I Can't Believe How Tiny They Are!

Hi! Well, I wasn't planning on creating any more posts about the fish, but this is big news. Epitah (guppy) had 14 babies! We were able to catch 13 of them, and we put them in a separate tank. This is so fun! The children are really excited, of course. Mostly, they can't get over how small the babies are. Freddie was already asleep when Jim first spotted a baby... I can't wait to see his reaction in the morning.

Guess What Day it Is

George turned 5! The cake was his specific design. "GT" stands for Grand Trunk Railroad. (His favorite.) He enjoyed himself, today. Aunt Anne stopped by, bearing gifts. And, he went to Science Night at the school, with Peter and Margie.

Fish

Nicholas gave George and Margie each a fish, for Christmas. And he gave Margie a girly pink fish tank. George got a fancy Crowntail betta. He named it, "Stitchy". A year ago, Nicholas gave George a betta, which George named, "Stitch", after the character in the movie, "Lilo and Stitch". (He died last Summer.) The new fish, Stitchy, is doing fine. At first he wasn't eating, but, we switched foods, and that did the trick. To make a long story shorter, the kids got Christmas money, and wanted to add to the fish population. Nana had given us her old 10 gallon tank, stand, and other stuff, so we haven't had to buy too much equipment. Our life just got more interesting. Besides making sure everything is running correctly, we've had some issues (like a certain three year old not being able to resist feeding the fish when he wasn't supposed to. The food is now out of reach.) And, we've had two die (including Margie's Christmas fish, which was very sad), and here are the rest:

Guppies: Lion, Herman, and Epitah
Swordtails: Sweyn and Ragnhilde
Plecco: Stripey and Tiger (RIP)
Albino Cory Catfish: Grishnak and Ugluk
Bubble Eyed Goldfish: Spotty (RIP)

Just tonight, we discovered Sweyn (male swordtail, and Peter's) is extremely aggressive: picking on the other fish, in particular, the guppies. Poor Lion (he's the smallest guppy, and Fred's) has been cowering in the corner, and his tail is all ripped up. Lion is going to be moving to Margie's fishtank, tomorrow. In the meantime, we threw extra plants in there, to give him more hiding places.

I don't have any photos, but, the kids wanted me to tell people about their new pets. It's a pretty big deal: other than George, none of them ever had a fish, before.

Carp. Party Photos

Here are some pictures from the Carp. Party. (Officially, it is called the Annual Carpatho-Rusyn Society Pot Luck Dinner, or something like that.) We had some slight changes to our usual routine. The St. Nicholas Brass played before dinner, instead of later, because one of the key members has little baby triplets... :) :) :) ***Jim is holding little Katie in one of the photos*** And, this year, the children participated in performing Zarzharitsja C^elovik (I really have no idea how to spell it.) It is a Rusyn folk song, similar to "Old MacDonald". The children all learned the sounds Rusyn animals make. The cool thing is, they've been singing it on their own, around the house.

Special Gift

You have to hear this. On Thanksgiving, Marisa and Haden kept working with Thomas, trying to teach him to walk. The very next day, he started taking a couple steps, by himself. He kept that up, but never took more than two or three steps. On Christmas Day, his cousins were teaching him, once again. After we left their house, we went to Baba's, where Thomas started walking all over the place. We were so amazed! Thank you, Haden and Marisa!!! You are good cousins.

Christmas with Cousins

At Laura's:
















They are both three. (Two peas in a pod.)















Love those eyes!!













"G", Gabriel (right), "G", George (left).

Christmas Day at Our House

We woke up, extra early, so the children could open some presents before church. After church, we came back home, to finish. Then we went to Laura's for dinner. After that we went to Baba and Grandpa's for the rest of the night, getting home very, very, very late. It took us days to recover. (I love it!)

Holy Supper

Happy New Year! Our holidays were great. And, we have been incredibly busy! (It is all good stuff, though. I wouldn't trade it, for the world.) I can't believe they are almost over. I am going to try to put up all the holiday photos. Here are some from Christmas Eve:

"Ooooooh, bobalki!" (Yum, their favorite dish.)











Thomas was so hungry, he thought he would eat his plate.














Singing Christmas carols with funny hats.























(Uncle George and Gabriel)