One Year Olds

Goose and Fifi turned one on May 1st. In true crazy-cat-lady form, I made them "kitty cakes" - a whole can of wet food with crushed up dehydrated chicken and dry food on top. They legitimately WENT CRAZY for them. We spoiled them with the two cans - not thinking they'd finish - but in a matter of minutes, they nearly devoured both. And for the next hour after that, they wouldn't stop lickin' their chops.

The finished kitty cake. Appetizing, huh?

Joe let Fifi take a peek at what I was making and she was liking what she saw.

Rather than eat their own, they ate one then moved onto the next. These cats sure love each other.

P.S. Are you jealous of our kitchen floors?
P.P.S. On a scale of 1-10, how crazy do you think I am now? I mean... kitty cakes.

Glamour Shots

We recently got a nicer camera to capture our lives a little more beautifully. We've wanted one since we noticed the difference between my Dad's fancy DSLR and our regular point-and-shoot used on our road trip and Sweden adventure. The DSLR just made everything come to life with the most perfect, balanced colors!

So far, I've taught myself quite a bit and I'm also remembering all of the little tidbits as shared by my Dad and Kathryn. Turns out, Joe doesn't want to always be my subject (but rest assured, I have quite a number of him too!), so my little furballs have been regular subjects. I play with different lighting, aperture and shutter speed to see how the pictures change. My favorite was shooting the ball of yarn with Fifi in aperture priority - focusing on her and then the yarn. The shots are so different, but use the same settings with a different focus. Pretty cool, huh? 

Once the weather is nicer, I hope to go on a few photography adventures to teach myself some more! Until then, don't be surprised if you get more Goose and Fifi shots...

Goose and Fifi, yet again

Because I know you can't get enough of them and I haven't been doing too well to keep my reputation of "crazy cat lady," here are a few gems. Up top, the kitties still cuddle together all of the time. In boxes. In our laundry hamper. On our bed. On the couch. In our laps. They're just a cuddly duo.

They really loved their game: Unroll. Reroll (Joe or me). Repeat. Fortunately for us (unfortunately for them), we found a solution by using a clothespin to secure the roll. I promise we don't kill all of their fun. Just the fun that ends up with an entire roll of wet toilet paper on the floor.

I had no idea when I bought this bathroom vanity that they little shelf was actually a cat shelf. As I posted on Instagram, "assume the teeth brushing position, Fifi!"

P.S. When I told Steph that I liked this sweater, she said, "of course you would." At least I know my friends still think I'm crazy :)

Oh, Christmas Tree

We were a little late in getting our Christmas tree due to work trips and a visit from the flu bug, but we finally brought it home last weekend. I knew it had to go smack-dab in the middle of the window because I love when you drive past homes at Christmas and see the pretty trees inside. Now whenever I drive home, I get a dose of holiday spirit the moment I park my car and an extra dose when I step inside and smell the Christmas pine.

Hope you are all enjoying the Holiday season with all of the smells, traditions and family time.

On the search for the perfect tree.

So many to choose from! But we ended up with a gem.

The kitties loved decorating time. 

Goose: "Why is there a tree inside?"

Fifi: "SPARKLES!"

Cat Lady Returns

Steph introduced me to one of my favorite new iPhone apps: KittyBooth. All you do is upload a picture, then add all the cats you want! It's a surefire way to make you look like a total cat lady, if you don't already fit the mold. As you can see, I got a little carried away, but can you blame me? Fifi and Goose needed a few friends in their favorite window to watch the birds, squirrels and neighborhood cats outside.

Speaking of, here's a few recent gems of the kitties.

Contrary to what you might think, this wasn't just Goose rolling over. He was just resting in this position. In fact, I ran to get my camera and when I came back, he was still sittin' there, belly up. So nonchalant.

This is a familiar shot. Without fail, Fifi perches near our coffee table when we have something to eat. Wishing and hoping that maybe, just maybe, we will share or possibly drop a tasty treat.

Goose lets me make him dance. Yes, this happens a lot. No, it doesn't get old. 

Typical evening affair: "Let's play hide-and-seek!" "Ok, go hide." "What?! How'd you find me?" "The moving paper bag had nothing to do with it, Fifi."

The Full Extent of Crazy

I tried to explain this phenomenon before, but didn't think you could fully comprehend the crazy without seeing it for yourself. This is what you'd find if you looked through the photos on my phone. I was looking for a particular photo and kept finding photo after photo of the kitties. Who have I become? It takes a lot of self-restraint to not just turn this blog into "kitty pic of the day." But I'll resist for your sake. But don't worry, I'll still give periodic Goose and Fifi updates. You know you love them too.

Speaking of crazy animal people, look at my Mom's amazing Halloween costume. They have a Halloween Parade through downtown Edison where people on the streets throw candy at the kids! Brings back fond memories of my childhood. My mom went as the ultimate crazy dog lady, Cruella Deville. Pretty good, huh?

Goose and Fifi, again.

If you could see my photo roll on my phone, you'd question my sanity. Over the weekend, I took 28 pictures. Guess how many were of kitties? 21. I've crossed over into crazy cat lady territory, but you know what? I'm ok with that. 

These little furballs are adorable. They make me excited to come home from work each and every day. (To be fair, I'm also excited to see this dude.) They jump for joy (literally) when we come home too. After they get some energy out, they turn into little cuddle bugs - either with us or with each other. Sometimes on the couch, sometimes in a box. They just like to cuddle. If all of this makes me a crazy cat lady, I'll take it.

Fifi and Goose just saying hello.

She sometimes sticks her tongue out when she sleeps.

She is the most playful and mischievous of the two.

Her fur is sooooo soft.

He loves the camera. 

But he loves food more and is nearly twice the size as his sister.

His purr is very, very loud.

These cats are adorbs. I love them.

Brother and Sister

These two just love each other. They snuggle each other like it's their job. It's adorable, don't you think?

P.S. Look at his giant paw!

Smitten

Little Fiona and Gustav Sherman have quickly made themselves at home. In our laps. On our bed. In our spots on the couch. It took them less than an hour to get their "we own this home" attitude, as most cats do. Then, every time we opened a new door of an undiscovered room, they would revert back to Kitten Detectives - sniffing and tiptoeing around with catlike tread.

We can't get enough of their loud, motor-like purrs, fluffiness and the cute little butt wiggle that kittens do before pouncing on their prey (i.e. their brother, sister or our poor scratched legs).

Now I will share their thoughts from the first few days in their new home...

"Geez, the Olympics are boring.Wake us up when the Kittylympics are on. In the meantime, this lap looks comfy."

"Hmm, what does this taste like? Yummm." (We have a lush on our hands, friends!)

"I can feel you staring at my adorable polka dot belly, Mom. Look away; you're making me blush." (Her post surgery belly is hands-down the best kitty belly of all time.)

"See Dad? I'm sooooo big. I can take up your entire seat."
 

"What? She's comfy. It's how we roll."

"Hey guys! We found our bed. Now where exactly do you sleep?"

 

"Yep, we like it here. A lot. You guys are pretty neat. We'll keep you after all." -Gustav Sherman

"Hey, what's that red dot racing around on the carpet??" -Fiona

These pictures don't give an accurate picture of these crazy kitties. Sleeping comes second to SHEAR MADNESS PLAYTIME! But all of those pictures are blurry :)

P.S. Check out Itty Bitty Kitty Committee's goodbye post on our little buggers. Thanks for the fond farewell, Laurie! Also, thanks for taking such good care of Fiona and Gustav Sherman for their first few months of life.

The Kiddos

Would you hate me if I obsessively started posting about Baby Fiona and Gustav Sherman? Are you considered a "mommy blogger" if you blog solely about kitties? And seriously, don't you just want to just squeeze these little fur balls?! They aren't even at our home yet, but I can't stop thinking about the little buggers. Only a few more weeks until they come home with us!  

Cat Lady

If you know me well, you know I have a weakness for kitties. For most of my life, I've had a little fur ball around. In fact, I technically have my little Lissy at my parent's home - if she wasn't so dependent on the Great Outdoors, I'd bring her down here in a heartbeat. But coming from a very quiet dead end, surrounded by acres of woods to a street lined with houses and a smaller backyard, well, that might be a little too much for her.

So a few months ago, I tried to convince Joe to get a little kitty. He held strong on no, but said we could get one when we finally got a house. The night we signed our final papers on our home, he said, "you know what this means? We can get a cat now..." Imagine my reaction and times that by 10 - that's how excited I was.

But there was one more hurdle - our upcoming vacation. Cats are easy to care for when you go on vacation, but kittens are a whole different story. So we had to wait some more until we could invite a fur ball or two into our lives. When I saw the latest litter on the Itty Bitty Kitty Committee, I just had to ask when they would be take-home ready. And guess what? It was right after we got home from vacation! Perfect.

Now the hard part: which one do I choose?! Turns out, there are many, many valid reasons why it's better to adopt two kittens rather than just one. That made the decision a little easier - we got to choose two! Yesterday, we went to visit the litter - which inevitably made me want to adopt all five - but decided on two little babes to invite into our home. These two were always playing together and seemed to gravitate to us the most. They have already been named through an amazing fundraiser, Sherman (orange boy) and Pheona (tabby girl). To respect the fundraiser and those that donated hundreds to name these little ones, we plan to keep their names in some capacity. 

So meet Fiona and Gustav Sherman.

Seriously, aren't they the cutest little buggers you've ever seen?!

 

pics from Itty Bitty Kitty Committee