Kitty Success!

The past week slowed down a bit but was still busy enough. Last Tuesday was election day and Curtis got off early so he could avoid the long evening voting line. I had tried to go in that morning around 9:30 but the parking lot was packed! I drove right back home. I went back later with Curtis and it was nice to wait and vote together for a change. The parking lot was still really full around 3:45pm but fortunately it only took about 40 min total. The line was a lot longer by the time we finished. Although, we almost got stuck in the parking lot because people were parking along the curb that wasn't marked as parking and Curtis drove his big truck. He kept having to inch back and forth a little at a time while I was outside directing him until fortunately he was able to squeeze out. Whew!  

We have been having fun with our new kitten, Cocoa. One day the girls put a crown on Cocoa and then on Sage. The crown was small because it came from Charlotte's Rapunzel doll.

She doesn't looked amused.

Charlotte had tied a string on to the crown so it would stay better on both cats. I can't believe they kept it on longer than a minute. So funny!

The bathroom door was open so Cocoa decided to look around. Apparently the sink looked comfortable. It was so tempting to turn the water on with her in there but we didn't, ha ha.

Cuddling up on Sunday after church.

I did Charlotte's hair a little different one day and Charlotte liked it and wanted a picture. I'm slowly getting her to let me do her hair more often. She still prefers it down with nothing in it. I think I might try to get some headbands and see what she thinks of those.

Last Thursday evening I went over to grandma's house with Jack and the two little girls. Grandma had some yard work that she needed help with and she knew Jack was wanting to earn some money so she asked if he wanted to do it. He said yes and so we went over. Although, with the recent time change it was getting dark faster so I didn't think he'd be working very long since they were running out of daylight soon so I stayed. The girls tagged along so they could get out of the house. I watched for a bit at first but eventually I had to jump in there and help. I found grandma's electric trimmer in her tool room and trimmed a few bushes for her. It's the first time I ever used one of those and it was fun. Jack started out working a little slow but he picked up the pace after a bit of grandma and I encouraging him. I'm glad that he is getting these opportunities to learn how to work. I want that for all of my kids.

Saturday morning Curtis woke up early and drove to work so that he could do some studying and a practice test for his engineering license test he'll be taking in the spring. He was gone for about 6 hours. He didn't do too well and can now see why they recommend 6 months of studying before taking the actual test. When he got home I was in the middle of mowing up the leaves in our backyard. He ate some salad and then changed his clothes and came out to help me. I had started with the backyard and moved to the front. It felt good to get the yard cleaned up but then a little later the wind picked up and knocked more leaves off, making it look like we hadn't done a thing. Sheesh! But it was a good thing we still did it because we would've had double the amount of leaves on our grass and that evening and night it rained and then snowed! 

It was our first snow of the season and it got everyone excited for Christmas and we started listening to Christmas music on Sunday. It made us all feel happier. It was kind of a difficult and stressful week what with school for the kids, studying for Curtis, the election, and now some of us are getting the sniffles. I kept Jack home from church yesterday and school today because he's sniffling and coughing a little. At least it's easier for him to miss school with things being posted online for him to work on stuff at home. I too have had a little of the sniffles. I think he and I both got it from doing yard work at grandma's. It just kicked up our allergies. I'm feeling pretty good right now though. 

We actually had to take our van in to the auto shop this morning because it's been leaking a lot of coolant and making lots of noises when we ride on bumpy roads. Looks like we'll be getting a new radiator, water pump and getting the front shocks and strutts replaced. It's going to cost more than we'd like to spend on repairs right now but with our trip to Utah next month we want to make sure we're not going to have problems. It also looks like I'll be driving this van even longer than predicted. There will be a few more things to get fixed in a few months (that weren't as important to get done yet) then it will be in pretty good shape....again. I'm so thankful that my in laws had their truck that I can borrow while our van gets fixed. Hopefully, I'll have it back by tomorrow.

One more thing to add to this post before I'm done. So I've been separating Cocoa from our other two cats most of the time. Their was once last week where Stardust and Cocoa accidentally saw each other and we decided to watch and see what happened. They sniffed each other's noses and actually did really well. I think after a few minutes of Cocoa following Star she got a little annoyed and finally growled a little. Sage on the other hand hisses any time Cocoa accidentally gets close to her. Well, all of the cats really like when they get wet food from a can to eat. Two nights ago I had the bowls right up to the family room door when they were eating (Cocoa on one side of the door and Star and Sage on the other side). When we first got Cocoa, Sage wouldn't want to go near that door to eat. We started at about 3 feet on both sides of the door (6 feet apart total) and slowly moved the bowls closer and closer. We learned this technique from a youtube video a year ago when we got Stardust and had to introduce her and Sage. They are now buddies since Star will sometimes bring Sage some mice.

Anyway, during the day I give the cats dry food. The last meal of the day I give them wet food and since we were able to get the cats to eat right by the door and because Sage and Star were really anxious to eat the wet food, I last minute decide to experiment with all 3 cats eating together in the kitchen. It worked! And we had Cocoa right in the middle of the other two cats. They ate for several minutes with no problems. The only time Sage hissed was at the end when Sage was still finishing a few little pieces of food that fell off her plate onto the floor and Cocoa tried to come over and eat it. Star ate the quickest and got out of there as fast as she could. 

There also was one other incident a few days ago when all 3 cats accidentally ended up in the kitchen together. Stardust and Cocoa sniffed each other again but Star never growled or hissed. Sage did hiss several times but Nikki sprayed her with water and she'd run and hide. It was so funny because the first time she ran over by Stardust over by the sliding door and hid behind the curtain. She poked her head down toward the floor but didn't see Cocoa sitting nearby watching her. She came out from under the curtain and as soon as she turned her head and saw Cocoa she hissed but then Nikki sprayed her. We actually got it on video too and it's quite entertaining to watch. Stardust just acts like she's not part of this and takes off as soon as Sage came by her.

Stardust, Cocoa and Sage

I'm going to try feeding them together again tonight except this time make sure the kids aren't crowding around them. That's probably one reason Star took off so fast is because the girls kept getting close and Charlotte was petting them sometimes. Animals don't typically like to be touched while eating and want their space. But I'm happy! I feel like we're making faster progress than I thought we would.