New tank inhabitants!

The tank has slowly been getting up to speed and we finally decided it was time to add some more life. Unfortunately, Petco screwed up the order and what we were supposed to get Tuesday (when Tom was home and could handle everything) we didn’t get until this morning (when Tom had overnight duty and couldn’t handle anything). I managed, but it wasn’t in my comfort zone (I’ve acclimated fish before, but not saltwater ones)!

One of my favorites was a sea star… Unfortunately he arrived in less-than-stellar condition and we aren’t sure if he’s going to make it. But, he’s so cool…as soon as I put him in the tank, he burrowed into the sand. From sitting on top to completely buried took about five minutes!

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And I had forgotten how cool feather dusters were, too:

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And some corals…

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And the kids’ favorites—the clown fish!

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Or Nemos as Katie calls them: Katie was excitedly showing them her Nemo: “Look! They’re the same Nemo!”

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And another favorite, the anemone:

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They are intelligent creatures. I put him in the tank where I wanted him to be—where I’ve circled in the photo below. It was a nice little shelf in the current where I thought he’d look great. But he had other ideas. When I came back to look at him about 10 minutes later, he had flipped himself off the ledge and was upside down in the sand! I figured I’d help him out and flip him back over and then just leave him for Tom to deal with when he got home. The next time I came back and looked at him, he had scooched across the sand and wedged himself under the rocks (where he then stayed)! Simply fascinating.

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After everyone is settled I’ll actually clean the glass and try to get better pictures!

Katie in the snow!

As soon as we got back from the bus stop, Katie wanted to go play in the snow. So I got out her new snow pants, bundled her up, and let her go! And man was she cute!

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She loved brushing the snow off the car!

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And then she laid down and did a snow angel all by herself! I didn’t prompt her in any way and I have no idea where she saw this!

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She had no idea it was an angel—she liked “making rainbows!”

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Then I got out the sled and took her on a few slides down the sidewalk and then the street—and WOW did she love that! (So our hilly street is good for one thing!) Of course it was exhausting for me hauling her back up the hill, but we did it about 5-6 times because she loved it so much. 🙂

Coming inside—100% adorable:

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Two hours of jumping!

So we made it to the trampoline park today for our two hours of jumping. And we learned two hours is too much—but one hour isn’t enough, of course.

Here’s a montage of Katie (we had to stay in the Under 46″ section while daddy and Owen were out in the big arena) and then Katie and Owen (he needs some practice at the hoops!).

In the dodgeball court:

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Watching Owen:

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This would have been Owenisms 59 & Katieisms 12…but it seems silly to keep separating them…so with the new year, they are now OKisms. 🙂

Owen: Mom, I love you so much I’d even kiss your eyeball.

Owen was playing with Katie.
WATCH OUT! I’m Lord Voldemort and I will electricery you!

Katie: I want an apple.
I start to grab an apple but she sees the onion on the counter.
Katie: That’s not an apple.
Me: I know. I have the apple here.
Katie: Good. I don’t want to eat that [the onion].

Owen accidentally pushed Katie over.
Owen: I’m sorry Katie.
Katie: You can’t do that! It’s rude!

Owen, while putting together Legos with Harry Potter on in the background.
It’s not lev-i-OH-sah it’s lev-i-oh-SAH!

Katie was playing with a tiny fairy she has.
I can’t carry you today because my back hurts.
(Can you tell I’ve said that a few times?)

Owen: Mom, I don’t like this puzzle.
Me: Why not?
Owen: I don’t know where the pieces go.

Mall fun…and then no fun.

First we stopped at the Lego store just to see if there was anything on Clearance. Just under $200 later…we left there and headed to the play area. On our way out, we stopped to gather the kids at the building station and a mom complimented us on Katie being polite—she said her son dropped a piece and Katie handed it to him, he said thank you, and she said you’re welcome! She said it was very unexpected from a 2yo. YAY KATIE! 🙂

Then we hit the mall play area. It was complete chaos because most parents are lazy and don’t actually parent their too-old and too-tall and too-aggressive kids and let them RUN WILD while little kids are trying to play in an already-congested area. So we didn’t stay long.

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Then Katie wanted a ride. She loved it! (Sidenote: it was 75¢—seriously?!)

And then Owen learned the hard way not to beg for McDonald’s. We were near the food court getting them small treats at the customer service kiosk and he saw McDonald’s and wanted it. Tom and I said we were going to Red Robin instead. He kept asking for McDonald’s and I told him we said no and to stop asking. He asked about three more times…so he lost Red Robin. He was not happy about that (and neither were we!) but hopefully he learned his lesson. On the way home he asked about four times if we were going to Red Robin for dinner. Nope, not for lunch, not for dinner, not at all today. (Apparently he didn’t learn his lesson about repeatedly asking for things.)

So it was a mostly good day. 🙂

BOTH kids wanted their toes painted like mama’s this morning.

Katie loves having her toenails painted and I’ve been promising to do them. She came to visit me as I getting out of the shower, so I figured it was a good a time as any. I sit her on the counter and tell her no wiggling.

“NO wiggling, mama. I no wiggling.” 🙂

Then Owen came up and wanted his done, too. He’s actually been talking about it ever since I got nail polish in my stocking and he liked the silver glitter polish. I sent him downstairs to find it but he couldn’t, so he said “pink like yours” was good.

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Afterwards he asked if it rubbed off. Nope, buddy, it takes special chemicals. You could see his brain working but he didn’t say anything so it must have been okay.

Trader Joe’s, fish, pizza, escalators, and bouncing!

Tom wanted to go to a fish store to see what they had—and of course the kids wanted to go…so we all went! On the way there, we saw a Trader Joe’s (which we hadn’t been to here yet) so we stopped to pick up a few things. I tried to get Owen to push the kid-sized cart and he was having NONE of it and turned into a grouch. Fine. So then we hit the fish store and the kids loved that but then it was almost lunch time so I searched Yelp for something close by…and we ended up at a really yummy pizza place at the Springfield Mall! Well, then since we were at the mall, we decided to check it out (we hadn’t been there yet, either). And that’s when Owen discovered the escalators. Well, he had been on them before but this time he LOVED them. And he’s old enough now that he will go on them without us…which he did. A few times. 🙂

Katie wasn’t too sure and held daddy’s hand pretty tight.

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This was Owen’s third and fourth trip around the escalators. Like mother, like son…I remember doing the same thing with my cousins Lisa and Lori (though at a little bit older age) at the Saginaw Mall! 🙂

And then as we were headed to a store I wanted to briefly look in…we ran across a bouncy place. YES. IN THE MALL. So in we went…and let the kids run wild for 30 minutes! (Contrary to what you see in the pictures, there were a bunch of other kids there!)

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As a last special thing…on our way out, we stopped to get frozen yogurt!