played around in the soft dirt a little, drawing pictures for the dogs with her fingers and writing random letters. Then she pretended to plant flowers in the dirt, using rocks as seeds. We told her in the springtime, we can plant some real flowers, and she liked that idea. Tony asked her if she wanted to say goodbye to them, or say anything about them, and she said no. But then, a few minutes later, on her own, we heard her softly say, "Good-bye, Sasha and Ivan."

As we walked back inside, she said to me, "Thank you for showing me where you buried Sasha and Ivan" in such a small, solemn voice. I didn't know what else to say other than "You're welcome." And then I told her she can go "visit" them anytime she wants to. After we got inside, she seemed to be better. I got myself ready and came in to work late.

There's so much more in my head and in my heart... I feel like I'm just telling the facts here, and not much else. I told Tony yesterday that I feel like the sadness comes in waves... like I'll be fine one minute, and then the next, I'm bawling, and sometimes the oddest little things trigger it. There are certain things I am trying not to dwell on, trying not to beat myself up for. But honestly, the hardest part so far has been watching Tony and Ari suffer. Tony... I have known him for 16 years now, and I have never, NEVER seen him cry the way he did on Wednesday. And Ari, my sweet Ari... I knew she would understand on some level, but I think I underestimated how well she would understand, how immediate and pure her sorrow would be. I know, though, that we will all be OK.

And before I go, I want to thank you all for your support. I appreciate your kind words and your love so much, more than you know.

Sasha and Ivan

RIP Sasha (3/29/00 to 9/14/10)
RIP Ivan (10/16/04 to 9/15/10)

My little gymnast

Ari started her gymnastics class on Friday night, and because I'm a total nerd, I took a picture of her before we left. Yes, that's a chocolate chip cookie in her hand... great snack, right? And don't blame me for the sandals/socks combo... I wanted her to wear sneakers, and she insisted on the sandals, and I didn't fight it. Whatever footwear she had, she'd be removing it once we got there, since they don't allow "street shoes" on the floors.

When we got there, the waiting area was crammed full of parents and kids. It was a bit crazy. We managed to find a couple empty seats, and I struck up a conversation with the mom next to me, since she had a little girl who looked to be about Ari's age and who I thought might be in Ari's class. Turns out, I was right. Her daughter, Hayley, was 5, and had been taking classes at this dance school for 2 years. I tried to introduce Ari to Hayley, but she did her shy thing and buried her face in Tony's shoulder and refused to say hi.

When it came time to send her in, she lingered in the doorway a little. That other mom (I never did catch her name... I'm not as good at chatting up strangers as Tony is) encouraged Hayley to take Ari in with her, which I thought was so sweet, but Ari refused. I was bracing myself, at that point, for Ari to refuse to go to class, but after another minute or so, with a little gentle coaxing from me (just stuff like, "Look, all the other kids are in there, so it's time for class to start"), she walked right in. She was still a bit hesitant, walking slowly instead of bounding in, but she never looked back. The teacher began to take attendance, and when she called Ari's name, Ari barely raised her hand, so it took the teacher a second to find her. After that, Ari glanced our way, so we waved goodbye to her, and she gave us a small smile and waved back, like it was no big deal. I was so proud of her.

Her dance studio happens to be right next door to a Friendly's, so the half-hour that her class lasted was the perfect amount of time for us to grab some ice cream to go, eat it, and then pick her up. We got back there right as the teacher was handing out stickers to all the kids, and for whatever reason, Ari was the last to get one. When she turned and saw me, she broke out in a huge grin, ran to me, and threw her arms around my leg. And then, we could not shut her up. She went on and on and on about her class and all the cool stuff they did the whole way home. And once we got home, she wasted no time in showing me all the things they'd done in class. Oh, and the shoes we'd ordered for her had arrived, though we didn't get them until her class was over... so we let her put them on and prance around the house for a while, and she just thought she was hot stuff.

I can't tell you how happy I am that she enjoyed her class so much. I figured she would, but she can be a bit shy and/or stubborn sometimes, so you just never know with her.

Also, I should add that I managed to get a lot more unpacking and organizing done this weekend, and even though there are still boxes and random piles of stuff lying around, this place is starting to really feel like home, and I just love it.

Oh, by the way, we bought a house

Well, if you haven't seen my update on Twitter/Facebook or heard from someone else... we just bought a house. Got the keys yesterday, and are planning The Big Move this weekend. So... you guys want to see pictures of the house? Of course you do! There's a lot... just a warning.

OK, so... tada! The front. And my awesome little car.



And as you walk under the carport, you come to this little room... I don't know what to call it. It's not a garage. We've been calling it a porch, but that doesn't sound right. Anyway, whatever it is, it's extra storage, so woo hoo.



See? All kinds of room for stuff. I'm thinking we'll keep the grill in here, so we can grill no matter what the weather. And we might make a little spot for the dogs too, so they can come in out of the rain or whatever. (They're indoor dogs, but still... they have to be outside sometimes, and if they have a little covered spot, then I won't feel bad about leaving them out there.)



And then when you walk out that last door, you have our backyard. Ari is so, so excited about having her own pool. (And, bonus... our neighbors on both sides have pools, so I'm hoping they can help us figure out how to take care of ours.) Tony is excited about the huge shed. And see those trees? Just beyond them is the elementary school Ari will attend next year. And even better... a few houses down from us is a paved walkway to the school. And if we wanted to, we could make a little gate in our back fence, clear some trees, and make a little connecting walkway to the main walkway... that's how close it is. (Oh, and by the way, that's my dad, my brother Pete, and my mom, along with Ari, in this shot.)



And if you walk out in the yard and turn around, here's the back of the house. Not too impressive, I know. But there's a decent-sized concrete patio.



OK, inside the house. When you walk in the side door that's under the carport, the first room you enter is the kitchen. All new Pergo floor. And I love the tile backsplash. And all the cabinet space.



And when you turn around, there's this nice little window that opens into the living room.



And the living room, from one angle... that's the front door on the left.



And from the other end of the room. Lovely bay window, and a fireplace with wood stove (that currently is not working, but oh well).



And as you walk down the hall, this is the first room on your right... a third bedroom, technically (since it has a closet), but we'll be using it as the office/dining room.



There's a built-in hutch at the front of the room.



And the bathroom. It's got this Victorian feel to it... check out the old-fashioned toilet. I love the sink/vanity. And you can't see the ceiling, but it's an antique-ish tin ceiling.



There's even a stained-glass window. I'm thinking the owner of the house made this himself... he had a huge workshop in the basement, and there were a couple pieces of stained glass down there.



And an old clawfoot tub... and a built-in cabinet with a stained-glass door.



Guess whose room this is going to be?



And, our room. (Just wait... it gets better.)



Vaulted ceiling AND a skylight. I may never leave this room...



And one last shot of Ari... she was all proud of herself for figuring out how to climb up into this window in the living room.



And there you have it. As you saw in that backyard pic, my parents and brother came to see the house last night. My parents had seen it a couple months ago, just before we made an offer, but Pete hadn't seen it, and he's leaving for college in a few days. I took them all there myself with Ari, while Tony ran an errand. Once he got there, I took Ari home, since she hadn't had dinner yet. When Tony got home later, he said, "Oh, I met one of our new neighbors."

"Of course you did," I said, smiling. And he went on to tell me that she has two older kids, about 15 and 20, and on and on... so I guess they must have had a lengthy conversation. Which, again, is no surprise. I've no doubt he'll end up meeting several more neighbors before we even move in.