spring break, selling a house, birthdays, and so on

A lot has been happening in our lives lately. The kids are on their third week of spring break right now. Right before break we worked hard to get the house ready to go on the market. The kids and I left for Rochester to spend their first week of break with Paul. The house went up for sale while we were gone, and we ended up getting an offer on our house within the first few days. This is a very good thing. The inspection was last week, and so far things are working out. The one down side to this offer is the buyers want to close early May, which is much earlier than the kids and I were planning to move. More on that later.

We had a great time with Paul in Rochester. I took the kids around exploring the city most of the week. We went to the Strong Museum of Play, the Seneca Park Zoo, The Rochester Museum and Science Center, saw Dinosaurs Alive at the Planetarium and even got a peak at the beach and Lake Ontario (the kids had a hard time believing it was a lake and not an ocean). We also had a lot of fun swimming in the pool in Paul's apartment building. We started looking at houses out there but didn't find our house just yet. We stayed with Paul for over a week (stopping to see family in Cleveland on both ends of the trip).

Our moving plans are to stay in this area through June, so that the kids can finish school and attend some camp in June. There is a 4H overnight camp that Kestrel has been looking forward to since last summer so we promised her we would work it out so she could still attend. The folks buying our house were pretty firm that they wanted to close early May, so that means the kids and I need to find temporary housing for May and June. I ended up finding a 3 bedroom furnished apartment in the area that will let us take a 3 month lease. It is an apartment complex geared towards students, but will work out well for our situation. I can't believe we'll be packing up and moving out of this house in less than a month!

Paul was in town with us this past weekend, which was great because we got to help him celebrate his 44th birthday. We had a nice family dinner out and the kids and I had a cake for him (Kestrel insisted we had to get Daddy a carrot cake).

Here are a few pictures from Rochester and Paul's birthday:

At the Museum of Play, inside a giant kaleidoscope

Kestrel and Cooper (below) loved this "tippy room" (as we called it). The floor was sloped down, but all the visual cues made the room look level, so it created a kind of illusion that made you feel really dizzy, and like you were going to fall off the floor.

"On my way to where the air is sweet..."

The Museum of Play had a great Sesame Street exhibit.

Shopping (and cashiering) in a kid sized Wegman's Supermarket

Cooper with the Mastodon at the Museum and Science Center

Kestrel is riding on a hoover chair. It is actually floating on a cushion of air. Very cool!

They loved watching this miniature roller coaster.

We went back to the Museum of Play so we could take a picture of Flat Stanley there. After we got the picture, we discovered this cool city park next to it, so we stopped to explore the park.

Here is Kestrel with Flat Stanley at the beach. For a school geography project, she was supposed to take pictures of Flat Stanley (who is decorated like a Flat Kestrel) in various places around a new city.

We had a really nice day on Friday so we decided to check out the Seneca Park Zoo. .

These Arctic Wolves were our favorite animals in the zoo. They were just feeding them when we were getting ready to leave, so we stopped to watch them. The food was put in a closed box and the wolves were cautiously attacking the box to get at it. It was really interesting to watch the interactions between the two of them, named Niko and Luna.

Paul's birthday cake!

At Jupiter's for dinner

9 girls who did not sleep

Kestrel had 9 of her girlfriends over last night for a birthday sleepover party. She wanted a dog theme (the girl loves dogs) and everyone got a stuffed dog when they arrived. We also had a jar of Scoobie-Doo Grahams (Scoobie Snacks we call them) and they all made guesses as to how many snacks were in the jar. The winner (which was Rachel) got to keep the jar of snacks. We had pizza for dinner, and s'mores for dessert. Kestrel had been talking about s'mores for her birthday for many months, including asking us if we could get a fire pit. We finally told her we would try to make s'mores on the gas grill out on the deck. Unknown to Kestrel and me, Paul and Cooper had gone out earlier in the day and bought a fire pit, which was a great surprise. It was pretty cold outside, but the hardest part about s'mores in the winter was the wind and smoke. Still, it was quite an adventure, and I think everyone had fun trying to roast their marshmallows out in the snow. The girls also made their own fleece pillows, out of various dog prints of course! Kestrel definitely had a lot of fun, and very little sleep.

happy thanksgiving birthday!

We had a double celebration going on today: Thanksgiving and Kestrel's 9th birthday! We hosted Thanksgiving dinner at our house again, with Paul's mom, his two sisters and their families. As always, I made an apple pie and Paul cooked everything else (very delicious). Of course we had a special birthday cake for Kestrel. She was thrilled to get to celebrate her birthday with her cousins.

The cake! We got her an ice cream cake from her favorite ice cream shop, made with oreo and cookie dough ice cream. Also on the desert menu were pumpkin pie and apple pie, of course.

Kestrel requested extra whip cream on her slice!

Cooper, Erica and Kestrel.

The kids' table

Kestrel thanking Cooper for the present he gave her

With her FurReal Kitty

She got matching pajamas for herself and her doll Nellie.

an afternoon adventure

Yesterday we had Cooper's birthday party with his friends. Lately Cooper's hero is Indiana Jones, so he asked for an Indiana Jones party.

We decided to turn our swing set into a cave (tented drop clothes over the frame), and decorated the inside with lots of snakes, spiderwebs, and skeletons.

We started with a treasure hunt. They all got shoulder bags to carry their treasures and instructions on what to find.

The birthday boy checking out his found treasures.

Playing Pass the Crystal Skull, or "Hot Crystal Skull" as Cooper called it.

Friends and cake - what could be more fun?

We made a Lost Ark and filled it with candy. The kids got to come get candy out of the ark.

Under the swing set checking out their candy loot, and making a few trades.

cooper is 6!

Today is Cooper's birthday. We tried to make the day special for him. He made a special request for Trix cereal for breakfast, which he got. Cooper spent the day at Intersession Camp (both of them are off of school for a 3 week intersession) at a local recreation center. He brought cupcakes to share with the other campers. We had an early dinner at Jupiters (a restaurant that has pizza and games), and then after Kestrel's soccer game we came home for cake and presents.



Cooper got a Nintendo DS from Mom and Dad and a fish tank from Kestrel. He had been asking for a fish for quite a while, and Kestrel really wanted to be the one to give him the tank. She helped me pick it out, and she chose the gravel and plants to go in it. After we get it set up we'll take Cooper to the pet store so he can pick out his fish.
Kestrel set her alarm so she can get up early tomorrow and play with Cooper on their Nintendos (it was too late tonight).

happy birthday paul!

43 today! Kestrel, Cooper and I made Paul a cake to celebrate his birthday - carrot cake, his favorite! Kestrel wrote the message on the cake in her newly learned cursive, and Cooper made the carrot decorations.

birthday sleepover

Kestrel had a slumber party with 3 of her friends Friday night to celebrate her birthday. They made their own tacos for dinner, danced to High School Musical 2, decorated their own cupcakes, played hot potato (Kestrel insisted they use an actual, hot potato) and watched Ratatouille. The girls slept in the basement. Well, eventually they slept. They didn't go to sleep until after 2am! In the morning they had pancakes before the girls got picked up. Kestrel's first sleepover party was, in her words, "the best birthday ever!"

The party guests: Olivia, Kestrel, Rachel and Amy