Meet Nero

This is Nero. He's our new Oscar.


Between the two power outages we've had so far this year, we lost seven fish out of our tank, including our two giant Oscars. Joe was pretty despondent about that, he really loved those fish. Now we just have three fish left, including Nero. (Thanks, Nanny, for financing the new fishy purchase!)


Now to hope that we don't have any more power outages, at least until we can get the battery-operated aerators!

Xander's Angry!

Xander has been having some anger issues lately. (Check out his stop-taking-pictures-of-me face below!) He had a terrible week at school - throwing things, ignoring the classroom rules, and generally being miserable. He hasn't been much better at home either. Every morning is a battle to get him ready for school, because he doesn't want to go. When I ask Xander about his behavior, he tells me that school is "boring" and that he'd rather be playing. If anyone has suggestions, I'd love to hear them!


This week, both Xander's teacher and I will be starting a rewards program. Five well-behaved days will garner a reward. I hate to have to do this for school, but nothing else is coming to mind. I don't want him to hate school, I really don't. And I think for the most part he doesn't - he's been bringing home good work.


Oh, well. This too shall pass. Hopefully!!

Who is that guy??

This is one of those pictures that I, as a parent, really hate. Sure, you can look at this photo of Xander and see his cute little 5 year old face. But I can also see the shadow of the young man that he'll be. Like I need to be reminded that he's growing up right before my eyes. Sigh.

Happy New Year!

Okay, so I'm a few days late. I probably shouldn't have taken all of last week off from work; while it was nice sleeping in, it sure was hard being cut off from the internet! I hope everyone had a safe and happy holiday!! Here's what we did:

New Year's Day we spent at Skinny Grandma's (aka Trudi's) house, as has become our tradition. Xander played with all of his cousins, including Dylan and Andrew. In fact, Andrew seemed to be everyone's favorite toy! I admit I was taken aback by Andrew - puberty is in da house and his voice has really dropped!

On Friday, Joe joined Xander and I at Eli & Krissy's house. We hung out, visited with Aunt Marge, had dinner, and played games until midnight. The kids all made holiday suncatchers. Xander was supposed to come home with us, but he was sound asleep on the pull-out bed so he got to have a sleep over.

I brought my new MP3 player (thanks, Joe!), so there was music to dance along to. Eli and I did some boogying, and then Aislin horned in. It was really great spending family time! Sure wish we could do this more!