Photo Editing Fun - by Linz

Wesleyan Videos - by Brad

Wesley is at an age where he is doing a lot of silly things. We were able to capture a couple of these on video.

Shortly after the previous post, I noticed that Lindsey actually caught the dying catfish scenario on video. The fish was actually still alive (barely) which is the reason we had not disposed of it. I promise that this is the last dying fish video this blog will produce.



Also, Wesley was acting goofy one day while I was at the computer, so I was able to capture this. Oh the joys of a diaper-wearing two-year old...

Something (as) Normal (as it gets) - by Brad

I believe that Lindsey took all of the following pictures, but I thought I would post them anyway. She can add her own commentary if she feels the need.

After a bath the other night, the boys were having fun with their crazy hair...


Spencer with a typical facial expression...


Spencer is already being brainwashed to like Legos...

Wesley... wondering why his catfish is bobbing vertically in the fish tank... we started with 8 fish, now we are down to 4. After following some aquarium survival tips from Peaby, it looks like these 4 might actually survive.

Fishing for Humor - by Brad

Elliott has been a good big brother since Spencer was born, so we decided to treat him to a fun date night with just his parents. We went out for ice cream and then he wanted to go to the pet store. He typically only gets to look at the pets, as we are not pet people. However, this particular night, we were feeling generous and allowed Elliott to pick out a couple tropical fish to take home.

We already had a two-gallon aquarium, so all we needed were a couple fish, a few rocks, and some fish food, right? So Elliott picked out a silver tip shark fish (some kind of catfish) and a zebra danio. We soon found out that the catfish can grow over a foot (it probably won't make it that long under our care).

Anyway, to make a long story short, a couple days later we ended up buying a 10 gallon tank, more rocks, a filter (and the refills), a fish net, more rocks, and more rocks, some plants, some underwater bamboo, a couple black-striped tetra, some more underwater bamboo, and then a couple orange sword tail fish, and a couple sunset platy fish.

We had a total of 8 fish... until this morning. We are now down to 6 after one of the sword tail and one of the platy passed on. Just to ease your mind about our boys emotions... they had none. They weren't bothered one bit as I scooped the fish out of the tank and dropped them in the garbage.

You might think I am morbid, but I found some humor from a dying sword tail... and I thought I would share it with you.

FYI - the fish didn't last another 30 minutes after these acrobatics.

Whining, with a twist! - by Linz

Right around the second year of life, kids start using their amazing verbal skills for whining. This is usually a bit of a drag as a parent, but Wes has added a humorous twist to an old annoyance.

Here are some of the funny things he has said recently. (For the full effect, read these with a whiny two-year-old tone!)

My mom bought the boys an extra-fancy color chaging night light. One evening as I saw the light turn from blue to red in their room I heard Wes say, "Aw, I liked the blue one"

"People only have arms...I wanted wings"

"My hair is bothering me"

"Hey, I can't see Batman"

Easter Weekend - by Brad

For Easter we traveled to Lindsey's sister's house in Spokane. The boys had a great time with their cousins, Eden and Amy. Their grandparents got them "bubble swords," which were a huge hit.

What's Easter morning without a cheek full of candy?

And of course Spencer (without cheeks full of candy) in his first Easter outfit (thanks Aunt Julie)...

In the boys' Easter baskets (well, Easter bags) we gave them some sun glasses...

On the way back they had a good time, until it got late and everyone got grumpy.

Global Warming - by Brad

It's time for another one of Brad's rambling-ons. This time I am addressing a currently popular topic. Feel free to ignore this post or write me off as an opinionated idiot.

I stumbled upon an article about Mars and it made me think about the Earth's global warming. You probably already know that I am a die-hard environmentalist, and that I am sarcastic. I have to say, that I am all for trying to help our environment... within reason. I'll admit that humans are generally selfish by nature when it comes to environmental issues, but I am still far from calling Al Gore my buddy.

Anyway, the article about Mars said:

"By studying changes in light reflected from the surface of Mars -- a measure known as an object's albedo -- they predict the red planet has warmed by around 1 degree Fahrenheit from the 1970s to the 1990s, which may in part have caused the recent retreat of the southern polar ice cap."

They say the warming on Mars is due to solar radiation. This got me wondering what they say the average temperature increase on Earth has been. So I dug around further and found another article about Earth's global warming from last month that states:

"Over the past century, global surface temperatures have increased by about 0.11 degree F (0.06 degree C) per decade, but the rate of increase has been three times larger since 1976 -- around 0.32 degree F (0.18 degree C) per decade, with some of the biggest temperature rises in the high latitudes of the Northern Hemisphere."

From the article about Mars, we see that it's temperature change has increased 1 degree in 3 decades. From the article about Earth, we see that it's temperature change has increased 0.96 degrees over the same time (0.32 degrees x 3 decades). As a professional accountant, you can believe me when I say that "1" and "0.96" are pretty darn close.

I am sure you have to take into consideration that the Earth has an atmosphere, and Mars pretty much does not. However, if the Sun's radiation is causing the temperature increase on Mars, don't you think it might be playing a small role in the Earth's climate change as well?

WWSLH (part 3) - by Brad

We do still love him!

Going back to a couple posts from October 2006 - WWSLH (part 1) and WWSLH (part 2) - we projected what Spencer would look like based on his ultrasound pictures. As it turns out, our projections were incorrect (thank goodness).

Spencer... and ...the fabled Wesliott