So, today it is obvious that we all need a little break. Our nerves are all a little shot and our behaviors seem to be deteriorating somewhat. Thankfully, our wonderful neighbor came to invite us to play outside. It was a wonderful afternoon playing in the snow and enjoying some time. It was the energy output that I needed. And it made for a great phot op.

The proud builder!

Sliding off the slide with snow and ice is super fun.

We'll see you tomorrow, Daddy!

  Say hello to Tinkerbell!

Today was one of those days. It started with all of us waking up super late--meaning we had about 1/2 hour to get everyone ready and out the door to Katie's ballet class (which we managed to do on time). And after ballet we went and dropped a pretty penny at the pet store to prepare for our new friend.

Our appointment at the vet was at 2:15. We dropped OG off for her nap at a friends and then headed to the vet. We were a bit early, no biggie. It gave us our first chance to meet our new kitty. Until this time we had not held or petted or spent any time with this little one. Hooray for us we got to spend 1 1/2 hours there--and we almost made our friends late to pick up their kids from school. There was some "issue" with the animal in another room and well, vets move about as slowly as doctors do.

Anyway we have a clean bill of health and our new kitty, Tinkerbell was welcomed home this afternoon. She is about 9 months old and in good health, only a little malnourished (which will be fixed promptly, being an American cat and all, She'll have a gut in no time!)

She is already Katie's best friend. Katie is absolutely in love with this kitty. She wants to hold her and play with her and carry her everywhere. She was the first one to loose her shyness of a new moving animal in close proximity.

Josh has now declared that he has "got in love with her" and wanted her to sleep on his bed. He was actually a little sad when she didn't.

OG, well, she's working on it, when she isn't trying to cover the poor thing with washclothes. Tonight she did sit next to Tink and read her some stories during story time.

Luckily, this is one extraordinary cat. She was not petrified of three little people in her face, wanting to be near her and being extremely loud and jumpy. In fact, she was a little sad when they went to bed. She sat on the steps and mewed a few times as Josh and Katie went to bed tonight. I think this cat adopted the right family and I think God placed her here at just the right time for all of us (except Eric who has yet to meet her--I hope she likes him!)

Hopefully, with the resuming of school, tomorrow will be much quieter and calmer than today was.