Philadelphia Brass: A Festival of Carols in Brass!!!!! We had this on lp when I was a kid. It is a classic, and one of my very favorites. The Canadian Brass Christmas albums are great too.

Ewww. Sorry. :grouphug:

My boys love the Melissa & Doug pizza set, food groups set, and cutting food set. They also love our few pieces of wood food from the Nova Naturals catalog. I think they would like plastic food, but our dog would chew it. We have a bunch of plastic tomatoes, and a number of them have tooth marks. We have a felt camping food set that has to stay up in a closet because of the dog too.

Great! Glad I checked because I would have vacuumed all the rocks. Thanks!

How long have you had your giant? My mom was teasing me that I'm going to have to dig a pond in the yard for these. Thanks for the info about lights and filters. :)

Oh, and about bacteria and filters and only rinsing one - this filter has one filter cartridge and one plastic scrub brush thing. What should I do?

lol! I was half expecting them to die on me this morning, now that they have a better home. :tongue_smilie: But they didn't, thank goodness. I do have a question though - are the lights in the tank hood necessary? We don't have the bulbs, and I'm wondering if they need them for warmth or anything.

Immediately inside the door are a couple of hooks for the dog leashes and my quick-trip-out jacket. Then stacked shoe shelves, on top of which are 2 baskets for mittens, hats, scarves. Then over these are hooks for DH's hats and duty belt. Next, a boot tray and low hooks for little coats. DH and I leave our footwear near the door, but our coats come farther in. There is a rack over a heating vent just past all the hooks, near the coat closet. So after boots come off, wet and snowy items can come to the rack. I still end up with shoes everywhere, but DS5 is getting better about it. They're both pretty good about getting boots off.

Oooh, a log cabin set? I like the sound of that. To the OP, I also recommend getting a bucket of blocks instead of a specific set. My DS5 picked out a small bucket of random bricks at the Lego store, and he played with it happily for nearly a year before he got a real set. His first real set was the smallest alien conquest set. That one was ok for him when he was about 4 1/2.

Lucky day! DS loves the fish already, as do I, TBH. So I took my bday $ from my mom and we went to petsmart to see what we could do. Some jerk had stolen all the extras in a starter kit, so we got a 10 gallon tank with a better filter than it would have had, and a hood. We had enough money to also buy an ornament and plant. WTMers will nod knowingly when they hear DS chose a sphinx for the ornament. I know 10 gallons is still a little small, but it's way better than a bowl. I had to move some stuff off the kitchen counter, but that's ok. The fish are happier already, and the boys are happy. So there you go. :001_smile:

Scary! Thanks for the warning.

Drat. The shop I was thinking of going to closed. And no great deals on tanks tonight. I will check petsmart tomorrow, I guess. I hate to see these pretty guys so cramped.

Thanks everyone. Their fins are all good. And they seem to be looking about more this evening. A used tank is a good idea, although I'm still not sure where I'll put it. I did try to open up the topic of whether or not DS is disappointed without leading him to say he was. He says he likes these but I may ask again. I don't know if I can get to where she bought them, but if DS would prefer a different one, I may ask at the reputable shop near us if they'd take them. Off to check craigslist.

She brought the water treatment drops, so that was done. They definitely don't have enough space. Not even close. She brought her grandmother's fish bowl, which is larger than the typical fish bowls but way too small for one of these guys, let alone both. For some reason, she thought she should get the bigger goldfish. I'm really kind of upset, to be honest. Now I have to buy a bigger tank than I have room for or budgeted for. And while DS seems to be excited about his fish, he didn't get to pick his own. They are swimming a bit, and their fins and scales look healthy. They're just hiding side by side in the corner a lot.

Seriously. DS asked for a goldfish for his birthday, so I was going to take him to a well respected fish shop near us and let him pick one and ask about their care. But a well meaning but misguided friend showed up at his party yesterday with 2 goldfish and some supplies. I was not prepared. Oh well. We'll get to the shop today or tomorrow. I keep thinking the fish look a little traumatized.

Oh dear. These little guys are more involved than I thought. We were given flakes, but the fish don't seem to want the floating flakes, just the ones that fall down. Hm.

Thank you. :)

What do you feed your goldfish? I found one site that claimed flakes only is best, and another that said flakes only is dangerous. The truth is somewhere in between?

Yep! I love them in soups, and almost always mix them or parsnips with potatoes for mash. Glad you discovered them. :)

I agree with pp. One pair of snow pants/bibs is fine. We keep lots of mittens, hats, and scarves, and I have a mini drying rack over the heating vent near our coat hooks. Warm boots are essential, and I sometimes double socks. Thermal, silk, or wool long underwear is important.

The Philadelphia Brass Christmas album is one I absolutely cannot live without. I also love the Canadian Brass one. I also love many orchestral, chamber group, and choral collections. And the usual suspects like Sinatra. I can't trim my tree without Charlie Brown. A funny one I really enjoy is a Klezmer Nutcracker. A few of the Christmas collections, like Now That's What I Call Christmas, have good selections.

We buy ours at a local shop. If you're looking for an online source, maybe pm ChristusG?

My 2yo plays with regular Playmobil, but he does have a 123 firetruck he loves. The arms don't move, so they don't come off if chewed on. I think your littles would enjoy them, esp with youngers that will use the sets too.

Adore Schleich here too! Wonderful, high quality toys.

I'm http://pinterest.com/annlaura/ , although I don't have tons of pins yet. Although after this thread, maybe I will. :)