Tank life

We cannot have most pets, despite my children's pleading. I am allergic to most animals, and also they are not aloud. So we do what we can. Let me introduce you
to our tank lifes...

Frog. S/he was a present for Christmas in 2005. Frog has out lived 3 betas and 17 misc fish. S/he spends his/her time mainly at the bottom of our 10 gallon tank and periodically chases fish around. S/he is a nice frog. We have never really officially named him/her, though one time when my step grandparents were babysitting him/her, S-gramps named him/her Freddy the Frog. While it is catchy, it has never stuck. As we've been shopping around for fish, many pet stores have been surprised and almost down right shocked that s/he is still alive. Apparently these types of frogs are very difficult to keep alive, and don't usually live longer then 6 months. Interesting. We have noticed that this frog LOVES having the tank to his/her self. He goes crazy and swims everywhere. It's really funny!!


A few months ago we decided we needed to fill our tank with many goldfish. Why? Who knows. So off to Wal Mart the girls and I pranced. We picked out 12 goldfish, in hopes that 5 or 6 of them would live. Excitedly, the girls picked out 'their fish'. Within four days all but one had died... Sam's fish named Whitey... and that one looked on the verge of death. So Pernell went and picked up a few more fish. Those few more died. And Whitey... still, barely alive. So I went to Petsmart and had our water checked (it was perfect!) and picked up some different fish. I picked up a few mollies and some algae eaters. The associate at Petsmart told me that I should wait till Whitey the goldfish was dead, because they are gross. My (awful!) intentions were to go and just flush that $0.o8 goldfish and put it out of it's misery. When it came down to it, I just couldn't, after all, it looked like it was about to die anytime. Interestingly enough, while the mollies all died, that one Whitey goldfish.... did not. And weirdly enough... it was getting bigger. In one last fish attempt, I went to Walmart again, decided that their fish were better, and bought 5 more gold fish. All but two of that batch died. So I think we have our fish family. One now-monstrous fish Whitey,two fish unnamed, two unnamed algae eaters and a frog.
So introducing... Whitey the Goldfish. He's huge. HUGE!! He is about four times the size he was 5 months ago. HUGE. He enjoys swimming around and eating. So pass the time he likes to eat rocks and spit them out, especially the rocks that are holding down items, such as fake plant life (see picture).


School starts back up for both Pernell and I today. Yippey!! More to come... it will be good.

4 years

Today Sam is 4 years old. Wow! Time goes by so quickly!!!!!
Sam was born 4 weeks early and weighed 8lbs and was 20 inches long. Such a cute baby! She was a very good baby, too. Started sleeping through the night at four weeks old. WOOHOO!!! Always a silly person. Here's her life thus far in pictures:

Sam 2 days old Sam 4 days old


Sam 3 weeks old
4 weeks


Sam about 9 months old
14 months 2 years old

3 years old

Sam today, 4 years old -



We had a little family birthday party for her. She was really excited!!! Gosh, I can't believe it's been four years!!!! She's such a fun part of our family!!

Always look on the bright side of life....

.... when being sick... it causes one to eat less. Wooohoo!!! Blah!

This is one of the funniest blogs I've ever read! No, not mine (but mine's a close second HA!), but Seriously So Blessed. It is hilarious! This girl, 'TAMN' and she is the stereotypical 'Molly Mormon'. She cracks me up!!

Week one

Kaylee's first week of school was a success! She loves class, loves her teacher and her favorite friends are all in her class. As a matter of fact, they are all sitting in the same section. I imagine this won't last long, as when I asked Kaylee if they talked a lot (silly questions since she's my daughter!!), she looked down and quietly said, "Ya... a little" ... "Kaylee, has your teacher asked you to be quiet?" still looking down..." ya... a lot". LOL!! She is such a kind, sweet girl. She is reading like a pro! I would like to take credit for that, but it is all her. She prefers to read, which is great! She's a self starter and is very prompt when it comes to getting homework done. She also wakes right up in the morning. Hmm.. maybe she takes more after her dad! That's got to be it!!
Today Kaylee also had her first ballet lesson for the school year. She's been talking a lot about dancing point / toe at some point in the future. I've been telling her to work hard and practice her ballet and we will see. Today at her lesson, you could see the determination on her face! She did everything identical to the teacher. Every movement was perfect. She's very graceful and it was so much fun to watch her dance!! She defiantly has a mind of her own and it is set!! It is so great to watch your kids grow up. It's hard to believe she is 7!! I came across her outfit we brought her home in the hospital in. She was 5 weeks early and just an itty bitty little thing. Now she's this tall, beautiful girl with a mind of her own (and a mouth of her own!!!!!), and she is doing great things!! I look forward to the future, but am living in the moment.

How sad...

I've never been in the 'super popular' crowd, never delt with too much peer pressure...I do consider myself likable..... and am generally accepted in most groups.


So I thought that maybe.. just maybe... I'm an all around great person to know... someone people want to know.....





until about 2 minutes ago when I Googled, "Life as a middle child"... the name of my blog... and Google did not find me. AHH!! Google finds everyone... but me!!!!!!!!!!! AHHH!!!



Now it is official... I am really a dork in disguise.




PS... maybe this will get Google's attention!!

Phew!!

And now we are good again. Thank you Cookie!!!

The Demon Barbar of Our Street Strikes!!!!!!!!!!!!

*sigh* and I even wish I could say it was Sam. To be fixed very, very soon.

The truth is told!!

BE WARNED!!!!! Hear ye! Hear ye!! ALL MUST BE WARNED OF THIS!!!!!!!!!!!!

There is an evil place. It sucks you in. No matter how hard you try to avoid it... it always pull you in.This place has powers beyond the pale. It is run by an evil King. There is a magical curse on this place. The mere scent of the name of this place seeps into your car taking complete control of said vehical, and no matter how hard you try or how strong you are, forcing your car it into this place.


*sigh* I am ready for lunch.

Back to School

Yippey!! Kaylee started up the 2nd grade today. Yay!! She woke up a couple times during the night and finally the last time at 7am. The past two years we have been walking her two and from school. It is only 2-3 blocks away. And every day for the past two years, we've seen a bus pick up and drop kids off right at the corner of our yard. While I really enjoy walking each day.. especially on those rainy and snowy days and days when Sam and/or I am sick... Kaylee decided she really wanted to ride the bus this year. So for the first time ever, Kaylee rode the bus today. She was so excited!!
We met Kaylee's teacher last Thursday. She is great! Everyone we've spoken with has loved this teacher. I'm excited for Kaylee to have another great year! The previous two teachers have been fantastic with her, and I have a feeling this will be no exception. Kaylee loves school so much!! She read books all summer and is doing it like a pro. Yippey!!

Sam has been a little off the last couple of weeks. Just not her normal crazy self. Pretty sluggish. I called the doctor and we're going in tomorrow just for a check up. Maybe she's growing?? I hope so!! She is in the 15% percentile for height. Tiny tiny!

I am very frustrated with my fall semester schedule. I had everything set and worked out since May. I get a call a few days ago telling me one class is going to start a half hour earlier then planned. Because of this one small change, there are no classes towards my degree that I can take. NONE. Trust me, I was up till 4:00 this morning going through every single class this college has to offer. Not one. So I just got off the phone with the Deans office of that particular department, and they are doing some research as to why the class time was changed and call me back today. I'm not sure what this will do, if it even does anything, but at least they know I am not happy. I mean really, change the class time two weeks before the semester? I was taking a class that ended 10 minutes before the other class was to start. It was like it was custom made for my schedule. It is very frustrating because I need to be going full time. Hopefully something will come from that phone call.

Other than that, things are going well! It's nice to have some time off to spend with the fam. We have come to the conclusion that we have defiantly outgrown our home. However, moving is not in the cards right now, so instead Pernell and I have both been taking on different things in our home. He has been great and has been conquering the garage. I've been doing all the paper hoopbla we have everywhere. Little by little progress is being made. I just want to throw everything away! I wish it were that easy!!! We've been using craigslist to get rid of a lot of things deemed unnecessary. Hopefully we'll be done in about a week or two. But.. is it ever 'done'??