Conan is 4!

We had a party on Saturday with lots of friends and family.  I can hardly believe it's been four years already!




 The party featured balloons, party hats & favors, a cake decorated with toy cars and a monster truck (Conan picked the design himself), a game of pin the tail on the donkey, temporary tattoos for everyone, face painting (which turned into finger painting because we forgot the paintbrushes - not that the kids seemed to care), photos with a fun circus-themed cutout (painted by my talented cousin Heather), punch with dinosaur ice cubes, and of course, presents!

 We held the party at the Fairhaven Park Pavillion, which is a multi-use public building right by the playground. Unfortunately, it was a very cold, stormy day with too much wind and rain for playing outside. The kids had lots of fun running around inside, bopping each other in the heads with balloons and generally having a grand time playing together.

 All in all, it was a fun smorgasboard of awesome stuff. Theme parties are for babies, right?  No-one can deny that Conan is a big boy now!

Two Good Stories

Driving in the car with Conan, I motioned another driver to go ahead and pull out in front of me. "Go ahead, you're clear" I said aloud.
"What?" asked Conan. "Who are you talking to, Mama?"
"Oh, that car wanted to pull out in front of us. I was telling him it was OK to go."
"He can hear you?"
"No, he can't, but sometimes I talk out loud to the other cars anyway."
"Oh."
He thought about this for a few moments, then piped up again.
"Well, Papa usually says 'DAMMIT' when people pull out in front of him."

******

We were discussing bears one evening at dinner.  I told Conan the story of how a bear had once broken into our car when his Papa and I were camping at Yosemite, before he was born.  He wanted to know what happened to the bear.
"Well, the park rangers scared it away," I said.
"Oh.  Couldn't warriors have scared the bear away?" he asked.
"Yeah, I suppose warriors could have.  But the rangers were there, so they took care of it."
"Warriors could do it. Uncle Eric could have done it!"
"Uh, yeah, well, I suppose he could have..."
"You should have called Uncle Eric!" he insisted.
"I'm not sure..." I started.
"Because! Uncle Eric is a warrior!" He was getting really excited now.  I was baffled.
Papa stepped in. "Lawyer.  You mean lawyer.  Uncle Eric is a lawyer."
But Conan wasn't convinced. Arms folded across his chest and a stubborn look on his face, he stood firm.
"No! That is not a word! Uncle Eric is a warrior!"

Tiberius & Livia

We just adopted two new kitties. They are an "adult" mom (10 mo.) and her son (3 mo.), both grey tabbies. This is the little boy, who Cary named Tiberius. He's got green eyes and is friendly, active and playful. He's also cute as can be.

His mother is less rambunctious, and has beautiful orange eyes. We were all calling her "Tiberius' Mommy" so I went to the internet to find out what the real Emperor Tiberius' mother's name was. Livia is a pretty name and seems to suit her.

We have them confined to the office for now, so they can get used to the house, and us, gradually. Sanford is spending a lot of time sniffing around the door, and Livia is sniffing back. Both are very curious about who is on the other side of the door, but there hasn't been any hissing or yoweling, so that is encouraging.

Tiberius is extremely playful and curious; while I've been typing this post he's knocked some things off the windowsill, tried to climb the china cabinet, and fiercely play-attacked his mother. He and Conan both enjoy couch fishing as well.

It feels good to have more cats in the house again. It's going to be an adventure to have young cats again, and I especially look forward to watching Conan bond and play with them. Stay tuned for lots more pictures, that's for sure!