Rainbow

I was looking back through some old posts the other day and realized that we missed a birthday!  May 1st was Annika's fish Rainbow's first birthday. Can't believe we've kept her alive for a whole year! (Especially since the first fish we gave her died after 2 weeks :P).

Farewell little fishie

Well, the fish has gone to the big fishbowl in the sky, so to speak. 

When I came downstairs this morning it was floating on its side, but thankfully not at the top of the bowl.  We had Y Neighbours this morning, so we were in a bit of a rush to get out the door and I didn't want to deal with the situation, so I just ignored it for the time being.  Thankfully Annika didn't notice that anything was wrong (since the fish had been pretty listless lately anyway) and she didn't ask to feed it.  I wasn't quite sure how to handle the discussion, so I wanted to wait until I could gather my thoughts a bit and would have time to try to answer any questions she had.  But I did feel like sort of a crummy mommy for not telling her about it right away.

After Y Neighbours we went to my parents' place for lunch, and I told her about the fish when we got there (I thought maybe it would be good to have the discussion away from home, and away from the fish).  I didn't actually tell her that the fish was dead, but just that it hadn't been feeling well lately (which she had noticed already since it wasn't doing much swimming and wouldn't come to the surface to eat), and when we got home the fish would be gone, and it wouldn't be our fish anymore, but we could get a new fish if she wanted (the fish was still on 'warranty' so Petland would replace it for free).  Or something like that - I don't remember the exact words.  Part of the reason why I avoided telling her that the fish was dead was because we've really only talked about death in regard to the Easter story, and I wasn't sure if she would then think that the fish would come back to life, like Jesus did.  Also, I wanted to avoid a bunch of death-related questions.  Yes, I admit, I chickened out a bit, but I think just addressing the situation, rather than just trying to replace the fish without her noticing, was being brave enough.

So, Annika was sad when I told her, but she didn't say much else at the time.  It was good to be at a place with lots of other distractions, so she didn't think about it too much. :)  After supper we went back to Petland and picked out a new fish, and she had a few more questions (especially since I had to bring the dead fish back - I kept it hidden in a sour cream container in a bag though so she wouldn't see it), but overall she seems to be okay with the whole thing.  I guess we'll see in the next few days if she has any more questions.  This was her first time at Petland so she was pretty excited to see all the little animals and fish tanks.  We decided to name the new fish "Rainbow" because she has lots of pretty colors (the picture doesn't really do her justice).  Let's just hope that she lasts longer than the last one!

Lately...

... life has been busy, and the house is looking neglected.  The toys seem to be taking over.

... we've gone outside to inspect for things that are growing (and found some - even the rhubarb that I thought I had killed last summer is poking its head up).

... I made some all-natural solid lotion bars. I'm just waiting for them to harden right now so I can test them out.

... I went shopping with my birthday money and ended up feeling exhausted, frustrated and nearly empty-handed (I only bought 2 tank tops and a t-shirt after 2 hours of kid-free shopping).  I need some new things for spring and summer (espeically some nicer things), but more and more I don't enjoy shopping for myself.  I don't know what styles look good on me (don't want to wear anything that resembles maternity clothes) and I hate changing rooms (does anything make your self-esteem plummet quicker than being in that little room??).  That evening I came down with a fever/chills and ached all over.  I think it was a reaction to the mall. :P

... I got a new pair of ugly custom orthotic sandals (think of something your grandmother would wear).  They're just for in the house, so I'm okay with the fact that they make me look about 75, but they're actually not that comfortable!  I got a new pair because I'd been having problems with my feet and this was supposed to help, but now I've got pain in my right heel that wasn't there before.  Is it just getting used to something new?  Or should I take them back and complain?

... I've been baking more.

... the fish (Annika's birthday present) has been quite lethargic.  I'm actually expecting her to go belly-up any day now (hopefully while she's still on the 30 day warranty!).  I did some quick reading on the web and I think it may be that her water's too cold (it's just room temperature).  But I'm not about to go buy a heater for her, so I'm not sure what else to do for her.  Start knitting little fish sweaters?? ;)

... I ordered wooden peg dolls for Annika's dollhouse, and I've been scouring the web and Pinterest and Etsy for ideas for painting them once they arrive.  They seem to be quite popular as wedding cake toppers, as I've seen quite a few bride and groom dolls.  Annika was looking at the pictures with me, and loved the wedding ones, so we'll have to include those in our set! :)  They're pretty cute, aren't they?  I like the style where they just have eyes and the rest of the face is left blank.  I was wondering about arms, though - I've seen some with arms painted on the side, or some that just leave the arms out completely.  Which do you think looks better?

Source: justalittlecreativity.com via Pamela on Pinterest

Wedding couple, no arms

Source: blogtownmom.com via Pamela on Pinterest

Family, with arms (at their sides, sort of hard to see)

So that's what we've been up to lately.  I'm looking forward to May and hoping for a slower pace, good health for everyone and warmer days!

The birthday weekend - part 1

Well, after 3 straight days jam-packed with birthday celebrations, I have so many pictures and stories to share that I think I'm going to break it into 2 or 3 posts.  I'll start with Friday, April 13th, which was Annika's birthday.

Actually, I'm going to start on Thursday, the day before Annika's birthday.  I baked and decorated the cake for her party on Saturday, and the cupcakes for taking to preschool on Friday afternoon.  And as always, she was very excited to lick the beaters (I think I have a picture of her like this from just about every year).  This year Emmett even got to join in on the fun.

I baked everything in the morning and then did the decorating while Emmett was napping and Annika was having quiet time.  I needed them out from under my feet to concentrate on the decorating!  These kids literally like to be "underfoot" when I'm doing something in the kitchen.  They pick a spot as close to me as possible to play, making it quite difficult to move around without stepping on one of them (or on one of their toys, or on the entire contents of my Tupperware drawer that they've emptied...).  Anyways, the cake turned out to be more challenging than it looked online, which makes me think that from now on I may just do cupcakes for birthdays.  Remember how pretty the cupcakes were for Emmett's birthday?  I can do cupcakes fairly well and fairly easily - why do I continually stress myself out doing cakes??? 

On Friday morning, Annika was so excited when she woke up.  She even told me "I'm bigger now when I stand up", now that she was four. ;)  Carey was already at work when she woke up, but he was able to make a quick stop at home while she was eating breakfast and we gave her one of her birthday presents - a betta fish!  A while ago she told me that she wanted a kitten for her birthday (no way that was happening!!), and I told her, "well, maybe a fish", so we got her a fish (I'm sure she had already forgotten about that conversation, but she was pretty excited to get it).

She's looking at her reflection in a mirror, and "fighting" herself

They were both quite enthralled.  They also had a bowl of Cheerios there between them - I probably could've gone out shopping for an hour and they would've been in the same place when I returned!!

Annika decided that it was a girl fish and we named her "Scarlet" (because she's red).  I'll admit, I suggested the name (along with a few others) and strongly encouraged Annika towards it, because Annika wanted to name the fish something like "princess alla balla" (or something like that - it changed every time she said it).

After lunch I took Annika to preschool, along with 2 dozen butterfly cupcakes.  I must say, I'm pretty proud of how they turned out.  I even put aside my need for perfection and let Annika help with putting the butterflies on top (with my assistance).  She had a great time at school, as she got a birthday crown and a card from her teachers, and everyone sang happy birthday to her.

By supper time we headed over to Carey's parents' place to celebrate with them and his sister.  Annika had requested crepes for a birthday supper, and they was delicious.  For dessert we had Dairy Queen ice cream cake (my request).  Annika received some great presents, including a box set of 3,000 stickers (she is obsessed with stickers - I always joke that she goes through them like air), a few other gifts from us, and this awesome dollhouse, handmade by Carey's dad.  I know she doesn't look terribly excited in the picture below, but she absolutely loves it.  We put it in her room, and I hear her playing with it all the time (and even at times when she shouldn't be, like when I send her upstairs to get a sweater or something!).  Right now she's just using some Little People stuff to play with it, but I'd like to get some little wooden dolls and simple wooden furniture to go with it.

So that was day 1!  Stay tuned for a recap of Saturday's events...