Our New Addition...

OK, so most of you that know me well know that I have an uncanny knack of finding animals in need of a home. You also know that I have a weakness for these animals and I will gladly take them in, despite the fact that we already have a farm in our house.

That being said, we've accquired yet another furry face and a brother for Jaxon. Yes, yes, I know...we don't need any new animals but with the loss of Chance this summer, I've had a weakness for kittens in particular.

At the beginning of the month, Michelle and I took Jaxon and the Tenster to lunch at a local strip mall. Granted, I had never visited said mall and I should have turned right around when Michelle told me that they have a pet store at this shopping center. However, I convinced myself that I wasn't going to fall prey to another cute, furry face and we proceeded to the restaurant.

After lunch, Michelle happily volunteered to take the kids next door to the pet store so I could finish paying for lunch. I agreed and met them a few minutes later admiring two cages of kittens. One cage had a very cute, gray kitten with longish hair. He immediately reminded me of a Chance-type but as luck would have it, he was adopted by a couple that was already fondling him. In the other cage there were two black kittens and a gray one. The girl at the store said that these three had been dropped off at the store by their owner with the hopes that they would go to good homes. Michelle had already spied one of the black ones which was a girl and brought back memories of her childhood cat. I had taken a liking to the low-key gray cat with white legs and feet. He seemed to be checking everything out and not much was going to bother him. Brother, we were in trouble!! After deciding to take pictures of the kittens and send them to our respective (sucker) husbands with a note asking if we could have them, we took the kids and left before we could cause any damage. We walked back towards the cars with kids in tow, aiming to get an ice cream at the Rite-Aid. After getting ice cream and finding a seat, I called Zak to find out if he had received my picture and note. Luckily for him, he had not and asked what the picture contained. "A kitty", I replied. He groaned a response and said that if I really wanted the cat, I could get it. He's such a pushover!

Meanwhile, Michelle is busy trying to convice Jeff that they needed to add yet another cat to their existing 3 which live with the two of them and Tenley in a 2 bedroom apartment. Jeff drags his feet for as long as possible even though he knows that he is fighting a losing battle. After coming up with as many excuses as possible, he relents and Michelle and I head back to the pet shop with the kids in tow to puck up our new little friends.

After much commotion and telling Jaxon and Tenley numerous times to "put back the rawhide chew toys" and "we don't need a ginormous bucket of dog biscuits" we leave the store with two more bodies than we arrived with. Michelle and I both had to work that night so the lucky boys at home were forced to come home to tending toddlers and kittens locked in rooms. What a great couple of husbands! (Zak, Jeff - that means you two if you are reading this).

Since coming home about a month ago, Spartacus has settled in nicely but still tends to be rather skiddish around us and the dogs. He has made instant friends with Paris and likes to pester him by touching Paris' tail and treating it like a play toy. Paris in turn washes Spartacus and makes his best effort to play back.

Jaxon likes to pet Spartacus and cuddle with him for as long as Spartacus tolerates it. I've even caught Jaxon trying to pick the cat up. It's nice that Jaxon has a playmate about his age now that he can grow up with.
So, we are now back to 5 animals in the farm