He's Lucky!

It took a while, but we finally all agreed on a name for the kitten. Kylie named him Lucky. Pretty appropriate huh?

Since we had brought Lucky home on Friday, he'd been kinda quiet. Not too much running around. Yesterday however was a different story! He was acting like a kitten should act...all crazy and silly, chasing everything and attacking invisible objects. He's gone nose-to-nose with both cats and the dog several times and now he's not hissing or spitting at anyone anymore (unless Gypsy moves too quickly...he even swatted her on the chin!!).

It's been so long since we've had a kitten I'd forgotten how much fun it is to have one in the house. Entertainment all the time! So much fun!!! Just a little bit of life running around the house like he owns the place...and he's only 6 weeks old!

Here's the tough guy hissing at Gypsy...

And here he is making sure the dog knows he's the boss...
Playing with Connor...
Thinking about taking a nap...
All worn out...

Fishing Pictures

My dad was here for a day, so of course we had to take the kids fishing. In fact, on Friday when Kylie woke up, the first thing she said was "I can't wait to go fishing with Pepaw!". We had planned on renting a canoe on Lake Springfield and floating around the lake for an hour or so, but it was way too windy, so we went down below the dam. Kylie caught 9 fish and Connor got 3 before they both got bored and were ready to go home...

One Tiny Cat

I don’t understand the way people think sometimes. Here’s what I mean…

Wed. I found a tiny kitten (about 7-8 weeks old) in the middle of the road right in front of Nixa High School. He had a bloody nose, blood in his left eye and was obviously in shock. I took him to the feline veterinarian and they discovered the kitten’s left front leg is paralyzed and may have to be amputated if it doesn’t get better within a month or so. The vet told me that he thought someone had grabbed the kitten’s left front leg and slung him from a car onto the street.

Yesterday, out of the blue on the way home from dropping Kylie off at school, Connor said “Star light, star bright, first star I see tonight, I wish, I wish with all my heart that the little kitty would be ok and we could give him some cat food.” I swear I almost started crying.

We weren’t planning on getting another cat anytime soon. And when I dropped him off at the vet’s I wasn’t really thinking we’d be owning this little kitty. But then I started thinking about it. Maybe this was meant to be. Why hadn’t he been picked up by anyone else? Why hadn’t he been hit by a car? Why was he still alive? Why was it me that found him?

This afternoon, after a fun fishing trip to Lake Springfield with the kids and my dad, we picked the kitten up from the vet. This was a surprise to both Kylie and Connor. Connor knew about the kitten since he’d been in the car when I found him, but I never told Kylie about it. We have yet to come up with a name (Tommy, Max, Roadie, Crash and Baby were a few thrown into the hat), but he’s settling in nicely. He’s hissed and spit at the dog and at Geordie (who hissed back and got all puffed up) all from the safety of his crate. Kess has yet to investigate the tiny intruder.

We took the kitty outside this evening for his first photo shoot. The fact that his leg is paralyzed doesn’t slow him down one bit. He was all over the place and it was all I could do to get a photo that was in focus! He’s been eating like crazy and resting with his head on his new mouse toy. He likes to have his back rubbed right in front of his tail and rubs his head on everything. Kylie and Connor have been so good with the kitty. They’re very gentle and are so careful with him.

The hardest thing about this has been trying to explain to Kylie why someone would hurt an innocent baby animal on purpose. I can’t explain it to her. Michael hasn’t been able to explain it to her either. This is what I mean by I don’t understand how some people think. How could someone do that? What made them think they should do it? What had the kitten done that caused them to do it (not that it’s justifiable by any means)? If they didn’t want a kitten why did they have one or why didn’t they have their cat spayed? Why couldn’t they have just taken him to the Humane Society? Hmmm…we’ll never know. I do know that if I had seen someone throw an animal from a car, I’d have chased them down and thrown them out of a car…on the freeway going 80 mph.

Anyway…

Enjoy the photos. Maybe tomorrow we’ll have a name for this little guy!

When I found him, he was lying in the middle of the left hand turn lane right by the arrow...

Sweet little baby kitty...Notice the LF leg is turned under...Dragging his leg doesn't slow him down at all...C and the kitty...K (right after her bath) and the kitty...

Always remember...

...never forget.
September 11, 2001

Catching up

I've been a bad blogger!! Sorry about that! I'll try to catch you up on the oh so exciting things that've been happening around here.

Labor Day weekend was pretty relaxing. I had to work on Saturday and Monday nights, but that was ok. Monday afternoon we took the kids to Supercuts. Kylie had a trim (since she's decided she wants to grow her hair long again) and Connor got the coolest cut ever!! It's so short now and I love it!! No more trying to figure out which side to part it on, no more fighting the cowlicks...easy hair! Yay!! Now he looks like the troublemaker that he is. :-) We didn't take the camera with us, so Michael got this pic of Connor with his cell phone...

After haircuts we went to Burger King for lunch and had fun messing around with the camera on M's phone. It'll never replace my Canon, but I had fun messing around with it anyway! Here are a few of the shots I took at lunch...

On a different note, Kylie's been saying she wants to ride the school bus for a while now. Michael and I weren't exactly enthusiastic about it, but we talked and finally decided we could try it out and see how she likes it. I signed her up and she started riding the bus home on the 2nd. I was a mess all day. I kept thinking she'd get off at the wrong stop and that the bus driver wouldn't care and all these other awful things. Guess I didn't need to worry at all. She did great...and she loves riding the bus! And it's a whole lot easier for me now since I don't have to fight the traffic or the parking at the school. The bus stop is at the top of our road, so it's a quick walk for Connor and I to meet Kylie.

It was barely sprinkling, but that was enough for Connor to need to bring the umbrella on our walk to meet Kylie...

A handsome boy despite the messy face, the scratch on his nose and the bruise on his forehead...
Successful first bus ride home! Whew!!

Connor started his last year of preschool on Wed. It's kind of sad...this is our last year at Carpenter's Kids!! The cool thing is that he's in Kylie's old classroom which is upstairs (where the big kids go!) and he loves his new teacher, Mrs. Hudson! Here he is that morning with new shoes and a new backpack...my little sk8r boy...

Ready to go!!
Goofing around as usual... In the elevator up to the "big kids" rooms...

Other than that, it's pretty status quo around here. The weather today is sooo nice! We have all the windows open and I think we're gonna go outside here in a few minutes. I'm bummed the Raiders lost last night, but was anyone actually expecting them to win in Denver on a Mon. night?? I've been a Raiders fan for far too long to have such high expectations.

Now, Connor and I are going outside to play. Then we'll go meet Kylie at the bus. Maybe we'll even take Gypsy for a walk! Hope you're enjoying your day!

Randomness

Some random stuff...

Went to our local zoo last weekend. The weather was so perfect and nice and cool and not humid! The kids had to get wet regardless. Go figure.

Here they are in one of the misters...

And here at the "jumping jewels" fountain...

Even the elephants were getting wet...

Free ride...

Hello cute critter...C loves the tiger statue...

I love waterlilies...

The lions love each other...So worn out... A couple of Kylie opening presents on her birthday...

A cool microscope for the future paleantologist...

Friday, K came home with a note from her teacher saying they were going to study families this week and that we needed to send a family picture to school. That made me realize we haven't had a family shot taken since who knows when. Like 2004?? Not good! So, out came the tripod and camera. Got the required shots...

Then got a lot of silly shots (I'm not including the ones where they both said "Mommy, take a picture of our butts!")...

And a super cute shot. Hmmm...could this be this year's xmas card???

To add to the randomness of this post, here's a tiger swallowtail on clover in the backyard...

If you haven't already, go sign up for Facebook!! I love finding old friends and reconnecting with people I haven't seen in ages! I'll post more about all that later!