Author: eaumaison (Page 33 of 210)

Meet the newest member of our family – Freddy!

When we were looking for Nimbus, we considered getting two cats at once.  We never completely dropped that idea.  It’d be nice for the cat to have a companion, when we travel or are away at school and work.  But we got Nimbus and she’s great!  She’s such a perfect cat.  Why mess up the family dynamics and add another?

Every so often I’d look and find new adorable cats on shelter websites, and send the links to Ben.  He’d rebuff and I’d agree, no second cat.  Then the next week he would send me some cat links, and we would go back and forth like this for months.

Friday morning Ben showed me that Foothills Animal Shelter had a large number of new cats in, and he wanted to go see a few.  Sure, sounds fun!  I had no intention of actually getting a cat, just thought it would be fun to look together, to remind ourselves that we don’t need a second cat.

One of the little guys we met was “Felix,” a 9-10 month old kitten.  He was shy at first, but opened up soon.  He showed us he was very loving and playful.  He was exactly what I would want – a small short-hair cat who wants tons of cuddling and is younger than Nimbus.  Nimbus doesn’t really snuggle with anyone except me during the mornings and Jack in bed at night.  Ben wished he had a buddy to share a warm lap.  On top of it all, Jack has been stating his favorite cats are orange cats for a while now.  I agree, besides calicos and blue russians, they are top cuties.

Well, let’s put a hold on him, I said.  We’ll sleep on it.  I told the kids after school that we were looking at a cat and they got very excited to get another.  I had evening plans, but offered to take the boys down to meet him real quick.  Ben said, why not just get him instead?  So we did!  Armed with our carrier, the boys met Fred and he was just as sweet with them as before.  We all wanted him, so why wait?  (Why?? Cause this isn’t how I do things!!  I’m very meticulous and planning, I had no intention to get a cat this very weekend! I am still smothering these thoughts).

While doing to adoption paperwork I found out that he was surrendered for litterbox problems.  He was checked out by the vet and has no related medical problems, and showed normal litter usage while at the shelter.  Hmmm.  Molly had some litter problems that we dealt with, but I had vowed never to get a cat with litter problems again.  Yet here I was, with a giddy Jack literally bouncing with excitement and telling me how cute he is, and Ben sending me the photo on the left from the back room, all while I try to talk to the shelter staff.  I pushed ahead with the adoption and hoped the litter problems were temporary.

We’ve had him about 24 hours and he’s been a perfect litter box user.  Multiples times, doing all manner of business in there.  I hope it was something related to the previous home and we don’t have a problem here. (Knock on wood/fingers crossed).  Well, he does have some stinky farts.  So did Nimbus, until we tried some different food brands and fixed it that way.  We’ll have to work on that later.

Speaking of Nimbus, she heard me pouring Fred his first meal and stood outside the door.  Fred came over and they investigated each other through the crack.  We’ll give them a few days apart before trying any face to face meetings.  (While I write, the boys reported that Fred stuck his paw out under the door, startling Nimbus out from the hall.)

Sam came up with the name Freddy as we drove to the shelter, when he read a sign for Freddy’s Steakburgers.  I thought it suited him perfectly!  Ben liked it too, and Jack came on board after a little more discussion.  We like a lot of Freds – Fred Rogers, Freddie Mercury, Freddy from Shazam, Fred Weasley, Freddy Honeychurch . . . and it just suits him, you know?

So that’s my story!  Unexpectedly big weekend for the Masons 😀  Welcome, Freddy!

Putting away Sam’s art box, I noticed he still has a strong favorite color.

You better believe we were there Friday night, cheering at Avengers: Endgame along with everyone else.

I loved every second.  So fun, so satisfying, so surprising, and so cool to be a part of this historic movie event.  And I got to do it with a plate of shawarma, because the Alamo is awesome like that.

We had a fun Easter weekend.  Between swim lessons and Lion King performances we were able to squeeze in some egg dying and a trip to see Missing Link.

Easter morning the kids had their egg hunt.  It was more aggressive and competitive than ever before.   Church was very nice, and I didn’t have any meetings, which is always a plus.  I spent the afternoon making a full Easter dinner – rolls, green beans, deviled eggs, strawberries, a ham adorned with pineapple rings and cherries, and a bakewell tart for dessert.  The kids said dinner was good, although they had had so much candy that they didn’t have much of an appetite.  It’ll be ham again for dinner tonight!

Last weekend was the musical performance, The Lion King Jr.  This school really goes all out with sets and costumes.  It’s amazing to have such supportive parents help with the production.  The kids did great.  I would have loved to have had a few days of intensive dance clean-up.  But given how little time I spent with then reviewing and teaching, I’m very proud of these kids.

Sam spent a good week pouring over the latest LEGO catalogue.  For some reason, this Carnage/Spider-man set had captured his heart.  He slept with the catalogue, ate his lunch while looking at it, until the Carnage page was tattered.  We told him he could spend his saved allowance on the set, and he began counting down the days until Saturday, when I had promised to take him to the LEGO store.

Today I got to be the Mystery Reader for Sam’s class. This time I let Sam in on the secret and he picked the book Chewie and the Porgs to read. Of course, our stuffy Chewbacca and Porg had to join me on the visit! The kids all took turns holding Chewie and pushing the Porg’s belly to make him squawk.

In the book they find some “Blue Puff Cubes” on their ship to eat. I made a batch of blue marshmallows for the kids, which they loved.

Sam continues to be creative with the boundaries of writing text.

Sam’s kindergarten class has a sign-up to be the Mystery Reader on Fridays. Ben took a turn and brought in King Bidgood’s in the Bathtub. I suggested he wear full costume and Ben happily agreed. Heads were turning as he strode into the school. Sam’s teacher reported to me that the children were agog at his majesty and all enjoyed his reading performance.

Jack’s Cub Scout den started their “bear claws” unit about knife safety. Jack used Ben’s knife for the introduction meeting. The next day he brought home a work-up for his ideal knife:

The local stores were fresh out of fire-cat diamond blades. He’s pretty pleased with the blade they found.