Happenings…

We’ve been busy, as always. Life just seems to get crazier as the kids get older! The quads are still enjoying pre-school. I feel like the school year JUST got started and here we are in the final couple of months. We had a nice break over spring break. Sometimes I worry them waking at 6:30am during the week will get them in a bad habit, I was presently  surprised when they slept in during spring break. Blade is a great sleeper-inner too but I have to wake him up to take the quads to school and wake him up again from his morning nap again to go get them. Lucky for me, the quads still nap faithfully every afternoon, something we’ll have to work on this summer, I suppose. Kindergarten will be a real wake up call, that’s for sure!

They’re still enjoying tee ball as well, I am SO happy we signed them up. Makes me so proud to watch them! Here’s a picture from their game this past weekend. Next to snack, of course, their favorite part of the game is getting in the huddle to yell “Go Pirates!” on the count of three.

Bret has been working for a couple of weeks on building our first garden. Although I’m not a huge veggie eater, I’m really excited to see how well we can do at this whole garden thing. After Saturday’s game, the quads helped us plant a variety of foods including strawberries, tomatoes, cherry tomatoes, lots of onions, cabbage…etc. Now it’s just keeping them OUT of it so they all have a chance to grow!

My three little men, getting down and dirty while helping Daddy get the garden framed…

Love love this one of Blade. He’s learned to smile on cue. You can hold up just about any object as if it’s a camera and he cheeses so big! He’s especially proud here because he’s posed by Brooke. It’s not too often he can catch up with her!

Busy bees… yes, still in their uniforms ;)

Love this shot of Kylee & Brooke, too. I walked out back to do a kid count and looked down to see these two spending some quality time together. Not sure how I was lucky enough to have time to run and get my phone!

I’m hoping our garden luck far exceeds our fish tank luck. We said good bye to our 4th fish this morning, I actually haven’t even broken the news to the quads yet. Baxlyn & Blade are the only two with their original fish they brought home on the quads’ birthday. I blogged about Brody’s fish passing. It wasn’t but maybe two weeks later that Kylee’s croaked nearly right in front of her eyes. We had company over and Kylee ran into the kitchen “I think my fish DIED!” Thinking she was mistaken, we all casually walked over to the tank… sure enough, her fish was laying there giving it’s last few wiggles. Luckily Kylee took it well. Uncle Chris (aka Uncle Rufus) led all the kiddos in a little good bye ceremony at the toilet before sending him off.

We’ve tested our water over the last few weeks and all seemed well. Last night I noticed little “Fishmo” was not looking so great, we tested and our nitrate was a bit high, we’re trying to figure it all out before we lose any more fish. I have to say we are doing something right when it comes to Baxlyn’s sucker fish as hers has nearly quadrupled in size since we got it – I assume that’s a good sign?! I tried to get a pic, but of course, he/she wouldn’t cooperate!

More to come!

**One a side note, please throw up a prayer for my dad. He is having some concerning health issues. Pray for peace and for guidance for our family and the doctors. Thanks!**

RIP Chicken Hawk…

Yup. Lost one already :(

I mentioned on the last post how I felt Brody’s fish, Chicken Hawk, was a bit “off”. Last night Bret and I noticed his tail/fin seemed to be misshaped. I looked back at previous pictures and sure enough… it looks as though another one of his fishmates had been gnawing on poor Chicken Hawk’s hind end. I felt so bad and asked Bret what we should do. Bret was slightly less concerned to say the least “He’s a FISH, Heather!” We headed off to bed and when I checked on our little friend this morning he was a goner. I feel like the worst fish-mom ever :(

Today was “Opening Day” of t-ball season so I headed out super early with the quads. We didn’t mention anything to Brody before we left and the plan was for Bret to do the “replace the fish so the kid will never know” thing before meeting up with us later during the day. Bret & Blade went to the store and picked out a new orange fish and returned it to our tank. 

When we got home I called Brody over to check on the fish to see if he’d notice. It was a few minutes before he finally noticed that this orange fish was about 5 times the size of the one he had. A bit confused he said “What?! How did you do that? Is my fish DEAD?” I don’t think the thought entered his mind that we replaced his fish, rather he just KNEW this one wasn’t his. I confirmed his suspicion and told him that yes, Chicken Hawk had died. Brody wasn’t too upset. He fought a few tears but none fell. Kylee, hearing the news from across the house, came running and, as expected, was a bit concerned. Although she didn’t cry she wanted to know exactly what happened. If I had to guess, I’d say Korbin’s hormonal pregnant fish was the one who had been snacking on him. I’ve seen her just a handful of times chase a few others around the tank, but nothing crazy. Rather than throw Korbin’s fish under the bus, we told the quads’ we didn’t know exactly what happened. They all seemed fine with that answer!

Soooo while we wish a farewell to Chicken Hawk, we say hello to Brody’s new fish which he named “Goldy”.

Here’s to hoping there are no more causalities among our underwater friends for a long time!

Introducing… 5 Little Fish!

Brody, Baxlyn, Kylee & Korbin had a great birthday party (which will be blogged about later this week)! Bret and I, along with Chris and Bethany, had planned all week to take them to one of their favorite restaurants, Shogun, that evening for dinner. What the quads didn’t know was that Daddy had gone the night before and bought a fish tank and that we were going to take them after dinner to pick out their own fish! Needless to say they were thrilled (and slightly confused) when we walked them in to Petsmart and broke the news to them! We asked the employees, who I think were just as excited as we were, to point us to the fish that wouldn’t eat each other and that wouldn’t likely die within a few days. Excuse the blurry pics…

  It took Korbin a matter of seconds to pick out the one he wanted…

…while it took a bit lonnngger for the others to choose. It’s an important decision, ya know!

Once home, we waited (and waited and waited!) for Bret and Chris to put together the stand we bought and then move the tank into place. We all watched while the quads contemplated on what to name their fish. Here they are surrounding Korbin who is proudly holding their new pets in a bag, ready to meet their new home!

Again, excuse the poor quality in pictures. I’ve come to realize the ONLY thing harder to photograph than my five children are their fish.

Introducing “Cliffy”, Kylee’s fish. She chose him because he looks like Chris & Bethie’s dog, George. 

 Next we have both “Al” & “Chicken Hawk”. Al, with the black, is Blade’s fish. Due to a wicked diaper rash, our little man wanted to stay in the upright position as much as possible so we skipped making him sit through dinner and let him stay back with Granny Linda. Chicken Hawk, the solid orange, belongs to Brody! From my own observations, I’d have to say Chicken Hawk is quite an odd fish. There have been multiple occasions when I’ve thought I found him dead, but nope he’s always alive and well….just hanging out at the top of the water…very still…in the corner of the tank…until Bret gently pokes him…

 Korbin’s fish “Fishmo” we’re told is our only female fish. We were also told that she was already pregnant when we bought her. Slightly intrigued and thinking it may be cute to have a couple of baby fish swimming around, I asked the lady just how many baby fish Fishmo would likely have. Her answer? THIRTY to FORTY. I suddenly felt like an amateur when it came to the whole having multiple babies thing! The nice lady assured me that most of her babies would likely be eaten and there wasn’t too much to worry about. Nice. Reluctantly, we still agreed to take her home. She has yet to have any babies but we’re keeping a close eye on her ;)

Baxlyn went a different route and chose a sucker fish. This was the only fish in which they could not tell us the gender. Baxlyn named it “Wally”! Thanks Wally, for being so still, allowing me to get a decent picture, unlike your other tankmates!

All five of the kids love to sit and watch them swim around. I won’t lie, I find myself sitting and staring as well. They love to help feed them, although I’ll also admit, the kid in me loves to feed them too! Here’s to hoping they stay with us for a while before umm… going to Heaven :)

Stay tuned – Birthday Party, 5 Year Stats & TEE BALL!!!