we have FISH

We have a couple of freshwater aquariums now, and we've really enjoyed it. The children love looking at them and seeing where they are hiding out at times. They are our first pets since being married. How funny is that?

We have 2 Silver Dollars, 2 Ghost Catfish,

Betta,

and 2 Dalmation Mollies in the main tank.

We have 8 fish, with 7 tropicals in one 29 gallon tank, and 1 fancy black goldfish (with the buggy eyes) in a 15 gallon tank in Israel's office. We'd like to add some more soon. The Betta is Quinn's favorite and he loves to tell me when he's swimming into the coliseum. The 2 Silver Dollars are my favorite as they are a brother species to the Piranha. How cool! I'd like to get some Bala Sharks in there too. I tend to go for the sinister, predatory fish for some reason.

Quinn's birthday at the park

Hello all...

Quinn's birthday was just a month ago, and I am finally getting the chance to sit down and throw some shots up on the blog...

We have been a busy little family of 4 this past month, and October is looking even more crazy, but we like it that way, I think? We just got back from the OBX where we had a blast for 4 days. And then Israel was in Detroit the week before that. I've been working as much as I can on my forensic consulting job every night, so the blog gets pushed to the wayside... I worked 3.5 hours today. This was only with the Lord's help today as I also managed to clean 2 out of 4 bathrooms, play Legos, cook dinner, wash 20 diapers, and fold/put away 4 loads of laundry...Some days are clearly more productive than others!! Some days look like this... make my bed, work for half hour, barely make something edible for dinner, and change a few diapers.

I am sorry in advance that not all the people at Quinn's party got a photo with him! We will have to remedy that. So I am not showing favoritism with the aunts and uncles! And I hope to see some of my family over the holidays, Lord willing!!!! Yippee!

Cora got a little purse from LA, thanks Johannah!

The McCotter's visited a few weeks ago, as well as 2 of their boys, Titus and James. The Groveman's grew up with the McCotter's so it's always good to see them when they are in town from Denver.

I will have some fun OBX photos to put up soon!

good puddling day

After all the rain today, Quinn and Cora could not resist the puddles outside! (<- check out the video)

And here are a couple cricket-related videos ...

eating a cricket

heavy cricket

Oh, while Quinn was eating lunch one day, he was moving his fingers very fast, and I asked him what he was doing. This was his response:

I am texting my name, "Quinn Wallace Groveman."

Oh. My.

(This post was written on Oct. 27, but since I started from a previous draft, it was posted as being in September. This timeline bothers me as a forensic consultant, but I'll learn to deal with it.)

Great QOTD's from Quinn!

He has had some good ones lately, and I've got to get them down before I forget them!

about his new sparkling grape toothpaste... "It tastes like Dirty Cake."

"We should put some snakes and spiders and snails in our fish tank. But the spiders will eat the fish."

When I gave Quinn popcorn, he started moving it around and said, "I am texting my name, Quinn Wallace Groveman."

"When you say it's time for bed when I am playing Legos, then I will say 'OK mom', and I will not say 'I want to play more Legos.' no no."

fish with eye balls?

Quinn requested that we purchase some fish because they have eyes. So we came home with rainbow trout and grilled them that night. I usually try to cook seafood at least once a week for variety, and salmon wasn't on sale, so we opted for the fish with eye balls. But honestly, I wouldn't highly recommend this, especially if you are super-hungry, and you have children who can't pick out bones. There were about 10 bones to every bite. But it was an adventure!

Here are some photos of Cora during my time going in and out cooking the fish.

So pretty....

And here are these two buddies, best friends, peas in a pod...

giggles

Johannah captured some silliness while Israel and I went out on a date tonight. And it has convinced me to try to capture more video myself, and not just photos, of these special little people. They are so much fun to be with, and it is obvious that they love being with each other as well.

So click on the link above, and enjoy!