Tuesday: fish

I'm sure you're curious as to how the fish are going.  Well, I haven't killed any.  I put them all in one tank yesterday as I decided the little ones weren't going to be eaten anymore.  I also put a screen over the hole that the fish kept getting stuck in and tiring themselves completely out.

The little ones are obviously bigger.  They are rather hard to count.  The one large one, Sunset, seems a bit spastic but otherwise seems ok.

In three to four weeks I'll try to separate the boys and girls.  It's easy to tell on the large fish, but it might be rather hard on baby fish.  We'll see.

Monday: random stuff

Today we accomplished a lot of random stuff.  It was nice...I got a several things checked off my list.  I feel like some of them were ones that have been on the list for a long time.  Unfortunately, I also added many things to the list.

Saturday: out and about

This morning we went to Hudsonville to play a game with Judd and Lisa.  It was a game that could have five people, so Isaac joined us.  He did a very good job and it was nice to see them again.

This evening we went out to eat with Larry and Cheryl.  The '20 minutes until a table' was more like 40 minutes.  Joshua slept through quite a bit of it and Isaac did a good job waiting too.  The food was great, but Joshua was in a mood.  Isaac ate all of his food though, and got some ice cream.  It had a cherry on top (literally) and he was over the moon about it.

Friday: in pictures

I got a new phone yesterday.  I tried out the camera on Isaac this morning.

Flurry had a vet appointment that she didn't enjoy.  Joshua attempted to take good care of her, but she really just wanted to be in her carrier.

Isaac was holding Ms. Taylor's hand coming out of school.  He gave her a hug too, "to last her for two extra days."

We painted pumpkins and heard 'spooky' stories at the library this evening.  The best one was a scary telling of The Itsy, Bitsy Spider.  I'm not sure I'll ever listen to that the same way again.  (It was going to be outside and around a campfire but it was wet out.  I was actually quite happy to be inside.)

Thursday: head high five

Joshua likes giving head high-fives.  It throws a lot of people off as they weren't expecting it.

Tuesday: no fish killed

Well, today was a success because I haven't killed any fish.  We only have one big one now...I was having a hard time figuring out all the ways the fish could kill themselves in the new tank.  I'm hoping it's stable now.  We still have a lot of babies though.

Sunday: baby surprise

Last night Yellow died, and this morning I-Don't-Know died.  I think that the flow at the top of the aquarium was too strong and they weren't smart enough to go to the bottom.

After church we went to get more fish.  With the bigger tank and the filters, I figured we could get four fish, one for each of us.  We got them and I put the little bag in the tank to get the water to match temperatures while we ate lunch.  (I'm claiming the fancy tailed one and naming him Pumpkin.)

After lunch Isaac said, "Mom, there are baby fish!"  To which I replied, "They're just small, not babies."  Well, when I went over to the tank sure enough, there were baby fish.  Apparently I-Don't-Know (version 2) is a female.  I am pretty sure that I only requested males, but either the wrong type of fish was chosen or I can't read or there was a female in with the males.

I took out all the baby fish after an internet search because apparently the bigger fish sometimes eat them and they need to be fed more often.  I ended up with nine.  (There are also two more hiding in the big tank that are either really good at hiding or came later.)  Ok, baby fish are cool.  It could be cool to see them grow.  After a week or two I'll stick them back with the adults and let them fend for themselves.

Then I read something a bit more distressing...females are on a continuous child-birth cycle, having children about once a month, and can store sperm for several months.  I'm a bit unsure what to do now.  If it was my fish or Ben's fish, we would probably not keep it for every long.  I could keep my eye out for a similar colored male fish and switch them when Joshua isn't paying attention.  I could run two tanks with I-Don't-Know in her own and just getting rid of the babies.  I also don't really know what to do with the babies as they get bigger, assuming all these fish live.  The tank I got isn't really good for more than four fish.  So stay tuned...I could see this saga going several different directions.  (Also, does anyone want some fish?)

In other news, I was drying some large quilts/mattress covers on the chairs last night and woke up to a fort made under the table.  It came complete with a pretend fire.  I added a heater and yogurt smores.

Of course, they're sleeping under the table tonight.  It doesn't seem like a good idea, but it also didn't seem like a bad enough of an idea to say no.  I think it would be terribly uncomfortable, but they're also much younger and don't seem to care about such things.