Starlight, Starbright

Every night that we were outside and it was dark Ellie would make a wish on the first star. And every night she would wish for a pet. She vacillated over what pet would be just right. For awhile it was an ostrich, then Steve tried to convince her of turtle, the other day it was birds, but usually it came back to either cats or dogs. And since there was no way I was getting a dog... I started to contemplate getting a cat. Of course it would have to be a kitten, so it could get used to these crazy girls that live here.

Steve finally agreed and after consulting with a couple people (mostly Mom) to be sure I wasn't totally losing it, I decided to go for it. I called all over town and searched the Internet to see where to get a pet and the only place is really the animal shelter. So last Friday I took the girls down for an afternoon at the shelter (the girls just call it the pet store). They had all sorts of options. Siamese kittens, calico kittens, teenage cats, adult cats, puppies, dogs (the girls were terrified in the dog room- too much noise) you name it. I grew up with a calico, so that was the kitty that caught my attention. Ellie liked the gray striped one, because it was the smallest. After looking at the cats for awhile we went to Walmart and stocked up on all essentials needed for bringing home a cat. I got cash and we went back. Since Ellie and I couldn't agree on which kitten to get- we got BOTH!!! Yep, we have two little kittens now. And they really are cute. We are having issues with litter training (I don't like cleaning up cat poop!), so they're locked in our kitchen until we can get that figured out. The girls just adore those poor cats. Just look at their faces in the pictures.

Ellie's cat, the striped cat, is named Daisy. My cat (or Katie's cat, depending on who you talk to) doesn't have an official name. Ellie describes her as being camouflage (only a daughter of a military guy would even know that word at age 4) so I call her camo kitty and so far that's what we call her. If anyone has any better ideas, we'd love to hear them! But it's fun having these additions to the family. Opposite of what Dad said, the girls have actually received a few scratches from the cats. They have to learn to be more gentle, and while the kittens are amazingly patient, sometimes the girls are just too rough. Here are a couple pictures of our feline friends...

The girls love when the cats will sleep on their laps. It is rare since the girls can't be calm around them. They are holding their respective cats.
One day I heard this enormous giggle come out of Sarah's mouth and out she runs with poor Daisy in her arms. You can see by her smile just how proud she was that she could do it. So, so funny.
The cats are fascinated by the laptop and like to sit with me at night while I work. They also find my belly to be the perfect resting spot, which I find amusing.

And there you have it. Daisy and Camo Kitty.