This great graphic was created by the lovely Ann from Zoolatry.

Today, we will show you photos of The Cats Who Came Before, The Current Furry Bambinos, and all the kittehs we have fostered.

Mohawk, One Who Came Before, would be THRILLED to hear that today is Mo Cats Day!!! Mohawk often went by his nickname “Mo”. Mom adopted Mohawk back in January 1991, when he was about 4 to 5 months old. Mohawk was all white, except for a black stripe on the top of his head. The stripe grew out by the time Mo was about a year old. This photo was taken when Mohawk still had his stripe.

This photo shows Mo’s beautiful green eyes. As you can tell, Mohawk enjoyed his pillows!

Clyde is also One Who Came Before. He was a ginormous grey tabby ManCat. At his largest, Clyde weighed 19 pounds! This photo shows Mom holding Clyde. You can get a sense as to how big he was!

This photo shows Clyde’s gentle face closeup.

Now, for the current Bambinos.  This next photo is a close up of Padre.  Note how similar Clyde and Padre look!

Next up is me, Panda Bear. Here is a wink for all the laydeez:

Meerkat, pausing during her inspection of the back yard to pose. Me and her are biological siblings.

Cookie likes to greet all visitors to Casa Furry Bambino, by sitting on this chair by the front door.  Notice how Meerkat and Cookie have such similar markings!

Caramel is the only floofy Furry Bambino. Here she is snuggling a pair of Mommy’s slippers. Check out that floofy tail and those toe hawks!

Now, for the Fosters. The first fosters we had were Cookie and Caramel, whom Mom and Dad adopted!

Our next fosters were Matthew (renamed Neo), Mark, Luke (renamed Shadow), and Joann (renamed Inky). They were here between late September and December 2009.

Joann is attacking the pink boa. Doesn’t she look like a cute little black bear cub?

Our next fosters were Daisy (renamed Bella), Bo (renamed Watson), and Luke, who were here between mid-April and late May of this year. Daisy is the dilute tortoiseshell, Luke is black and white, and Bo is the buff tabby.

While Daisy, Bo, and Luke were here, Niecy and Trish also joined us, bringing our TFC (Total Feline Count in the house) into the double digits at 10! You can tell how tiny Niecy and Trish were by comparing their size to Daisy. Daisy weighed about 2 pounds in this photo. Trish (white) weighed 12 ounces, and Niecy (black) weighed just 10 ounces at this time. They tried to nurse from Daisy, and looked to her as a surrogate mother.

After Daisy, Bo, and Luke got adopted, and while Niecy and Trish were here, Antoinette showed up at our back door one Sunday afternoon. We have a great adoption story for you about Antoinette, but we will save that for another post!

Niecy and Trish went to their furrever home on Friday, August 6, 2010. Our next fosters moved in the very next morning on Saturday, August 7! Beyonce, Kelly, and Michelle are three bootilicous tortoiseshell sisters! Beyonce has already been adopted, and has been renamed Angel. Kelly and Michelle are still here. Beyonce is the long-haired tortie on the top, and Kelly is the speckled faced tortie on the lower side. Doesn’t Beyonce look JUST LIKE Caramel? Beyonce’s nickname was Floofs Junior, and Kelly’s nickname is Miss Speckles.

Michelle has a face that is exactly half orange and half black! Her nickname is Miss Rainbow, because she is timid like our cousin Rainbow.

In addition, on Tuesday, August 10, our next fosters moved in: Winnie-the-Pooh, Kanga, Hidey, and Mr. Bibs. Winnie-the-Pooh is a male black and white tuxedo. I am pleased to report that he is full of cattitude!

Kanga is a female solid black kitten.

Hidey (yes, that is spelled that way for a reason) is a solid black female feral kitten.

Like Hidey, Mr. Bibs is also feral. He is solid black with a white bib and white belleh.

Yesterday, Hidey and Mr. Bibs went to their furrever home, but we will save that story for another post, too.

So that brings our Mo Cats Day blog post to a close, with a grand total of twenty-four (!) different kittehs featured! How’s that for Mo Cats?!

Tammy Faye was like a cousin to us, since her Mom is our Aunt Deb. Special thanks go to KC for this beautiful graphic that was posted on the Cat Blogosphere site.

Aunt Deb came over to visit us on Friday.  We gave her lots of Bambino lovin’.  I purrsonally made sure to make Aunt Deb feel welcome.  I guess you could say that of all The Furry Bambinos, I am the Cat Ambassador.  I like to greet fambly, friends, and air conditioner technicians.  I always come to the door to say hello.

Aunt Deb also visited with The Itteh Bittehs, our current crop of fosters.  She said that the feline therapy helped.  In case you need kitten therapy, here are some recent photos of The Itteh Bittehs.

Itteh Bitteh Boo on back of big chair in living room.  (Hmmpf!  Doesn’t she know that’s my spot?)

Itteh Bitteh Shadow close-up.

Boo sleeping on Mommy’s dining room chair.

Shadow practicing for the World Cup.

Get ready to SQUEEE!!!  Itteh Bitteh Boo Belleh!

Itteh Bitteh Shadow Bunneh!

We hope that you enjoyed the photos of The Itteh Bittehs!  Next time, we will tell you all about the medical ups and downs in the lives of Itteh Bitteh kittehs!

Like Panda Bear said yesterday, there were lots of woofies and a few kittehs in attendance! But mostly it was humans. That’s OK though, because these humans care very much about us animals and work hard to keep us happy and safe.

Our Mom met Mom Teri of Curlz and Swirlz …

… along with Disco NoFurNo and Brighton in purrson!

Don’t you just love their Pink Catillac? I must speak with Mommy about getting us a stroller!

Mom also got to meet Flat Skeezix and The Food Lady from Skeezix’s Scratching Post!   The Food Lady also blogs on The Cat’s Meow, a Catster blog.  This photo shows our Mom, Mom Teri, Brighton, Flat Skeezix, Disco (inside the Pink Catillac), and The Food Lady.

Brighton and Flat Skeezix got to meet each other. Brighton checked out Flat Skeezix.

Flat Skeezix returned the favor.

Mom got to meet Perfectly Parker’s Mom, Helen! Mom sat with The Food Lady and Parker’s Mom at lunch. Mom said that they had a great time talking and laughing, and talking and laughing.

Mom got meet Mom Carol and Moshe of Meir Cats, Chats, and Fiber. They have a very interesting blog that Mommy had not seen before! Mom added it to our blogroll so that we can visit them.

Isn’t Moshe handsome? He is very photogenic!

A bunch of the Mommies took some group photos. In this photo is Mom Teri of Curlz and Swirlz, Mom Carol of Meir Cats, Chats, and Fiber, Mom Helen of Perfectly Parker, our Mom who is petting Flat Skeezix, Skeezix’s The Food Lady, and Mom Robyn of The Hotties (House of the (Mostly) Black Cats).

In this photo is Mom Teri of Curlz and Swirlz, Mom Jen of Mr. Tuck’s Neighborhood, Mom Helen of Perfectly Parker, Flat Skeezix, Skeezix’s The Food Lady, Baby Patches’ Momma Salina of Nip and Bones, and Mom Robyn of The Hotties (House of the (Mostly) Black Cats).

In other news, Padre’s Birthday is on Earth Day! Stop by this Thursday, April 22, as we are planning a Bambino party!

Also on Thursday, my biological sister Cookie will be competing in Kitty Fight Club at The World According to Misha!

Photo: from Misha’s blog

Kitty Fight Club is a contest that pits two adorabubble kittens against each other for the title of cutest kitten! Cookie is getting a little nervous! Please vote for Cookie on Misha’s blog!

the flowers are bloomifying, and it’s warm enough to have windows and screen door open so we can sniff the fresh air!

just last week on thursday, it snowed! but then last friday was sunny and warm, so most of the snow meltified …

… except where there was too much shade, like along the tall fence.

but now, all the snow is gone, and it has been so warm that we actually set new records for the high temperature! it was 82 degrees F on thursday, and 86 degrees F on friday.

these temperatures are more typical of august, not april. normal highs here for this time of year are in the low 50’s, and it can snow here in april, like it did a few years ago on easter weekend.

to celebrate, here are some photos of spring from our garden. crocuses are one of the first things to bloom, so Mom loves them, which is why she plants so many.

these are yellow crocuses:

lavender crocuses:

white crocuses:

purple crocuses:

Mom says the best thing about living where the winters are so harsh is really appreciating spring! Mom is glad that we live where we can plant bulbs in the fall. when she plants them, she says “good night until spring” to the bulbs as she puts them into the ground.

mom and dad call this flower bed daffodil hill. (it’s not really a hill, just a raised flower bed.) it’s a reference to the famous Daffodil Hill in Lake View Cemetery.

more daffodils:

these are called blue hyacinths:

these are white hyacinths. Mom says they have the strongest scent of the different colors of hyacinths, which is why she likes the white ones.

* * *

it also seems appropriate to mention that our friend Monty from Monty Graycat Ponders Out Loud gave us this fabulous award: The Sunshine Award! Thank You Monty!  we are so humbled!

the rules for this award are: to accept this award you must pass it on to 12 other recipients and post their blog links along with the award and of course send a comment to them telling them how they have brought SUNSHINE to you.  we thought we would give it to six bloggers, in order to leave some others out there eligible to receive it.

1) It’s All Good

2) Fin

3) Tristan & Crikey

4) Cat Sitter in the City

5) Darling Millie

6) Momo

* * *

In other news, Cookie is entered into Misha’s Kitty Fight Club! She is competing on April 22! Please visit Misha’s blog to read more about it!  And please consider voting for Cookie!

She hates it when I pin her down
And bite her on the neck, Meow girl!

She likes the boys in the house
She says that I’m her all-time favorite

She makes me chase her through the house in the nighttime
She really is a tease

That girl is pretty wild now
That girl’s a super floof

The kind of girl you read about
In the kitteh blogosphere
That girl is pretty floofy

That girl’s a super floof
I really love to sniff her

Every time we meet
She’s all right, she’s all right
That girl’s all right with me, Yeah!

She’s a Super Floof, Super Floof
She’s super-floofy, Meow!

Everybody sing
Super Floof! Super Floof!

She’s a very special girl (The kind of girl you want to know)
From her head down to her toehawks (Down to her feet, Yeah!)

And she’ll wait for me with Meerkat and with Cookie
For breakfast every day (Padre is the picky one)
“Feed me stinky goodness”, she says (Feed me now, feed me now!)
“On the cat perch, I’ll be waiting”

When I get there she’s got Fancy Feast and catnip
It’s such a freaky scene

That girl is pretty floofy
The girl’s a Super Floof

The kind of girl you read about
In the kitteh blogosphere
That girl is pretty wild now
That girl’s a Super Floof
I really love to sniff her

Every time we meet
She’s all right, she’s all right
That girl’s all right with me, Yeah!

She’s a Super Floof, Super Floof
She’s super-floofy, Meow!
Temptation treats!

Ohhhhh
Super Floof, Super Floof
That girl’s a Super Floof

Ohhhhh
She’s a very floofy girl
She likes to sleep on top of Mother

She hates it when I pin her down
And bite her on the neck, Meow girl!

Super Floof, Super Floof,
She’s super floofy, Meow!

Happy Birthday Caramel !!!

In case you want to listen to the original song by Rick James, here it is:

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QYHxGBH6o4M

* * * * *

Caramel and Cookie say: “Thank you so much for attending our Coming-Out Party! We enjoyed meeting all of you! Mom is happy to make a nice donation to the Humane Society thanks to all of your comments!  You can continue to comment on any and all of our birthday blog posts through next Wednesday to be included in the count toward the donation. We will be thanking each of you purrsonally over the next few days by visiting your blogs!”

Please leave us a comment to tell us you were here! In honor of The Girls’ birthday, Mom is going to donate $1 (US) to the Humane Society of the United States for each comment received on any of their birthday blog posts. All comments must be received by 11:59 pm EST on Wednesday, March 10, 2010.

In addition, one lucky winner will receive a Gift Certificate to The Animal Rescue Site store! To enter, leave us a comment on any of The Girls’ birthday posts! One chance per household will be entered. We will have one of us draw the name of the winner on Thursday, March 11, 2010, in the evening EST. All comments must be received by 11:59 pm EST on Wednesday, March 10, 2010.

Party On, Dudes! Stop by tomorrow to see what I gave Cookie for her Birthday Gift!

We had a multi-way tie for the Gold in the Bird and Squirrel Watching event! Give yourself each a Gold Medal. We adapted Katie’s Human Glogirly’s badge, so here is the Official Gold Medal for Bird and Squirrel Watching to proudly display on your blog:

Now, on to our entries!

*** Synchronized Snoozing hosted by The Island Cats ***

Meerkat and Padre are our resident love cats. Here are their two entries. The first photo shows them spooning in a dainty cat bed. Note Padre’s leg placement around Meerkat. This should definitely be worth additional cute points.

The second photo shows Padre and Meerkat cuddled together in a Ying-Yang with a Spooning Maneuver.

Also in Synchronized Snoozing, this is Panda Bear and Cookie, taken last summer when Cookie and I were still itteh bitteh! Note Cookie’s hind leg placement on Mommy’s gardening shoe, displaying added difficulty.

*** Balance Beam hosted by Fin of Housecat Confidential ***

This is Matthew, one of the foster kittens who stayed here last Fall. (Hah! Fall! Get it? What a great pun!) Matthew was the most talented of the foster kittehs at the Balance Beam!

Panda Bear often gets asked if he has trouble with balance or depth perception because he only has one eye. Well, take a look at his entry for Balance Beam, and you will see that PB has grace and style on the apparatus! This photo was taken at the V-E-T, so PB deserves extra difficulty points for the heightened level of anxiety!

*** Boxing hosted by Sparkle the Designer Cat***

These are our entries for Boxing. Here I am, posed graciously in the remnants of a holiday gift box.

*** Competitive Napping, hosted by Huffle Mawson ***

This is my entry. I am carefully color coordinated with the rocking chair, with my tail tucked under my chin like a Young LadyCat.

Also in Competitive Napping, this is Cookie’s first of two entries. Note the extreme cuteness of Cookie when she was an itteh bitteh kitteh!

Cookie’s second entry in Competitive Napping displays a high level of difficulty, as Cookie is shown sleeping in a PTU! Note the concentration which Cookie required in order to actually SLEEP in a prisoner transport unit!

*** Mile Long Machine Kleen, hosted by Tygana of One Cats Nip ***

Panda Bear and Cookie are entering as a team in this competition. Note the care with which Panda Bear washes Cookie’s head.

That concludes our Cat-O-Lympics entries!

And another big Thank You to Fin of Housecat Confidential for organizing the entire 2010 Cat-O-Lympics games!

Here at Casa Furry Bambino, we are hosting the Bird and Squirrel Watching Event. Like Fin, we are not too particular when it comes to rules. Just post a photo of yourself looking out a window.  If you get to explore the Great Outdoors, you can show us a photo of yourself outside. The photos do not even have to be recent! For example, if it is winter where you are, but you want to show a photo taken in the summer, that’s fine too!  Remember, no rules!

This is a good example of Cookie trying to communicate with a squirrel through the window.  Cookie was still a kitten back in July when this photo was taken, and the squirrel was almost as big as she was!

If you don’t have any photos handy, hey, that’s OK too! Remember, no rules! Just describe to us your bird and squirrel watching experiences.

If you live in an area of the world where there are no birds or squirrels, that’s fine too! Tell us what you like to observe instead!  Mouses, possums, raccoons, skunks, armadillos, hippopotamuses?  This is a photo of a Triple Decker Mouse Patrol event from last winter. From top to bottom (Hah! Bottom! Get it? Oh, I crack myself up!) is Meerkat, then me (Padre), then Panda Bear.

If there are birds or squirrels in the photo too, great, you get bonus points! Try to identify the type of bird for all of us. This is a Very Big Bird that we saw in our back yard last fall – a hawk maybe?

This is a Tasty Yellow Bird. (Mom calls it a goldfinch. Whatever.)

If there are no birds or squirrels in the photo, that’s great too! Tell us what you saw, or what you were looking for!  All five of us Furry Bambinos were caught on digital camera squirrel watching last summer.  Left to right, that’s Meerkat, Cookie, Panda Bear, Caramel, and Padre. Accidental cuddling may occur when trying to get the best window seat!

Here at Casa Furry Bambino, all five of us were awarded the Gold Medal for Bird and Squirrel Watching! Award yourself a Gold Medal for making a post about Bird or Squirrel Watching! Thanks to Katie’s human, Glogirly, for making the really swell medal!

Please join us for this mouth-watering event! Tell us about your Bird and Squirrel Watching experiences! (This is our first attempt at using Mr. Linky, so give that a try!) And wish our Daddy a Happy Birthday … he is going to be even OLDER on Saturday.

we all had a lot of fun, and perhaps a few of us overdid the partying.  not mentioning any names, but their initials are Padre.  he wound up completely trashed, as evidenced by this photo.  some cats just can’t hold their nip!

although i personally could not care less about about the apostles living upstairs behind the closed door, i know that many of you wanted to meet them, so we had sniffing opportunities for you.  the apostles even got into the party spirit.  that’s Joann with her itteh bitteh mouth open, and that’s Mark with the boa draped over him.  (Mom says this photo of Joann reminds her of the “Frances” the bear children’s stories by Russell and Lillian Hoban.  she says if you never read them as a kid, they are wonderful. go to the library or bookstore immediately.)

Matthew had fun batting the lamp cord around.

Luke had fun playing with a toy mouse, practicing his hunting skills …

… then napped in Mommy’s lap.

Panda Bear got all mellow and showed us his belly furs while resting on his Gizzy quilt.

that’s probably because he enjoyed a few of these first.  he says it was only water …

Cookie likes to climb the dining room chairs when playing.  Daddy calls her Teenage Mutant Ninja Cookie when she gets like this.  you can see the flame mark on her forehead very clearly in this photo.

caramel tried to play hide and seek, but she seemed to misunderstand the hide part.  kittens!  by the way, check out the floof on her tail!  she is becoming floofier every day.

and i had a great time playing with the trackball toy.  i just love it!

thanks again to all of you for stopping by and for the well wishes!

i’m supposed to tell you to check back soon, as dad is working on some movies of the bebbeh kittehs!

All three of us spent some time living out of doors, so there are many things for which we are very grateful: safe shelter from the elements, fresh food and clean water whever we want, cozy napping spots, love, and most of all, our friends in the Blogosphere!  As elder statescat, and resident padre, I will be leading the group in purrs and purrayers as we give thanks for all the blessings in our lives.

So please join us for a day of celebration.  There will be food, and nip, and toys, and games, naps, and fellowship.  Plus, if you want, you can  visit The Apostles (Matthew, Mark, Luke, and Joann), through the baby gate.  They haven’t been to the V-E-T yet, so sniffing only please!  Mom says that it’s OK to SQUEEE, though!

This blog invests and believes the PROXIMITY – nearness in space, time and relationships! These blogs are exceedingly charming. These kind bloggers aim to find and be friends. They are not interested in prizes or self-aggrandizement. Our hope is that when the ribbons of these prizes are cut, even more friendships are propagated. Please give more attention to these writers! Deliver this award to eight bloggers who must choose eight more and include this cleverly-written text into the body of their award.

We are grateful for the award from Poppy Q, but feel unworthy because we have not been good kitteh blogging friends of late. Perhaps we should explainify why we haven’t been visiting as often as we would like.

About a year ago, Mommy began taking on some new responsibilities where she works, including training a new bean. At about the same time, Mommy’s sister (Aunt Patty) was getting married. Shortly after Aunt Patty and Uncle Chris got married, they moved to Missouri. You may remember that we blogged about their wedding, reception, and move. Mommy and Daddy helped Aunt Patty and Uncle Chris, and our cousins Rainbow, Muse, Cinnamon, Toast, and Bruiser move to Missouri.

When Mommy got back to work, she had to hire another two new beans, for a total of three newbeans in five months. So Mommy was busy all day training and then spent most evenings and weekends doing her own work. Which did not leave enough time for us, Daddy, or blogging! Now, the three new beans are just about through with training, so now Mommy can do more of her own work in the daytime, and spend more time with us on the weekends!

So we have been trying to get caught up reading blogs and finding out what all we missed in the Cat Blogosphere. We really appreciate those of you who have continued to follow our blog, and to leave us comments, without our doing much to reciprocate. You make us laugh and smile and cry and be grateful to be part of this wondrous network known as the Cat Blogosphere.