Critter Stockings

Here they are - on display on the entry way bench this year with annual Christmas bear collection:

Checking In

Thought I would do a general check in post to bring everyone up to speed on the critters.

Nigel - he is such a happy, healthy easy going hedgehog.  I truly enjoy interfacing with him each day.  He seems to have survived his first vacation when he went to the lake house.  He is laying on the bed with me and Phoebe as I type.

Clooney - he is doing well.  He is a joyful little boy and always happy and full of antics.  He seems to be doing great- snoozing, playing and investigating the packages under the Christmas trees.  He is such a cute little one....

Emma - ah the Emma dog.  She is over whatever tummy ailment she was suffering from.  She is happy to be back into her routine.  She is truly a creature of habit and she loves to have a schedule and to have that be unchanged.

Oliver - he has been on very good behavior as of late - not being too ornery.  He has been lovely with Zoey and hasn't spent too much time torturing his sister Aggie.

Phoebe - naughty with a capital N.  She is in her rebellious phase right now - pushing every limit to see how far she can go.  When its not irritating it is kind of comical.  She is also obsessed with my hair at the moment.  She feels the need to style me - mainly when I am trying to sleep.  UGH

Agatha is my same consistent sweet shy girl.  She rarely gets in trouble and is probably the most low maintenance of the bunch.  She is hanging out with Zoey and has been interactive with us as well.  She seems to be doing very well.

Zoey - oh boy.  She is doing so fantastic!  She is full of pep and energy and life and seems to be such a happy kitty.  She seems to be gaining a bit of weight back.  This is great!  She is taking her supplement but I think her system is still adjusting so she has a case of soft stool.  I have cut it back to 1/2 a dose per day and that seems to be making things happier - we will try to work our way up to a full does over time.  I am please with how things are going with her.

So - as you can see - all is pretty good in critter land.  I do love those babies.....

Burglar

THIEF - Miss Phoebe is a stocking robber.  Several times over the last few days the naughty girl has raided her stocking and started playing with her new Christmas toys.  The interesting thing is that her stocking is next to Nigel and Clooney's stockings which also have kitty toys in there but she only goes after her stocking.  Not sure how/if she knows.....

So far she has stolen a fuzzy ball, a hard plastic ball, a mouse and a stuffed bear.  What a brat....

Lovely Assistants

Gotta  love the helping paws of critters....between laying on stuff, in boxes, chasing ribbon, kicking around ornaments, etc I get lots of help when working on my holiday to do list.

All the kitties love ribbon and they all like to lay on the wrapping paper - not super helpful if I am being honest. Then there is Clooney - he like to get under the paper.  He is a bow stealer, a tape stealer - and if you have any little stocking stuffer gifts - ummm - he steals those too.  Nigel investigated Christmas for the first time last night - he seemed fairly unimpressed as he checked things out and then promptly went to sleep.

Emma is the disposer of wrapping paper tubes - she loves them.  She chews them up and makes a ginormous mess.

Inevitably over the course of the season - gifts get holes poked, scratch marks, etc - most folks expect scratch and dent wrapping if its coming from us.  :)

Wouldn't trade my elves for anything....

The First Day of December

Wow - how can this be?  The year has absolutely flown by!

Over the last few days we have made a large dent in the Christmas decorating.  The critters have different takes on Christmas.  I always think of my sweet Isabel - she so loved Christmas - I can't believe its been 18 months without her.....I so miss that cat.

Most of the time the kitties are pretty Christmas neutral - they like to lay under the trees and investigate the boxes.  This year for some reason Miss Phoebe is tree obsessed.  She has been knocking around the bottom branches and today she actually broke an ornament.  This fits right in with her naughty phase.

The little boys could care less.  Nigel hasn't been downstairs so he doesn't even know its Christmas yet.  Clooney loves to help with things like decorating and wrapping.  He also takes advantage of the gaps between gifts to explore under the tree.

Their stockings are up and the kitty socks have a couple of things in them.  Still working on everyone else.

Love this time of year....

Month In Review

November - overall - a fairly quiet month for the critters which is just fine with us as October was so stressful.  We are about a month out from Zoey's major illness.  So far so good.  I worry about her every day - not sure we are doing the right things by sparing her the surgery - most days I think we are but sometimes I question.  She seems very happy, active and all in all pretty stable.  She has adjusted well to her dietary changes and to her supplement that she gets every day that is supposed to help in slowing the growth of tumors.

Phoebe is doing well.  She is so stressed when we have the pet sitter come - she hides.  Luckily I was able to find her on the cameras.  Oliver is his regular ornery self - a lovely sweet boy who likes to cause trouble.  Aggie got over whatever made her ill right before we left for the lake and she seems to be doing great.

Emma had fun at the lake.  She struggles with the new canned dog food - she absolutely loves it but it really does not agree with her at all.  She is more tolerant of the camera these days.  I will say her new naughty thing of putting her front feet on the table and getting the wet cat food from the table is something I could do without.

The little boys are well - trip to the lake seemed to make them closer to friends.  Nigel is still just a go with the flow critter.  Clooney seems to be doing well and is full of his regular antics.

I am thankful for my babies - worried that Zoey is not okay and may not be with me for as long as I would like (forever) so I am trying to enjoy every day with her and my other furries.  You just never know.  I am hopeful she will be one of those who beats the odds - surprises us all with her spunk.  Seems like you can't be bitchy kitty for so many years without having a major fighter inside....

Monthly Snapshots for November

Here they are - this months snaps: