The adventure of our first pet!

So over the years my kids have asked when they can have a dog or any other animal for that matter. At this point in our lives Chris and I have no interest in cleaning up dog poop during this busy season. Having 2 kids in diapers is more than enough poop for us, to be quite honest. :-) So the other day when the pet conversation came up again with Isaac, I was explaining to him that pets take responsibility. I went on to tell him that he doesn't even put his pajamas away in the morning. If he couldn't be responsible in that how would he be responsible for a pet? I told him that when he can show me responsibility with something like that then maybe...MAYBE we could get a fish for him to take care of. A couple days went by and I started noticing that he was putting his pajamas away in the morning without being asked. This was impressive to me. That day we were in Walmart. EVERY time I take the kids to Walmart, and we get to the section with the milk, the kids beg to go see the fish. Well, this time was like no other and the kids begged to not only SEE the fish, but to BUY a fish. I saw the gold fish for like $.38 and I figured I might as well give it a shot. If it doesn't work out I can always flush 'em. The kids were ecstatic!! I got one fish for each kid.

Now, I already had a tank and fish stuff from when Isaac was about 1 year old when we had a few fish in Tulsa. The kids had no knowledge of this. When I pulled it all out when we got home and Isaac saw all this stuff he could hardly contain his excitement. He saw that not only did I have a little aquarium, but I had some pretty rocks. He exclaimed, "Oh MOMMY!! You have pretty rocks?!?" Then he saw a little plant thing, "OH MOM!! You have a TREEEE!!! OH You're the BEST MOM EVER!!" And he gave me this giant hug. It was quite hilarious. The fun part about the fact that he is a drama king is that not only are his lows really low, but his highs are really high! He was so dramatic. It was hilarious.

After we got the fish settled they had to come up with names for the fish. Isaac named his fish "Gabriel," after the angel Gabriel. Grace named her fish, "Sunny." Then Grace named Jonathan's fish "Rollie Pollie." Isaac and Grace decided the best name for Luke's fish would be "Destroyer." I'm sure you can understand their reasoning and justification for the naming of Luke's fish. Just to be sure I had to ask why they named Luke's fish that name. They matter-of-factly said, "Because he destroys things Mom."

Here are the kids making fishy faces this morning

The awesome thing about these fish is that Grace really wants to feed them too. So not only has Isaac been cleaning up the clothes off the floor, but Grace has kicked it into high gear as well. She REALLY wants to feed the fish too. So I told her she could if she could be responsible for her clothes as well, then she could feed the fish too. It has thus far been awesome. The kids know I have no attachment to the fish and that the threat of flushing them is real. I know...I'm a mean mom. So, we will see how long this lasts. My guess is that Luke will get into them at some point and do something to kill them. You'll get that post later when/if that happens. But for now, the kids have their first pet and the Mom is loving having PJ's and clothes picked up off the FLOOR!! Woohoo! Who woulda known that spending less that $2 would bring me such happiness!?!