My camera is MIA!!!

I had friends being baptised on April 26 - an exciting time for us. I packed up all my stuff to take to church with me early in the morning and headed out - Chris was to meet me later. About an hour into working at church I realized I had forgotten the camera - so I called Chris to have him get it... about 5 phone calls back and forth and we realized that neither one of us knew where the camera was. It is not in any of it's "normal" places... OK, just have to rely on others to take the Baptism photos and look for the camera when we get home...

We get home that afternoon and I start looking in all the "not normal" places for it... and it's still nowhere to be found. We don't know what has happened to it, but it's definitely MIA. On the upside, this has given me an excuse to buy a new digital camera. I debated buying an digital SLR camera, but ultimately Chris & I decided the convenience of "pocket size" cameras that can go anywhere with us was preferable. So, this week, I took my birthday money and put it toward ordering a new camera... a Panasonic Lumix TZ5. Now if it would just hurry up and get here!

Has it really been over a month?!?

OK, I admit, it's been a while since I logged in... it seems like normal "life" coupled with everything else that is thrown into the works during Lent (for Orthodox, Easter was very late this year, not occuring until just last Sunday, April 27), my life was just a blur. It seems like everytime I'd think about blogging I'd get distracted with something else and be off like a headless chicken.

Yeah, yeah, I know, it's all just an excuse....

The Three Amigos

OK, they’re not pretty. In fact, they’re pretty gross(I actually had to give these guys “trims” for this photo – they all are hemorrhaging polyfill stuffing out their heads), but these 3 guys are the kittens’ favorite toys. I had to round them up to take this picture; usually they are scattered all over the house. Their names are “Cow,” “Duck,” and “Devil Cat” (yeah, I know, we’re not the most creative people when it comes to naming our pets’ toys) and were given to the girls by our friends Mark & LeAnn for Christmas. The three amigos are just the perfect size for picking up and carrying around in your mouth if you’re a kitty. Also, since they are soft, a sharp claw can grab onto one pretty easily. They can be tossed up in the air for further kitty self-amusement.

I think Scruggs might like these guys just a bit more than Flatt does. For better or worse, Flatt can make almost anything she come across into a toy… Scruggs is a little less “creative;” she really likes real toys (although milk jug rings and plastic soda bottle caps fall into the official “toy” category too). The funniest part of the girls’ self-amusement is that occasionally you can hear Scruggs urgently meow-ing away in another part of the house and at first we thought she was starving or stuck in a closet or something, but when we’d find her, she is fine but just playing with one of these guys and talking to it. We’ve since learned (for the most part) the sound she makes when she’s talking to her toys so we don’t always have to come running whenever we hear her off in another room.

Introducing Mason Rutherford Boyd

This is Chris' & my new nephew, Mason Rutherford Boyd. He was born Monday March 17. He came in 10 days ahead of schedule at exactly 20" and 8 lbs. Chris' brother Michael and his wife Karri and the proud new parents. Look at all that hair!!! Both Mom and baby are doing great!

Signs of Spring

First, let me apologize to my sister-in-law, Heather, who has been bemoaning the snow and the cold in Ohio of late... Here in Oregon, things are a little different.

It's always fun to see the first signs of spring around here.

This past week we had a few gorgeous days of weather - sunny and dry and warm. It has made things bloom out even more than what these pictures show. Today we're back to normal Northwest late winter weather - cold & rainy, but that week of sunshine was sure a welcome break! It gives us hope that real spring isn't too far off.

Cage Fights!!! (aka Thank You NASA)

Well, those of you who have been reading this blog know that the kittens (aka Flatt & Scruggs) love to wrestle and in fact, were auditioning for CWF (Cat Wrestling Federation) a while back. Well, they have decided after a stint in the CWF that they are ready to move on to something a little more challenging: Cage Fights!

Normally, I would be the last person to endorse cage fights - at least the human variety. I think they are over-testosteronized excuses for barbarity. However, kitty cage fights are a little different as you will see.



Chris & I just purchased a new memory foam mattress topper for our bed (Thank You NASA for that wonderful new space-age polymer that has made our lives more squishy!!!) and this is the box bottom that it came in. This box was sitting in our bedroom while we laid out the topper and of course the girls immediately jumped in it and started wrestling - so Ta Da! A new cat sport was born (I feel the need here to include yet another nod to NASA without whom this new sporting event would have never come to pass).



We have since moved the box into the living room where the box can be both ugly AND unsightly, but the girls can have better access to it. After all, we aim to encourage our kids on whatever path they choose for their lives...

Additcted to Square Dancing?!?

There was a square-dance last night at church. I hadn't square danced since PE class in elementary school and I'm not sure that Chris had ever square danced. There was a caller and live musicians... and a pot-luck dessert for when you needed that little extra burst of energy to keep going! There was a really good turn-out of people of all ages from a little older to really little. Many of the teens & young adults showed up and even a couple of our priests came. Fr. David, pictured above was one of the organizers of the event. (Fr. David's wife pictured in the white sweater below was, alas, the only priest's wife who came.)The caller did such a good job of explaining the dances and the "calls" associated with the moves. He was also really good at being patient with all the little kids who were dancing in the squares to make sure everyone got the opportunity to do the dances and have fun.

And it was fun. In fact, it was a lot of fun. I think even Chris was genuinely surprised at how much fun he had. He had been somewhat hesitant to go and was doing it primarily because I wanted to go and also because he and a friend of ours had a "pinky pact" that if one went, the other one would agree to go too.

There's already talk of the "next" square dance at church. Yippee and Yee Haw!