Zane's new fish

Yesterday, Zane's fish Velvet died in a tragic fish-bowl-cleaning-related accident.

See, he and Katrina have both had their fish for about a week, and they want to be good pet owners, so they wanted to change their fish's water. Juanito devised this fancy cleaning system that involved a giant mop bucket, hoses, pumps, and ... i don't even know what else. It was meant to suck the old water out and then pump new water in. And unfortunately, it also sucked up Zane's fish.

Zane was absolutely crushed. He was all, "I really wanted to keep my fish alive for longer than a week!" And, "I don't think i should get another fish! Because i don't want to kill another one!"

I consoled him and promised him that it was not his fault at all, and this afternoon he happily went to the store to get himself a new fish. This one's name is Diamond, and our goal is to keep him alive for at least two weeks this time.

Wednesday

We (mostly Katrina) have been guinea pig sitting for a friend's guinea pig for about a week and a half. He's been living in Katrina's room, and she's been loving having him to cuddle. It was especially fortuitous last night, when she was absolutely devastated about Boshsquash's death. She came downstairs at almost midnight last night, weeping and unable to sleep, so i suggested she try to snuggle Puff a little bit to see if that could help. When i went to bed later, i found them curled up together, both happily asleep.

I moved Puff to his cage, just in case Katrina rolled over or something. This morning, i asked Katrina if she'd noticed that he was in his cage, and Katrina was all, "Yes. I thought he just crawled back there by himself."

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We've been spending the past couple of days doing some spring cleaning. So far we've completely cleaned the front porch and the upstairs landing. This all makes me very happy and the kids...somewhat less happy while we're cleaning. Now that they're totally clean and organized, though, they're all happy about it. Plus, we've uncovered several of Zane's games, so the rest of the day was spent playing with games and toys that haven't been seen in months.

RIP Boshsquash, Greetings Velvet and Ruby

We got Boshsquash in March 2015, and she immediately made Katrina and Juanito fall in love with her. We're pretty sure that she was diabetic, because she drank a ridiculous amount of water, but she was very sweet and cuddly.

She died this afternoon, unexpectedly, and Katrina and Juanito are both pretty crushed. Katrina came downstairs a bit before midnight, weeping because she just misses Boshsquash so much. And Juanito texted me from work to tell me that he's actually really sad about it too. The boys are a lot more stoic about the whole thing.

In a weird coincidence, Katrina and Zane had just bought themselves Beta fish this morning. Zane's is mostly red and is named Velvet, and Katrina's is mostly blue and is named Ruby. They both have them in their rooms, decorated with fancy rocks and glow-in-the-dark plastic plants. Zane's argument for getting a fish was, "I've never had a fish that lived for more than a few hours!" To which my response was, "That's not really a compelling argument...."

So our pet total was briefly five before dropping almost immediately back down to four. 

Long, long post to make up for missing two weeks

Yep. It's been weeks. Important weeks, at that. Days when i actually had stuff to say, rather than just, "So. It was a day." It's the Christmas season! We're doing fun things!

But it's the Christmas season! When the kids aren't surrounding me (and even sometimes when they are), i'm busy making presents until late into the night, and then all i want to do is fall into bed and sleep. So i'll try to do better! But....

So. To recap:
On November 19th, the final movie for the Hunger Games came out, and it was the Ladies Night movie, which meant that we had a huge group of people who all came with us to go have fun and watch Mockingjay. Beth, who is amazing, put together little gift bags for everyone, along with Keren, who totally made stuff for it too. Cookies and a bookmark and a necklace and a little painting, all wrapped up in a silver parachute. Fun!

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Thanksgiving was at my aunt and uncle's house this year, which was either very fortuitous or just very well-planned-out on my mom's part, because she was still very unable to host a ton of people at her house, what with still recovering from her knee surgery. There was delicious food, and i always like my family, extended and immediate, so it was a really good day. After dinner we had the traditional Thanksgiving craft, which is almost always some kind of  Christmas decoration. This year we made fancy snowflakes and cute paint-chip Christmas trees.

Thanksgiving evening, our family (Juanito, the kids, and i) played a game of Catchphrase. Sort of. Initially it was just the kids and me, and i set teams with Zane on my team, assuming that, as the youngest, he'd be the obvious weak link. And then i just ... didn't get out the board to keep score, and since it's been a while since we played that game, the kids didn't notice. So we just played with the timer, and when the timer ran out we'd pause, and then either just start going again or pass the turn and start with the next person, whatever the person holding the thingy felt like doing. It was completely not competitive, which meant that eventually Juanito wandered over and joined in.

The thing is...Zane was amazing. He was better than some adults i've played with. I mean, Houston and Katrina were good too, but Zane is just really good at it. It's a good thing we weren't keeping score, because it totally would have looked like i was stacking the deck in my favor, choosing him for my team.

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The day after Thanksgiving, we always go get a tree. Usually we go with my parents, but my mom isn't quite up to stomping through rough terrain to haul a tree out yet, so this year we were on our own.  We picked out a super-cute tree. The kids actually made the decision. They wanted this one because it was "all bright green and happy-looking!" And it is! It's also the pokiest tree in the history of trees. Everyone was hanging ornaments, going, "Ow. Ow. Ow." Poor Juanito, who's always in charge of putting the lights on, got his hands all poked up even through his work gloves.

While Juanito was struggling with the lights, the kids and i decorated the rest of the house. It's always so much fun to see the house all pretty and Christmasy, and i on-purpose don't even think about the fact that, in a month, it's not nearly as much fun to put away. Because, if nothing else, it's a fun way to clean and possibly put different nick-knacks out! Yay!

We have so many traditions in our family, and a lot of them were entirely accidental on my part, but they started when the kids were little, and the kids just want to do them every single year. And that's totally fine! Except that it's things like putting the star on the top of the tree or ringing in Christmas with a special bell ornament, and they want to take turns and be fair...except nobody ever remembers FOR SURE from year to year who did each thing last year. So last year, the kids were smart and wrote down the schedule for the next three years and put it into the box with the ornaments. They are brilliant.

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Katrina bought herself a knitting loom. I don't know what it's actually called, but it's a circle with little pegs, and you loop the yarn around the pegs, and it magically makes a knit hat. (Years and years ago, my grandpa got into knitting the same way and made everyone the best scarves in the world. I still have mine, and it's still used regularly by me or my kids, because it's insanely warm.) Katrina bought it on Saturday night, and then spent all day Sunday teaching herself to use it and then knitting and knitting, and by Sunday night, she had an adorable hat which she has not taken off since. That was four days ago.

Meanwhile, Houston decided that he wanted to learn how to crochet, so i sat down and taught him using a big hook and thick yarn, because that way things go faster. He worked at it for a while and got incredibly frustrated, so i switched him to regular yarn and a normal hook, and he immediately threw himself into it whole-heartedly and has been crocheting every spare moment since. He is nearly finished with his first scarf, and i'm pretty sure that three minutes after he finishes that one, he'll start on a new one.

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Emma has been in our family for about a year now - almost exactly - and she's just a really good dog. We still put her in her crate at night and if we're gone for longer than half an hour, but i leave her out when i drive the kids to school in the mornings. Usually i come home and she's curled up on the couch, completely happy.

Today i came home and she met me at the front door, which i initially thought was a nice change. Except...no. Turns out, she had a party while i was gone. She somehow pulled my basket of yarn balls to the floor and then proceeded to play with them like a cat. Approximately 10 balls of yarn, all completely tangled together. Good yarn, too, that i didn't want to just throw away. So i spent the first two and a half hours of my morning untangling and re-winding balls of yarn. SIGH.

Guess who's going to be going in her crate when i bring the kids to school from now on....

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Possibly my favorite moment of today: Katrina, Houston, and i were in the car. Katrina was explaining what she wants for Christmas. 

Katrina: "I want glitter, because i really like to use it for projects." (She talked about the glitter for a while.)

Me: "Wait. Do you want glitter? Or glitter glue?"

Katrina: "Oh! Glitter glue. I really like pink glitter! It's so pretty!"

Me: "Pink glitter? Or pink glitter glue?"

Her: "Glitter glue. I mean glitter glue when i say glitter."

Me: "It's kind of an important distinction, though. They're totally different things, if you're asking for them for Christmas...."

Houston: "Yeah! Like, if i wanted a flower pot, but i just said, 'I want a pot,' then that's not the same thing at all!" 

Katrina: "And then on Christmas, people would be all like, 'Here's your pot!'"

I managed to not laugh until later, when i was recounting the conversation for Juanito.

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So it's Advent season, and we always have a several different Advent calendars going. This year we've got one that has jokes, one that has activities, and one that has the Christmas story, one verse at a time, for everyone to memorize. Also one that has candy.

Yesterday's activity was to start doing Secret Santa. We went to the dollar store and each got the same number of presents, and then came home and wrapped them with printed-up name tags so that the giver could be properly secret. It's day 2, and i'm pretty sure i already know who everyone has. Because i'm obnoxious.

Today's activity was looking up funny Christmas videos on Youtube. Easy, fast, and able get finished between Katrina's Heart and Soul practice and Juanito and Houston's needing to leave for Zumba. 

Hermit crabs

One of Katrina's hermit crabs died while we were on vacation, and ever since then, she and Houston both decided that they wanted to get another hermit crab and have asked me when we can go every single day. The deal was: After their rooms were clean. They cleaned their rooms yesterday, so this morning, we went and got two new hermit crabs.

Houston's is Woodle and Katrina's is Lizzy.

And now i have to keep restraining myself from telling everyone, "My kids have crabs!" Because sometimes i'm a little bit immature.

Saxophone

That's Boshsquash right there. Or, as Juanito spells it, "Bosh-Quash." We haven't nailed down the particulars yet. Either way, she's a sweetie.

Emma would very much like to be her "friend." She stands at the cage and watches. And whines. Poor Boshsquash. Between Emma and Buttercup, i can't imagine that she's thrilled about the new home. A giant dog who wants to "play" and a bratty guinea pig who wants to make sure everyone knows that she's the boss. Hopefully it'll get better....

So last week, Houston informed me, "Well, i found my saxophone, but apparently someone dropped it down the stairs or something, because it's all broken."

So. Many. Questions.

Turns out, he couldn't find it for a few days (and never bothered to mention THAT), and then found it hiding back in some corner. It wasn't working properly, but he had no actual evidence that it had been tampered with. I told him to show his band director and have him look at it.

The next day, he said that he showed it to the director who said, "The octave key is broken. Go sit down." Houston asked what he should do, and the director answered, "(Shrug) I didn't do it." I asked Houston, "But...those weren't his actual words, right? He was...nicer about it?" And...nope. According to Houston, that's exactly what he said. I've not been a big fan of this director already, mostly because Houston went from LOVING band under his previous director to asking (several times) if he could quit band altogether because he didn't like it AT ALL. (Katrina doesn't really like him either, so it's not just Houston.)

ANYHOW. Today i brought the saxophone in to get it looked at, to see how broken it actually is. Turns out! Not the octave key at all! Not even remotely! It just needs some basic maintenance that, according to the lady at the store, needs to be done every year or so, and it's been two and a half years, so it's definitely due. "Right now, he could play the top parts, but the bottom third is completely unplayable, so...." So we're getting it fixed.

And scowling in Mr. Director's general direction.

New pets!

In the past two days, we've added three new pets to our household. Pictured above is Houston holding Yinyang, so named because she's black and white. Ever since Katrina got her hermit crab (Luna) and then learned that hermit crabs are totally social beings who like to talk to each other and are sad if they're alone, she's been asking if we can go get another hermit crab. So today, since we had a bit of time, the kids and i went to the pet store and came home with Yinyang for Houston and Tsunami for Katrina. Both crabs are incredibly active and, according to Katrina, Tsunami is "Adventurous and a strategist," while Yinyang "is going to win every race ever because she's just really fast."

They're all set up in their new home, and i've already watched Tsunami climb to the top of the pagoda and then fall through. And while i was trying to take that picture, Yinyang completely ran off Houston's hand and crashed to the floor. So, so far, Katrina is completely right.

Also, the very day after Lulu died, one of Juanito's zumba students put on facebook that she had a guinea pig that she needed to give away, and did anyone want one, please? So... yesterday we also got a new guinea pig. Her name is Boshsquash. It used to be "The indominable P.I.G" or some such ridiculousness, but we renamed her. She's adorable - dark brown and cuddly and really big, but has so far spent her first day and a half in our house getting pushed around by Buttercup (our other guinea pig). Poor thing.

I'm a little bit nervous about having so many pets. I don't think i'm necessarily a very good pet owner, so having SIX animals depending on me is a bit nerve-wracking.

RIP Lulu

Lulu was our favorite guinea pig. She's the one who was SO cuddly and adorable (and would crawl over people to get to me because she loved me the most). (Except...also Katrina. She loved Katrina the most too.) She started getting a goopy eye a couple of months ago, and has been sick-ish, but seemed to be getting better.... Except apparently she wasn't. I'm so sad.

The kids are crushed in ways that are completely typical of themselves. Katrina is the saddest thing in the universe and would very much like to curl up somewhere and just mourn. Zane is in the depths of despair one second and completely happy the next and full of questions ("Where should we bury her? When can we get another guinea pig? Do you think that Buttercup is really sad because she misses her friend?") the next. Houston is just kind of taking it stoically.

Introducing the newest member of our family....

I got to go on a date with Katrina this morning. She's been looking forward to it for weeks. Last week, she had a friend sleep over for her birthday, and she was all disappointed to have to wait. She's been planning for about 3 weeks to go today...and then a couple of days ago she realized that she was going to a sleepover at her friend's house Friday night. Which means she wouldn't be here for breakfast. She welled up with tears and and was just SO disappointed. I gave her several options (we could go this day or this day or do lunch on these days....), and she decided that her favorite option was to get picked up early from her sleepover and still go out with me this morning.

We went to Steak and Shake for breakfast, and then walked around Michaels and Five Below for a few minutes. (We bought approximately $15 worth of stuff, including birthday presents for Houston, needles, and some hair chalk that was in the 70% off Valentines stuff. As we walked back to the car, Katrina exclaimed, "We're having a shopping spree!")

And then we went to the pet store, planning to get Katrina a beta fish. In the course of walking around, though, we found the hermit crabs, and Katrina was all, "I wish i could get a hermit crab!" I was like, "Um. Rather than a beta? Because they're actually the same price."
Her: "Probably. Yes."
Me: "Uh...let me text Daddy...."
("Katrina wants to know if she can get a hermit crab instead of a fish."
Juanito: "YES! What fun!")

And so it was decided. We talked to the pet store guy to find out if we'd actually be able to keep one alive and how hard it would be and what would be needed. We walked around the store, looking at everything while Katrina ruminated. And then, in possibly the easiest decision-making process of her life, Katrina decided that she definitely wanted a crab. And then, as the guy was showing us some of the choices, this little guy came out as soon as he was picked up and looked around and started crawling over his hand. Katrina was smitten.

One box of "Salt water conditioner" (apparently they need salt water or they can't molt and then they die) and bottle of hermit crab food later, and the crab was packed into a paper bag. As we were driving home, Katrina kept giggling because she could feel the crab walking around in the bag. In yet another amazingly quick decision, Katrina named her "Luna."

They boys are also quite smitten, and since hermit crabs are totally social animals, they've both decided that they would also like to get one. So. We might be getting more of these little guys in the future.

Tonight we had movie night with our friends. We've been having movie night for maybe a year now? The kids go in a different room and watch a movie one of the kids has chosen, and the adults do the same in the comfy room. Tonight was Linda's turn to choose, so we watched "Boyhood." It's such a good movie, but it seriously makes you have lots and lots of feelings. Mostly sad ones. Nevertheless! Good food, great friends, and a good movie makes for a great night. Yay!