• Second "Meetcha Day" celebration; exactly two years since the boys and I met each other; the first day of our third year together
• Made Frech Toast for breakfast
• Swam, dressed up a bit, and went to Medieval Times for dinner
• Nicky and Zack really got into cheering for "our" knight and booing the others

Mon, 03 July 2006

Opthamologist appointments for Nicky, Zack, and Daddy

Mon, 04 July 2006

• Independence Day
• Parade down Independence Street
• Fireworks at Oak Point

Sat, 08 July 2006

Second "Adoptcha Day" anniversary; two years exactly since the judge banged the gavel

Thu, 13 July 2006

Second "Gotcha Day (Ukraine)" anniversary; two years exactly since I took physical custody

Tue, 18 July 2006

Second "Gotcha Day (USA)" anniversary; two years exactly since the boys became U.S. citizens and saw their new home

Wed, 09 August 2006

• First day of 1st grade for Zack
• First day of 2nd grade for Nick

Fri, 11 August 2006

• Nicky lost his last (for now) baby tooth. He should keep all the remaining teeth until he's around twelve.
• Zack is jealous—he still has all of his baby teeth
• Nicky is growing up another way, too—he figured out that I'm the tooth fairy

Mon, 19 September 2006

Nicky figured out that I'm Santa Claus, too. Instead of being upset, he was pleased to find out all the presents had been from me. I had to threaten him within an inch of his life to keep from running to tell Zack about Santa. I figure Zack has another two years of believing, and I don't want Nicky spoiling it. I'm not sure what's going to happen to our Christmas tradition of having Nicky tell the Santa story for the video camera....

Little brains work very oddly. He asked me quite directly if I were really Santa Claus, using a most serious tone. Moments before, he had been jumping up and down in place saying he was a kitty-cat and could dance, dance, dance.

I have no idea what moved his brain from kitty-cats to Santa, but all in a twinkling he made the connection, got serious, and had to know the answer. He was still a bit unsure of the mechanics, though. After confirming that I was Santa, he wanted to know how I got all the stuff (and me) to fit down the chimney!

When I explained that the chimney was just part of the story, like the elves and the reindeer, he seemed satisfied—but then asked why I'd told him about Santa. I'd dreaded this question ever since I was a kid myself, finding out the awful truth, and wondering if I'd do the same thing to my own children. I swore I never would, but then the first Christmas happened, and somehow, without any intention of doing so, I found myself telling the boys about Santa Claus.

Weakly, I explained that parents told the Santa story because it was fun for the kids.

He thought about that for a minute, the nodded, and said, "Good. It is fun."

That's my boy!

Thursday, 05 October 2006—Saturday, 07 October 2006

• Houston, Space Center
• Galveston, beach
• Plantersville, Renaissance Festival
• See the Updates section for more details

Friday, 01 December 2006

• Zack's 7th birthday!
• Dentist checkups—no cavities either boy

Thursday, 07 December 2006

Broke the crown on tooth #18. It crumbled to pieces when I drank some coffee, so it must have been really ready to go. Pain only when breathing, drinking, or eating.

Friday, 08 December 2006

Dentist put on a temporary; I just want to make it through the holidays without worrying about my tooth. I want it pulled, and the dentist wants to make another crown. I don't want to fight about it right now.

Saturday, 09 December 2006

Combo birthday party for the boys and their friends at Planet Pizza, perhaps the loudest indoor kid-type place I've ever encountered. Went well—twelve of their friends showed up. Would have been more, but the original invitation said Sunday the 9th instead of Saturday the 9th, and some of the parents forgot about the correction and showed up on the wrong day.

Wednesday, 13 December 2006

Broke the temporary crown. Am going to tough it through without seeing the dentist again.

Friday, 15 December 2006

Uncle Tim arrived to spend the weekend with us!

Saturday, 16 December 2006

• Nicky's 9th birthday!
• We've all be going through the cycle of infecting each other with the virus that's been going around. As soon as one starts feeling better, the next one comes down with it. When we're all feeling better, it starts all over.
• Thought we had finally gotten over everything (I had the last nasty infection; the kids have been good for over a week), but then Nicky's temp shot up over 101 again this morning.
• We're having a quiet, indoorish birthday. No complaints from anyone.

Monday, 25 December 2006

Christmas Day—the big present this year was a ride-on ATV with a real working motor.

Thursday, 28 December 2006—Sunday, 31 December 2006

Off to Disney World in Florida for a post-Christmas present. Why I do these things, I'll never understand.
• Thursday: EPCOT center (and incidentally Daddy's 48th birthday)
• Friday: Magic Kingdom
• Saturday: Animal Kingdom
• Sunday: MGM Studios

  I had a five-dollar prize for whichever boy slept the longest Monday morning. Nicky won—he didn't get up until five a.m. Why they do these things, I'll never understand.

Friday, 12 January 2007

Big day in Zack's life—his first overnight stay at a friend's house. He went home from school with Ben and Jake, and stayed until 9:30 the next morning.

Zack has been begging to do this for over a year, ever since Nicky was deemed old enough. I kept telling him that I wouldn't even consider it until he was seven (although I caved and let some of his friend stay here a little bit before the deadline).

On Zack's first day of pre-Kindergarten, he said "Bye!" and disappeared into the school without a backward glance. Kindergarten was the same way. He's a very independent sort of boy. So I wasn't expecting anything other than excitement about the overnight.

Thursday night, however, as he was packing jammies for his adventure the following day, he suddenly burst into tears and sobbed for fifteen minutes. I reassured him that he could call at any time, and even reminded him that he didn't have to go at all—it was supposed to be fun, and it was his own idea. If he didn't want to go....

Nope, he wanted to go, and he did go, and he had a wonderful time.

Thursday, 08 March 2007

Spent most of January and February "looking houses"—to use the charming phrase the boys came up with to describe cruising neighborhoods. We did a lot of looking houses when the boys first came home, because it helped them get a sense of the neighborhood and understand how middle-class Americans live.

What the boys didn't know until mid-February was that all this looking houses business was because I wanted to get us a new house. I had no idea if they'd take the prospect calmly or get all upset over having yet another change in their lives.

Turns out they were excited about getting a new house, and had lots of ideas about what they liked and didn't like.

In early February, we found a house in Allen, TX that almost—but not quite—worked. During the inspection phase, after I'd put down some earnest money and told the boys we'd be moving there, I found that the cost to fix up the house would raise its value beyond the comps for that area. It just didn't make sense to put a bunch of money into a house that only almost worked, knowing that I'd never be able to get the money back.

In mid-February, just for a lark, we looked at a bunch of spec homes (new construction). We found a builder whose style matched our own needs. None of the spec homes were on the right kind of property, or in the right location, so we just remembered the name and went on looking at used houses.

Then we found a house in Murphy, TX, only 80% finished, on a lot that we loved, in an location that would work really well. It turned out to be the same builder we'd encountered before. It's only 10 miles from our current house.

After doing some due-diligence (racing around checking every other available property that might work for us, wearing out our wonderful real estate agent), I made an offer on the 80%-finished house.

On 17 February 2007, I signed the contract, and on (or near) 30 April, the house will be ours.

Since signing, I've been running around chasing vendors, getting estimates for various bits of work, shopping for furniture, having heart attack after heart attack over the cost of window treatments, and generally enjoying watching my life savings disappear down the Money Pit.

We're all terribly excited about moving. It's close enough that the boys will be able to keep in touch with their current friends, and still in the same school district, so records and special programs will transfer effortlessly.

So now you know why I haven't updated this journal very much in 2007!

Monday, 30 April 2007

Closed on the new house today! Everyone say "Yay!" with us!

Although the boys have been poking around all during construction, I thought I'd do something a little special today when we entered the house for the first time as owners.

I carried Zack across the threshold, and said, while still holding him in my arms, "Look around. This is your house now. It's my gift to you."

Then I did the same thing for Nicky.

Friday, 01 June 2007

Happy half-birthday, Zack! Seven and a half years old today!

Saturday, 16 June 2007—Friday, 06 July 2007

Happy half-birthday, Nicky! Nine and a half years old today!
• Sat 16 Jun - Hot Springs, AK
• Sun 17 Jun - Ozarks
• Mon 18 Jun - St. Louis (Six Flags, Arch)
• Tue 19 Jun - Springfield (Lincoln stuff), Dwight, IL, Pal Joey's Pizza in West Chicago
• Wed 20 Jun - Wheaton, Oak Park, Brookfield Zoo
• Thu 21 Jun - Museum of Science and Industry, Pal Joey's Pizza again
• Fri 22 Jun - Field Museum, Shedd Aquarium
• Sat 23 Jun - Gurnee/Waukegan, Six Flags Great America
• Sun 24 Jun - Sister Bay, WI
• Mon 25 Jun - Sister Bay, WI
• Tue 26 Jun - Sister Bay, WI
• Wed 27 Jun - Minneapolis, MN
• Thu 28 Jun - Minneapolis, MN
• Fri 29 Jun - Minneapolis, MN
• Sat 30 Jun - Omaha, NE
• Sun 01 Jul - Omaha, NE - Three year anniversay!
• Mon 02 Jul - Omaha, NE
• Tue 03 Jul - Omaha, NE
• Wed 04 Jul - Omaha, NE
• Thu 05 Jul - Hutchinson, KS
• Fri 06 Jul - Home again!

Wednesday, 11 July 2007

Zack saw the dentist today. He still hasn't lost any baby teeth, but just before we left for our summer trip, I found he had two adult teeth coming up behind his baby teeth. It didn't look to me as if they were close enough to the baby teeth to ever push them out, and the dentist concurs. Accordingly, on the 30th, Zack will have his bottom two front teeth extracted. His new adult teeth will then move forward on their own to fill the gap (we hope).

Friday, 13 July 2007

Both boys and I saw the eye doctor today. As suspected, we each needed a new prescription. Nicky's acuity has changed a bit, and so has mine. Zack's acuity is mostly unchanged, but his astigmatism is much worse.

Thursday, 19 July 2007

Annual checkups for both boys today. Everything looks good! They are healthy as horses. On the See How They Grow page, you can see they've gained just about three inches a year in height each. Zack is near the bottom edge for age/height, but still on the charts.

Friday, 27 July 2007

Dental checkup for Nicky today. No problems noted. The buds of more adult teeth are showing clearly in the X-rays, so sometime in the next year, he'll start losing more teeth.

Monday, 30 July 2007

• Back to the dentist for Nicky; he needed the sealant on his molars redone.
• Zack also got sealant, but more important, the dentist removed his bottom two front baby teeth. For the first time in his life, Zack got to put teeth under his pillow and have a visit from the tooth fairy. Since Nicky knows who the tooth fairy really is, I let him do it. Good practice for when he's a father himself!