Just breathe...

I don't really have time, but I have to post. It's been one of those days. Mr. Fish, may he R.I.P, bit the dust this morning. Mr. Fish was given to us by our wonderful neighbors the Touheys who moved to the Jilin Province of China last year. We miss them a lot and keep in touch via email and snail mail. Anyway, Mr. Fish was one of our last "visible" and tangible connections to the Touhey's and their kids (who Leah is very fond of). We had Mr. Fish for over a year! And saw him through 3 bowls, as well as a whole lot of fish feedings and bowl cleanings.

Needless to say, Leah is distraught and I'm left to explain the emotional intricacies of death. My inexperience in this area is obvious, as I had Pete do away with the evidence which was a big mistake. Apparently 3.5 year olds need closure when the fish they barely paid attention to passes over into the big stream in the sky. I did not realize this. My bad. As for the picture, those are just stand-in fish for blog purposes. They're Koi from the Bronx Zoo Butterfly Garden. See, we loved Mr. Fish so much we never even took his picture. For those who want the details, it looks like a fungus or "Fish Ick" was the cause. Pretty common. A mishap in cleaning his bowl, where tap water, rather than distilled water was used may have been a contributing factor. Or it could just be old age. I'm thinking ovber a year is a decent goldfish lifespan. Mr. Fish you will be missed.

Now Leah is refusing to nap or even indulge in some quiet time (that's why we have a gate, thank you very much) but it must be done. Nevertheless she woke up her sister so I must attend to them. Once good thing about today was that I had photographer Genevieve Fridley come over to take pictures of the girls. It was a great experience and I think there will be some fun shots to show for it. Genevieve might post a preview picture on her blog in the next day or two. So when she does I'll let you know. The girls so enjoyed meeting her and Leah was impressed that she knew of one of Leah's favorite book characters...Genevieve the dog from Madeline's Rescue. She even quoted Pete's favorite line from that book..."Genevieve, noblest dog in France, you shall have your VEN-GE-ANCE!" Now there's something to take your mind off Mr. Fish LeLe...