Kittens!

My mother has been wanting a Siamese as long as I can remember.  Up until recently, we've only gotten 2 cats, one each for my sister and I as we were growing up and then family dogs.  Dad doesn't like cat hair and so hasn't really liked the idea of getting a replacement cat when both of us girls moved out.  But, mumsie has convinced him.  Dad's an extreme pet lover anyway, so we all knew that if an animal was brought home, he wouldn't be able to resist. :P  Mom looked around for Siamese kittens, but they're only really available if you get them from a breeder.  She found one breeder that had a litter several months ago and they were going to get a kitten then, but mom and dad are "female-only-pets" kind of people and all 5 kittens turned out to be male.  :P  But, momma kitty had another set of 5 recently, of which 2 are female.  Mom and Dad decided to go visit and I begged to go along.  The following photos and video are what resulted. :)

Momma and her babies. :)  Well, the 3 boys anyway.  We were monopolizing the 2 girls.

I'm really loving my triple neck here.  :P  It was hard juggling a squirmy kitten with the camera.

The two girls.  Mom and Dad chose the kitty in the light pink collar (the one on the right, whose collar you can't see in this photo).

Both girls were pretty easy-going and didn't mind being held and talked to.

She settled down into Dad's "thermally heated" hands.  She started looking pretty sleepy.

Mom and kitten in love.  I love this picture. :D

Momma kitty took a liking to me and came over to get some pets.

This is the daddy kitty.  Very sweet cat too.

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read: Middlesex, pretty weird so far...not sure what to think atm
taste: nothing, but I'm hungry!
see: Sun!  It's in the mid-seventies today.
hear: Kitty meowing cause she's bored.
smell: Micah, cause he's over hear getting kisses.
touch: Micah's head on my shoulder.
think: That I'm going to go insane if I have to sub all next year.. :(
feel:  discouraged about my job prospects, happy about summer.
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Whistler! (picture heavy)

It's taken me for-eeeeeva to get a post down about Whistler.  Not sure why, I guess I have several pictures and the task seemed more daunting than fun, sooooo.... yeah.

Every year my family goes to Whistler for the week that includes New Years.  This year was one of those wonderful years that I was able to go for the whole time, as it all depends on the dates and when public school starts up again.

It's such a lovely family tradition.  We ALWAYS have some sort of snow, some years better than others.  We have a time share that we stay in and have some sort of collection of relatives or family friends in the time share next door.  We laugh, play games, watch movies, play xbox, shop in town, and ski/snowboard.  We make memories...we celebrate the New Year.

This year, my husband and I were promoted!  The last time we came, we were only engaged, hence we could not share a bed.  (Traditional family for those who do not know my family/background)  Micah slept on the couch and I slept in the spare.  This year, since we were there the entire week, AND are married, got our own bedroom and bathroom.  Yay!  My sister and her husband INSISTED they sleep on the sofa-bed since they were there only 3 days.  They would not take no for an answer, despite the fact that Derek is 6'7".  He sleeps curled up, evidentally. ;)

We had quite a bit of snow this year, but the one day I could afford to go up was too warm and the snow was like trying to snowboard through frosting.  I could not make it all the way down the mountain due to being completely out of shape and that awful snow.  So, I took the Gondola down from halfway.  I still can snowboard despite a lack of practice without looking too idiotic, so that's a plus.

One evening, we went out to the 'ol Irish Pub with my cousins and their significant others.  They had a celtic duo playing, one on the fiddle, the other on the guitar.  Both sang as well.  They played everything from "celtic" Lady Gaga to "the Devil went down to Georgia".  Excellent musicians! :)

We watched the new Tintin movie, which was pretty much epic, at the little Theatre in Whistler Village, bought an ADORABLE dress from Guess (I'll post pics if I ever find an occasion to wear it), and generally just lazed around the rest of the time.

So, here's some pics to prove it all.

Twin Peaks is where we always stay.

This is Blackcomb behind us.

My adorable parents.

Whistler lighted in the evening.

Inside the Irish Pub looking at the musicians.

My cuz Bryan on the left.  (We share a birthday, we're awesome!)  Derek, the awesomely tall bro-in-law talking to Joe across the table and his wife Mel (other cuz).

Alright, from left: Bryan, Casey, Janelle, Derek, Joe, Mel.  Good times, good times. ;)

There were some improvements made for the 2010 Winter Olympics. :)

And my favorite... :)

Here's to Whistler *raises Chai* and to many more years of memories!



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read: A health magazine from mom.

taste: homemade Chai

see: kitty, sleeping in her box

hear: Micah listening to people play Terraria

smell: Pizza Hut, hubby decided to indulge

touch: warm, fuzzy bathrobe

think: about my causes atm

feel:  a slight tummy ache, who knows why, just a sensitive stomach (I could tell a story about that as kid...because you all would TOTALLY enjoy that)

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The oddness that is my husband and I...

We didn't put up our Christmas Tree this year...

because we never took it down.

It was probably a mix between never getting around to taking it down and just not wanting to.  Its kind of a nice decoration for our apartment and people's weird looks about it just don't bother us and in turn, people just laugh about the fact that we left ALL our Christmas Decs up and then get over it.

I did add some decs though this year.  I hung some pretty balls from the windows and got some more candles, balls to decorate the coffee table.  It all looks nice with our decor since I've kept with my red and turquoise color theme for the entire apartment.  Our bedroom is all light green and turquoise for a little difference.

Here's a couple pics, albeit blurry:

I bought Kitty her present early, her very own plush kitty blanket.  I cat-nipped it and she spent the first 2 days litterally licking it to death.  Finally the smell decreased enough for her to just relax and sleep in it.  Overall its a success and it hasn't lost too much of its fuzziness in that one particular patch.  Silly cat.  

Lately, kitty has been sleeping next to the Christmas Tree.  I think she's drawn to it more now that we turn on the lights every evening for it. I did find an ornament on the floor a couple days ago though, so she may have taken a brief destructive interest too. 

Sorry the picture aren't wonderful.  I still don't know how to take pictures without flash and not have them blurry... If any of you know what to do, let me know.  I've tried propping it up on objects to keep myself from moving, but only with limited success.  Before long, I'd really just like to invest in a semi-professional camera so I can do a better job of documenting life's happenings.  But, I'm not even an amateur photographer and have no idea what to get.  I will have to do some research...

A post coming up about my holiday favs.  Happy December all!

Blogs I enjoy...

A particularly funny blog post about the truth about children. :P

http://gradovaries.blogspot.com/2011/11/food-chain.html

And another post from one of my fav. mommy bloggers.  It's a letter written to their potential adoptive child (they are in the process but haven't found a match yet).  Brought tears to my eyes.

http://becomingsarah.com/index.php?/becoming_sarah/comments/dear_child_nov11_2011/

The Twins (finally)

I was supposed to post the photos from the weekend I went to see the twins for their baby dedication, but I didn't have the pics yet, or I was busy, or just plain unmotivated to do anything besides the absolute necessary.

They are SUCH darling babes.  So far, they're very "easy" tykes, easy to please and not fussy.  As long as the major things are taken care of, they're content to just quietly experience the world.

I think its such a great thing for us all to experience and be around kids.  It helps us develop our empathetic response which makes us better people.  They are so helpless, and we are so intent on doing everything that they need, even the smallest whim.  Many times we are not able to determine what they do need and spend lots of time trying to imagine what they need by placing ourselves in their little shoes.  Good stuff.

I had a marvelous time. And, since there's two, I got quite a bit of holding time in, bottle fed a lil, and changed one diaper. I was asked at least 3 times if it made me desire to have my husband impregnate me (not quite their words, but essentially the idea if you think about it).  But, contrary to popular belief, I don't seem to be affected much amazingly.  I'm perfectly content driving across the state to cuddle and love on other people's newborns instead.

Enjoy the pictures!

Dru looking quite concerned about something or other.  He may have been concentrating on a certain bodily function, because I remember changing his diaper soon thereafter.

 The next several pics are of me and Luci the next morning.  We didn't get enough the first day and had to return.

 

Sorta smiling. :)

Still sleepy for a morning nap.

Ha ha, I love her lil pouty face in this one. :P

I had to get a picture of Luci and Dru at the end before I had to leave.  I didn't have the heart to ask Tonya (MIL) to give up Dru, so I just snuck in a picture at her knees.

Hope you all have an amazing start to the week.  Now off to finish Lord of the Rings and bed.

I love this song...

...no matter the day.  Happy Weekend everyone!

Snapshot Tuesday . . .

I haven't been posting all that regularly, but I wanted to at least give you a glimpse of the cruise until I get around to posting more details.  I really ought to do it tomorrow before I get into the swing of school again.  Meetings and such start wednesday this week.

Our first formal evening dinner.  You can see my relatively freshly cut bangs, which I haven't been brave enough to do since I dunno, 10?  But, not bad no?

This was our second formal night dinner.

Let me tell you now, the food was superb.  We were on the Celebrity Infinity, which is evidentally known for some of the best food you can ever get on a cruise.  They had lots of different types of cuisine and quite a few vegetarian options that Micah enjoyed (he's not really vegetarian anymore, but still eats veggie most of the time).  I ate vegetarian now and then . . . :P  In the meantime, I tried anything on the menu I hadn't tried yet, including lobster, scallops, oysters, and even frog legs.  All were tasty enough though the frog legs truly do taste like chicken and the oysters tasted like the spinachy, buttery bread crumb topping put on it.  The scallops were lovely and the lobster was ok.  I don't think I'll really try most of this again though, because normally they're not cheap to get a hold of and some of it wasn't good enough to try again.  But, at least I can say I tried it!  Aren't I brave? ;)

More later on glaciers, animal impressions done live by our own Alaskan expert, and whales!

I'm baaaack!

We returned from our cruise and found out that the twins were born!  (I mentioned this in my previous post) Mommy, Daddy, and babes are happy and healthy and have already met a good majority of the extended family.  Sadly, I don't know when I'll get to see them yet.  I live across the state from them and I don't know when we're going to be going across for a visit. Perhaps next month sometime.

In the meantime, here's some pics:

Dru on left and then Luci

Daddy Tres with his newest family members.

Momma Julia and her two sweet little pumpkins.

I am so absolutely thrilled for this family.  And what a cute, CUTE family they are.  There's nothing like TWO little red-faced darlings to make one's heart melt.

Congratulations again Julia and Tres.  You've done good. ;)