March 2000- Pitre 1

The Pitre Family

Kyriakos, 50, Hero, 55, Fionnghuala, 14, Rhiannon, 10, Ailill, 6

Narrated by Hero

With half of the children out on their own Kyriakos and I were considering a change, maybe doing some renovations in the house, letting the kids redo their bedrooms, fun things like that. Then Kyriakos got a substantial bonus. After talking things over for a while we decided that we were tired of being cramped. We couldn't have family over without being crowded and feeling like we were all on top of each other.

And the kids didn't have much of a yard to play in, which meant they ended up taking over the house or playing out front in the street.

 And now that the kids were getting older I really didn't need my office to be in the living room, anymore. I had been hoping to find a way to add a study during the renovations.

I was comfortable in the house, having raised Abbey, Caoimhe, and Riordan in it, and they loved coming home to visit. I was hesitant to leave their childhood home.

But Kyriakos and I couldn't imagine having all of the kids and their spouses over once they began to settle down. And once grandkids started to come? There would have been no way we could have fit them in the house comfortably. So we moved. We took out a loan to cover the extra for redecorating such a large place, but I think it has been a great decision. I thought the kids would hate the new place, but they really love it. The first thing Ailill and Fionnghuala did was take advantage of the new living room. They love the open space.

And Ailill has a new found interest in the outdoors. He has spent so much more time outside since we've moved. It has been really amazing. I don't know if it's the mass amount of yard we have to explore or just him growing up, but he's out there every chance he gets. He collects bugs,

And plays in the garden,

And waits for me to get home from work.

I invited a couple of my siblings, Caspar and Echo, over to visit and Caspar brought his two kids, Antonio and Rosa. Echo's boys were all busy, Declan and Reuben were at school (they're a year ahead of Riordan) and Troy had his hands full with his three babies, but we had a great time talking and catching up.

I'm not quite so sure the kids had as great of a time as we did. Rhiannon couldn't have cared less what Rosa had to say.

And Antonio seemed to get more and more angry the more Fionnghuala spent time with him.

Luckily Rosa and Ailill found common ground, but that could have to do with the fact that he likes everyone he meets.

Eventually they all found something they could enjoy together, the swings! Yes, even our 14 and 15 year olds played on the swings with the younger kids. I don't think Rosa and Tony have a swing set, and we didn't have one at our old place so it was definitely a novelty item for the kids.

By the end of the evening the kids were nice and comfortable with each other and good naturedly picking on each.

Caspar was tempted to step in when it looked like Tony wanted to flip Fionnghuala over his shoulder but they calmed down pretty quickly after that.

The one con I've noticed so far is Ailill's sudden obsession with animals. He has even decided to make friends with a local stray.

I wouldn't mind if this was simply him asking repeatedly for a pet of his own, but he let a random stray dog into the house and it then attempted to destroy Rhiannon's homework. She shouldn't have left it on the floor in the first place, but the dog should not have been in the house.

Already we're finding that this house is so much nicer for entertaining and the older kids really love it too. They came home for a nice dinner over the weekend and Caoimhe brought her boyfriend, Arsenio.

Oddly enough, he and Kyriakos hit it off right away. I was surprised since Caoimhe is our oldest and first child to be in a long-term relationship that actually seemed like it was going anywhere. I expected him to be much more hesitant.

Arsenio even took time out to make Ailill feel important. It must be all of his experience with his nieces and nephews. He seems to really love kids.

Rhiannon and Ailill got a little full of themselves while their older siblings were around.

Fionnghuala didn't really seem to care. She spent the whole time painting and ignoring everyone. At least she stayed in the living room instead of hiding out in her bedroom.

After the kids left it was pretty quiet. This larger house means all of the children can go upstairs to their bedrooms and we don't hear much of anything. It's a lot different than the tiny house was. We used to be able to hear the kids no matter what room they were in. This is going to take some getting used to. I guess we'll just have to continue having family and friends over to visit often.