Our new additions...

Yes, it's true. We have welcomed two new little ones into our home. :0)

OK...so they are cats, not babies.

Don't ask me what I was thinking either. I don't know. I swore off pets after Toby and our last set of kittens. I was DONE! I was the one who ended up having to take care of the animals and I didn't need the extra work. AND...I didn't need spastic cats running loose in my house. The claw the furniture, scratch the kids, and even worse....you have to clean out the litter box. YUCK!

But, for some reason I felt the desire to go and get a cat from the Animal Shelter on Friday. I woke up that morning and knew that I would be heading there sometime that day. Actually, I even tried to talk myself out of it. I had so many other things to do. I didn't want to deal with it. But, in the end....I still found myself driving clear across town with the kids Friday afternoon to go and pick out a cat. I knew if we got one it would NOT be a frisky kitten....and it needed to be one that just kind of laid around. I know...boring right? I was looking more for a cuddly creature than a playful one. That's what my kids wanted anyway.

Can I just tell you how many cats they had at the shelter? It was really sad. OODLES of cats of all sizes stared back at us from their cages. Mackenzee and Landon were so excited to pick one out. We looked for quite some time and even pulled a couple out of their cages to hold to find one that felt "right". We eventually decided on a gray one and took him out to let the Shelter volunteers know. They let us take him into a little room so that the kids could play with him while I filled out the paperwork. Of course, there was some arguing on what to name him. Landon wanted to call him Curious and Mackenzee wanted to call him Kenzee. {I have no idea....} Well, it turned out that because they were so overwhelmed with the amount of cats they had, they were having a "two for one" deal. You paid for the first one, and they gave you the second one for free. Meaning...they would pay for the shots and spay or nueter as long as you just took the second cat home. :0)

What can I say...I'm a sucker. So, the lady took Mackenzee back into the cat area to pick out another cat. Landon was set on the one we had already picked out and was now thrilled that he was really going to get to name him Curious. Mackenzee came back in with another cat and the lady left to go and set up vet appointments for both of them. I was worried about how the two cats would get along and so I told the kids to leave them alone so I could see how they interacted with each other. I'm glad I did too. Mackenzee's cat started scratching away at the cloth cover of the chair I was sitting in and then proceeded to hiss and swat at Landon's cat. Not only this, but I noticed she was limping too. Honestly, even if the cat was free....this one was not worth it. So, I went out and told the lady that it wasn't a keeper. She wasn't too thrilled that I was being so choosy, but since there wasn't much she could do about it, she let me back in the cat area to start all over again.

So, I took Mackenzee back in there and we found a tabby cat that seemed really mellow. We took her back to the room that Landon was still playing in and let the two cats sniff each other. Whew! So far so good. The head lady comes in though and asks us if we would be willing to swap cats AGAIN. Apparently Mackenzee's cat and the cat it shared a cage with were sisters and were mistreated by their previous owners. They had been at the shelter for two months because they were so scared of people. But, when the two cats were together they seemed to do better. The lady didn't want to separate them. At this point it was up to Landon to decided if he was willing to swap his cat with the other one. Though, the deciding factor ended up being that Landon's first choice couldn't go home with us that day because it needed one more set of shots and the other cat had been completely taken care of already and could go home right then. Landon was NOT going home without a cat of his own. :0)

Landon still chose the name Curious for his cat....even though his is the quieter of the two cats. Mackenzee named her cat Kenzee. Why? Because she loves the cat and the cat loves her and so she's going to call it Kenzee. I have no idea what that means...but that was her reasoning. I gave up trying to convince her to pick a new name after the first hour. :0)

The cats have become fairly adjusted to their new home and we are actually enjoying them. Though they are still scared, they are warming up to us and have even ventured out on their own today to check out the house. Landon slept with them last night and can't wait until I agree to let Curious sleep in his room every night. Both cats still run when they see Mackenzee coming and she has a few flesh wounds from where they have let her know they don't appreciate the mauling. We're working on teaching her how to "properly" love the cats. Jaysen swears up and down that he thinks it was dumb for me to go and get not only one but TWO new cats, but he has been found picking them up to snuggle with on a couple of occasions. I think he secretly likes them. As for me...I am pleased. I think we picked the right ones. They are NOT spastic and are content to simply sit around all day.

Hopefully it stays this way....I'll keep you posted. :0)