In Memory...

This post is for Daughter. Love you Angel!

This entry is a little delayed, as I hoped to allow a bit of healing time for my girl.

She recieved the dreaded call.

Her BFF back in TN had agreed to take care of Red, the betta fish. We had agreed he was old, and couldn't make the CO road trip. Better to let him live out what time he had, as he certainly fought for it.

This is the fish that stalked us through rooms. He'd stare us down and follow every move from his tank.
He "died" more times than we kept count of. It's very possible we owned the only betta that played dead.
He HID from us under the stone cave in his tank, which was an event in itself.
Daughter would trace her finger through the air in front of the tank, and he would "dance" for her.

The dreaded call came, I answered it. Her BFF sounded a bit down, so I asked. She told me the fish had died , and NOT to tell Daughter, she'd do it herself.
I give her kudos for that.

Sure enough she told Daughter, and promised to give this fish the best fishie funeral any fish ever had. He'd be put into a matchbox and set into the pond the girls fished at.

And , did. I recieved video of this event.

Daughter was , naturally , upset. this fish was amusing us for more years than he had a right to.
So in comforting her, we discovered we may be the only family with memories of a FISH. We gave him a good life, he was as crazy as the rest of us.

Her BFF did a great job of taking care of him. She called with updates and stories of her own .When the time came, she didn't try to hide it just because we're so far away, she braved it out and called with the bad news.

In memory of Red Love the Bettafish. . .
Rest In Peace pal, you certainly earned it!

The Doggie Store !!

The Nuthouse wardens decided Sunday to do a store browsing.
We went through Toys R' Us for the kids, and then took the Giranah into Pet Smart.

The dog's reaction to this was amusing enough. She didn't know what to do. When we went in the door , there was a man with a beautiful husky, and poor Lyla wanted to play, but also knew better than to pull on the leash with Husband attached.

After a few ailes, she figured it out. THIS IS DOG STUFF! Those are BONES and TOYS for ME on those bottom shelves.

Every time she would try to pull something off the shelf, the kids would claim the dog wanted it, how cute, and try to talk us into getting it.

And every time the dog tried to get something off the shelf, it was way too much like talking to the kids.

" NO! You can't have that! Put that down NOW!"

As this dog is already way too much like the kids, this was scary for me in so many ways.

Our spoiled pup came home with a new Giant bone, and a cloth squeaky cow we knew she'd shred in seconds.

And did. It looked like a stuffing factory had exploded in the living room. I had to wonder how they got so much stuffing into it.

Once the stuffing was out and the head nearly off- we found it amusing to put the bone inside the remains of the cow.
The dog ran happily around the house with her bone, and the cow dragging along.
(pic to add)

We also bought small bones. Our friend has 3 smaller dogs, and they love Giranah's bones. We get her HUGE bones, so its really fun to see these tiny dogs run off with a bone the same size as thier bodies.

The only issue with that is Giranah is totally submissive to these little dogs. Rather than chase them down for her bone, She whines at us about it.Her need for a bone is much like an infant's pacifier. She gets horribly anxious ,mostly when husband is at work, or we all have to leave her. Serious seperation anxiety. (caused by an abandonment as a pup)

Having something to chew on is essential.

The dogs are now all adjusting to the fact they have thier own bones ,Giranah sneaking off to steal a tiny bone, the small dogs running off with her huge bone.. All the people trying to keep them straight.

Who's in charge here ?

"I Wanna Be A Toys R' Us Kid" Too!

Children. Sometimes they can use the oddest, yet most innocent ways to remind you , that you may have goofed.

Daughter (10-1/2) came to me and said "Mom, we are the ONLY kids who haven't been to Disneyland!"

Dearest child, that is not so. I assure you there are children in Antarctica, who have not been to Disneyland.

This was not greeted well.

On another occasion I heard "Mo-om!! we're the ONLY kids who don't have a Wii !! "
To which she was told there are still places that don't have electricity, so there are most certainly other children out there without Wii games in the house. If there's even a house at all, of course.

The most recent was a bit more unexpected.
" Mom? Have we ever been to Toys R Us?"

I'm sure we have taken you to Toys R Us. As a matter of fact, we have. Your Grandparents insisted we went when you were about 4 weeks old.

"Well how am I supposed to remember that ?! And besides, that means Brother has never been there.That's not fair to him. "

The girl was almost in tears, to convince me she HAD to go to Toys R Us.
Are you serious ?

Father asked the children what they'd like to do Sunday. I'm sure you can figure out what they said, but also there was a bonus. "Don't tell Mom, it'll be a surprise!"
Very nice. Though they told me to make sure I had my camera.

So even on the 15 minute drive, the kids were wound up as if we were going to Disneyland. One slipped.
I said nothing.

The event was a riot. We strolled up and down EVERY aisle. I was instructed to take photos of this and that, you know, "For our Christmas lists" .

I was also quickly reminded that cost is why we don't go to Toys R Us.

Husband allowed them to pick out a game and a movie- "souvenirs" of their exciting trip to the store of wonders. It made their day worth living.

And while I went to bed and had dreams of cattle prods, I'm sure they were thinking of the giant remote control tarantula they mentioned buying to hide under my bed.

So, this entry is dedicated to the simple things we parents may overlook, that our children simply can NOT live without.