One of those nights, I guess

So last night Erik and I are happily sleeping away when all of a sudden I hear something coming from downstairs. I figured it was probably the iPod radio we have that Monte often walks on as he is crossing from one couch to the other and turned it on. So I get out of bed to go turn it off. On the way out of the bedroom I look at the alarm clock and it is only a little after 1 am. I head down the stairs and see the eery glare that only occurs when the tv is on in a dark room. There on the couch sit Monte and Cristo all cuddled up with the remote at a paws lenght from Monte. Still waking up and staring in disbelief I turned around and look at the tv. On the big screen prancing around is Tom (or is it Jerry?) from "Tom and Jerry" the cartoon with the cat and the mouse. I guess maybe they were just catching up on some of their late night tv watching.

Smokin' Stockings

This wouldn't be a normal week if we didn't have some other kind of mischievous story to tell about our pets and ourselves here at home. What started as a week with a dog eating cat poo, quickly became a a dog eating two digits off one of my gloves during a game of "fetch" (meaning me chasing her around to get my glove so we could play fetch), and then today's disastrous events. Of course I think Haydee really thought she was doing me a favor by eating the thumb and pointer finger off my glove, those are the fingers we use the most. Who could blame a face like this?




This morning I awoke to a smokey smell filling the bedroom. Nothing dangerous, just the smell of something burning, which is not unusual since we have been using only a fireplace insert to heat our house this winter. But this morning it was stronger as if something else was burning. I head downstairs to see what's going on, maybe the door didn't get all the way shut, and see some smoke billowing up from the floor. An ember must have escaped while Erik was stoking the fire that morning landing on the pretty Christmas rug that lay in front. Okay well not that pretty, kind of tacky actually, probably on the clearance rack at Target so it's not a big loss. As I tried to put it out with my partially plastic slipper, I figured that's probably not a good idea and douse it with some water instead and take it outside. We didn't really like the carpet all that much anyway.

So I open some windows to try to air the house out a bit. It smells like burning sugar, or maybe it's Christmas candy. Haydee and I take to the backyard before we die of smoke inhalation and really play fetch this time and take some cute pictures of her. As it gets closer for me to go inside to get the day started I turn towards the house and what do my wandering eyes see but a miniature sleigh and oh... no not that, but Cristo climbing on the screen door!I caught Monte doing this one time last summer and we always figured Cristo was the culprit egging Monte on so he wouldn't get in trouble. But now we have evidence! They climb up between the sliding door and screen for more support.

NOTE: I hid behind the wagon to take the pictures, which yes is parked in our back yard right now, and no we aren't trying out that redneck way of living. Erik had some wood in the back and decided it would be easier to unload it in the back, not the first escapade to the back yard. With our watery mess of a yard it was just easier to leave it back there then to create a big mud pit. So it's been back there a week- I'm sure our neighbors love us. At least it's so stylish!;)

Notice that Cristo is climbing UPSIDE DOWN when he leaves. And you just thought we were making up all those stories about our cats.

What a cute family!

Here are some new pics of Madelynn and the fam courtesy of Emilie. Enjoy!

The three cuties!

There's nothing better than sibling love

Going home

The first day home

Carter looks so big and so happy with Madelynn!

She looks so different already...

Madelynn says "Don't be jealous girls of all my hair!"

And of course, Daddy's girls

Gurgling lawn and poop referee

When we moved to our house (3 years ago this August) we discovered with the first rain and from a neighbor that we have a "natural spring" in our back yard. Now I'm not exactly sure what this means except that whenever we have lots of rain like yesterday most of the yard floods. You don't need galoshes or anything when you traipse out, but you do hear a very distinct sucking when you lift your foot. If you stand really still you can hear the gurgle. Is this a major case of lawn indigestion? Will we one day come home to see a "lawn-ness creature" or worse the house sliding into the street? Your guess is as good as mine. But warmer days can't come fast enough to dry it out, I have a puppy who needs to play outside. We usually have a great time playing outside together, but because of the water-logged yard and other factors today was not so great.

It all started a couple of weeks ago when Haydee came out of the dining room with a "toy" she was so excited about, we knew it probably wasn't really a toy. She'd pick it up and fling it in the air and pick it up again. It was so cute until we realized it was a piece of cat poop! As we realized what had happened it was like the scene from Ace Ventura-short of attaching the plunger to our faces and other hilarious antics.

Never the less we went back to scene of the crime. Some of you may be wondering what kind of pet parents we are if our puppy has free access to cat poop. Let me assure you that we have a covered litter box even with a flapper door, but having two cats use the same box every day, it can get rather fragrant in there. We had removed the flapper door to air it out a little, so the cats would not hyperventilate- believe me they've come close. We hurriedly reattached it and hoped to high heaven that was the first turd that had made a break for it.

In the meantime we changed cat litter to something more "green" some pine pellets that break up on contact, which makes all cat waste flushable or compostible. Hooray! Seeing as we don't have a compost pile (yet) and that there were some remnants of the clay cat litter it was not flushable either. One of us (perhaps the one who is not writing) decided we should put the used cat litter in the back yard by the shed. Ahem did I mention there was still cat poo in it?

I'm sure you can picture it now, Haydee found the treasured treats within minutes and would grab one and run away. I used all my best PetSmart training tricks to no avail and guarded her like a tap dancer on speed. Mud flying, it was still no match for the tasty turd. She'd come back to the pile and short of grabbing it from her locked jaws, she downed several. That can't be good for her. The pile is covered with gravel now, maybe she'll forget about it. Ha! ;)

Madelynn has a middle name!

It's official! Madelynn is now Madelynn Grace. perfect in every way :)

Here's her hospital pic taken yesterday:

Hello baby Madelynn!

It's such an awesome feeling to welcome a baby in the first 24 hours of his or her life. I have 6 nephews and nieces now (3 of each) and have been there to greet each and every one of them. Early morning calls and rushing to the hospital to see this pink wrinkly creature that takes so long to prepare for and is so perfect in every way. Today we welcomed my niece Madelynn into the world. She doesn't have a middle name yet but I'm sure her parents will pick out a great one. Any suggestions?

She was born at 10:24 am at Stormont Vail Hospital in Topeka to her my sister and brother-in-law, Nathan and Emilie. Madelynn has an older brother Carter, and sister Claire to welcome her.

They arrived at the hospital at 7:20 this morning (they had sneakily planned to be induced six weeks before so her doctor would be on call) and they broke her water at 8:30. Nothing happened (of course!) and so at 9:30 they gave her some petocin. Less than an hour later, baby was born. I want a delivery like that!

Here are her stats and some pictures. Mom and babe are doing great.

weight: 7 lbs 15 oz length: 20 1/2 inches

She has brown curly hair with almost like blond highlights, which is crazy because Carter has bright blond hair, while Claire has red hair like me. You can tell I'm a proud aunt! :)

Cute little baby Madelynn. Welcome!

Proud big brother and sister Carter (4) and Claire (2). They were showing a series of faces.

Proud family "ooing" and "awing"

Proud grandma Cindy and pop-pop Thad (my parents) and Carter!

Proud Auntie April

Me and my sis. Love you!

I just had to add this funny video. Here are some more of Carter and Claire's funny faces.

Have you ever...

heard a dog burp or hiccup? it's hilarious! come over to our house

heated your house with only a fireplace? yes- not nearly as glamorous as it sounds

stayed in your pajamas until 11:30 on a Wednesday? of course not! ;)

drove around in a car with the spare on for a week? ask erik

found your cat peeing in your kindling box? yes! i could've killed him- not the first time either

wished so hard your laundry disappeared? no, me neither

guess I better get dressed and do some laundry then.

Snow Tubing is Fun!

Okay so we decided to change the name from the Adventures of A&E to "A Tail of Two Kitties" a spin off of "A Tale of Two Cities". I thought it was somewhat clever but it may not be any better, but it's so hard to pick a name! Almost like picking a name for a child. Who knew it could be so stressful!

On Friday night Erik and I went snow tubing in Weston, MO at Snow Creek with our good college friends Julie and Eric. I was little nervous at first (as I am with most anything) but we had a blast. Imagine dropping off a 700 foot slope for the ride of your life with the cold wind in your face, hoping you don't fly off the tube into oblivion. Really though, it was fun. I wish we could have gone yesterday after all of the snow hit. I can't believe you guys didn't get any in Wichita!

Here's a picture of Erik and the ice "sword" he found on the shed outside. Glad we got some more firewood for this post-winter storm!