Recently...

Most of these pictures are of Brooke--we've got ourselves a really sweet baby in this little girl.  Happy, happy happy....

A sisters-only tea party in the backyard...

Most people tell me that Brooke reminds them of Kate...

I just thought Charlie's pose was funny...

This week brought a death in the Hyer family--our final pet--Poodle the beta fish--kicked the bucket.  I was secretly happy about this as Poodle has been sitting on my kitchen counter for far too long...nothing like preparing a nice meal while looking at a fish.  Kate took the news OK--it was her fish.  But in classic Kate style, she picked that dead fish right up, started walking around, petting it and playing with it.  This lady is the girliest girl, but she can catch flies and crickets with her bare hands, will pick up any slug or bug, and apparently a dead fish as well.

Lauren, on the other hand, wailed as if the end of the world was coming.  When Kate broke the news, Lauren came down the hallway with huge crocodile tears streaming down her face.  Geez...She bawled and bawled and bawled all morning.  I tried to make her feel better by telling her that we could walk to the village pet store to visit the animals there...well, we left with 4 fish--what was I thinking?????  They had 2 beta fish, so each girl has her own individual fish bowl--on her desk--and Charlie got 2 regular 25 cent goldfish--I bought him 2 because they can live in the same bowl together and I figured they'd both be dead within a few days.  So far, no luck.