One fish, two fish...

So it all began a few months ago when my mother in law Kathy went for a morning walk in our neighborhood. She happened upon a great garage sale with tons of cool kids stuff, which I then went to check out. While I was there the lady was throwing away a perfectly functional ten gallon fish tank with all the accessories. I thought that would be fun for Joshua, and would be an easy pet. Within the first few weeks we went through something like 15 fish (thank goodness for Petco's 30 day fish guarantee) and lots of teaching about the plan of salvation in fish terms. We finally learned enough to get five fish to successfully survive our fish tank for about 2 months. The kids were loving their five little fish, I was starting to feel comfortable with how to care for them and it was not too bad...after those initial few weeks of trauma. Then one day Caleb says "I think it would be fun to get more fish" and shows me some of the huge tanks at petco. At first I said no way, but eventually we compromised on a more "reasonable" size and the thought to keep an eye on craigslist in case something popped up in the next few months. A few days later I send him out to pick up a playhouse from a guy off craigslist for Christmas (ssshhhh - the kids don't know yet). Caleb calls me up a few minutes later and says "by the way, I am at this guy's house and he has a great deal on a forty gallon fish tank with everything included...

It's huge!!

Luckily his parents built us a great practical stand for it.

Anyway our five fish have turned into 30 fish plus three huge snails. Although It has become way more than I originally planned for when I pulled a ten gallon fish tank out of the dumpster, the kids really do love it and will sit mesmerized looking at the fish. Caleb and I find ourselves sitting their dazed sometimes too (maybe that's just the fatigue, though?)

I took some pictures here of Joshua's favorites. He likes the kitty cat fish, and the big ball polka dot fish. He has kind of unoriginal names for them: polka dot, ball fish, kitty fish, mean fish, nice fish, striped fish...They change daily.

Christmas Tree

Snapped some pictures in front of the Christmas tree after church.

Simple fun

We have been having 80 degree weather lately so we have been spending our days outside. At Costco Joshua found this cardboard and dragged it home. I noticed that it looked a lot like Buzz lightyears wings...so we decorated them and he spent the afternoon flying around the yard.

Of coarse Abigail had to try them out, but she did not really get the flying around the yard part.

Abigail loves spaghetti so I had to snap some cute pictures of her eating it, a she usually gets really messy. She loves it.

We also played peek- a - boo in their little tent for a while. I love being able to play outside all year, my kids are so much happier.

Happiness is...

70 degrees and sunny. In December.

Spending less than $30 for a day at the amusement park.

Caleb having a full day off for the first time in 4 weeks (not counting after overnight shifts) so that we could have some family time.

Thanksgiving and A tree

We had a great Thanksgiving this year. Unfortunately I do not have any pictures of it yet. My camera was out of batteries and I forgot to get the pictures from Caleb's dad before he left...I will post some soon. Anyway Caleb's family came for Thanksgiving. It was so fun to have them all. It was our first Thanksgiving in four years with family. Usually we are all by ourselves buried in snow in Vermont. We had a great dinner, played games, and hung out together. The kids especially loved having them here, although I think Joshua wore out Caleb's brothers :). I love living close enough to spend Holiday's with family again.

Of coarse after they left and I got the house back in order I rushed out to get our Christmas tree! I am so excited I love Christmas. With Joshua's help and only three broken bulbs... we got the tree decorated and everything else in the house decorated too. We are just waiting for Caleb to have a day off to do our outside lights. We will see I may have to do those myself too if I want them up before Christmas :).

The Daily Grind

Everyday I go for a run or a walk with the kids in the double jogger. It is our routine and my sanity. Today was a blessed day both of them slept! Abigail sleeping like a dainty little girl, Joshua snoring and sleeping mouth wide open :)... actually Abigail can snore pretty loud too. Besides having to push the 70 some pounds around on a run I love our routine, and most of all I love these two sweet angels...who will now be more like angels for the rest of the day after a good nap.

Worst School Picture ever

I just had to post Joshua's preschool picture. For all of you who know Joshua and his little independent personality you can see it shine through. I fixed his hair in the morning...but apparently he fixed his bed head all by himself when he got to school. When we saw the picture we started laughing and asked him if he smiled. He said "yeah I smiled just like this" and made his exact funny face that he had in the picture. So there you have it the funny half smile and hair sticking out all over. For the sickly coloring you will have to ask the photographer what he did. I will not frame this picture but I will forever cherish it in his scrap book of the perfect representation of my little independent son. He is actually so cute, although the photo is deceiving.