Buddy and Swimmy

I finally took the camera to basketball but only got a few pictures. Cade is on the red team #66.

They are getting much better and Cade even scored 2 baskets and had a lot of rebounds. He is having fun.

Saturday night we went to dinner at Chick Fil A and then went to Petland. Petland is like a petting zoo, only better. We went to look at Beta Fish because Cade is wanting a fish again. Story about that with the pictures of the fish at the bottom. They have Petland set up where you can pick up any animal, a bunny, ferret, mice, gerbils, birds, dogs. It was a great way to spend a Saturday night.

The kids were loving these little bunnies. Maddi and Cade tried to convince us to let them put their money together to buy one. Where would we keep a bunny?

Even Emalyn loved those little bunnies.

Then we got to hold a little Shih Tzu puppy!

Someone loved that little puppy!

I don't think she knew it was like Cocoa, but she knew she wanted it.

Emalyn was so proud.

Little shih tzus are so ugly, they are cute. Looks like a gremlin! Love it!

Cade wanted that puppy too. We told them before we went in, we were NOT buying a puppy, so don't ask. They knew that and understood, but they still asked for that puppy. Maddi ended up crying and said she doesn't think she should go back in that store because it's so hard to see all those puppies. She wasn't being bratty or mean, she just had a moment where it was too much for her and her little heart. We told her she should never work in a pet store because she would take them all home with her each night.

The whole reason we went was for one Beta fish, for Cade. Look who else came home with a fish! Maddi used her own money to buy a tank and a fish.

Meet Swimmy, Maddi's fish.

Here is Cade with Buddy. Yes, Buddy, again! Cade first had a Beta fish named Buddy 5 years ago after Maddi got Cocoa. He has since had many other Beta fish, and they are always named Buddy. Many times, we replaced "Buddy" without Cade knowing that Buddy had died.

Cade has been asking for another fish since his last one died. Brett was tired of the upkeep of the tank and wasn't ready to deal with it again. This last week at school, Cade disected an owl pellet. One night before bed, he was telling me how cool it was and asked about things I've disected. I told him about the frogs, starfish and cat. He asked if I killed the cat and I told him how the cat was put to sleep or some other reason and then they were used for disecting. He asked what putting to sleep meant. Then he started crying and said that he thought I put Buddy to sleep because I was tired of him. You see, last time when Buddy died Brett thought it would make Cade too upset to know he died, so he wanted to replace him without him knowing. Buddy was dead for over a week and Cade never noticed. One day he said he wasn't eating anymore so Brett told him he would take Buddy to the vet. We ended up telling Cade that the vet gave Buddy some medicine but he didn't make it. Now all of a sudden, Cade thought I put Buddy to sleep. I don't like lying and always just wanted to tell Cade "your fish died, deal with it" but Brett wanted to protect his feelings. I finally came clean and told Cade the whole truth how Buddy had been dead for over a week but he never noticed and that we never took him to the vet, etc. So all week he's been telling us he'll take care of the fish, change the water, etc. He even said he'd buy the tank and fish himself. I do think he's ready for the responsibility, so we bought the boy a new tank and fish. We'll see how this goes!