Poland Memories

The other day, I broke one of my prized Polish Pottery Apple Bakers. I knocked it right off the wall. I just about cried. Besides children, it's really the only thing I collect. I haven't bought one since we lived in Germany and Fred was in Iraq. That was 4 years ago.

Today, I've been looking though hundreds of patterns trying to find one to replace it. This is the pattern...

....but I've yet to find it on an Apple Baker. I did find many, many new patterns and decided to just get something new. This is what I bought for about 3 times what I paid in Bolesławiec....

Looking at all these patterns reminded me of my friends from Germany. I'd see a pattern and think, She has that pattern or We looked all day for that pattern or I remember She bought that one at that store or I bought that one with Her or we were just about to leave when we found that pattern. I remember laughing so much on those trips, having so much fun, spending way to much money, being so exhausted by the end of the trip, closing my eyes that night and all I could see was blue spots....Good times!

Bikes

Vincent is learning to ride his bike with NO training wheels! He did this all by himself (with only a little coaching from mommy).

and one of Freddie being sweet...He's copying what Vincent was doing....

Cereal

Here's Johnny getting his first taste of rice cereal. He doesn't quite have the spoon thing down just yet but I think he's doing pretty good so far. Seemed like he wanted to smile at me more than eat. How can you concentrate on eating when your big bother wants to be the center of all the attention. (this is an exceptionally long video...please don't feel like you should watch the entire thing.)

Wii Fit

FINALLY! Wii just got it this morning. Even skipped church to get to Best Buy when it opened. I've never been a part of shopping where people were running to get something. SO CRAZY! They had plenty there and I'm glad I didn't make a fool out of myself running though the store to be the first to buy one. I was pushed only once by someone who already had one in her hand and was going to the cash register. So rude to push through a crowd of people AND push the lady with four kids with her. I could have just drove over her with my enormous double stroller. I wanted to say something or push her back but I didn't. I held my composure like a champ and waited patiently for my turn. I just told the boys if we get one, we'll be lucky....AND Wii DID!

Wii also got Mario Kart which Vincent has been wanting for a long time too.

All in all it has been an eventful Sunday. Let's see if Wii can all share the Wii!!!

Vincent's Birthday Extravaganza!

That's just what it was, an EXTRAVAGANZA! I'm always worried with Vincent having a summer b-day that he's missing out on something. But this year we had nothing to worry about. Almost ALL of the Dentes blessed us with a visit right on Vincent's 6th Birthday! YAY! We had G-ma and G-pop, Aunt Debby and Uncle Fred, Aunt Jean and Aunt Anne all here to help us celebrate. We had such a great time and were really sad to say goodbye to everyone. Vincent was thrilled and was going around telling everyone that our entire family was coming for his birthday and they were taking him on a cruise. Too funny. He had it mostly right. All the Dentes came but we didn't take him on a cruise. We did go on a boat tour of the 1000 Islands the next day. I'll let the slide-show tell you what a wonderful visit we had....

quick fish update...

So, the Ich medicine killed all of my ghost shrimp. But at least it has cured the Ich and the mollies are doing fine. The Gourami was behaving a little funny and I thought it might have a fish fungus. I just treated the tank for that on Monday.

Thanks for the advice to go to Pet Co. The people there were very helpful. I've added a bubble bar (to add oxygen to the water) and moved the tank downstairs (to a less stressful room...it was outside Joe and Vin's room. The tank shook every time they walked out of the door). Everything isn't better just yet. I have a mystery white fuzz growing on everything including the glass in the tank. Some aquarium message boards say that it might be over feeding....geezz...you'd think if I can keep 4 boys healthy and alive I could keep a few fish too. I'm not giving up yet. Anyone have any ideas about the mystery fuzz...see pictures below...

Wife, Mother and Fish Nurse

In between cleaning and taking care of the boys, I have to take care of the fish. Why in the world did I do this in the first place?

I added a couple new ones about two weeks ago. I bought....


2, Neon Gouramis




5, Ghost Shrimp (one was pregnant!)


2, Midget Suckermouths (Otocinclus - these eat algae)

I lost one Ghost Shrimp (no big deal...they're only $.26) and one Gourami. I'm not exactly sure what killed the shrimp or the Gourami. One night I noticed that the Gourami was hovering at the top and wouldn't eat. It's eyes also looked a little bulged. It made it to the morning but there was no improvement. By noon, it was floating :( From the little research I did, I may have been over feeding it but I'm not sure how that one over-ate and the other ones didn't.

So, the next day I noticed that one of my Mollies (from the original 16) was swimming a little funny. It kept rubbing itself against the rock like it was itching its body. I went back to the Internet where I found that it may have a common fish disease called Ich. The only difference was that it didn't have the tell-tale symptom of the little white spots all over it's fins. It did have one or two spots but they didn't cover it's body. Well, I had to do something so I went and bought a remedy for Ich. I also bought aquarium salt AND medicine for my Angelfish because it might have a disease called Fin Rot. BUT I've just been reading about Mollies and they tend to bite the fins of other fish if the fins are long!!! OH NO!!!

Wow, I swear these fish are a lot more trouble than I expected!