Husband Quote

"I need you to keep Sophie and Oscar in the computer room with you and shut the door tonight. It's not funny when you are playing a scary video game and a black cat comes running from the shadows to jump up on your shoulder."

I don't know why, but visualizing my husband being scared by our female kitten on multiple occasions made me laugh for a good five minutes straight.

Summer "Vacation"

What does Ariana do on her summer vacation?  She chooses a book about vultures from the library, then dedicates a notebook to be "Ariana's Vulture Gernal" and proceeds to take notes from the book into her journal.  Without being asked to do so. Ever.

Have I mentioned lately how much I love her???

So, THAT'S Why She's Not Moving...

My darling children wanted a pet in a fish tank that they could actually play with.  Having had hermit crabs before, I convinced them that these pets were ideal.  Back in January, we acquired four hermit crabs.  Honor, Connor, and Ariana loved playing with their crabs...Samuel not so much.  Actually, not once.

His was the first to die.

About a month later, Connor's hermit crab decided to molt.  Unfortunately there weren't any shells that the crab felt comfortable in.  Connor was quite heartbroken when I found his hermit crab hanging from its shell one morning...until I allowed him to study its body.  My naturally curious son found that fascinating.

We all grieve in different ways.

A couple of months later, Honor's crab succumbed to the same fate as Connor's crab.  She was equally upset, however, her curiosity was satiated simply by seeing its limp body hanging from the shell.

Ariana's crab hung on for quite a while.  And Ariana was a good crab mommy.  She made sure her water and food was kept full and periodically misted the tank.  Whenever allowed, she would take her crab out and let her climb around for exercise.

Which is what she thought she was doing this morning.

Ariana: "Mommy, my crab's out!  Can I play with her?"

As I was checking the other children's schoolwork, I wasn't truly focused in on what she was saying. I simply nodded my head and went back to work.

With a Cheshire grin, Ariana grabbed her crab and sat at the lego table to play with her.  She happily set the crab on the table and waited for her to fully emerge. Five minutes of smiling ensued.

Then the tears began.

Mommy: "Ariana!  What's the matter???"

Ariana: "MY HERMIT CRAB IS DEAAADDD!"

Mommy: "What???"

I rushed to her side and picked up the shell.  Sure enough, her hermit crab was hanging there as limp as could be.  Had I been paying attention, I would have noticed it much sooner.  I felt horrible for letting her play with a dead animal for five minutes.

Then she made it worse.

Ariana: "I knew she was dead when her claw fell off onto my chair!"

Yep.  That's a pretty clear sign.