On Birthdays and Bowling

Here are a few pictures of my birthday, it started with a trip to the bowling alley with our church for our annual bowling party. It was a great day and all the girls had fun, Annette even had a tiny pair of bowling shoes to wear, Lila bowling was a constant source of laughter as her ball would meander down the lane taking, I kid you not, a full minute to go down the lane. It even stopped once and came back at us for a lack of any real momentum. It was a great time spent with friends that feel more like family. And to wrap it up with a trip to McDonald's with pastor Andy and his wife 'miss' Nancy. It was then time for naps to party hard at Mamma Teri and Pappa Mark's house for a birthday party. Mom made a yummy whip cream cake with cherries and it was gobbled up with glee by her granddaughters and all the rest. Birthdays are great especially when you have people you love to spend it with.

Fred the Cat: Post Script

Another cat story,  I promise the last one for awhile, its really about some of the people in my life but without the cat there would be no story.

After church on Sunday we came home to beautiful weather and after putting the two youngest girls to bed for naps, Anya and Paul decided to go on a bike ride.  Great, thought I this is my moment for a little quiet time and proceeded to enjoy my day.   Little did I know the drama to come my way.  

There I was sitting quietly on the sofa when in comes Anya agitated and distraught and Paul was close behind feeling about the same way.  Well it turns out that while on the bike ride they were enjoying they saw a sign looking for a lost cat. Anya and Paul told me it has a stripey tail and it looks just like Fred.  I  thought that sounded great we could help Fred find his home.  But they were both upset and didn't really want to lose the cat, but agree calling the owner was the right thing to do.  Then it was time to get everyone ready for evening church and I didn't give it another thought in the hubbub of herding our family.  Paul however was still thinking about losing Fred and on the way to church took a detour and brought me to the sign in a neighboring street

  So while my family sat waiting for me to give the verdict, was it Fred , I went to look at the sign.  When I returned to the car I found them all (OK Annette had no idea what was going on) holding their collective breaths:  I announced OK folks its not Fred unless Fred was covered in stripes from head to tail and I missed something that was definitely not him.

   I haven't seen Paul that relieved in a long time, he still had his cat. 

Fred the Cat

We have a cat, or really there is a cat that has us.  We were chosen.  This December during the big freeze of 2008 a cat appeared at our door looking sad and pitiful without a collar in the 19 degree weather.  You try ignoring a cat when it is freezing outside, I am not a cat person I really like dogs better on the whole, but even I was taken by this little furball.  I mean it was COLD outside and there Fred was, yes I named it Fred, looking up at us shivering.  Well OK not shivering more purring like crazy and waiting for us to do something, and we did!  A bed was found, cream was poured and the cat pronounced ours by the little girls.  We explained to the gals that the cat was most likely lost or just visiting, and that we were just helping take care of one of God's little creatures.  Fred stayed with us on the front porch for several days, until the neighbor girl came for her cat.  Yeah!  We now knew that Fred had a family and we didn't have to worry. 

     And then Fred came back looking for company and food.  Everyday when the family next door goes off to their jobs and school Fred comes over and stares at us through the glass keeping up with what the family is up to, and begging for food. ( he now has his own dish and still has the bed we set up for him on that first cold day.)  And sometime at night he goes home to his real family.  Still no collar but we're pretty sure we know he belongs over there.  

Its great the girls have a cat to pet and talk to, and he goes home at night.  He even hunts and that is great for us ( see post Mouse: Friend or Foe?) the best kind of pet for us right now.

Hello New Year!

I'll start by saying Happy New Year, and no I have not made any resolutions. Not that I am not striving everyday to improve myself, because most days I am trying, but that just keeping up with my kids really keeps me busy enough and being a mother of young active children is really like being in a refiners fire on most days. And I love every minute, even the hard ones.
One thing I am doing as a continuation of last year is to work on frugality and becoming more aware of what we use and how it affects our live health and budget. Really we are just trying to go back to the way things used to be done, things that were good for us, healthy and productive. With Paul's business we have become more environmentally friendly with the products he uses and that has happened for the past few years into our home use as well. I have come to think that one of the best things in the world is baking soda, is there anything it can't clean? Probably, but I haven't found it yet! (If any of you have any great "green" and cost saving cleaning tips let me know I'm always looking for more. And if you are interested in what I am doing and have tried let me know.) I have once again embraced baking into my life and enjoying making bread and all sorts of different things from scratch. (Any great bean recipes out there??)
No resolutions this year but plenty of goals old and new to fulfill, children to chase after, and dreams to follow.