Happy New Year

I hope everyone has a Happy New Year! This last year has seen many changes in our home as Maggie joined our family to make it four kittens total and we continued to make wonderful blogging cat-friends. Mom and Dad helped find homes for nine other kittens as well. There were lots of good naps, and chasing each other and that fun fun tree. (I don't have a very long-term memory, so my recap only goes back so far...)

Thanks to everyone who helped make this year a great one ... we've enjoyed you all so much! Have a very safe and happy new year!
--Jasper, Josie, Huggy Bear and Maggie

Maggie's new trick

Maggie is really good ... I have to give her that. Mom has a small trash can in her bathroom with a lid that you have to push in to throw stuff away (she throws away such great stuff!) and Josie, Huggy and I have never paid much attention to it. But Maggie has made a mission of it, and this morning revealed her trick to Mom and Dad. She paws at the push-in mouth, tips it slightly, and if it is full enough, she can grab a Q-tip out and runs off and chew it. Dad thought she had just gotten caught by it lid until he saw her playing with the Q-tip. Smart kitty...

Holidays over yet?

I have enjoyed the holiday cheer and all, but Mom and Dad have been on the go so so much. I can't wait until we can have a nice lazy day with both of them.

Jasper the Lion

I was very patient for Mom tonight and let her brush my mane ... she thought I look very regal and lion-like here all brushed out. I was good and got brushes twice today. I even let Mom brush my belly briefly.

My closet spot

I showed a picture of Maggie exploring the top of Dad's closet a little while ago, but I have my own special spot. There are some boxes in Dad's closet that stack up under the shelf and I can hide behind his shirts in a nice (mostly) quite spot.

Huggy in antlers

Huggy Bear was a good sport and tried on the antlers for Dad ... for about five seconds. That's four-and-a-half more than I did.

Oh happy day

Oh happy day, mom and dad are home. They went to Jackson, MS for Christmas and left me in charge here. We didn't tear one thing up while mom and dad were gone. They were so proud of us kittens. Mom even gave us some more of the toys that Aunt Tiff gave us for Christmas. (Josie ate the feathers off one thing already. I have pictures to prove it.)

Hope everyone had a very merry one!!

Merry Merry

Just in case this weekend gets as hectic as I imagine it could be, Josie, Huggy Bear, Maggie and I want to wish you all a very Merry Christmas! Please be safe if you are travelling (or attacking your tree).

Loud bang

We had a bit of a scare this morning. Right when Dad was getting ready to head out for work there was a loud BANG from outside. Dad looked around back, and there is a bank of electric meters and one of them was smoking. I guess one of the breakers blew, and when Dad peeked inside the box, there were smoldering bits inside. Mom and Dad called the apartment maintenance guys and the electric company, but Mom was worried so she stayed home with us instead of taking Dad to work and running errands (translation: I got to nap with Mom this morning!). Fortunately, everything was handled quickly and there was no fire or anything -- we didn't even lose power, but I bet someone upstairs did! But loud bangs are no way to start your morning.

Christmas presents

Mom and Dad went to visit Aunt Cathy and Uncle Doug and their five kids and two dogs and one or two cats (they only saw one, but suspect two) and when they came back, they brought us gifts, too! We were so excited. We got a door knob hanger that says "Attack Cat On Duty" and they got this great great spinning laser light that puts a crazy red-dot bug on the wall in wild circles. Huggy, Josie and Maggie really enjoyed trying to catch that bug! Thanks "The Dougs" for our great gifts!

Goodbye tree

Well, the Christmas tree went away Sunday night. Mom and Dad decided it was a hazard and with us taking all the ornaments and Maggie laying across the branches and bending them all down, it was beginning to resemble Charlie Brown's twigmas tree. So it got packed up. I already can't wait for next year.

Dum, dum ... out go the lights!

If you ask Dad he might make a convincing argument that today we are out to destroy everything. Maggie made a valiant effort to bring down the tree earlier when she was halfway up and Dad decided to squirt her with water to motivate her out. Well, when she jumped out she managed to snag a string of lights and Dad had to catch the tree. Then later tonight Dad was on the phone with an old friend catching up when he heard me jump back and hit the glass door and blinds and the lights went out -- now I'm not going to admit to chewing the cord, but let's say one half of it is broken now. (And I'm OK) So it looks like the lights will be staying off the rest of this Christmas.

Josie and Huggy Bear

Just look at these two kittens. Josie and Huggy were very patient with Mom and Dad for most of the evening trying to get the perfect picture.

Our Christmas Card Picture

The Christmas card ... much better in black and white. Doesn't Maggie look like she's smiling? Just between us, she was chewing on ribbon.

Christmas card

Mom and Dad worked real hard trying to get all four of us in front of the tree for a Christmas card picture. Ever hear the expression, "It's like herding cats" ... well, first, I don't know who would want to herd cars, but secondly, we proved that expression. Mom and Dad managed good pictures with two or three of us, and finally got a passable picture with all four of us. Then, after an hour of good aerobic exertion for them (heck, we all know they needed the exercise), they gave up and we all decided to hang out under the tree.

Closet climber

When Dad came home from work, he opened the closet to change clothes and I hopped into the back of the closet to one of my favorite spots -- and one spot that is JUST MINE. So Dad leaves the closet door cracked, and what happens? Josie comes in first and pulls out one of the weights Mom and Dad use when they walk on the treadmill (one pound, or 1/7 of her weight!), then later Josie is hopping around in the closet like she's trying to get on a box. And what does Dad see when he looks in? Maggie, of course! All the way at the top, among all the towels -- lots of towels... -- I'm amazed she didn't bring them down. She was purring so loud I'm surprised Dad didn't find her from that.

Update: Later, Dad looked in the closet and a bunch of towels were down. Not saying Maggie did it, but ...

Tree skirt

Another one with me and the tree skirt. I'm giving Dad the "don't you think you're getting this really soft thing from me" look.

Baby Jasper

While looking for an old Christmas picture of me, I came across this one. When I was a kitten, Dad still had the webcam attached to the computer (dial-up ... never really used it) but he did get a few photos of me. This one is one of Dad's favorites and graced the desktop wallpaper for a long time. Now, my profile picture is the desktop wallpaper. Look how little I was.

Old Christmas pictures

I was looking for an old picture of me with the Christmas tree. When I was a kitten, Mom thought it would be cute to put reindeer antlers on me and take a picture for their Christmas card. This was before the digital camera, so after a roll of film (film!?! haha!) they managed one that would work and sent my cute cute picture to the entire family. But I can't find anything already on the computer so I'll have to dig for one of those. I did come across this one of me sleeping on the tree skirt. I've always tried to be a helper.

Josie didn't share

The other day, it was raining, raining real hard. As part of raining hard in South Carolina it means we get an extra bug to hunt. It's just a fact of living in the South. Well, the other day, Dad opens the pantry door, and down drops something dark. Quickly, Dad sees it is a little roach. Well, Dad shoos it toward Josie for her to wrangle while he gets a paper towel to grab it and flush it, but then, as Dad goes to get it, Josie picks it up in her mouth and runs into the bathroom and plays with it some. So Dad comes in thinking, thanks for bringing it to the toilet so I can flush it. But Josie has no intention of playing Dad's version of "roach" and she picks it up and runs off again. Dad persued her a few more times, until he finally realized that that was Josie's roach, 100 percent, and that he'd best just wait and pick up the pieces later.

Tree update

Maggie has been busy. The tree looks sad, with droopy branches from Maggie lying across them. Current count of ornaments remaining on the tree: 3.

I think Dad is sending Maggie mixed signals about the tree. She will climb up it, he'll let out a requisite "ugh!" and a little huff, then he laughs, gets the camera, shoots a few pictures, then pulls her out with a gentle reprimand. Really, what's a kitten to think? I say it's a good thing she's cute.

A thing under the sink

Mom and Dad were watching TV and they kept hearing a thump-thump-thump like when Huggy Bear is trying to open a cabinet. Well, after a while, it kept going on, and they had seen Huggy Bear in the meantime, so Dad went to investigate. We had a thing under the sink, but not like Ginger had -- Maggie was under the bathroom sink playing and pushing the door. It looks like Huggy has shown her a thing or two... and not all good.

The tree returns

Well, after Mom and Dad returned from being out of town, they have finally brought the Christmas tree out of the big closet again. So far, Josie has gotten the "bitter end" spray (Dad got a little himself by accident), Maggie got sprayed with the squirt bottle, and, because Maggie ran toward the tree when she got sprayed instead of away from the tree, Huggy Bear got a "collateral damage" shot of water also. Dad made up with Huggy, but I'm thinking Huggy would have deserved it later, anyway, so call it a pre-emptive strike.

Naughty or Nice???

Who do you think is going to be on Santa's naughty list this year???

Maggie!!!!!!

Here is Maggie at the top of Mount Christmas tree. Mom says it's lucky were are cute or we would be in a world of trouble some days.

Josie!!!!

Mom is pretty sure this is Josie's handy work. She loves to pull ribbions, but so do I. But I'll never tell which one of us did it.

What a sight!

Mom and Dad had stopped by Pier 1 last night on their way home from Dad's work, and as they were leaving they saw a fox in the parking lot! This is a busy parking lot, with Pier 1, Target, Panera Bread and Starbucks, and here's this crazy fox running around. It was exciting for Mom and Dad since they'd never seen a fox out like that. I wish I had been there, just to see the fox. He didn't look like he would like to play, though...

Long weekend

Mom and Dad went to Aunt Tiff's for the weekend. We always miss them when they are gone and get a little crazy when they come back ... and this morning we are super fired up. To make matters worse, Mom has jury duty -- I don't really know what that is, but I do know after being gone all weekend, she'll be gone some more this week.

Right before Mom and Dad left on Friday, Maggie decided to show off and climb to the top of the Christmas tree ... no, she couldn't wait until they were gone. So Mom and Dad real quick put the tree in the big closet. When they moved it, I think they discovered our project ... most of the ornaments has been removed and were under the tree and amongst the presents. Busted!