That’s me in the tube, and Sky down below.

Today is a Big Birthday! Sky and I are two years old today! You may remember that there are six of us in this litter, so that means our sister (Marigold) and brothers (Hunter, Rusty, and Woody) are two years old today too! Hunter is in Dad’s lap, and that’s Woody, Rusty, Marigold, and Sky on the floor. They were enjoying a snack of Baby Food! The photo is from October 2010 when we were about 3 months old.

Happy Mother’s Day, Mommy! Mama Rose (feral) still visits us every day and hangs out on the porch. Human Mom and Dad feed her every single day.

You can all come over for a Game of Thundering Herds of Elephants, enjoy some Stinky Goodness, People Tuna, People Salmon, Niptinis and Meowgaritas (milk for the kittens), and enjoy some Nap Action when you want to rest.

Thanks for visiting us! Be sure to visit The Tabby Cat Club today to see photos of our Birthday Toesies!

This is what we looked like as newborns:

As Meerkat mentioned in her most recent post, Mom and Dad dragged the rug-sucking monsters around the house, and REMOVED ALL OUR FURS. Especially from the Cat Trees in the Fambly Room. As you can see in the photo below, I am very distraught about this turn of events.

Please join us for a Birthday ReFurring Party! Even though it is still winter here, we are sure that if efurryone sheds just a little, we will have the cat trees back to normal in no time!

Even if you don’t have furs, or don’t shed much, please come and enjoy the party!

We have food,

fountain drinks for the kittens and adult cat beverages for the big kittehs,

treats,

toys,

more toys,

nip

and napping spots!

Lots of napping spots!

Plus ample facilities for when you need to answer the call of nature. No long lines like at the ladies room at rock concerts!

There are two sets of stairs for games of Thundering Herds of Elephants! Each set of stairs has a landing and a turn for added interest and difficulty.

Please join us, and be prepared to SHED!!!  (Furless Cats Welcome, too!)

Purrs,

Ms. Floofs (Caramel)

and Cookie

Today is the Third Anniversary of the Adoption of me, Padre,

and my adopted siblings Panda Bear

and Meerkat.

We are very grateful for a lot of things:

PAWS, Public Animal Welfare Society, in the Cleveland Ohio area, that rescued all of us from uncertain futures.  I, Padre, wound up in a kill shelter before being saved by PAWS. Panda Bear and Meerkat were born under a porch and got sick with eye infections (calici virus). That is why Panda Bear only has one eye, and Meerkat has scarring in her right eye that sometimes looks like a glowing eye when you look at her.

Loving parents.

Safe warm shelter.

Food and water.

Even V-E-T care when we need it.

And of course, great furriends like all of you!

So please, make yourselves at home! There is food, water, niptinis, milk for the kittens, toys, stairs for Thundering Herds of Elephants games, windows for bird and squirrel watching, cat beds for your napping pleasure, and companionship!  Let’s party all weekend!

We have stinky goodness, crunchies, and beverages! Panda Bear has graciously offered to serve as bartender! (ID required for adult kitty beverages, please!) Of course, there will be lots of nip! I am so delighted that you could come to my party!

Mom planted cat grass for us a few weeks ago, so feel free to nom nom nom!

In honor of Earth Day, Mom is going to dig in the dirt outside. She says we can help! It is Spring here in northeast O-Hi-O, and the weather is supposed to be sunny and mild!

Great napping weather! (Isn’t it always great napping weather if you’re a cat?)

Lots of interesting things to sniff in the back yard! Plus bird and squirrel watching!

Feel free to play Thundering Herds of Elephants! We have two sets of stairs – one to the basement, and one to upstairs. By the way, the powder room is in the basement.

If any of you choose to party into the evening, join us in the basement for Mouse Patrol! We will gather on the ledge at the top of the basement stairs at 8:55 pm EDT. Remember to keep your voices down, as we want to sneak up on the mousies!

Also today, my 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 nervous that she won’t get any votes at all!

Please vote for Cookie on Misha’s blog!

We decided to have a contest for a Gift Certificate to The Animal Rescue Site store! Since Caramel and I both celebrated our birthdays, we decided that each of us should choose a winner.

We typed all of your names onto a piece of paper, and then Panda Bear “assisted” with trimming the paper into individual pieces for each name.

Then, we put the little pieces of paper into a special bowl (Mom says it is handmade by a very special friend).  Padre inspected the names in the bowl to make sure they all were in there.

Padre said that the names passed his inspection, and it was time to draw the winners!

I really didn’t want all that responsibility, so I let Panda Bear choose my name for me.

Panda Bear carefully considered his options.

Finally, Panda Bear selected the first winner!

And the winner is … Noll from Noll’s Nip!

Caramel wanted to select her own winner. She studied the bowl of names.

But she actually drew two names, so to be fair, we are giving gift certificates to both A Few Good Cats at It’s All Good and Tiki and Kirby!

Hooray for all the winners!

And as promised, Mom is making a donation to the Humane Society of the United States in our honor!

On our four birthday blog posts, we received a total of:

30 + 9 + 11 + 14 =

Umm …  Ahhh …

A really big number of comments!  So Mom will be making a donation to the HSUS of $A Really Big Number. What’s that Mom?

Mom said that she decided to round up to $100.00!  Thanks Mom!! The Humane Society will put our gift to good use “to protect not only America’s most beloved companion animals—dogs and cats—but also other pets, wildlife, farm animals, and animals in research” (from our Thank You from HSUS).

We received an award from Monty Graycat, so we will post about that next time! Thanks Monty!

And thanks again to all of you who helped make our first birthday so special!

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.

In other news, a few weeks ago, our house was invaded.

By Sticky Little People.

Exhibit A.

Exhibit B.

The Big People are good friends of Mom and Dad.  The Sticky Little Girl is Mom and Dad’s God-Daughter.  Isn’t she adorable?  They came to visit a few weeks ago.

Padre made himself completely scarce and hid upstairs for the duration of their visit invasion.

So did Meerkat.

Panda Bear tried to act all cool, but he kept a safe distance.  He studied the train set when the Sticky Little People were in another room.

And my sister Caramel and I got the Sticky Little People all to ourselves!  The Boy was very fun to play with.

The Boy played Feather Toy with Caramel.  She grabbed the Feather Toy in her mouth and walked off, leading The Boy!

The Boy laughed and jumped up and down a lot when Caramel grabbed the Feather Toy.

The Girl was sweet and giggled a lot, but she mostly stayed near her humans.

The Boy even knew how to play with the trackball toy!

He also showed me how to play with the train set!  That was a lot of fun!

The train moves, so I tried to touch it!

The Boy even climbed inside our Kalahari cubes!  He was so much fun to play with!

I hope they come back to visit again soon!

1.  Cold.

2.  Snow.

So, here at Casa Furry Bambino, that means two other things.

a)  I, Panda Bear, try to get outside to frolic in the snow.

b)  Mom and Dad try to keep me from getting outside and frolicking in the snow.

In order to get outside to frolic in the snow, I attempt to seize every opportunity I can.  This involves pretending to be all “Hi Welcome Home from Wherever You People Go Now Outta My Way I Want Out The Front Door”.  This method results in success only rarely.  Mom and Dad are on to me.  They do this elaborate dance when they come in the front door that should qualify them to be on the next iteration of River Dance.

The other opportunity is once daily when Mom or Dad opens the back door to feed the squirrels and birdies.

By the way, we haven’t seen chipmunks in awhile.  Does anyone know, do chipmunks hibernate?  Do they have time shares in Florida?  Be right back.

OK, I asked my good friend Google who is a real know it all.  Chipmunks DO hibernate! But I digress.

As I was saying, so I get this great opportunity to make my move when Mom or Dad has the back door open to toss peanuts and seed to the outdoor critters.  Cookie thought about it today, too.

So tdoay, after several minutes of plotting, I made my move.

Woo-hoo!!!  Outside!  I’m Outside!!!

Yeah, so OK, the snow is cold on my feet.  But I’m Outside!!!

I had a great time digging in the snow!

I enjoyed the sights, smells, and textures while exploring this morning.  Check out these wicked cool icicles hanging from the roof and power lines.

But for some reason, Mom grabbed me and hauled me back inside when I walked past the door on my way to the back yard.

Oh, well, there’s always tomorrow!

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!