The Family Pet

I mentioned how the kids got a pet for Easter this year, enter Goldie - the Betta fish. HC is determined Goldie is a she and so all mentions of Goldie require feminine references. Here is Goldie on the day we brought her home. Seems like great conditions. Very sunny spot of the house. Cheery even. What more could a fish want? Well, obviously more than that! Goldie gave us a little scare at first. She would not eat for days. She would take the food in her mouth and try to eat it but then spit it out. Steve and I did NOT want the kid's first pet to die within 2 days of purchase! Fish are not a big investment but.. to our kids she was a part of the family. I went online to see if there were any bits of advice on how we could restore Goldie to her fun loving self. (Of course, we aren't sure she was ever fun loving but - we could hope.)

My investigation led me to two tools. A mirror and a lamp. Goal of the project - to see a plethora of bubbles on top of the water. Bubbles = HAPPY Goldie! I added a lamp - Goldie clearly needs a spotlight. Then I found a mirror. Goldie is clearly vain - see the results!
A well lit fish with a mirror is a happy fish! She perked right up as if she was like 'FINALLY, you people get it!'
Goldie's appetite picked up and we've been happy ever since. Umm.. that is until I was sick and no one cared to feed her. She is still alive and kicking but.. it's been a while since we've seen bubbles like this.

A fish. They DO have personality! :)

A new family member and goodies

This was the first year we did not have Easter baskets for the kids. We never mention the Easter Bunny, it just never seemed relevant to me, but we did have baskets for the kids. This year our last minute plans to visit family changed our plans. So we handled things differently. Our plan was to buy a fish - so we took the kids to buy a fish. I would like to introduce our newest family member, our purple Betta fish named...... Goldie! Imagine that a purple fish named Goldie! :) The kids LOVE him!! He is a sweet little guy! More on our adventures with Goldie later! He is an interesting little guy. He's shown himself to be demanding right away! The other big gift was marbles! The kids were always pretending to play marbles after seeing a few cartoons where they played them. HC and JB were beyond excited to learn how to play! HC kept asking if we could go outside and draw a circle on the dirt so she could play marbles. Here they are dumping their marbles to play.
I also found these washcloths that grow when you put them into water.
Daddy showing them how to play marbles. Notice HC's apron - she calls it her cape!
JB shooting his shooter marble! Don't you love that face!
HC aiming.... and she missed!
HC loved watching her washcloth open up! Here is her final product...
and JB's!

I doubt they realize these gifts were their Easter gifts but they were still thrilled! We will return to our tradition again next Easter, but I think their Easter fun outweighed missing the basket! They still talk about the crawfish and Uncle Jill having her baby. They think anytime they smell the aroma of good food outdoors that PawPaw must be SOMEWHERE nearby cooking. And Mimi should be close by too! I think missing an Easter basket was the LEAST of their worries! I am glad for our fun visit!