Randomness

Earlier this year my camera died.  It was about 7 years old, so it had probably outlived its life expectancy, anyway.  We have found, though, that the camera on my cell phone is actually better than my old camera.  As a result, I find all kinds of random photos on my phone.  Or, like today, my children will pull out the phone while we are our and about. 

Here are the latest random photos:

The cat had been outside and came in looking like this. 

At the mall - no desire to go in here!

In my class last week on Diversity we learned about Afghanistan culture. The women in class got to use henna to decorate their arms, hands, and feet. This was my henna "tattoo."  The mark can last up to 3 weeks, but mine faded after about 5 days.

 We get a lot of Daddy pictures!

 

Sleepover with our friend Mercedes before she left for college

 

 Emily called this "James Bond's license plate"

 

This one says "RUBBISH", which is a phrase The Doctor uses on Doctor Who, a favorite British TV show.  The bumper sticker on the right is a British flag.

 

Heather's chemistry class learned how to change the color of pennies yesterday. One was changed by chemicals; the other by fire exposure.

 

Making Friends

My cat, Awesome, is the epitome of a "scaredy cat."  He runs from the sounds of cars, doorbells, and strange noises.  But he is absolutely fascinated by the birds who land in our backyard tree.  He loves to sit in the grass at the base of the tree and listen to them sing.  He loves it when they venture down to the lower branches or to the ground in search of bugs.  But I have NEVER seen him chase one or try to catch one.

So imagine my surprise the other day when I heard a strange noise in the living room.  As I rounded the corner to investigate I was hit in the knees by a bird!   And Awesome was right behind it, tail twitching in excitement.

Awesome loved it whenever the bird walked.

He kept poking at it to make it move, but the bird is really good at holding still.

At one point Awesome put his nose to the bird's beak, but the bird moved too fast for me to catch it in the picture.

Awesome moved quickly, too, anytime the bird flapped its wings.  Awesome wasn't sure what to make of that.

I don't know if Awesome did this or if it was injured already.  We have a LOT of stray cats in our neighborhood.  My guess is Awes isn't fast enough to catch a bird unless it was already injured.

The bird got tired of being poked and flew into the kitchen.  At one point, Awesome just laid down on the tile next to the bird, tail twitching but calm as can be.  I don't think he wanted to hurt it.  He seemed to just be curious.

The bird flew behind the piano instead of out the back door, which was just this side of that cord.  Silly bird!

I also found bird feathers all over my bedroom and bathroom.  ???  That means they started their tussle there.  Crazy!  I heard nothing from the other end of the house.

Not a very positive First Friend experience for poor Awesome!

Santa Kitty

We found a tiny Santa hat in the $1 clearance bin.  We thought Awesome would like it.  We were wrong.  Emily had to hold him so we could get the picture. 

Awesome celebrated his third birthday last week.  Hard to believe we have had him that long.  What a sweet, beautiful cat he turned out to be...most of the time. 

We have a stuffed rocking chair in our living room.  He loves to catch us unaware by racing across the living room and jumping into the chair.  He lands on the chair back with great force, making it tip back.  He has his timing down perfectly so he hits the chair just as we walk by.  The chair suddenly moves.  We are startled so we jump back and scream.  He is happy.  Typical guy.  Ha Ha   But other than that, he is sweet...

Scripture Study

Awesome likes to race me to my bed at night.  As I walk down the hall he will bolt passed me and plop on top of my bed so I cannot lay down.  Then he will close his eyes and pretend he doesn't know I am there.

One night I had already set out my scriptures.  When he jumped on the bed he must have decided scripture study was a good idea. 

Halloween Cat

I am preparing to post my Halloween pictures of the girls and I thought, "What is Halloween without a black cat?"  And so I am posting our Halloween cat pictures, even though he wouldn't sit still long enough for the girls to dress him in anything.

Awesome LOVES to be outside in the backyard. However, he doesn't like the heat much.  During the summer he would meow and meow to be let out, but as soon as we opened the door he would get hit with a blast of heat.  He usually decided he would rather stay inside. 

We have had such lovely cool weather recently and Awesome is in heaven.  I often prop the back door open while I work and he spends hours exploring the backyard.  He pounces on grasshoppers (and occasionally brings them inside to play!).  He sits in the shade and watches the birds fly overhead.  He naps in the tall grass.  He is such a happy cat!

However, as soon as he hears anyone coming down the alley, he bolts for the house.  The other day I was on the phone and he came skidding into the den with his tail about 3" around.  I didn't see anything in the alley, but something really spooked him.  Maybe it was a Halloween goblin!

Stowaway

The girls left town the same day Uncle Devon did.  Devon went back to Denver.  The girls went to Houston with their dad to visit their Texas cousins.  Awesome tried to stowaway in Megan's bag.

I will post some photos of their Texas trip once I sort through them.  Between Heather and Emily, they took close to 800 photos!

A Good Chair is Worth Every Penny

In June I started a new job where I am working from home.  Since I was going to sit in the same exact spot for 8-10 hours per day, I needed a good chair.  Megan helped me pick it out and insisted on helping me put it together.  What a great helper she is!!

Megan hard at work

Sorry I cut your head off, honey!  Good thing I didn't get a job as a photographer, huh?  Hee Hee

Megan thought you all should see the instructions, as well.

When the chair was put together, Megan tested it out and declared it perfect.

Awesome liked it, too. 

Mouse Trap

Our cat loves to play with his catnip mice and toy balls. He will play for hours with them.

Lately we have noticed that he hasn't been playing with them much. He wanders around the house looking lost. We figured he had hidden them somewhere. We finally figured out where.....under the couch!

We found 9 catnip mice and five toy balls under the couch. We also found another 3 catnip mice in the water heater closet in the hallway!

Awesome is pretty happy to have his catnip mice back. He showed his appreciation to me by playing with one of his mice on my pillow this morning at 5:00am. You are welcome, Awesome!

A Gift of Music

For the past year, Emily has been asking for a piano so she could take piano lessons. Every chance she gets she sits down at a piano and picks out songs. If I cannot find her at the church building, I go searching the rooms with pianos in them.

Earlier this month a family in the ward said they had a piano to give away to anyone who wanted it. Emily was begging them to give it to her before they even finished their offer! About ten days later her dad and some men from the ward delivered the piano. Emily was in heaven.

She plays for an hour or two every day. She has been picking out songs from the Primary songbook and she talked me into purchasing the Hymns Made Easy songbook. She is actually quite good! She can usually play a song once or twice and have it down. There are a few songs that are a little more difficult, but mostly she is doing really, really well. With a little practice and some piano lessons, she will be amazing!

Awesome likes the piano, too!

Brave Little Girl

Our cat Awesome loves to sharpen his claws on the edge of the carpet in the living room. Where the carpet meets the ceramic tile the edges are frayed. We get after him all the time, but I can tell he must still be sharpening his claws when I am not around.

I didn't realize the consequences of his activities until Sunday. Megan was barefoot and caught her foot on the wooden tack strip under the carpeting. Three nails slashed the ball of her foot. Two of the cuts are really deep. We cleaned the wounds and applied Neosporin and a Band-Aid. We change the bandage several times a day to help keep it all clean. However, it is in a bad place and Band-Aids don't stay put very well.

It has been a tough week for Megan. She can't put much pressure on the wounds so she walks on the heel or on the side of her foot. She cried this morning because she has PE today and they are supposed to play basketball. Poor thing! But she has been a real trooper and is going to try to walk on the ball of her foot today. I am so proud of how brave my Megan is!

Happy Valentine's Day

Awesome trying to eat the flowers I bought the girls for Valentine's Day

My daughters LOVE having flowers in the house. Occasionally I will buy a small bouquet at the grocery store and place them in a vase on the kitchen table or coffee table. They cheer all of us and make the house look prettier.

So for Valentine's Day I decided to buy a pretty bouquet for the girls. I left it on the table Friday because I knew they would get home before me and it would be a nice welcome home surprise.

I picked out this particular bouquet because the girls think lillies are pretty. Awesome found the leaves shooting out of the bouquet much more fascinating. I had to move the vase to the kitchen table because he kept trying to chew on the leaves.
Happy Valentine's Day to each of you!

Cat Napping

I took a few pictures recently and decided to load them onto my computer this afternoon. To my great surprise I found the above picture. I guess I should be glad that all the kids did while I was sleeping was take my picture!

I swear we have the funniest cat. He fits right in with my crazy kids. I love them all.

Santa Claus is Coming to Town

Our Christmas tree this year

We just love putting up our Christmas tree each year. There is something about a Christmas tree that just brings the Spirit of Christmas into our home. We love to look at each of the ornaments and remember when and where we got them. We remember family and friends. We remember Christmases past. It is a great adventure for us every year.

This year someone else enjoyed this adventure....our kitten, Awesome. He wasn't sure at first what to think about all these things in the middle of the living room. However, once the tree was up and we put presents under it, Awesome couldn't have been happier.

Awesome's favorite spot was under the Christmas tree, right in front. He kept trying to push the presents out of his way so the girls rearranged the presents to make room for him. He would spend hours sitting under the lighted tree.


Awesome was also fascinated by all the pretty presents. We had to re-wrap several presents because he kept chewing on them. The girls eventually put the littlest presents in the top of the tree to keep them out of reach!

Awesome also discovered that he could stand on a kitchen chair and peek out the front window. The girls laughed and said he was watching to Santa Claus to come.

Study Buddies

Awesome reading Harry Potter

Heather has had a new study buddy recently. Awesome, our 11-month-old kitten, has decided that he likes to "help" Heather when she is doing her homework. Above, you can see that he really enjoyed reading Harry Potter with Heather the other day.

Below, it looks like neither of them enjoyed the science book nearly as much as they enjoyed Harry Potter.

Awesome and Heather "studying" together

When I was growing up, my dad had a framed cross stiched quote by his reading chair that seems appropriate here. It said: "I am not sleeping; I am reading with my eyes closed."

I wish I could read like that! Ha Ha

Guard Cat

The other night we were all lying in bed, almost asleep. Suddenly, Awesome starting meowing loudly in a really weird voice. He is usually such a quiet, mellow cat that we thought he had somehow gotten stuck somewhere or was hurt.

Heather and Megan ran to the kitchen to check on him. When they brought him to my room, his tail was about 3x the regular size. He was shaking and still meowing softly.

Surprised, I asked the girls what had happened. Apparently, they had found him standing on the kitchen table with his head through the vertical blinds. A stray cat had apparently walked through our front yard and Awesome was defending his territory. He was quite worked up over the intrusion.

Awesome had some pretty bad experiences before we got him. He lived on the street for some time before the girls found him. I don't think it was a very friendly place for a tiny kitten. As a result, he NEVER goes outside. He likes to look out the windows but runs the minute we open a door to the outside so I never would have expected him to be affected by anything outside. It is nice to know we needn't be concerned about a home invasion from the neighborhood cats. Our guard cat is on duty.

Okay, so he doesn't look so fiersome with a lei around his neck. Blame Emily!

Twice As Awesome

My daughters are upset that I failed to post something about the final member of our household.

When I was growing up we found a stray black kitten in the alley behind our home in Wyoming. The poor thing was cold and starving so we took him in, fed him, and warmed him up. My older brother David took one look at the kitten and said, "What an awesome cat!" My younger brother Devon started calling him Awesome and it just kind of stuck. He was a beautiful cat. My dad is NOT a cat lover but he was out-voted by the rest of the family. We ended up keeping the cat for 15 years or so.

My daughters had always loved to hear me tell stories about Awesome. Last January they found a stray black kitten that was starving and cold. They promptly named him Awesome II and brought him home. Needless to say, Mom was out-voted and the cat stayed.

We now have a litter box in the guest bathroom and catnip mice all over the house. Except when he pounces on us in our sleep, we have really loved having an Awesome cat in the house. Below is the picture we took today.