Our girls with their girls

Because life wasn't crazy (or cute) enough, we adopted two kittens this past Wednesday.

Our girls have been asking for "real" pets for at least two years now.  In Australia, we had a fish and a canary, but sweet as our canary was, there was only so much you could do with him.  The girls wanted cats or puppies, and Ellie's fear of dogs and their young age meant dogs were not the best choice.  Throw in a newly assessed cat allergy, and cats weren't the best choice either...but they are low maintenance, fully accepted as "real" pets and should pass the allergy radar as long as we are vigilant about them not sleeping on our beds.

These kittens came from a home where a woman had found the mama cat and her newborns in the barn.  The woman brought them into her basement and took top-notch care of them for the next several weeks.  When we picked them up, they were 8 weeks old and totally healthy.  We weren't sure how they would handle the transition from older woman's basement to two extremely excited little girls, but we are lucky.  The kittens have fantastic dispositions.  You can see how snuggly they are when they are sleepy, and they play like crazy when they're wide awake.  The girls are over the moon, especially our little animal lover Stephanie, who often has both of them in her lap, purring away.