Our Critters

Nope, 

not talking about the kids here.  

And I am not talking about the furry kind

(I can't handle the furry kind - too much work

and too much fur!)

We have the kind of critters

that live in water.

Last year the family got an aquarium

for Valentine's Day.

We have all enjoyed watching the fish

and adding to it over time.

We have quite the eco-system going on in there.

1 fresh water crab

3 mollies

1 guppy (left)

3 some other kinda fish

1 swimming frog

For Christmas, 

J asked for a 

Grow A Frog

kit.

It was his top item...

so we were thankful when Santa brought it.  

Daddy was diligent 

and ordered the frog to grow

immediately!

It arrived a few days later.

And I think daddy was just as excited

as the kids were!

The tadpole had been living with us

for about a week in this picture...

We put his home right next to the aquarium,

so he wouldn't be lonely...

Then when we were doing our Christmas shopping

Daddy stumbled upon a neat gift 

that he wanted to get the boys...

I wanted NO part of it

and told him that this gift would be coming from him...

and him alone!

When the kids opened it,

I even told them that it was daddy's idea!  :)

Are you kidding me???

An ant farm??

Again,

daddy was just as excited,

if not more!

So he opened this one up too,

in order to figure out how to get the ants.

We discovered that after buying this kit,

you still have to buy the ants too!

So being the economical man he is...

he decided he would just get some out of the yard!

Unfortunately,

we have fire ants in our yard!

(we kill the nests as soon as we find them)

well apparently we hadn't gotten them all

or they came back...

so daddy went on the hunt.

(I was against this too,

but didn't want to buy ants either)

He made a make-shift case for the ants

to get them into the new farm.

So the transfer of the ants worked...

 They successfully transferred quite a few ants

into the farm and got the lid on it.

Then again, against my better judgement...

they brought it inside.

I would have preferred that they had spent

the night outside just in case they escaped.

They came in and joined our critter shelf...

right next to the aquarium and tadpole.

Within a day or so,

I received the news that all the ants were gone!

Thankfully,

no one got bit...

I have no idea where they wound up

or how far they got...

but thankfully no one got bit!

Aye!

So now we have an empty 

ant farm sitting on the critter ledge!

We all enjoyed watching our tadpole grow.

It was neat to watch his tail disappear.

We finally felt it was time to introduce him

to the big tank...

so we cautiously watched to make

sure he wouldn't get attacked!

He did great

and is enjoying his new home!

The new frog...

The original frog...

Daddy wants another one already!  

I think we are going to need a bigger tank!