The "Fam"

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Please give Mom your vote

If you like bananers like Pixie does, or if your people like banana bread, there's a banana bread contest going on. Mom was invited to enter her Grandma Staker's Banana Bread recipe into the banana bread contest. I don't eat banana bread, but I'm told Mom's is really good. Please give her a vote.

Here are all the banana bread recipes, if you want to try them all out.

And here's Mom's original banana bread recipe on her kitchen blog.

(Dad thinks they are testing the website features with this contest. I think you vote by rating it with hearts at the bottom. But we're not 100 percent sure, either. Thanks for all your support!)

Easy Like Sunday

Well, the moratorium on garage time lasted a whole two days before Maggie and Josie were able to break Dad. I guess sitting by the garage door with their "please, please, PLEASE" expression just made him give in.


When we get garage time, the first thing we do is go to the light. One each side of the garage door is a tiny gap, I can only imagine is for ventilation and to allow water to get out if there is a spill, but for us it is the access point where the creatures we hunt come from. So naturally that is our very first stop.


Then it's a matter of finding a cool spot on the cement, stretching out, and just enjoy being in the garage.

No bugs this trip, but it was supervised by Dad. Maybe next time.

PhotoHunt: Bright

"Bright" PhotoHunter's theme ... hmmm ... brings to mind Gremlins and three specific rules. It's a good thing we're not Gremlins, because we like to nap in the bright sun, (and stay up past midnight ... not too big on the water, though).

Lately, Josie has made her favorite spot the space beside the small couch where the sunlight comes in through the back door. Dad had to cut off a branch on the tree by the deck, and it has allowed more sunlight to come in, which makes Josie very happy.


She is nice, and will share her spot with Huggy Bear.


Huggy Bear usually naps in the opposite corner, more blending into the shadows. But he learned from his sister that the sunny spot can be nice too.


Josie was even kind enough to move aside and give Maggie a little time in the ray on sunshine. Maggie may need to work on her positioning, though.

No garage time?

It looks like Mom and Dad are going to limit our garage time for a while. The garage is our playground. It's where we go to explore and hunt. Problem is, in the last few days Josie has brought bugs into the house to show what she found. In the nearly two years that we have been in our house, Mom and Dad can proudly say there have been no roached (aka. Palmetto bugs). Sure, there's been a spider every now and then, plus the two moths that Huggy Bear successfully stalked. But no roaches. Until Tuesday, when Josie trotted in with one, then dropped it on the floor to hunt in front of Mom and Dad. Then again on Wednesday, when she hunted it until it went under the couch and Dad had to hunt it himself.


I think Josie is plotting with Huggy Bear to try to get back into the garage. She sneaked in with Dad last night for about 15 seconds. Trust me, she'll find a way. Every great huntress does.

Thursday Thirteen #29 -- Mom and Dad's vacation

Mom and Dad went on vacation to Ocean Isle Beach in North Carolina last week. They really don't leave us very often, so it was kind of a big deal for them and for us. So I'm dedicating my T13 to what happened with us from their vacation...

1. Most importantly, they came home.
2. They brought us nip cigars from the cat store that Sweet Praline's Mom told them to go to.
3. Josie claimed the first nip cigar.

She went right to "smoking" her nip cigar.
4. Mom and Dad also brought us some new mice to play with.
5. I got the brown mouse and Huggy Bear got the gray mouse.

But he preferred trying to get the cigar instead.
6. Dad thinks the new mice will grow on us.
7. When Tish was watching us, the pantry door didn't latch completely one night.
8. We managed to open the pantry door and plundered the toy basket.
9. Aunt Tish was on the phone with Mom and said, "Uh, oh. I goofed," as soon as she walked in and say about 30 toys and a bag of catnip scattered all over the kitchen floor.
10. We managed to skin a toy mouse that Dad had bought for my birthday.

This is the head with most of the fur and all of the tail pulled off.

Here's the tail. Huggy Bear is triumphantly carrying the tail around to all parts of the house.
11. Now that Mom and Dad are home we are sleeping on their bags before they can get them all put away.
12. Plus we're getting all kinds of extra love from Mom and Dad while they were gone.
13. We also learned that there are cats at the beach that prowl around and hunt.

This one was investigating the grill a while after Dad was done grilling on it. Unfortunately, Dad didn't leave anything behind for him because he didn't expect that kind of company. But we're sure he found some seafood.

Wordless Wednesday

Tuxie Tuesday

We are great snoopervisors in the kitchen, especially when Mom's cooking chicken. Josie is very funny, because she gets so curious and interested, but rarely eats what Mom offers her. She's kind of like me that way. It's OK, Huggy Bear and Maggie make up for us both.


"Whatcha cookin', Mom? Is that chicken?"

Maggie Monday

Maggie is such a big super helper. Before Mom and Dad left for their trip Mom had to print out a recipe for the salad dressing she was making. Well, that's when Maggie discovered the wonderful printer, and, more specifically, where the paper comes out.


You can see Maggie is doing a great job of sorting the sheets as they come out.

Easy Like Sunday

We're so happy to have Mom and Dad back home. After a little pouting (for the extra attention) we started pouring on the love again.


Mom needed some rest, and we knew she couldn't rest very well without us, so Huggy Bear and I snuggled up with her.


We put our paws on her hand to make sure she didn't go anywhere again.


There's just no beating a nap with Mom.

Mom and Dad returned just in time for PhotoHunt: Water

Mom and Dad left Ocean Isle Beach late late last night, deciding to drive at night with less traffic and get home at 1:00 am instead of rushing to get up at the break of dawn and hurry home in crazy Myrtle Beach traffic. And they had perfect timing, because today's PhotoHunters theme is water. You know, this is our blog, and we like to restrict it to us cats, but we'll throw Mom and Dad a bone here and feature them, since they were at the beach.


Mom and Dad like to take one of these "hold the camera out and take a picture of yourself" pictures when they go on trips -- they're cheesy that way. There was an awful lot of water at the beach, but also a lot of sand to poop in, so I think we could live there in a pinch. Mom said she liked being at the beach, but missed us every day. She's pretty tan to have missed us too much, if you ask me.

And thanks to everyone who came to Maggie's birthday party. Aunt Tish came the next day and found out how clever we are. We managed to open the pantry door and raided the catnip, the toy basket and the bag of treats. Needless to say, she found a little bit of a mess, but it was fun!

Happy 3rd Birthday Maggie!

Today is Maggie's third birthday! Now that she's three, Maggie insists that she is a big girl. But Mom told her that she'll always be her littlest baby kitten, no matter how grown up she gets.

Since Mom and Dad are gone on vacation, we want to invite everyone over today to help us cat-hair-up the house. Feel free to put cat hair on everything you can imagine. We want this to be a hair-raising party for Maggie! (Plus, we know Aunt Tish is a good person and will clean up for us so Mom and Dad don't find out...)

Now, since it is Maggie's birthday, and I'm a little proud of my sister, I want to show some of my favorite pictures of her.


This is Maggie's first portrait. Please don't be sad, even though her eyes are all infected. If she hadn't had the eye infection she probably would have found another forever home. So good things can come out of bad situations.


Maggie is a quick study. She has learned tricks from Me and Josie and Huggy Bear, like sleeping in the sink, or synchronized sinking.


Even with just one eye she is the most agile and daring of the McKitten-Cats.

She's also pretty smart...

She started playing Trivial Pursuits as a kitten...


She even helped Mom and Dad paint (that's primer on the walls, by the way...)


She even likes to read with Mom. See, smart from the start.


Although I'm not sure if every move is smart ... I never figured out how she ended up in the hole of the alpine scratcher. I don't think I was ever that small!

She's pretty loving, too ...

Maggie snuggling with me...


... and with Josie ...


... and, of course, with Huggy Bear.

Finally, I think this is what Mom fell in love with first when she met Maggie...

... her little polka dotted belly!

There are only like 169 pictures of Maggie over on Flickr, so I'll stop here.

Thanks for coming and helping celebrate Maggie's 3rd birthday! (And for helping us spread cat hair everywhere... we'll be back visiting everyone's blogs again real soon, promise.)

P.S. It's also my Mom's birthday. She thinks it's neat that they share the same birthday.

Not so easy like Sunday without Mom and Dad

I really tried to keep Mom and Dad from going on vacation, but there was this whole "family" excuse, and something about a "beach" and the promise of a new toy from the store Sweet Praline was talking about.

I had a good plan to keep Mom and Dad here, too. At least, it seemed like a good plan at the time.


I figured I would just sleep on the duffel bag all the time. This way they couldn't pack it. And if they can't pack it, they can't leave. But then things started to backfire.


Dad pulled out another duffel bag from the hidden room we're not allowed to enter. So I changed positions and took up napping on the other duffel bag. Then I started going from bag to bag, and even Josie and Huggy Bear would nap on the bags when I wasn't.

Even with all our combined efforts, Mom and Dad still managed to pack. I'm sure they're having a big time at Ocean Isle Beach in North Carolina. The promise of a nip cigar keeps me happy, and knowing that Aunt Tish is going to check in and give us love and treats (but mostly love).

PhotoHunt: Emotions

Oh, there have been plenty of emotions to go around for today's PhotoHunt theme, but I'm going to go with "sad eyes" ...


Here I am, turning on the big, sad, "are you really leaving us to go on vacation" eyes. It's major guilt trip time for Mom and Dad. You see, not only are Mom and Dad leaving us for the next few days to go to the beach, but they won't be here for Maggie's third birthday on Tuesday, either. So here you go, Mom and Dad, drown in these big suckers and feel real guilty while you are sunning yourselves on the beach without us!

Furry Fighter Friday

You fought the good fight, now it's time rest. We will all miss you.

Rest in peace sweet girl....

Thursday Thirteen #28: Wordless reviewed

A lot of people were trying to figure out just what was going on in yesterday's Wordless Wednesday. Looks like a perfect Thursday Thirteen topic...

1. Huggy Bear and Josie were tiny tiny kittens still.
2. We were in the kitchen in the old apartment.
3. Huggy Bear was definitely trying to get me.
4. I'm somewhere in between playing with Huggy Bear ...
5. ... and trying to resist pouncing him.
6. I think it was more of me trying to escape, really.
7. I forgot how little they really were.
8. Josie's still pretty small, but she was tiny then.
9. And Josie had a really floofy tail.
10. I think her smallness makes her tail look even floofier.
11. Mom uploaded a bunch of kitten pictures to Flickr.
12. Including two cute pictures of the three of us napping in bed together.
13. Maggie's birthday is coming up and I think that's why Mom was uploading kitten pictures.

Wordless Wednesday

Check out Jasper's back legs
Originally uploaded by jenianddean

Cleaning the desk, blaming the catnip

I decided to help Mom clean the desk last night. She had left just the slightest amount of water in a cup on the desk, and I know she did it so I could knock it over and help clean up the desk. I only cleaned one side -- a few empty envelopes, one bill waiting to be mailed out, the mouse pad (optical mouse on a glass desk top doesn't quite work), and some notes from the theatre where Mom volunteers. I don't know if Mom truly appreciated my efforts, because she came behind me and cleaned it up again, and said things like, "I love you, Jasper, but you can't spill my drinks like this..." which totally misses the point that I was helping her clean up.

If she considers what I did making a mess, then maybe I should blame the fresh catnip she gave us the other night. She was out getting some herbs for dinner, and clipped off some catnip from the plant outside.


Josie liked the fresh catnip the most. Maggie rolled on it some, and played a little.


Huggy Bear was cautious in his approach to the fresh catnip. I think he likes his out of a bag...

Maggie Monday

Maggie loves her catnip candy canes. Mom and Dad originally bought some for Secret Paws last Christmas and thought they were so cool they bought some for us, too. We all like them, but Maggie likes them the most. If you find some, I recommend picking a few up.


This one is Maggie's, for sure, and she's not sharing.


Lick, lick, lick. Mom and Dad can hear her tongue licking the nipcane from a room away.

Easy like Sunday Morning

Easy like Sunday Morning
Originally uploaded by jenianddean

Is that a tabby cat stuck to Huggy Bear's tail? It seems wherever he is, Maggie is too. But they're OK with that. This is one of Huggy Bear's favorite places ... the corner in the hallway just outside the computer room. You can tell by the cluster of Huggy Bear hair against the baseboards. Maggie's hair is short and less noticable, and my hair blends in with the carpet better so I leave less evidence. But you can always tell where Huggy Bear has been sleeping...

PhotoHunt: Bad Hair

Today's PhotoHunters theme is Bad Hair. At first, I think I misunderstood it, because I found a picture of a very misbehaving stuffed bunny. Then I realized it was hair, not hare...

Sometimes Josie gets mats in her hair on her side where she likes to sleep and it can stick up from Mom and Dad messing with it to get the knots out. She's such a lady and I hate to feature her having a bad hair day, but it happens to the best of us.


Her hair was sticking up from Dad pulling apart the mat on her back. This is right before Dad Zoom Groomed it back the right way. Mom and Dad wouldn't let her go all day like this.


Of course, to brush Josie means you have to chase her around the room first.


Huggy Bear has bad hair that likes to wander off his body and hang out in gangs in the corners around the house.


Here I am looking at the bad hare. He decided to sit on me. On me? Why would he taunt me like this? Is he asking to get whapped?

Froggy Friday

It must have been a year ago when Josie freaked Mom out by coming in from the garage with her tongue sticking out and dripping mouth foam everywhere, Huggy Bear and Maggie right behind her. Josie apparently corner a frog and Mom suspects Josie licked the frog, leaving her with a bad taste in her mouth and a reason to exit the garage quickly.

So last night, Dad looked into the garage and Huggy Bear, Maggie and Josie were all investigating a corner of the garage. Dad saw where the paint drop cloth had fallen, and figured this had gotten their attention. But as he put the drop cloth away Maggie went deeper into the corner and was looking around an extra plunger (always good to know, if you are a guest -- extra plunger in garage!). When Dad moved the plunger, there it was, another frog in the garage -- the second one in a week. Well, Dad wrangled HB, Josie and Maggie then set the frog free in the bushes out front.

Dad found us checking out another one earlier in the week. Josie had it hopping along the garage door. Again Dad brought us in, opted against licking it like Josie did last year, and instead let it out.


Here's Mr. Frog, in the little sandy spot by the garage. He quickly moved to the mulch and disappeared under a bush.

Thursday Thirteen #27 -- Rough start to the morning

This morning was a rough start for Mom and Dad, and here's why, in 13 parts...

1. Mom awoke at 5:40 to the sound of one of us throwing up.
2. She woke up Dad, saying, "Huggy Bear's throwing up."
3. "I think he threw up in the hall."
4. "No," waking up a little, Dad still looking for his glasses.
5. "I think he threw up on my bag!"
6. Ugh... hairball and throw up.
7. Huggy must have been startled when Mom woke up.
8. Looks like he was on the move a little, covering a good two feet. Yuck!
9. He did throw up on some junk mail -- good aim!
10. Dad cleaned it up. Then he cleaned the carpet some. It'll need some awake cleaning.
11. Then Dad thought, I'm already up, I could be productive this morning.
12. But he went back to be instead.
13. I recommend using head nudges to try to wake Mom and Dad in the future. It works for me. They've even learned to pet me in my sleep. Plus it's less mess.

Dona Nobis Pacem

Wordless Wednesday

Too much floof?
Originally uploaded by jenianddean

Tummy Tuesday

Huggy Bear loves to sleep in his full monty position. Mom thinks it's so cute. (She actually giggles every time she see HB sleeping like this.)


I'm not sure if this is just the most comfortable pose for Huggy Bear, or if it's cool with summer coming early, or if he wants his belly pet, but Huggy Bear does it a lot. He has such a sweet expression on his face when he does his full monty pose, like, "Come pet me Mom" and she can't resist. I don't lay like this a lot, but maybe I should if it would get me more attention. I think what seals the deal with Huggy Bear is the way we coos with the tiniest purr when he rolls into the full monty pose.

Kids open lemonade stand to raise money for cat's surgery

This is a nice story ... If we lived near Utah we'd drive buy just to help out.

Mancat Monday

The Jump and Shout contest is over, we know, and Huggy Bear really isn't much of a jumper or a shouter, but he did put up his best effort during some jumping photo shoots and I figured, since he tried so hard and all, I should at least post his picture and let him show off a little. So no, everybody, it's not the smoke monster from Lost, it's just Huggy Bear, leaping.


Look at the form and the motion. Unfortunately, he was competing against Maggie's crazy jump picture from when she was a kitten ...