Belle-the-Betta

Has it been long enough?  I think so!
I've been the usual. Sometimes it's just nice to enjoy life, and live it!  We've swam, and Wii'd (and I've learned how to play Wii Music-and play instruments!-and Mario Kart-although I'm positively awful at it).  We've been to the libraries and for ice cream, and had lots of company, Bible study here, play dates, and swimming (I got my hair highlighted darkened, so I'm trying to give it sun and bleach, and wash it every day to get that crazy color out!).
We shopped for the kids' school supplies, got the coolest notebooks, glittery pencils, art paper and legal pads (when did they get so grown up?), clipboard, binder (what happened to buying watercolors?)..
And we got "messenger bags"!  If you weren't aware (which I totally wasn't), they are all the rage.  I know some kids had them last year, so we are probably behind, but we're slow like that! : )  Mary Claire has been gaga for a Vera Bradley messenger bag, since our babysitter has one (and she has an income!) (and books to put in it!).  So, there was this sale...but long story short, we missed out on the patterns she liked time and time again-online and in two local stores.  But!  The day after the big sale, they had her colors back in stock! Surprise, surprise-for a tiny bit more, but she was excited!  We also got her a lunch box, then I had to do something equally cool for Clay.  I looked all over (already looked at stores!) online, and found a neat one on eBay.  It was black and Nike, and I thought maybe it was the boy equivalent of Vera Bradley (no, probably not, but a bb gun just wasn't on the charts).  I finally won it last night, so hopefully it'll be here soon (along with Mary Claire's!).  It is all little things, and it makes the world go 'round, so we go ahead and celebrate the little stuff too!
Mary Claire lost her fish, Belle, a couple days ago.  It was really sad, and a teensy bit funny.  She called down that Belle was "missing" (I know, virtually impossible).  She looked in all the proper places (her bowl has no hiding places), but then she told me she'd tried to clean Belle's bowl herself.  I'd done it just Saturday, but she was trying to be helpful (even though it couldn't have been dirty!).  She scooped Belle out with a little cup, like she said she'd watched me do, then washed out the rocks, got new water (I'm hoping she added the water conditioner?), then no fish.  She looked all over, then came running to the rail:  Belle was on the rug. (Huh?)  I told her to hurry and put her back in her bowl!  But, she was really squeamish, and couldn't do it.  I ran up there (assuming she'd just gotten out been dropped), and put her back in her bowl.  She was kinda stuck to the rug, but when I put her in she kind of bubbled, and I thought her fins flapped a little.  We left her while we went out, but when we got back, she was still on the bottom, obviously the rug did her in.  Mary Claire was very sad, but wouldn't touch her, AND she wanted her gone.  She thought a burial would be nice, so I told her to go dig a hole, but she didn't want to touch her.  So, I said we could flush her, if that made her feel better, and she liked that idea.  So Mary Claire, Ethan, and I stood around the toilet, dropped her in, told her bye, and (don't all drains lead to the ocean?) she sailed on.  She's still a little sad and misses her fish, but we still don't know how she got on the rug.  No one admits guilt, and I think Mary Claire was the only one up there, and I'm pretty sure she was careful.
So farewell, Belle-the-beautiful-betta!  Mary Claire is still thinking of you.