oh christmas tree...

It's hard enough to get into the Christmas spirit when its 80 degrees outside, but its even harder when there's no tree in the house. We didn't want to get a real tree, especially since we don't have any ornaments :) We had to get creative.

Long story short, I dressed our dress form (Norma Jean) in my long green dress, green sweater and big red belt, placed her in the bay window and surrounded her with presents! ta-dah! It doesn't smell like pine needles, or light up, but it is kind of pretty :)

Graden gets his kicks

Oh Graden, you are just too cute. Swing those legs, little man!

Tank Check!

A lot of drama has gone down since we last updated you all on the fish tank. Fish have come, fish have "disappeared," babies popped up out of nowhere and Buster busted out of his shell 4 more times.

Here are some photos of the action:

We finally decked out the tank with some new decor. Now the fish have a place to hide and bubbles to play with.

This cute little guy is Teg (short for Integra). He was my favorite...unfortunately he only lasted a few hours in the tank, falling victim to Buster's claws and massive appetite. Here he is shown doing his circus seal impression.

Speaking of Buster, here he is looking particularly evil while pinching bubbles from the new rock formation. Poor guy doesn't even realize his efforts are for nothing...we should tell him the bubbles are never-ending.

Here are the babies which miraculously appeared one day! Their mom must have died during fish birth. At first there were 8 (Ich, Ni, San, Chi, Go, Roku, Chichi and Hachi)...then there were 5...then 4....then 2....then 1....and now none :( They were all either buried under rocks or eaten by tank-mates despite our efforts to keep them segregated. We did, however, find another baby in the tank. He's a real survivor and hides out in the plant.

Here are Fuego Diego (light orange w/ black tail...still alive), Taco (black w/ yellow nose and belly...disappeared) and hmm...i guess we never did name that orange one w/ the black tail...

Buster rockin out in his cave.

Here's our newest addition, Walt...named for his Mickey Mouse-like markings.

Here's Chauncey...he doesn't move from this spot....ever! I think he's traumatized from witnessing what happened to his buddy, Teg.

Sucka is the workhorse of the tank...tirelessly sucking all the algae from every surface.

We also took Buster out of the tank for the first time. He had his first photoshoot this weekend. He DID NOT want to come out of the tank, and you can tell from this shot he was not a happy camper. Congratulations, Buster, you're still in the running to become America's Next Top Lobster.

You could eat the fog with a spoon!

So I got to work this morning, and realized I couldnt see the river from our balcony. The fog was so thick I could barely see down the street! Check it: