Funny Animal Pics

All Lined Up in a Row

Esther's Kittens

These little punkins were born Monday morning, August 29.  She actually had them in the girls' closet, and neither Melia nor Kiera had any clue!  Gabe heard the baby kitty cries from the living room and went to investigate!  We got the box all set up, then told the girls what had happened.  Right then, while they were watching, Esther had baby number four!  What a special experience!  We have two girls and two boys (to the best of my knowledge :-), one gold boy, tan/white girl, gray girl with a smudgy nose, and gray boy!

So... we're taking requests if you're in the market for a kitten!

Can't....get....comfortable....

This weeks Bountiful Basket and Pix

I finally figured out how to publish- after a week of it not working!  Grrr! 
Anyway, this weeks basket included 2 nectarines, 3 peaches, 2 mangos, fennel, broccoli, cucumber, sweet potatoes, beets, celery, lettuce, and corn!  Suggestions on sweet potatoes, fennel, and beets would be welcome!!!

 This is the stir fry I made when we had the bok choy... It was tasty, but we needed some rice!  (I made so much I didn't think we needed a side, but it really would have enhanced the flavor.)

We are eagerly awaiting Esther's popping... Her poor belly is just rock hard and points out on both sides! 

We enjoyed having Isabel and Alden over last week, and Isaac showed his big boy helper skills at assisting Alden with his lunch!  Funny thing is, he really doesn't look that much bigger than Alden in the top photo!

Meet Esther

You know... sometimes things just happen. Tonight, we brought home a kitten.

Her name is Esther, and she is oh-so-happy to have escaped her fate as a mouse catching barn cat.

I just hope Isaac doesn't beat her too much. His new fun is running around hitting anything living, saying "Ow! Ow! Ow!"
He's great. She's great. We're great. I just need a clean house, and I'll be great too. :-)

Oh, yea, and we're in the car on the way home talking about litter boxes. It went something like this:
Kiera: What's a litter box?
Me: It's for kitties to go potty in.
Melia: And poop.
Kiera: And diarrhea.
:-)

One down, one to go...

Woo Hoo- One of the people who called 2-3 weeks ago called back about the kittens, and we are 80% sure we have a buyer for Rose! The plan is to take her over when we go on our little trip over to Great Wolf Lodge. (In a few weeks- no reservations yet, but we've been looking at the calendar...) He was pretty excited we're gonna be headed his direction, so I think that helped to seal the deal... Now, if we can just get Cocoa moved...

Their nighttime antics are good motivation :-)

And, more pics...

Some fun ones... And for those of you whom I told about the picture that I thought looked like my dad, it's this first one... Just evidence that Isaac did come from my side too, even though he looks so much like his daddy :-) Plus... that hair looks like it may still be on the orangy side of blond...

This one looks TONS like one we had of Melia making the same face!

Pretty girls...

Eight Days later...

Our computer got a bug. Several bugs. Annoying.

Anyway, I am so thankful that Gabe has the patience to figure out which bug it is, and how to fix it. And while I didn't like spending the $ at the time, I am thankful that we have the laptop so he can go online to find the information he needs to do so.

A lot has happened the last week. Here's a few update :-)

Daily cleaning list: I like the way this works. I only have to focus on one thing per day, and it keeps the house tidier overall. The problem I am encountering is that the days when Gabe is sleeping, I have a hard time fitting in the routine in that room. And at some point every two weeks, Gabe is sleeping every day. I have not yet found a solution to this hindrance.

Chore Chart: We are instituting a chore chart for the girls to use to earn money, which they then can use to buy snacks, confiscated toys, and special items that we will purchase and then they can earn $ to purchase from us. This morning they were so eager to get started! Kiera washed the dining room chairs and then helped Melia finish Ziva's room. Melia swept, vacuumed, and washed the floor in Ziva's room. They each earned .50. Kiera promptly spent hers on snacks, as expected! And Melia had picked a few things out of the AVON catalog which she wanted to save up for- so she's saving hers. I like this. I am encouraged by their enthusiasm.

Ezri: Ezri died this morning. I was suprised yesterday to find her suddenly weakened, as in a state of organ failure. I recognized this because right after Gabe and I were married, my cat Spook took a very sudden turn for the worst, and Ezri had the same look in her eyes. This time it was easier on me though- I knew that if I took her in to the vet, I would probably get the same reaction as I did when Spook died. They basically said there's nothing they can do. IV's with fluids, force feeding Nutrical, but Spook died within 2 days, so I knew Ezri was not going to recover. I brought her in the house, put her in a box with a cushion and water, and tried to keep her comfortable. It's hard emotionally, especially with not knowing what went wrong. But it's done now. At least the suffering is short with whatever causes this sudden illness. So these two kittens are the last ones we will have. And I'm ok with that too. Having kids and kittens is pretty difficult, so it's alright to be done. Although it may be harder to let them go...*sniff*

Babies, hopefully here to stay...

Ezri had two babies yesterday. I think a brown spotted male, and a snow spotted female. I will try to get pictures soon, but currently we are trying to trap Marsha to get her out of there. She had four kittens last week; none are still alive. She's done having kittens, to say the least... It makes me appreciate what a very good mama Ezri is!