Culprit

Now, here is why I love our cats. As a background to this little story, Tim eats Costco muffins nearly every morning for breakfast. When we buy them, I put each muffin in a ziploc bag, and put them in the freezer. Tim can then pull out what he likes to thaw out for breakfast.

This morning Tim and I got up, popped in our P90X DVD and worked out. I immediately showered and started getting ready for work, and Tim sat and watched tv for a bit before getting ready for work. I hear, "hey". I look over, and Tim is holding one of his little ziplocs with a muffin in it. Nothing seemed out of the norm, so I asked what was going on. Tim told me that he had pulled a muffin out of the freezer and had left it on the counter to thaw. Julius had taken the muffin off of the counter, and had carried it across the house, and up the stairs, and dropped it right next to Tim, and then just sat and stared up at him! I didn't stop laughing for a while!

Our boys are spoiled and love people food. They get little pieces of whatever muffin Tim is eating that morning. Apparently Julius was just trying to get the ball rolling.

The New Digs

Here are a couple of pictures of the house semi-decorated. We haven't put much on the walls yet. I just want to make sure I want pictures in the perfect place because drilling holes in brand new walls is a little traumatic for me. I've only ever lived in very-lived-in rentals before (like every college student). Enough about the walls, here are some pictures!

Go Cougs!

Rock Band at Our Place

Last night we had some people over as a belated get together for our friend Scott's birthday. Scott and I used to work together at the Sport's Page. We try to get together every once in a while for dinners and games (although it doesn't seem often enough).

We snacked on appetizers and had lemonbars for dessert (at Scott's request). My favorite appy right now is bacon-wrapped dates! YUM! They are ridiculously easy to make and the mix of salty and sweet is unbeatable!

Scott with his birthday lemonbar

We alternated between the group playing the different insruments of rockband and then we played a "quick" game of Cranium. We laughed all night, and it was a blast!

Scott on the guitar, me on the wine ;)

Tom on the bass

Kevin on the drums

Tim celebrating, with guitar in air

Birthday in a Bag & Free Cakes for Kids

Once upon a time there was a child who lived in a group home (after multiple failured foster homes and continued abuse). He got a visit from a caseworker who had gone to do a routine monthly visit to check on the child. He became excited and asked her if she was there for his birthday. The sad truth is, no one had remembered his 11th birthday. He had no cake, no party blowers, no games, and no one to celebrate his birthday.

This isn't really a once upon a time type of story. It's real and it happened to a real child who is a dependent of this state within the last year.

As a result of this tragic story, a goal of our CASA Program this year is to ensure that every child we represent has a birthday. It's about the celebration and not about the gifts. A non-profit agency called "Friends of CASA" has stepped up to the plate to fund "Birthday in a Bag" and "Free Cakes for Kids". On their birthday, each child will receive: a customized birthday cake, and a Birthday in a Bag, containing:

• A Pin the Tail on the Donkey party game
• a birthday balloon
• birthday hats
• party blowers
• plates, cups, napkins
• a disposable camera for party photos
• a coupon for photo developing
• and a hand-made customized scrapbook page for party photos

I will be making the scrapbook pages for each of the kids this year! I am excited! It has been so much fun, and I have only made three thus far! Here are the pictures of the pages I've made. (Two of the pictures were taken in the plastic sleeve, so they glare, but it gets the point across.)

High School Musical Theme (like any normal 8 year old would LOVE!)

Topsy Turvy

A boy into old computers/games

If this could be my full-time job, it would pretty much be my dream job! I love scrabooking, but I love doing it for other people, especially kids who need to know they are cared about! I enjoy making cards for people for invites, I made our Christmas cards last year, but I never want to keep what I make. I enjoy the process, and the outcome, but there is something about making so homemade for someone else.

OH, P.S. The child metioned in the story in the beginning actually did get to have a birthday party.....they celebrated his half-birthday. :)

Home Sweet Home!

This Tuesday we hosted a late holiday party for a section of our department. It was for the CASA volunteers for our county. They volunteer their time to advocate for abused and neglected children, and to be their voice to the judge in dependency cases (just a brief little education about what I do and who I work with....what a CASA/Guardian ad Litem are for those who don't know).

We have only had Tim's parents over, and a couple of our friends who really only stopped by to pick us up to go to dinner. For the party we had a group over. It was SO great to have people over. We had good food, gifts, and it made me love our home even more. :) (Is that even possible?)

Big Sky Motor Movie

One of my coworkers informed me that our home was built where the old drive-in theater was located. She sent me a link to prove it! How fun! There is an old building of some sort that is across the loop where we live. Tim just said the other day, "That really needs a bull dozer taken to it," because it's kind of an eye sore. Well, I'm going to have to take a better look at it. Maybe it's part of the old drive-in!

Yep, I'm posting about our boys. :)

The move has been a little stressful on the kittie boys. Apparently cats are not like dogs when it comes to moving or going to a new place. Dogs enjoy the adventure with their owners. Cats are attached to their environment. We were planning for the worst of Julius peeing on something brand new because he was mad about being uprooted. Other than living pretty much on the stairs for the first couple of days, he has adjusted. The two younger ones were fine from the second they walked in. They have double the space they had in our apartment, and don't know what to do with themselves. They sprint up and down the stairs and skid across the wood floors because they can't stop!

They have also already found all of the places they are not supposed to be. Including walking across the light fixtures in the bathroom and jumping on to some high window sills (which they can only get to after jumping on the dining room table) ugh. Sometimes they meow for no reason. I think they are trying to figure out where we are or just want to hear their voices echo across the house.

Here are some pictures of trouble (mostly Slater). Jasper has already figured out how to open cupboard doors and climb on in.

I went to grab some napkins for Tim and I. I turned around to see this.

We can never get all of them in a picture together because they are too wiggly. We brought their tower into our new home so they would have something familiar. It's currently in a horrible place and I plan on moving it somewhere else....they are daring me to move it.