The Kittens

We debated for a long time about whether or not to bring Milo and Otis with us to NM and after much thought, we decided against it. Otis is too much of a wanderer and Milo is not very good with kids. So we decided to get a couple of kittens, in hopes that it might be therapeutic for Caden. So when we got back to Carlsbad from our summer trip to Utah, we went to our local animal shelter and picked out the only two girl kittens that they had there.

Meet General Grievous (Caden's kitten)





And the family kitten, Mrs. Norris




Everything was going great and the kittens were fitting in nicely with the family. Then we noticed that Grievous was getting sick about a week after we got her. This was on a Friday. By Sunday, she was worse, so we decided that we'd take her to the vet in the morning. But unfortunately, she passed away in the night and we never made it to the vet. We have no idea what killed her, just some random kitty virus. It was heartbreaking to tell Caden. They were best buddies. She slept in his bed every night. We buried her in the backyard and had a little funeral for her. It was the saddest little funeral that I have ever been too :(





We took our other kitty, Mrs, Norris, into the vet to get her checked out. They put her on antibiotics just as a precaution. She has done great since then. After a couple of weeks, we got the go ahead from the vet to get another kitten. Cierra's teacher from last year had a litter of kittens that she was giving away, so we went and picked out a cute little girl kitty that Caden named Luna Lovegood.


Well, I discovered this week that Luna Lovegood is not a girl kitty at all. She is a boy! We all double checked when we picked her out and we were all positive that it was a girl kitty, but he is most definitely a he. Caden has now changed Luna's name to Cedric (yes, another Harry Potter name.) The kitties are keeping us busy, but they have been a very good addition to our home. Tyler loves to carry them around and I can usually find one or both of them asleep in Cierra or Caden's bed at night.

All in all, it has been a good experience and I'm glad that we got them.

First Day of School 2011

Kenzie and Cierra started school on the 10th and Caden started on the 16th. Kenz is in 8th grade, Cierra is in 4th, and Caden is in kindergarten. My kids are growing up waaaaay too fast for my liking. Tyler is going to be 2 soon! Even my baby isn't a baby anymore.

Kenz is loving school and being back with her friends and cute boys all day.


Cierra is struggling to adjust. She is in a 4th/5th/6th grade class and a lot of the work is advanced and over her head. We are working on getting her an IEP, so that she can have a little extra time to get her work done. Her seizures can really wipe her out and make it hard to focus.



Caden is adjusting better than I expected him to. His teacher is amazing and very accommodating and supportive of his special needs. And it has been really nice to just have Ty home for 7 hours a day. It is much easier to keep with my schooling this way.

As I'm sure most of you know, Caden LOVES getting his picture taken *insert sarcasm* so I have to show you the whole sequence of pictures I took on his first day of school.

Harry Potter

When we got back from Utah, Erick took the older three kids to see Harry Potter 7, pt 2. They all loved it. I still haven't seen it yet, so I need to do that soon. It stinks not having a dollar theater here.

Kenzie did not dress up :P

But Cierra and Caden did :)

So of course, TyTy had to dress up as well.

A Musician in the Making