Our newest addition...

Meet the kitten...

Her name? Well, Ellie thinks it's Rainbow, but I'm still not convinced, so I keep trying to change her mind. We'll see how that goes.

Oh who am I kidding, her name's Rainbow.

I was wrong, by the way, we made it a whole WEEK before we got a kitten. Ellie likes to do that to me, prove me wrong. I think it's her way of keeping me on my toes. Not only did we wait a week, we didn't want the first kitty we saw, nor did we want the littlest kitty we could have.

Seriously, she proved me wrong all week.

I thought she'd want the first one we found. I thought she'd want a little kitten, like 6 or 7 weeks old. We visited some last Saturday that were 6 weeks old, tiny and just too cute. I thought she'd love them.

Nope.

Actually, they made her nervous. They were SO small and their little claws would catch our clothes, she just didn't know what to do. So we waited another day, and yesterday we visited a shelter about 45 minutes away.

She spotted her kitten within seconds of being in the cat room. There were three of them, two girls and a boy. Siblings that had been born at the shelter about 10 weeks ago, that had lived their lives in a cage. They were bigger, but still little. She picked the one she liked the best, and held it carefully. It was calm and quiet, and just snuggled into her arms. It was her kitten.

So here we are, 24 hours later. So far, so good. She's used her litter box, she's started to eat, and she's still alive.

All good.

Annie and Austin love her too. And of course we've already had arguments over who gets to hold her next. Of course.

So welcome to the family, Rainbow Tulip Sparkles Cupcakes, welcome.

I'm sorry about the name.

Wanted: Kitten.

It is no secret that we are an animal loving family. Jason and I love cats and dogs. We got our first pet together when we were dating, a black lab we named Abbie. Shortly after getting Abbie, we got a kitten and named her Daisy. Back then we had lots of time to play with our animals, give them attention, and train them.

Now, not so much.

In 2000 we added Elvis to the mix. Elvis is a mix of some kind, probably with some lab in him. He's a big black and white dog, and while he's not the smartest dog in the world, he's very gentle.

Abbie passed away a year ago. We were sad, and we worried that Elvis was depressed. In our worry, we decided to get a new dog.

Chester.

Chester is a full bred Border Collie. He has tons of energy and a very fun personality. Maybe a little too fun. We've learned over the past year that we just don't have the time, or the environment that Chester needs. So today, Chester found a new home. A home with older kids, and wide open spaces. Hopefully his forever home.

This has been hard for me. I've never given an animal away. I feel guilty and sad, even though we found him a new home. I guess I feel like we failed Chester.

In retrospect I realize that we rushed into getting a new dog. We've decided to be a one dog family. Elvis is getting older, and we just feel that he'll be happier by himself. He put up with Chester, but we could tell he wasn't thrilled with him.

Now for the cats.

That would be cats, in the plural form.

Currently we have one cat, Daisy. She's a healthy, pampered 11 year old cat. So why do I say cats?

Here's why...

When Ellie was four, FOUR mind you, she asked if she could have a kitten. At first we just said no, but she was relentless. This girl loves cats. From babyhood she preferred cat stuffed animals. As a toddler she collected stuffed cats by the dozens. As a pre-schooler she started collecting cat figures and decorating her room in all things cat. She loves all animals, and I honestly think she may be a vet someday, but her love for cats is intense. Sometimes I worry that she'll turn into one of those crazy cat ladies! So like I said, she was relentless. Finally, just to get her to be quiet, we told her when she was seven, she could get a kitten.

She never forgot.

She's six now, and constantly reminds us that a kitten is in her near future.

Even nearer than we thought.

When daddy announced that we found a new home for Chester, we had some sad girls on our hands. I knew he felt bad, I did too, but apparently he felt really bad. I about fell over when he looked at Ellie and said...

Maybe we should go ahead and get your kitten now.

WHAT?! Oh no he didn't!

Oh yes he did.

So today, when I told Ellie after school that Chester had gone to his new home, she immediately asked...

Do I have my kitten?!

Poor daddy. He mistakenly thought we'd have a couple of weeks to "research" getting a kitten.

I give it through the weekend.

Tops.

Wish us luck. We need it.