Our weekend - 2 weeks ago.

This post is totally overdue... so buckle up and here it goes.

Cambelle's birthday weekend consisted of a trip to the Pet Store, cake, balloons, presents, friends, family and then another trip to the pet store.

Saturday - Cambelle's actual birthday- we decided to take her to get a fish that she's been talking about for months. She got it in her head that all she wanted for her birthday was a fish. Simple. Just a fish, we can do that... no problem.

But, on our way to PetSmart an awful thunderstorm came through and it looked horrible and dark at 10:30am. We made it into the store and shopped a bit. Cambelle picked out her tank and the fish she wanted. Right when I was about to ask for help the lights went out and we just stood there looking at each other... like, are you kidding me? Seriously, right now? Well, there was nothing we could do and the people at PetSmart didn't seem like they knew what to do either so we left, without the tank and the fish.

All the lights were out in the area but on our way home we saw Pet Co and they were open and their lights were in full effect. So, we stopped there and bought a really nice orange fish, fish food and a Finding Nemo tank. Cambelle immediately named her fish Mr. Nemo and off we went home to celebrate Cambelle's Third Birthday.

I was awful with the camera that day and didn't finish taking pictures of everyone...

But, here's her cake...

...food and many people...

... Cambelle blowing out her candles... she's a pro. Three years of practice and she's got it down cold.

... Scott and I...

... Lauren and Michelle... - don't know why it's so blurry...

... Bill, Nicole, and Madeline...

... and then it was present time. Cambelle enjoyed opening up all her presents and she was on cloud nine all day long. Thank you to everyone for the wonderful presents.

... Brianna, my couisin, and Cambelle...

... the kids jumping on the trampoline. One of Cambelle's gifts from us...

It rained pretty much the entire day and the yard was a mess but the kids did get to play a little bit outside in between rain drops. I'm just glad Cambelle had a great time and we are definitely blessed that she is loved by so many!

Now onto Father's Day!

Sunday morning we woke to Mr. Nemo not looking too hot. He looked lethargic and totally out of it, but he was still swimming and breathing. Jeff and I knew he wouldn't last long... I felt a bit of failure has his "other mother." What did I do wrong?

Since I knew he wasn't going to last long, I prepared myself to see a dead fish when we got home. So, off to church we went. After church we had lunch with Jeff's Dad, his step-mom, BIL, SIL and nephew. It was nice to see them and nice that they drove down from PA for a bit. Then, off to my parents to see my dad before he had to ref soccer.

Jeff and Chloe in the backyard...

...and then all four of us...

When we arrived home, Mr Nemo, was gradually floating to the top... the poor thing. I felt so bad. I was wondering what I did wrong... Cambelle made it a little bit better because she didn't seem that upset about it. She went over to his tank, took a good look at him and then said... Mr. Nemo is dead! Just. like. that. She was coping better then I was.

So, we couldn't just leave the tank empty all night... so off we went AGAIN to the pet store. We had our receipt and a sample of the tank water in a Ziploc bag just in case. When we walked in and over to the fish tank where we got Mr. Nemo... (picture above)... it was under observation. All the fish including Mr. Nemo had a disease and even though we just lost a member of our family, I was relieved that I didn't do it... Pet Co did, not me... it doesn't make it better, but at least I didn't over feed him and he didn't die because he ate too much of his poo.

So, after a lot of convincing, since Cambelle didn't understand why she couldn't get the same fish, we left with a Beta fish. But, we were told that Mr. Nemo was not a good fish for us since it would grow a couple of feet and it was tropical. What? How did that happen?

When we bought him, we immediately asked for help since we had no idea what we needed... when I told this to the girl when we were buying a new fish, she told me that the girl that helped us before was new! Oh, well, I'm glad we got that all straightened out. I don't want to go home (again) with a tropical fish that needs small arms to eat.

With all that being said, Chloe enjoyed pushing around the small carts banging into every breakable thing. And, we now have a new, small, clean, healthy, fish in our home named Mr. Blue, because, well, he's blue but very happy with us. Pictures of Mr. Blue to come soon, I think he deserves his own posting.

And, this is how we spent our Monday. The girls were still exhausted and had no energy left to do anything!