cats, and rabbits, and well, that's enough. (oh my)

Our cats are outdoor cats. I don't love the idea, but we bought them when they were about 2 years old, and they had already been outdoor cats. We tried to keep them inside, and they were miserable.

Anyhoo, they are outdoor cats. As such, they do outdoor things. One of these things is chase mice. Every spring/summer we get dead and half dead mice left for us in the backyard. When we're really lucky (and we've left a screen door open) Smokey will bring a mouse inside for us. Sometimes, if we're extremely lucky, the mouse will still be alive. Oh yes, those are the best. Who doesn't love chasing around a half dead mouse through your house. No lie, once the cat brought a mouse into our bedroom for us. We were chasing this mouse around at 5:00 in the morning. He's also brought us a couple of birds.

Yesterday.... he upped the ante. He brought in a dead baby rabbit. Oh yes, that was an adventure.
HOWEVER.... today he brought in a LIVE baby rabbit!!! I knew because I heard the screaming in the living room. What they say is correct; there is nothing like the screaming of a rabbit....

I've never picked up a rabbit carrying cat so quickly. Out the door that scoundrel went.

We shall be revisiting our screen door policy.....

and perhaps our outdoor cat policy......

I love Vermont.... I love Vermont.... I love Vermont.... I love Vermont.... I love Vermont.... I love Vermont.... I love Vermont.... I love Vermont.... I love Vermont.... I love Vermont....

Vermont Maple Festival!

We went to the Vermont Maple Festival yesterday. It's one of my favorite things for a few reasons. First of all, I really love maple syrup. I htink it's a requirement of living here. Also, the maple festival marks the start of spring for me. Yeah, yeah, I know it's been spring for over a month, but this is Vermont people!

We had a great time. We started the day with the annual pancake breakfast. There was a great little band with fiddles and guitars and a guy playing the spoons. The kids LOVED that, and Aisling discovered her dress was great for twirling! Next we headed out to a craft fair at the high school. This was a little dissapointing. We were looking forward to doing some Christmas shopping, but we really didn't find much. We also had a bunch of stuff with us, and it was hard to navigate. We had Wyatt and his wheelchair. (It's just too much for him to walk all day). We also had the baby in the Ergo carrier. Then we had the wagon for the biggers. It's an extremely long day, and Aisling still gets a bit tired. We also had it for Siobhan so she could sit in the wagon and see better. This is our wagon. However, ours also has this attachable trailer on it. So, when you have insane amounts of children (and things) like us, you can drag it all behind you. This is actually really convieneint for things like the diaper bag, the kid bag (which had water, and cameras, and sunblock) and things we bought. But, we were like the shriners in a parade.
Annoying small people that just keep coming.After the craft fair we went on some carnival rides. This was great, but so super hot. Then we went to our annual meal with our friends. Between all of us and our children we realized we were 11 people! (And only four adults! I bet you wish you were there too!)

Finally with some sugar on snow, maple cotton candy, and maple creemees, we were on our way home!

The ice princess

The matching sister on the carousel

Argh

Also, Here's a quick picture of Siobhan and her walker: She's making some great strides!

Seriously, Vermont children!

Soooo..... maybe we should move to a warmer climate? Apparently my kids don't even know what to play with when the weather is warm....


You'll notice that the smaller one is pulling the larger one!

Also, my loving caring children brought me in some gifts the other day:

Click on the picture and make it larger. Then you will see that they carefully tore up pieces of the driveway and brought them inside for me. They were soooo proud! It was very cute. This goes along with the rocks they give me everywhere we go. Seriously. Everywhere.

They are too darn cute.

Here's one more of them cuddling in the "grown up" swings in the backyard: (you know, the cool swings Al and I never get to relax in because we're so busy raising the kids.... good to know they're getting used!)