Kittens!

Holidays: survived. We stayed pretty close to home this year, and had a nice time. It was very unusual to get so much rain around the holidays. We didn't do anything special for New Year's. This year, as a present to ourselves, we sent the kids to daycare for three days between the holidays and stayed home ourselves. :D And those days were filled with visits with friends, Star Wars, and... kittens!

We decided the day after Christmas that it might be nice to add a couple of kittens to our house, now that we have more finished space. We went to the Humane Society as a family on the 26th to see what animals were available, and two little kittens caught our eyes. We put in an application, but there were some things that needed to be done first, like getting Cricket checked out at the vet. I was able to get him in Monday morning, much to his chagrin. The Humane Society okayed our application on Monday afternoon, and we got the kittens when they opened on Tuesday! Such little things. We named them Amewlia Pond (Amy) and Roary Williams (Roary). [Yes, I am a huge Doctor Who fan].

Amy and Roary

The first few days were interesting, getting to know the kittens, them getting to know the house and especially Cricket. But now we've had them for two weeks, and they seem to tolerate each other. Cricket and Roary seem to get along well, even playing together - they have similar laid-back personalities. Amy is a feisty one. And so far a naughty girl who keeps wanting to use well-chosen spots as a litter box. She's not quite 3 months old, so I'm hoping that stops with a little more maturity. And they are very cuddly.

Iris has finished extra swimming lessons, but started tumbling again last week. It's pretty basic stuff - run around a little, jump on the trampoline, swing on the bar. She's in a huge class, so I'm afraid she won't enjoy it too much, having to wait a long time between turns. I'm hoping that with the number of teachers they had last week, they can split the kids into smaller groups.

Felix lost another tooth, giving him a decidedly vampirish appearance. He's still doing well in school and in swimming, and he just turned 6.5 this week. He's still drawing and playing and roughhousing and being every inch himself.

I recommend... The Detectorists on Netflix if you like your humor dry and British. Watch Sherlock: The Abominable Bride on PBS before it disappears!! 

Final notes.... Nick celebrated his birthday last week by being out of town all day at a speaking engagement. Work's been quiet for me lately. ​

​And no, we did not win the Powerball jackpot​, although we did have a pleasant conversation discussing what we would do with it. Invest! Donate! No handouts, you slackers!​

Felix: 6.5 yrs & Iris: 3 yrs