As of last week, my parents officially live in Richmond. This is exciting for a bunch of reasons—chief among them: free babysitting. We’re thrilled to have them close by, roughly 15 minutes away, so they can drop by on short notice and lend a hand with the kids. Beyond the obvious convenience, it’s been fun to watch them settle into their new neighborhood, tackle small projects around the house (often with a little family help), and swap stories about the move as they make the place their own. If you follow us on Flickr, you may have noticed we didn’t waste any time breaking in their new community pool once the moving truck left.

Three days after they closed on the new house, my parents celebrated their 39th wedding anniversary—which happened to fall just before my mom’s birthday. May tends to be a busy month for our family when it comes to celebrations. Since 39 years doesn’t fall on one of the classic anniversary gift milestones (35th is coral or jade, 40th is typically ruby), my sisters and I wanted to give them something meaningful that honored the long chapter they just closed: the 32 years they lived in their previous home. This gift was in addition to a small painting we gave them the month before as a moving present.

My mom has long collected The Cat’s Meow keepsakes—those small wooden blocks that are cut and painted to represent buildings, landmarks, and sentimental places. She’s particularly fond of pieces that capture places with special meaning to our family: the Dolles taffy shop in Rehoboth Beach, where we’ve vacationed for years, and the West Virginia State Capitol, a nod to her roots. When I discovered The Cat’s Meow accepted custom orders, my sisters and I decided to commission a customized pair of blocks that would celebrate our parents’ longtime home.

Using a photo of the house, the craftsmen created a custom wood block in their “My World” series. The process took roughly six weeks from order to delivery. We ordered two—one to represent the house they’d lived in for decades and another for their beach house—and paid about $99 for the pair. That price point worked well for us because there are four of us kids, and each of us chipped in $25. Small family-budget math, but the result felt priceless.

One charming detail from their standard figures is a tiny black cat that appears in the window of every piece. That little cat became the perfect stand-in for our family’s black cat, Duncan, who now lives with my sister Carrie. Seeing that small touch on the wooden replica made the gift feel even more personal and connected to family life.

The finished piece turned out beautifully. The color reads a touch bluer than the actual house—the real paint is closer to grey—so that may have something to do with the photograph we supplied. Still, the artisans captured the shape, roofline, and small architectural details in a way that felt instantly recognizable to anyone who knew the place. The company also offers the option to add a customized message to the back of the block, and I wrote a short note to summarize the memories we built in that home.

This lovely residence in Burke, Virginia became home to Tom and Kathy Petersik in 1979. Their four children, Katie, Emily, John and Carrie, loved growing up here – from playing with the other neighborhood kids in the cul-de-sac to eventually pushing their own children on the swings behind the house. In their 32 years here, [their street number] played host to Christmas mornings on the stairs, Easter egg hunts in the backyard, and countless family feasts.

To clarify one of those traditions: each Christmas morning we had a ritual of gathering the kids on the staircase for a family snapshot before everyone rushed into the living room to open presents. It sounds a little precarious now, but back then it was our way of creating a moment to remember before the chaos of gifts and wrapping paper.

We gave both wooden replicas to my parents while we were away at the beach, and they opened them this past weekend. Their reaction was everything we hoped for: sentimental smiles, laughter, and a few nostalgic stories about neighbors and family events from those 32 years. They seemed genuinely touched to have a tangible, artistic reminder of the house where they raised their children, and I think they’re planning to display these keepsakes proudly in their new Richmond home—where, incidentally, they’ll likely be available for babysitting duty on short notice.