an old orange kitty

When Marc and I first starting dating, in 1999 (so long ago!) we celebrated our first Valentine's day in 2000 by buying him an orange cat. He had always wanted a pet of his own and we found an adult cat with a broken leg, ear mites, pinkeye, and no hair. He was a pitiful stray that noone wanted and we took him home and made him ours! He went from a total of 7 of our apartments (3 of mine, 3 of Marc's, and 1 we shared together) before moving into our house that we own now. He survived a new dog, 2 new cats, and 2 babies!

He had been declining in his elder years and had gone from over 14lbs to just 6 lbs. We took him in on Friday night and it was as we thought...kidney failure. We chose to not let him get to the point where he was uncomfortable, so we put him down. He was happy and purring away, and Marc held him. It was one of the most horrible things we have had to do, and it was only 6 months from when we put down his long-time companion.

Good bye to a special kitty...we are so sad.

happy valentine's day!

happy valentine's day! we hope you spend it with those you love the most.

funny funny girl

daddy is the big 3-4!

happy birthday to marc! the kids enjoyed making a cake for their daddy and making his day special. although to him, being with his children every single day is the biggest gift of all.

happy birthday, daddy!

Getting ready for the holiday!

We have been busy bees around here! The kids have been loving doing art projects and enjoying our family traditions.

Meeting the man in charge

Everyone loves a little rendition of the Itsy Bitsy Spider, right? Especially when Claire sings "ittyittyitty PIDER!"

I am trying to convince her to see Santa. It was a no-go.

It was a fun trip. We are not typically "mall santa" folks, but Jack demanded that he needed to meet Santa. So we went. The kids were fantastic, stood in line for a long time and didn't make a peep.

thanksgiving

We are so thankful for all that we have - our friends, family, our home, our jobs, and our health. Things couldn't get any better.

After a delicious dinner, I headed out with some girlfriends to go Black Friday shopping. It was borderline scary, but lots of fun. We came home around 4:3 am, exhausted.

Our best purchase? A $5 kitten from the shelter where I volunteer. We named her Friday. Isn't that appropriate? She LOVES the kids and our other cat has been rejuvenated. Here's a terrible pic of her cute face!