INTRODUCING......

.....the newest members of our Family!.... Minnie, Sunny, and Muchacho!!!

We have started afresh on our fish family adventure. We hand selected our new friends (two girls and a boy) from the PetsMart tanks filled to overflowing with little Platys and such desperately wanting to be chosen to leave the over populated mayhem and rest comfortably in a large house with a porch swing and a yard in the secluded countryside......Oh wait, thats me....I mean a fresh water tank filled with rocks and plants for hiding. Where the fight for food is not so intense. "It's okay guys, there's enough for everybody", we tell them. Nevaeh named them herself(with rachel's help) while waiting with the fish in the car at In & Out. She is much more attached to these ones, due to her age I suspect. Which has me a little more concerned for the day when one of them makes its journey down the tubes, if ya know what I mean. But... we'll cross that bridge when we get there. So here thay are....

Minnie... is a mickey mouse platy(like Mick was) she is small and dark orange with mickey mouse on her tail.

Sunny...Is Bright yellowish Platy with blackish freckles and a black tail.

Muchacho... is the man of the tank and he is a bright orange high-tailed platy with a big black top fin and tail and a little black Mariachi mustache!

Our Play Day

We were oh so delighted to have some much anticipated visitors in our home today. We were blessed with the company of 3 cheery Escalante's and of course our Rachel. Corynne, Elliott and Caiden's spontaneous adventure to the OC landed them in our living room for an indoor picnic, adventure walk, pool feet dipping, and a slew of pictures! Take a peek in on our always exciting time together.

CAIDEN KEATS & CHARLOTTE ELIZABETH

ELLIOTT SATCHEL & NEVAEH JANE

GREAT FAMILY RUN !!!

Ok ...so I scored this really sweet jogger stroller on craigslist for a great...a good... ok.. a reasonable price. And I was so excited to take our first run as a family! So last night we headed off to Huntington and ran the path along the beach. It was a wee bit crowded but what do you expect on a summer night near Huntington Pier. I'm not sure how far we went but I do know that I was left in the dust a few times. Al knows that I hate to be passed up, I like to win, even a simple jog on the beach is a race to me. And as always he pushed me to my maximum limit, which I love and hate at the same time. The girls seemed to enjoy it as well, they played together, giggled and laughed as little girls do. I am excited about our new hobby and hope that it sticks around for a while. We are eager to find some less crowded beach or bay running trails that are both cool and beautiful. So if you know of any let us know.

We asked some guy to take a picture of us after our run, we should have taken it before....we were beat!

Playing with Preschool

Yesterday Nevaeh and I dug out her Magnetic Letters and began to learn how to spell her name, and some simple words. I was excited at how quickly she learned and her eagerness to do so. She played with the letters for much of the day asking me to spell this or that. If I gave her the letters to spell DOG, CAT or PIG, she could sound it out and put them in the right order (with a little help). I am clueless as to where she should be academically when and if she starts preschool next year. And I don't want to be one of those parents that pushes their children to excel above what they are able to handle for their age. But I figure that since she is so eager to keep going I might as well let her lead and keep teaching her ...right? I was also encouraged and a bit excited at the prospect of homeschooling her when the time comes. One of my fears of homeschooling is spending the day butting heads with my daughter and getting nowhere fast. But she and I had a lot of fun learning and playing together yesterday. Al and I are still undecided as of now, we go back and forth weighing the pros and cons, ultimately the Lord will decide what is best for our kids so we will continue to wait and listen for His decision. Where do you stand on the issue?

We also played trains...with laundry basket traincars.

Saying Goodbye

We lost a dear friend this week. Our little platy fish, "Mick" went home to fishy heaven via the plumbing(try explaining that to a three yr. old). Mick got sick rapidly with a internal bacterial infection. He began to retain water under his scales and started puffing up like a blowfish. A condition called dropsy. I researched his condition on the internet and realized his outlook was dim and by the time they start the pineconing stage (scales stick out) its just to late. The fish experts recommended the most proper way to euthanize a fish is to put them in the freezer! I couldn't even imagine doing this to our little Mick. I prayed that he would suffer no longer and asked the Lord to please take him quickly, the following day he died. So I'm sure you all are wondering how Nevaeh is doing with the loss of her second fish. (We lost Mick's brother "Rocko" earlier this year, actually Mick killed him, sort of a Cain and Abel situation) I was able to tell her before he died that Mick was sick and he was going to die. She went to his tank and said with such empathy, "Aww Mick , I'm so sorry". I told her when he died that we can go to the fish store pick out some new fish for her tank! And Mick quickly became a distant memory! I on the other hand am mourning the loss of our little pet, I get attached to anything, it doesn't even have to be living! ( I once got attached to a hiking stick, that I named, at girl scout camp and was brought to tears when my troop leader wouldn't let me take it home)
photo below is not Mick, but it looks just like himMick was a "Mickey Mouse Platy"

he had the black mickey mouse emblem on his tail.

Good bye Mick ... you will be missed(for a week or so).

Girls Day at the Beach

Yesterday Rachel and I packed up some lunches, a blanket, towels, camera, buckets, ball, frisbee, and two adorable children and made our way down to Pirate's Cove at Corona Del Mar Beach. Those of you who've been there know that this is no easy feat...But we did it! and it was Fun! Nevaeh was a bit leery when it came to the water and even declared earlier that, "I don't like the beach anymore, It's scary." (She was a a little fish last summer...how quickly they forget) It only took a few clever moves of Rachel the Child Whisperer and she was chest deep in the frigid waters of the cove! Charlotte wasn't on the ground for but a few seconds before she darted off the blanket and, as if she were a starving child with a bowl full of rice, ate handfuls of sand like a scavenger! I waited for the "Yuck this is gross, why did I eat this" look to flash across her face but....it never came. Lo, I had to intervene. Char spent the majority of the time in my arms(thus my buffness;). She weighed in at 23lbs 29in. at her appt. today...must have been all the sand! All in all we enjoyed ourselves and the overcast day watching the sailboats drift by, trying to collect shells carried out to quickly by the mild waves...And Rachel and I took turns yawning all the way home.

My "sweetface"

"Child Whisperer"

Lil' Scavenger

Everybody was KUNG-FU FIGHT-ING!!!!

Kung Fu Panda!!!.... Al and I had the chance to take Nevaeh(minus Char) out on a little date last week. We took her to the movies for the first time(that she can remember) and she loved it. It was a little loud for her at first, but she adjusted in no time. It was really fun and she kept saying "I'm so Sited!" Of course we were a little late(the norm for us) and so we had to run from the parking lot to the theatre, which in hind sight just added to the fun! We got there just in time to miss all the 'who knows what you might see' previews. I believe that when a little girl watches Kung Fu it translates a little differently in their minds, more of a form of art than of violence and so Nevaeh (who likes to be the Panda) and I (who like to be the Tigress) have been doing lots of Kung Fu Dancing!