6 Inches

A while ago Casey found a "friend" in the back yard. The praying mantis was about 6 inches long, and it freaked me out! We shared him with our friends, the Vaughns.

Check him out...

Son, Can You Play Me a Memory?

On Sundays in between Sunday School and church, the worship team goes into the basement to practice singing along with the piano. Haddon loves to go in there with them and watch Dawn play the piano. Today he got to sit beside her while she played "Come Thou Fount." I snapped this picture with my phone. When the song was done, I picked him up and he said "Yay!" while banging his hands together. The rest of the worship team joined him in his cheer too, so that was nice.

He seems (to me, at least) to have an affinity for the piano. He doesn't just mash keys like most little kids (i.e. Norah). Instead, he actually seems more intentional, and likes to press individual keys to hear what sounds they make. Maybe he'll be musical, who knows. Norah, on the other hand, couldn't carry a tune in a bucket. She does like to sing, though, and lately her songs have been coming out in an almost rap-like format. It's entertaining.

Fish Update

Well, we thought that Victor was going to pull through. He was looking a little sad for a couple days, but then he began to perk up. Suddenly one day he was gone.

We waited a bit to replace him, as we are tired of flushing fish. Then we went to WalMart (instead of Petsmart) and purchase two really little fish. One is white, the other silvery gray, and Norah named them Salt and Pepper.

They're fine. We're curious if they will grow. We're even more curious if they will be doomed like the others or survive our household.

Here's hoping.

Haddon Skywalker

The force is strong with him...

Update on the Great Lute Fish Saga

Well, we lost Sally after a while. And then we replaced her with a fancier fish that Norah appropriately named Fancy.

Fancy was with us for a while, but Victor is a little temperamental. I'll explain.

Victor would sometimes bump Sally, kind of chase her around and bully her. After a while I found her looking very pale and swimming slowly. Eventually, we lost her. Then Fancy comes along and Victor did the same to her. He bumped her, and would chase her into the corner of the tank behind the little fake plants. When it was time to feed Victor and Fancy, Victor would get very competitive. He would chase Fancy off, and bump into her when she went after a flake of fish food. Fancy isolated herself behind the plants a lot, and eventually, she came to an end like her orange predecessors.

So now Victor's on his own. He's not allowed to have any other fish friends. We think that he kills them slowly, breaking their wills to live, and although they are just fish, it seems quite cruel to subject another fish to Victor's wrath.

He is calmer now, not swimming as much. So either he is depressed with no one to bully, or he's fading too. We'll keep you posted.

Redoing the Master Bath

We have been hard at work updating the master bathroom, and although we don't have "before" pictures, your imagination can try to fathom the transformation. First of all, the wall where there is a white border, at one point was a green color with a wallpaper border, then it became a light raspberry color (which I allowed to sit for a while hoping I would like it more, but it just wasn't a good choice- oh well!), and now all the walls are the same soft taupe color. The toilet seat used to be wooden- now white. The vanity had a yellow (yes, YELLOW!) counter top with dark wood for the cabinet- now all white, as you can see.

The bathroom is brighter, more contemporary, and we are so grateful that with just a few finishing touches (just painting touch-ups) we will be done!

Casey did a great job with the plumbing work- disconnecting the old sink and installing the new one. He caulked, and ripped out the old counter top, which was no easy task!

Now there are supposed to be two more pictures, but they got mysteriously deleted off this post. And since it's a little late, I'm just going to let it go because it's a small bathroom. The only thing you really can't see is the shower curtain, which is tan with burgundy, raspberry and taupe flowers on it.

Haddon's First Trip to the Theatre

For a while Casey has been promising Norah that sometime he would take her to see Wall-E. And today we thought that we would make it a whole family outing. First we went to lunch at Taco Bell, where Haddon was very grumpy. And on the way to the restaurant, Norah was nodding off a little bit. We began to wonder if our adventure would work!

But Norah was energized by her taco and rice, and although Haddon's mood shifted, we figured that he would shape up when he saw the "giant tv".

Needless to say, he perked up! When Haddon saw the commercial's he exclaimed, "Wow!" and pointed to the screen in amazement. The seats were very fun for him as he rocked them back and forth, folding and unfolding his chair.

Then it was time for the movie to begin, and he was mesmerized. Sitting on my lap he barely moved a muscle throughout the entire picture. In a climactic scene, he couldn't help but shout out a little, pointing at the screen.

Norah enjoyed the movie as well, but was more antsy. With only twenty minutes left she declared to her father that she was ready to go, and began to walk out. She stood and sat, but all in all was very good and enjoyed herself. At one point the movie goes silent suddenly, and we could hear her little voice chanting, "Wall-E! Wall-E!" -rallying behind the little robot as he tried to help humans return to earth.

It was fun to have a fun afternoon like that, and it is something that we will remember and think fondly of.