pets

Performances and Puppies!

After months of inquiries as to when it would happen, the girls attended their spring dance recital earlier this month, for both tap and ballet. After Harper’s solo dance class last spring, Emerie and Reagan begged to join so they could perform on the big stage like Harper. Custom costumes for each routine made for some excited little girls, and the big evening happened on an already big day, the last day of school.

Attending another ballet school’s performance the weekend prior also amped up the excitement. The Alice in Wonderland theme was really fun and everyone dressed up for the occasion, including Papa Cliff! The girls kept saying I looked beautiful -just for wearing a skirt- and all wanted do pose for photos and wear crowns. Craig went all out and did temporary hair color for each kiddo and everyone was ready for an evening downtown.

To our surprise at the girls’ show, Emerie turned out as the crowd pleaser, waving constantly and ensuring she was in the front of the group. Harper attempted to stay close to Miss Jess just like last year; while Reagan was more shy and stayed toward the back, focusing on her footwork. It took a bit to figure out who was who from so far back in the auditorium, and even then I wasn’t completely sure I was right on Harper and Reagan. Doing the same hairstyle and costume and a significant distance equals difficulty!!

The girls were excited for “real” eyeshadow and my eyeliner, and did pretty well to not smear it everywhere. Harper ripped her tights after the first dance and although displeased, thankfully didn’t throw a fit over it. Also unlike last year, Craig didn’t have to carry a screaming, overtired toddler to the car; all three did great after the picture with their teachers and some much needed French fries; bedtime routine was smooth sailing after a long night.

Another fun event that week, arguably the best run kid event ever, was the annual Anchorage Fire Department’s spring open house, at the training station over by the hospital. It was seriously the most fun event, with an immediate stop at the free face painting, a hotdog snd hot chocolate lunch due to the cold temperatures, and tons of activities to try and things to climb on. Don’t forget the bouncy houses and shaved ice!

Everyone climbed in the fire trucks and asked the kind firefighter five thousand questions about all the buttons; I had to pry Reagan away as she kept thinking of new things to ask. Everyone tried drilling concrete (with ear protection of course!), smashing soda cans and crumpling wood piles with the cool power tools. All in all, it was a really well done event, even with the rain! We will definitely return next year.

While Papa Cliff was here for a quick visit, the girls were excited to build the girly Lego sets with him, and we were quickly reminded that building a set with three six year olds at the same time is impossible. Building with two is actually doable. All three definitely demanded turns and they are improving on putting them together.

With summer’s arrival and the ground completely thawed, we finally buried our sweet kitty Rory, who spent the past two months solidly frozen in the garage freezer (unbeknown to the girls!). About two years ago we did this with Rafi and impressively the girls remembered that and knew what to do. Everyone sprinkled rose petals on him from their dance bouquets from Craig and added a million dandelions atop the dirt. It’s never easy to bury a beloved pet, but as death is still a part of our lives, I believe it is good to share the experience and talk about it, and prepare them for something that is not enjoyable, but happens in real life. They did great; Reagan needed some hugs but otherwise all were satisfied decorating his resting spot and asking questions about him in heaven with Rafi. Yes, Emerie still verified that his head was indeed still attached to his body….just in case that changed since she last inquired.

Decorating Rory one last time!

Unrelated to the burial service, Craig convinced me and the girls that adopting a puppy was the logical next step for our household. While this is continuing topic in our lives, he managed to find a super calm, five month old lab mix to bring home to love. The best part…in my opinion? She chews EVERYTHING, so all toys and clothes have to stay off the floor. That’s an instant way to convince kids to clean up after themselves, don’t you think?? The poor little teether is finding all kinds of goodies to enjoy, including our feet, cat toys, real mice, and the handles off bags. Seems like we have another toddler in the house. Just like with Rosie, the girls unanimously agreed with Harper’s first name suggestion, Gemma, and insist she sparkles like a gem or diamond. Insightful, right?

So we ease into summer with an empty, cat less freezer, and a new, sweet pup. If we can potty train three toddlers at once, we should be able to train one pup…I think!

❤

Death Discussions & Dancing

Death discussions continue to occur around our household since we told the girls about our beloved “senior” kitty Rory going up to heaven. It happened immediately after the girls’ birthday party a couple weeks ago and during our Monday Seward day holiday. He was likely deteriorating for a few days prior to us noticing, since the birthday hubbub kept us all pretty busy over that weekend.

The random questions crack me up when I focus on how they are funny and not sad. For example:

  • How does Rory get to heaven?
  • What happened to his head?
  • We need to bring a hair drier outside and melt the snow so we can put him in the ground.
  • Why did he have to go to heaven?
  • What happens to his bones?
  • How does he float up to heaven?
  • When you get old do you die? Does that mean you and dad are going to die soon…because you are old? Dad is older than you, does he die first?!
  • If you die when you get old, does that mean I die when I get old?
Our first kitties as adults, Rafi and Rory, now both in heaven!

This month everyone is on a tangent about being old and death but haven’t spiraled too bad from it yet, and the girls randomly got stuck on Rory losing his head during his end. To be clear, there was no head loss with our kitty, more so kidney failure and euthanizing, which we did not explain in detail and did not bring the girls to witness. Their head loss questions probably relate to Mr. Rooster losing his after sassing Grandma Sue a while back, and it’s hilarious they still remember that after almost two years.

Their comprehension of the entire topic overall is impressive. They casually bring up the kitten in conversation and that they miss him, and want to participate in the back yard funeral once the ground is thawed, like we did for Rafi.

After a little time we opted to shop around the municipal pound for another young cat to pair up with the now solo Winston. The girls did pretty well looking at the animals and demanded a bunny who was cutely hanging out in a hallway cage (no we are not getting a bunny!). We settled on a shy, part Siamese kitty, who instantly attached to Reagan both at the pound and after we returned home. Winston is not as impressed, but I believe he will come around. After a bit of time they are at least not hissing at one another!

As the new baby gets used to her new home- who is named Rosie in an unusually unanimous decision by the girls- she is almost over the cold she gave Winston and settling well into our family life. Even better, she’s filling the gap of us missing Rory and continues to snuggle all night in bed with the grownups while Winston tends to stay with the sleeping girls. A bit of an adjustment but everything appears to be working out!

In happier and unrelated news, the girls attended their first Broadway show as part of a class field trip this week, seeing Aladdin! It is reasonable to say the parents were probably more excited than the kids for this event, but overall I believe everyone enjoyed it. The music and characters were great, as well as the storyline modified to fit a live show; what really wowed me was the intricate costumes and the set changes, which were SO amazing. All three wore variations of Jasmine dresses and ooohed over the sparkly outfits and songs they recognized from the movie. I didn’t go to a Broadway show until this year; pretty great they are starting early at age six!

All three sat through it pretty well, with a demand for a snack at intermission; but overall there was minimal fidgeting or disruption and no potty breaks in the middle of it. I’m already receiving requests to listen to the new songs that don’t reside in the movies. It’s exciting to know they are now old enough to cooperate for longer, more grown up shows and we aren’t always a public spectacle (other than for the cuteness part!). Everyone left the show with a gold lamp necklace, not the full sized, solid gold lamp they wanted, and I’m ready for the next show to come. Exciting times!